Earth and Equis have a tournement every year for braging rights over th other...and it is done in a tank.
Twilight, her friends and others will go to earth to train for the up coming Tank tournament at the academy they meet some new friends and perhaps something more. Little do they know that the ones that run Tank Brotherhood Academy are legends of the first eight tank tournaments between Equis and Earth.
"Welcome back to the Championship round of the first annual Equis vs. Earth tank tournament!" Said the announcer as the crowd went wild in excitement and eagerness for the conclusion of the first Tank Tournament.
Above the crowd Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle as well as the Elements of Harmony and Discord were waiting for the final match to begin. It had been a long five weeks of matches and now the finalist are ready to fight to the finish, for Equis was the Equestria team composed of twenty tanks all from Earths WWII this was possible thanks to Equis' magic that they were able to make exact copies of every tank. Fighting for Earth was a one tank built by the United states it was a T95 many thought that it wouldn't make it this far but the crew upgraded the engine and it was equipped with a 155mm AT cannon. After about thirty minutes the match was finally under way everyone watched as the Equestria team went straight for the last known location of the T95. About after five minutes they are traveling by a narrow pass with a mountain face on one side and a deep river on the other but just up ahead was a area for them to cross to the other side of the river. But before they got there the tank in front was shot, then about eight seconds later the tank in the rear was shot as well and the rest were stuck not being able to go forward or back. They were being picked off one by one even though they were firing at the other side of the river hoping to disable the enemy tank but it was useless they hit nothing and if did manage to hit something all they heard was a loud "ding". After about three minutes the last Equestrian tank was shot and disabled, everyone sat in disbelief as earth was deemed the winners all thanks to one tank.
When the winners returned a massive crowd and even the princesses came to see the Four crew members step out and wave to the crowd, they were very humble about winning compared to the other teams form Earth. When the crowd saw the princesses approach, when they were just in front of the tank she asked, "What are your names and jobs in the tank.'' everyone watched silently as the first one to jump down from the tank.
An average sized man with a light-brown complexion and black crew cut hair said, "My name is Quenton Hines and I am the gunner, as well as an engine mechanic." with a British accent.
Next was a man of slightly smaller size but was average height with an almost dark-brown complexion and short black hair said, " The name is Phillip your highness and I am the driver and radio man for the tank."
After him was a man of same height and build as the first with a tan complexion and wild looking hair said, "I am Cody Watson and I am the loader."
"So, that would make you the commander for the tank?'' asked Luna while looking up at the man that was Built as if he worked on a farm for most of his life he had a shaved head and was at an average height.
He said "Da, My name is Wyatt Landreth and I am the commander and the one who formed this crew to fight in this tournament. Nothing is better than fighting with friends." with a Russian accent.
A celebration followed to show that there was no bad blood between Equis and Earth. The next day the newspapers called the tank 'The Reaper'. The Humans eventually went home and for the next seven years they would win the tournament thanks to the same tank and crew until, their supposed retirement.
Present Royal Shuttle to Earth from Equis 8 months until tournament
Twilight and her friends as well as the Wonderbolts were on their way to Tank Brotherhood Academy, where they will be trained in Tank warfare so they can participate in this year tournament. "Rumor has it, that this Academy is where the crew for 'The Reaper' was trained" Rainbow Dash said, "I mean this is awesome that we get train were those legends trained the only thing that would make this more awesome is if we were trained by them!!!"
"That would be mighty respectable, Ah mean it would be nice to see that commander Wyatt of theirs' again." said Applejack
"And it would be awesome to catch up with their loader Cody he still holds the record for fastest reload time in the tournament." replied Rainbow Dash.
"I umm would think, it would be nice to see their driver Phillip again after all he was so kind to everyone he met." said Fluttershy.
"So what do you think Earth is going to be like?" asked Rarity "I heard that it is beautiful like Equestria."
"Well I From what Celestia told me about it when she comes here for Diplomatic functions with the UN, it is a lot like Equestria just different names." said Twilight.
Their cabin door opened to show Spitfire standing in it. "You guys should get some rest, we got a long way to go as soon as we land we have a five hour bus ride there." said Spitfire. She turned to leave but stopped and turned and said, "Also Pinkie is on her way back after raiding the snack cabinet....again" with that she went back to her cabin.
A little while after she left pinkie showed up and just hopped into bed and went to sleep, after a moment of confusion everypony went to bed, all except two.
"Hey Applejack I can't wait to see what earth is like and maybe if we're lucky we might get to see them again." whispered Rainbow.
