Whatever God thought turning tanks into ponies must be insane.
It is the closing year of World War II. Discord is sad that one of the most chaotic events he has seen in the multiverse is about to end. To make himself entertained, he decides to bring some of the human's favorite "Toys" to his world...tanks. However there is one problem,... They don't have sentience to cause chaos. Well Discord can fix that!
The year is 1945. The secod World war is reaching its final conclusion. The Red Tide of the Soviet army was rolling towards Berlin, Italy had surrendered two years prior, and the Japanese were being pushed across the Pacific by the U.S. Navy. To all those who had suffered, this would be seen as the greatest thing in a long time. However, One being was saddened by this change of pace.
"I cannot believe this, the chaos, the combat, the action...all coming to an end." Discord said looking through a glass at the conflict around the planet Earth.
"You could spark a continuation." Another Discord said.
"No. Seeing what those Americans are making, it would end them all, and that would mean no chaos at all." Discord Prime said. "Hmmm. I need to find a way to bring their chaos here to fuel the fun, but how?" He continued stroking his chin. As he thought, he heard a loud bang and looked back to see two large iron beasts firing back and forth. The first was an american design, but the second was a sloped metal monster. This was the Super Pershing versus the King Tiger, and a bulb appeared on Discord's head. "That's it! These metal beasts, these "Tanks. They would cause so much chaos." He said giddily as he then went across to find subjects to bring back to his realm
The Soviet Army was halted at the last river before Berlin and Zeelow Heights. Zhukov and his tank forces were preparing to finish the final strike. Amongst those ranks were Heavy tanks, One was looked like a large bookshelf had been made of steel, ad given a large cannon. This was the KV-2. This one was painted with the name Katyusha in big letters on her turret side.
"Soon comrades, we can finish all of these pesky krauts." The tank commander said eating with his crew next to Katyusha.
"Cannot wait to get this done. If we don't finish it soon more comrades will die." The Loader replied.
"Also, cannot let those capitalists get ahead of us. I bet those yanks are sitting in France gorging themselves like the pigs they are." The Gunner added, and the others started chuckling. Then the ground shook, The crew turned to see Katyusha shaking, and glowing before the vehicle flashed in light, and vanished.
The tanks rolled off the lines of the factories of the Detroit Tank Arsenal. This particular batch was a tall tank, with a long barrel. This was the M4A3(76)(HVSS) or Easy eight as many Americans called it. The ladies working on the tanks had just taken a break for lunch.
"Another several hours work done." A welder said removing her helmet for a sandwich.
"Another good job as always Beth." An older gentleman said. This man had failed the draft requirement so he stayed to help the gals work.
"Thanks Gary. Its a shame though. Once the war ends, I'll have no job."
"Now don't say that. You could be lucky." Gary replied taking a bite of a bacon sandwich. He then placed a hand on Beth's "I'll help you if they try." He finished.
"Thank you Gary." She said giving him a hug. Then the factory shook slightly. The duo looked around and saw some workers running from the assembly line as a tank started glowing. "What the hell's going on?!" Beth shouted. As the duo charged towards the light it was too late and with a flash the tank was gone.
In the Krupp factory archives DIscord was looking through the records. to see if he could find any interesting other tanks.
"These Germans were always known for their hidden designs." Discord said when his claws touched a file with the words LOWE written on it. "hmmm...what do we have here?" He said opening the folder to see sketches for a vehicle with sloped armor, a large engine, and a 15cm gun. "Hellooo there big boy. Let's get you alive shall we?" Discord said as a shrunken copy of the vehicle appeared in his hand before being warped to his dimension where it became full scale.
Meanwhile, a British tank disappeared off a freight car to the front. An Italian tank vanished from a storage depot, and a Japanese type 97 vanished off a cargo ship heading back to the home Islands. With the vechicles Discord finally returned to his world. As he looked around all the vehicles he realized something.
"All of them require a crew!" Discord palmed his face upon realization. "Well I can't go back, ripping this vehicles out of reality was bad enough, but to take their crews to would cause a problem. Cmon dissy think." He thought knocking his claw, and paw against his head trying to figure out what to do. Then another idea came to him. "Ohohohohoo. If I can't get humans to drive these vehicles, I'll make them into people themselves." Discord said and snapped his fingers.
The vehicles glowed and hummed as they started to change. The vehicles shrank and started to lose some of their armor to be replaced with flesh of a human. Arms, and legs formed as the more metallic parts shrank to fit on the humans. After several minutes the group was transformed. Their weapons were now attached to them in sets of armor, and clothing some women, and some men.