"Ah know what yah mean Sugarcube, Ah know what you mean." replied Applejack and soon the two drifted off to sleep and didn't notice Fluttershy wishing that she could see Phillip again.
Across the way in the Wonderbolts cabin Fleetfoot was still awake thinking of the 'Reapers' gunner and how she got to talk to the hyperactive man before they left. She thought about how he treated her as anypony else, every time she thought about it she would get starry eyed and soon like everypony else she to went to sleep.
A few hours later they landed and they gathered up there luggage and something to eat and hopped on the bus headed to the Academy and ready to become Tankers. When they arrived a man that looked like a drill sgt. came on and told them to get off and line up on the yellow line. As they did so they noticed other busses and all types of people got off and did the exact same thing. That is when they heard a rumbling sound and the creaking of tracks on metal, they looked to their right and saw a T95 tank with an image of a reaper with a clock and hourglass on the side it stopped in the middle in front of all the groups. That is when they noticed the men stepping out of the were the legends of tanking, Wyatt looked over at everyone and shouted, "Welcome Tankers! To the longest eight months of your lives."
"urhh....Fucking son of a bitch" said Wyatt, "already February first great new recruits, might as well go wake the others."
Wyatt got out of bed and got dressed and went across the hall where Cody's room was and proceeded to pound on it
BANG
BANG
"Cody wake the fuck up!" Wyatt yelled through the closed door.
As the door opened Cody said, "Wyatt what the fuck why are you banging on the door."
Wyatt looked at him with a glare and said, "Do you even remember what today is?"
"uh, February first?"
Wyatt had to refrain from face palming and said, "You are fucking hopeless sometimes you know that? I'll let you figure it out."
He then walked over to the and repeated the proses like before and the response, "Wyatt, What the fuck. Why are you banging on the door." Said Quenton.
"Do you even remember what we do every year on February first?"
"Uhh....No, why should I remember."
"You and Cody are hopeless sometimes. I hope Phillip remembers." grumbled Wyatt as he walked to the last door.
He knocked this time and said, "Phillip you awake yet?"
"Yeah I've been since you started banging on Cody's door, and before you ask I know what today is and I am already dressed." said Phillip.
"Alright get the others up to speed, I'll go and see how the kitchen is with breakfast. Then we will hold a meeting to get all the drill sergeants corrdinated and then do maintenance on the T95." Wyatt then walked out the door at the other end of the hall to rows of bunks filled with drill sergeants just waking up.
He went across the yard just outside of the barracks to the kitchens. The cooks were making all types of food from vegetarian to more carnivorous diets. An hour later everyone got there food and started eating, after breakfast Wyatt, Cody, Quenton, and Phillip went up to the front of the room and assigned the drill sergeants to different groups of recruits when they arrive. After the meeting Wyatt and his crew went to to do a check over on 'The Reaper' and make sure that Quenton's new engine was working well and clean the gun as well. After about eight hours of cleaning and engine checks it was ready to roll.
Present in front of the new recruits
"Welcome Tankers, to the longest eight months of your lives!" said Wyatt as he stood in front of the line of recruits.
He looked at the whole line and saw looks of awe on them he then said, "Many of you should know this tank and us, so I'll skip the intro and tell you we are your instructors for these eight months. Most of you are here to make your own tank teams, other are here to join a team and few of you are here to train with legends. I have one question that you need to ask yourself. Why are you her and why are you doing this?"
He looked up and down the line and then said to the sergeants, "Meet us over at the garages, so we can assign them their garage and tank. Then we can begin their training." He and the others got in their tank and rode off towards the garages.
All the recruits were in awe but not as much as four mares in particular but they all made their way to the garages all the same they watched as large groups of people got tanks until they were the only ones left. When they got to their garages at the end of the row they saw 'The Reaper' out front and Wyatt, Cody, Quenton and Philip standing out front of them. They stood in front of them, "Wonderbolts step in front of garage 47, and the rest of you step in front of garage 48." said Quenton.
They did so the Wonderbolts' hanger opened first and inside was a M103 american heavy tank with a 120mm cannon next was the mane six's garage and inside was a T30 super heavy tank with a 155mm cannon. They all stared in awe of the tanks sitting in their garages, their jaws were close to touching the ground the first one to speak out of all of them was Rainbow Dash she said, "This is going to be so awesome!!!".
Wyatt started to laugh and said, "hahaha, well you better go get used to your tanks and read the manual as well as to pick a position that you think is best for you" everypony looked at him confused until he continued, "because we are going to have a little test to see how far your knowledge of tanking goes." Wyatt and the others went back to 'The Reaper' and drove off.
It took about five hour for all the new tank crews to get settled in and find a position that suited them as for the Wonderbolts they only brought five of their best to operate the tank good thing the M103 is a five person crew anyway. Spitfire took the commander position no surprise there, Soarin took the radio operator position, Misty fly took the driver position, Rapid Fire took the loader position thinking he can beat Cody's reload time, and last but not least was Fleetfoot she sat in the gunner position as she was their best shot anyways. The mane six were a little confused about there tank on the outside it looked like it could only fit five out of the six of them but in reality it could fit all six of them. The reason for this is that the tank needs two loaders because the shells are set farther back in the tanks turret as to compensate for the recoil of the 155mm cannon. As for who went where Twilight took the commander position, Pinkie the gunner, Rarity was the radio operator, Fluttershy was the driver after she got over her fear of the tank in the first place, and the last two positions were the loaders which were Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
They all met the practice field, all the recruits were nervous about what this test is about until over the radio of fifteen tanks they heard, "Good to see that you all made it out here in one piece.'' said Wyatt, "We were beginning to wonder if you would make it and also good work Equestria for getting out here first, Cody you have the comm."
"Alright, your test is simple just shoot at each other until each tank is disabled" said Cody, "you can team up for this event for this test, and don't worry about being killed the insides of all the tanks are coated with a carbon overlay so no explosive damage will kill you. Just be sure to brace for every hit. Now if you wish to team up connect radios with the tanks you wish to team up with and then proceed to a designated mark on your map once you are all in position the test will begin."
The Equestrians made it to a designated spot and heard, "All tanks are in position. BEGIN!!!" said Wyatt as he yelled the last bit.
"Alright Fluttershy start the tank." said Twilight.
"Okay" Fluttershy replied in her almost non existent voice had it not been for the radio around her neck. She gave a small 'eep' when the Tank started.
"Hey, Spitfire we need to find higher ground. there is no use rushing fool heartedly into combat without a plan." said Twilight.
"I will have to agree with you we need a birds eye view of the battlefield." said Spitfire.
"Okay, I am looking at the map right now and there is a cliff that overlook the clearing where I am pretty sure that everyone will be heading so lets go there."
"Alright, lets go punch it Misty!!!"
"You got Spitfire." said Misty and off they went towards the hill it took them about five minutes to get to and up the hill.
At the top of the hill they could see that Twilight was right and everyone rushed to the clearing and were currently firing at each other. The T30 and M103 took aim and started picking off targets. It lasted a good hour until They noticed two tanks coming for them. they got ready and saw that one was a Tiger tank and the other was a IS-3. The first to clear the crest of the hill was the Tiger and it went after the Mane six's T30 and the IS-3 went for the M103. The tiger crew stopped and fired at the T30 but hit the Turret where 11 inches of armor are located the round deflected off the armor, the T30 's turret turned and fired at the tiger and disabled it. The IS-3 missed the M103 and they moved to it's side and fire at the engine and disabled it. Over the radio they heard Wyatt say, "Alright color me impressed Equestria. Come back to your garages and then head to the barracks, all teams that were knocked out you are to wait with your tank until a jeep comes to pick you up don't worry about your tank it will back at your garage in the morning. Tomorrow it is time to get started with your training see you all in the morning."
When they got to their garages they looked at each other and knew this was going to change their lives for the better.
All was quiet at Tank Brotherhood Academy no one was outside that was until Sgt. Hoffman walked out to the flagpole with SSgt. Roff and Master Sgt. John carrying the American Flag and a trumpet right as the sun was coming over the horizon they raised the flag and started blowing on the trumpet that wakes up all the recruits as well as a blank round from an M55/53. The Wonderbolts sprang right out of bed and getting ready the mane six not so much. Well except AJ, but everypony else was moaning and groaning especially Rainbow Dash, "Why are they blowing that horn and shooting at....6:30 in the morning." She said.
"Ah don't know but y'all better get ready because Ah think I smell breakfast cooking in the mess hall." AJ replied.