"Hmm Perfect, now to give you the minds of those from your nations." He walked over to the japanese girl "You shall be Mako." He said before implanting her mind with memories of japan and her conflicts before walkign to the italian girl. "You shall be Verona" He said, and gave her memories. "Hmm Sherry, because Sherman is not as cute." Discord said to the Easy Eight turned girl. Then he looked at the other three. "You already have a name Katyusha." Discord said implanting her memories of the conflict, and life. "Churchill is a fine name for an upstanding gentlemen" Discord said to the british tank, now man. "Now you are special. You have no combat experience, but I shall still give you the knowledge of your comrades, my unfortunate freind. Fredreich Leopold, and all you others, happy rebirthday." Discord said before warping the tanks to different places similar to their homes.
The Crystal Empire is a beautiful land that lies just south of the Yaket Range. Though most of the people choose to live in the capital city to avoid the snow, wild beasts, and feel the warmth of the Crystal Heart. Shining Armor, prince of the Empire was patrolling the snows outside the city as normal to help guide those out of the snow, or to prevent evil beings from entering the city.
"Sir can we go back for just a little bit, My coat is falling apart." a guard said. The winter coats of the guard were still not that durable, and new ones took a while to come in since the material came from the coasts of Equestria.
"I know the coats are getting old, but we have to stand strong." Shining replied. However, he did pull out a lantern and gave it magic fire to heat the soldiers a little bit.
"Where's Flash?" A third guard asked. The group turned around to see a comrade missing from their formation.
"Damnit. He must've gotten lost in the storm. Quick fan out to find him!" Shining armor ordered and the group dispersed to search for the missing soldier
Flash Sentry was relatively new to the Crystal Guard. He and his family had moved to the empire to find more work, and he was transferred from the Royal guard to the Crystal guard.
"Guys! Where is everyone?!" He called out through the snowstorm billowing around him. As he continued to trot forward through the snow, he felt something hit his foot. Then he looked down, and gasped. A hand was protruding from the snow like that of a Minotaur. "OH Dear Celestia!" he cried grabbing the hand with his hooves and pulled as hard as he could. The snow started to shake as the supposed Minotaur was pulled out of the pile. Desperate to get the being out of the snow, all he saw was a being of some kind covered in snow gear.
"Hello?!" ist someone zere?!" An accented voice called out. Flash turned to see a tall being that he couldn't entirely make out through the snow.
"Yes! Can you help me?! I've got an unconscious traveler" Flash called back as the being picked up the coated Minotaur. "Thank you. Follow me, and we can get you two warmed up!" Flash called and the figure nodded as they walked towards the empire.
Shining Armor and his men were getting really cold, and were about to turn back towards the empire when eh heard a voice he knew.
"CAPTAIN! We got two visitors, and one's out cold from being buried in a snow heap." Flash called out.
"Alright let's pack it up, and get the heck outta here!" Shining replied as the group started walking back to the Empire through the storm. ... When the group made it inside the shield, the soldiers got a good look at the two strangers. The first was a tall male with a smartly dressed uniform and cap. The second was the tallest male shining had seen aside from the princesses. This female was just a smidgen shorter than the man and wore a thick fur coat. What was intriguing about them was that both had what appeared to be parts of armor on their joints, and strange a gauntlet that held a small stick protruding from a strange container.
"thank you very much. vhere am I?" The smartly dressed male asked.
"This is the crystal empire." The male looked perplexed.
"Where in the Reich ist that?" The male asked. Now Shining armor was confused.
"I don't know what this Reich is, but its nowhere around here." Shining replied.
"Very well. I thank you. I am Leopold Freidrich Lowe of the German Reich's Panzer Corps." The male, now Leopold replied. Shining shook his hand with a hoof.
"Captain Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire." He replied. "What of this one with you?" He asked and Leopold looked at the woman.
"I am not sure. I do not know her." Leopold replied.
"Alright then let's get her inside and get you two warmed up." Shining said as the group continued to the castle.
Katyusha felt her body twitch and eyes open. They shut quickly under the light before reopening slowly. The room had a crackling fire and large open holes where windows could be. Her armor parts were still on as she stood up and walked to the fire. As she did this the door to the room opened.
"Oh good your awake." A pink alicorn mare said entering the room with another man, and a stallion.
"Da Im alright." The woman said, and the man gave her a look, like he was remembering something.
"We found you buried in the snow outside the Crystal City. It's good to see you aren't hurt." The stallion said. He held out a hoof for her to shake. "Do you have a name?"
"I...I'm Katyusha Voroshilov." Katyusha said. The man looked at her as if he was waiting for something.
"Can you tell us where you're from?" The mare asked. Looking at the man then back to the mare she stuttered out.
"I'm from the...s-Soviet Union." She said and before another question could be asked the man had her pinned to the ground.