After some more bitching and moaning from Rarity about not getting enough beauty sleep they finally got to the mess hall to find not very many recruits in there yet. They got in line and saw that their were eggs, French toast, hash browns as well as others. But that was as far as they went at the other end was nothing but meat styled breakfast choices. After getting their food and finding a place to sit they ate in relative peace until all the recruits started pouring in and every single one of them gave the Mane six and the Wonderbolts a dirty look except a group of four girls one was a little taller than the others but no more than 5 foot 11 inches, while the others were around 5' 6", one had red hair another had black short hair, the one next to her had blond hair. They got their food with everyone else but instead of going to find their own table they went over to the Equestrians table and asked to sit with them and they said yes and they all took a seat next to Pinkie Pie. "Hi, I am Pinkie Pie since I have never seen all of you before and your the only ones that aren't giving us dirty looks would you all like to be friends with us." Pinkie said with her signature smile.
"Uh...Hi, Pinkie Pie it is nice to meet you and your friends" said the tall girl "My name is Jamie Grounder and these are my sisters Jackie, Joslyn, and Jasmine. we were in the IS-3 you fought yesterday."
"oh uh yeah sorry about that." said Twilight.
"No, hard feeling we were being reckless we should have known better than to rush up that hill with out knowing what kind of tanks were up their."
"Yeah, anyways do you guys know why we had to wake up so early?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"You mean your Princess didn't tell you" asked Jackie she looked at the mane six and the Wonderbolts, while they gave her a confused look then she continued, "We have classes for our positions."
"you mean we have to go to school to ah man" complained Misty.
"I have to agree with you on that one," agreed Fleetfoot "I came to learn how to be a tanker not go through classes."
"Well it's not a class where you write on paper it is more like situations and simulations." said Joslyn everyponies eyes lit up at the sound of that.
"We'll lead you guys to your classes, should be fairly easy since two classes are actually one class because Philip is the instructor." Fluttershy's eyes went wide with a blush when she found out that Philip is teaching her class.
"So who instructs the other classes?" asked Applejack.
"Oh, for Gunners it is Quenton," said Joslyn as Fleetfoot held back a grin.
"For Loaders it is Cody," continued Jasmine, Rainbow looked about to burst at the sound of being taught by Cody.
"And for Commanders like Jamie here it would be with Wyatt." said Jackie, Applejack bowed her head in disappointment that she wouldn't be able to be taught by Wyatt.
After Breakfast they all followed the sisters to their respected classes but for some reason the Commander class was mixed with the Loader class and at the front of the class was Cody. "Okay everybody I will be your instructor today and I will..." Cody stopped as Wyatt walked in.
"Cody can I see you outside for a moment." he said as he and Cody both walked out of the classroom and into the hall. Applejack and Rainbow dash were sitting by the door and while others decided to talk to each other they put their ears to the door and heard them talking.
"Cody, What have I told you about trying to teach the Commander class?" asked Wyatt.
"Not to do it." Cody answered in a defeated tone.
"Cody the reason why I told you this is because I don't want you or the others to have the weight of every decision that comes with being a commander. It is hard to bare that weight only those of strong will and an unwavering sense that your decisions might get your team in a tough spot to were you will lose. Just keep it in mind and when the tournament comes up we have work."
"You mean..."
"Yes someone has paid us to fight on their team."
"Who hired us?"
''They were discreet, they will tell us when the tournament comes. Now why don't you go teach your class while I teach mine. You know where the money goes usually right."
"Yeah, I know and I don't expect it to go any where else."
Rainbow and Applejack both went back to their seats as fast as they could. Cody walked back in and Wyatt took all the soon to be commanders to his classroom. The whole time Rainbow and Applejack couldn't believe what they heard that they actually might fight against 'The Reaper' in the tournament.
Three hours later back at Equestria's barracks
"So let me get this straight," said Spitfire "They can fight on any team they want so long as they pay them. Isn't that against the rules."
"It isn't against the rules to have a merc tank as long as you can pay them." Twilight pointed out.
"Yeah but their tank has 305 millimeters of armor in the front it can barely be penetrated from the front." said Misty.
"Ok now new topic what did he mean about where the money goes?" asked Soarin.
"I don't know they could be using it to keep the academy up and running." said Rapid
"Not likely Celestia told me that the government pays to keep this academy up and running." said Twilight.
"Oh Oh, maybe they are they are using the money to pay for Wyatt's niece who is in the hospital waiting for enough money to get new state-of-the-art robotic legs so she can walk again." said Pinkie
"What makes ya say that Sugarcube." asked Applejack.
"Just a hunch."
Meanwhile across the academy in Wyatt's room
Wyatt was sitting at his desk talking on the phone, " Colton listen I am sending you money...I getting it from Mercenary work...I know what I said but when I have to watch you work yourself into the ground just to give your daughter legs all because some Jackass was drunk while he was driving and the Insurance won't pay for it you need this...alright listen before you hang up I am going to send you and your family tickets to come watch the tank tournament and the quarter finals and finals and I will pay for everything. Alright see you then brother."