"What's the meaning of this Leopold?!!" Shining asked rushing over to pull him off of the girl.
"She's a Kommunist. Her people butchered our on the Eastern Front for years!" Leopold yelled struggling against Shining Armor. This made Katyusha move out of his grip.
"What's a Nazi butcher doing here?!" Katyusha shouted pulling up a trembling arm to prepare to shoot her main gun. The two looked between the two alarmed as they were separated and pinned in place with magic. "W-what's going on?" She asked looking at the two ponies.
"You two explain yourself because both have just been called murderers." Cadence said as the two stopped struggling.
"Before we came here. Both of our homelands have been at war for almost 4 years. At stake was the fate of the globe with many countries on both sides. I was made by Krupp to fight her and the other Voroshilov tanks in combat. Her government seeked to overthrow all capitalist countries and make them puppets to their whims." Leopold said.
"Your kind defended a regime who seeked to discriminate all races not like you. Stuthof ring a bell?" She said and this made Leopold freeze. HE didn't move and he didn't speak. His body just stopped.
"What is Stuho-" The captain was going to ask before Leopold yelled.
"Don't Talk about the SOLUTION!! I.. I didn't mean for...I..." Leopold said before slumping over. "Just please...don't speak of it." Leopold whispered out. The captain decided to drop the subject. Cadence hugged the tall being too comfort the saddened Leo.
"Thank you. Also, Don't act like you hold the high ground, need I remind you of The Great Purge, and Famine." Leopold said and now Katyusha fell silent.
"I see both of you don't have clean hands, but we won't throw you out. Instead, you are going to stay here in the kingdom where we can keep an eye on you." Cadence said. Leopold walked out of the room to his room, He had a lot to think about, and so did Katyusha. Could they truly get along?
It was a normal day by Everfree standards. Zecora was wandering through the woods for herbal remedies. Everything was as normal until she heard someone speaking.
"Can't you just admit we're lost already." A voice said, and from Zecora's hearing it sounded like a male.
"We aren't lost. If we're in the Ardennes than heading this way should lead us back to Friendly lines." A female said as the bushes ahead shook from movement. What came out surprised Zecora. There were two bipeds walking out of the trees onto the path. One was a tall man in surprisingly fancy set of clothes with a red overcoat, white shirt with brass buttons, and a sword strapped on a belt around his waist. He wore a cap with a red band wrapping around the center, along with black pants, and boots.
The other was very...messy would be the best term. She wore a coat as well, but it was unbuttoned exposing a tan shirt and loose tie along with a cap in her hand, and loose shoes. What was intriguing was that both wore strange metal plates on their joints, and a weapon attached to the arm or hand by straps.
"And I'm telling you that we need to find a better method of direction than intuition you arrogant yank." The male replied. After a watching them for a few more moments, Zecora cleared her throat which made them snap their attention to her.
"I'm terribly sorry you had to hear that. Wait, where is the person who spoke and...what's an equine such as a zebra doing in the Ardennes?" The man said before sending a glaring eye at his companion.
"I am the one who gained your attention. Tell me what is this Ardennes?" Zecora spoke. This shocked both of them and the female squatted down to Zecora's height.
"Wow, I've never seen a talking Zebra. Wait a minute this isn't the Ardennes?!" The woman said as what Zecora had just said became clear.
"I told you that we needed directions. Honestly, why must you yanks be so stubborn." The male said.
"Can it Gramps." The woman said. "Anyway can you tell us where we are then ms..." The woman continued.
"I am Zecora the Zebra as you can see. Right now you are in the forest known as Everfree. Judging by your lack of knowledge of this flora and fauna I assume you don't know the Kingdom of Equestria." Zecora replied. This made the gentleman tense at hearing unfamiliar kingdoms.
"You would be correct. I am Sir Winston Churchill the Fourth, and this Yankee here is my companion." Churchill responded.
"I am Elanor Sherman or Sherry as I go by. I come from the United States of America, and gramps here is from Great Britain." Sherry said. Zecora of course had not heard of such nations.
"Well if you follow me. I can lead you out of the Everfree. If you walk this path further still. You will enter PonyVille." Zecora said walking on the path with her two oddities following behind.
"How are we gonna get back to the front at this point. its like we are not even on Earth." Churchill said.
"Calm down gramps, they won't lose because two tanks went missing. MY siblings have it covered and you Brits have plenty of spares lying round. Maybe they replaced you with a Firefly." Sherry replied.
"Oooh the shame. Replaced by another Yankee." Churchill said.
It took a good few minutes of walking before the strange trio made it to Ponyville. The ponies couldn't help, but stare at the two bipeds and their weird outfits as they walked towards the crystal castle.
"You said this mare can help us right madam Zecora?" Churchill asked.
"Indeed the Princess will help you and Sherry." Zecora rhymed as the came to the door of the large crystal castle. When the door opened a small reptile opened it with a purple claw.
"Hello Zecora. Who are these freinds of yours?" Spike said.
"I am Sherry, and gramps here is Churchill. We've come to get help from the princess." Sherry said.
"Oh okay. Come on in." Spike said as the door opened, and the duo was lead to Twilight, while Zecora went home to work on her remedies. The two were intrigued to see a winged unicorn as a princess.
"Hello I'm Twilight Sparkle. Princess of Friendship, so what do you wish to speak with me about?" Twilight asked.
"Well you see Ms. Sparkle. MY compatriot, and I seem to be in the wrong place, and if e don't return to our home there will be trouble." Churchill said giving a polite genuflect. Twilight was a little nervous around such frivolities.
"Oh that sounds bad. Please can you explain where you are from?"
"We're from Earth, the fourth planet of the Solar System. I hail from The United Kingdom of Great Britain. My compatriot is from the Unites States of America. We arrived here in 1945 by the Julian Calendar." Churchill said. This left Twilight Wide eyed.
"You okay Princess?" Sherry said waving a hand in the mare's face.
"Your...Your from another world?" Twilight said ins shaky tone before shaking her head, "I'm sorry, but you are not even on your own planet anymore it seems. This is the planet Gaia, in the Kingdom of Equestria. and its the year 1010 by the Celestial Caldendar."
Now it was their turn to be frozen in place. "WHAAAAAAAAT?!" The duo called out. This was going to be a looong day for the duo, and Twilight. What they didn't know is who else arrived that day to the North...And to the East
The lands of Baltimare are nothing truly special. Resting on the coast of Horshoe bay, the area receives trade from the other kingdoms. It also was a large port for the Equestrian Navy. What was interesting about this place was the news of two newcomers. A group of fisher ponies had seen a small dinghy tossing about in the water, and tried signalling it...no response. The group thought it must lost its crew, or broke away from its moorings, and thus pulled up beside the boat. What they did not expect was two Minotaur like creatures passed out in the little dinghy.
"Damnnit they are burning up from the sun. C'mon lads, we need to tow them back with us." The captain of the fishing trawler said as the crew also tried to help cool down the two creatures by soaking some spare cloth and putting it on them to bring down their heat. One stallion even brought some tarps to cover to make an improvised umbrella to protect their bare skin.
The crew finally made it to the docks where the two beings were taken to the hospital for medical treatments of possible heat stroke symptoms. It was a strange experience for Mako to wake up in a hospital. Mainly because last time she was out of action, she had been placed in a simple repair shed on some small island in the Pacific, so to see a hospital building was strange.
"Ow.Did anyone see the tea lover that-" A voice not too far from Mako said. She looked across the room to next patient who was short, had long hair, and some...riveted armor plates? 'What country uses riveted tanks anymore?' Mako thought as the other girl looked at her. "You aren't from my divisione, who are you!?" The girl shouted in a clear italian accent.
"I'm Mako. A type 97 of the Japanese Empire. You must be from Italy judging by your uniform and accent?" Mako replied, and the girl nodded before giving a simple salute. "I'm Verona Carro Armato de Ansaldo of Italia. I've never seen a fellow axis member except for those bossy german 'cats'." Verona said. This almost childlike personality made Mako smile. Just as she was about to ask another question, the door opened to reveal two ponies in hospital uniforms.
"Ah good your awake. We thought that the heat stroke would get ya." The doctor pony said. 'That accent it sounds like...' Mako back up from the two ponies and put herself in front of Verona. "Who are you? How do two ponies speak American?" Mako said with a steely glare.
"I don't know what an american is ma'am, but you're in the land of Equestria. We just saw you stranded in a boat and wanted to make sure you were okay." the doctor said trying to defuse the situation. Mako was very hesitant to stop pointing her cannon at the doctor, but eventually gave in. "Thank you. Now all we need to do is make sure you're clear to leave and then you can go." The doctor said as the two girls sat down on the closest mattress. The inspection took only a few moments, and the two were cleared.
"Oh you are new to this land correct?" The nurse said, and the duo nodded. "Well I recommend going to Canterlot. You might be able to see the princess raise the sun." The nurse said before walking away. 'Raise the sun?!' Mako thought. 'Impossible. No one but the Lord can do that.' Verona thought.
"I say we see this for ourselves. Any one who claims to do the Lord's work is either a prophet or a heretic." Verona said as the duo headed towards the exit to find a way to this alleged raiser of the sun. Boy would they be in for a surprise...