After four month of doing nothing but sitting class listening and running through situations, everyone was ready to get into some real action again. Everyone was tired of just shooting at targets all day long and running through crash courses, but before they could they had a tank crew discussion that they all had to do over the weekend. "I can't believe we have to do this over the weekend!" Complained Rainbow while her, Applejack and Fleetfoot all waited for their friends and teammates at a small café in the town that was about ten minutes from the Academy. "Can I get you mares anything today?" asked there waitress. "No we're waiting for some friends to get here from the Tank Academy down the road." said Fleetfoot. "Oh, you mean the Tank Academy that the 'Reaper' crew is in charge of?" "Yeah, why do ya ask?" asked Applejack, while Fleetfoot and Rainbow Dash look back at the waitress. "Because before they set up that tank academy this town was so small you couldn't find it on a map and now thanks to them we are a busy little town." "How is it that you became such a big town? I mean besides the Tank Academy." asked Rainbow. "Well that is because people come to watch the Mid-terms and the finals for excitement and some of the big teams also come around to see if they can find any new recruits for their teams. But I have to get back to work call me back over when you are ready to order." The girls looked at each other as the waitress left and then their friends walked into the café. "So did you guys get your assignment for this weekend?" asked Fleetfoot. "We got another situation discussion that involves just our tank against five other tanks. When can we all start the war games like the brochure said." complained Spitfire "Well since we all have the same situation maybe we should all do it right now so we can get it done." said Twilight and everypony thought about it for a while and they all agreed, the same waitress from before came back and the all ordered and while they waited for their food and drinks they began their discussion. "Ok, so the situation is this we have our tank against five other tanks in a town. The five tanks consist of a Chaffee light tank, a T-34-85 medium tank, a Centurion 7/1 medium tank, an ISU-152 tank destroyer and a ARL 44 heavy tank. What tank should be taken out first in order blind the enemy to your movements?" "Well out of all five tanks the Chaffee is the only tank meant for recon and is fast enough for it too, correct. So we take out the Chaffee first and don't have to worry about it." said Spitfire, everypony nodded in agreement. "So which tank do we take out next, because we still have the tank destroyer, the heavy tank and the two mediums left." said Rainbow Dash. "Good question, the tank destroyer has the firepower to take out our tank, but the heavy with the mediums could also take out our tank with a distraction?" said Twilight. After a few hours they were done with the situation and they all sat talking and then the same waitress came up and gave them their checks. Then Cody came in and handed a envelope to the owner and shook hands with him and left, confused the Fleetfoot over looked and asked the waitress, "What was that about?" "Oh, you mean the envelope? Well the 'Reaper' tank crew donates money to all the local businesses, even to the St. Jude children hospital down the road." said the Waitress, "huh, you know what I just realized? They never tell any of the owners where it comes from when they ask." the waitress left soon after that, leaving the rest of the girls still confused as to where the 'Reaper' crew is getting all of this money to pay for so many things.
The next morning the girls woke up as always with the sound of a trumpet and a blank round being fired from an M53/55, but it was different from other mornings for instance their breakfast was brought to their dorms with a letter that said, ' All tankers are to report to their garages and prep their tanks for the mid-terms to begin, then report to the war games fields for their tests.', They all looked confused but they did what the letter asked anyway. After breakfast they went into their garage and started to get to work on the tanks, each pony going through a check list that Twilight put together for all of them and their stations. Rainbow, Applejack and Fleetfoot went about gathering and storing the ammunition, they also helped work on the engine. Pinkie pie and Rapidfire cleaned the cannon and made sure the sights were on and that the auto-eject mechanism was working and in working order. Rarity and Soarin checked the radios. Fluttershy and Misty Fly were checking the tracks and the drive sprockets. Spitfire and Twilight were making sure that they could see clearly out of their command hatch viewports. After the checklists were done they all made their way to the war games fields, on the way there they noticed that at the very edge of the field there was about half a coliseum of bleachers at the front of the fields and they were packed with people. After about ten minutes the rest of the class arrived as well as the drill Sergeants, in front of them Wyatt and the others stood on a plat form and said, "Well this is your Mid-Term, You are all to team up with fellow tanks if you wish and you will versus the Drill Sergeants and if you manage to knock-out at least one of their tanks you pass but fail to knock-out any and you will be here again and again until you do. Now TANKERS START YOUR ENGINS AND ROLL OUT!"
