WORK IN PROGRESS

Sitting on one of the many hills overlooking Ponyville sat two metal beasts, awaiting their command. Each was the size of a small wagon, but instead of wheels, they each had tracks. On top of the armored carriages rested a small ellipsoid-shaped turret, with an anti-personnel gun sticking out of the front. A hatch large enough to house a Diamond Dog was at the peak of each turret, and each also had a said dog poking their heads out looking through binoculars. They were observing the pony town, the ponies within oblivious to the presence of the two tanks of Canida.

Ever since the fiasco with the six ponies in the jewel fields along the Equestria/Canida border, relations between the two nations started to disintegrate. The ponies accused the dogs of kidnapping and slavery, while the dogs claimed the ponies invaded their land and stole their precious jewels. Eventually, each nation solumnly agreed to just isolate themselves from each other.

But Canida had never intended to let Equestria go unpunished. In secret, they boosted their military's might, heavily relying on these new "tanks", two of which overlooked Ponyville. They had devised the most sinister of plans: using these new weapons, they would attack Ponyville, in which resided the ponies they hated more than any others. They would take from them their most precious possessions, and by doing so cripple their ability to fight back. They wanted the most beautiful jewels in the world: The Elements of Harmony.

The Diamond Dog sitting just out of his tank's hatch heard the call come over the radio. He signaled to his fellow commander in the tank next to his. They both lowered themselves into their tanks and took their positions inside the turrets. Slowly, the twin armored wagons made their way down the hill towards the small town, the ponies within not suspecting a thing.

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The metal beast slowly rotated it’s turret to face her as small “chink” came from inside, telling her that it had loaded a new round. She was frozen in place, unable to believe what she was seeing. How did diamond dogs have this kind of technology? An armored wagon, really? Sure, it wasn't the most original idea, but putting a large gun on it and giving it those fancy-schmancy wheels that some of the richer farmers had on their tractors? These dogs were a lot smarter than most ponies thought.

Either way, it didn’t matter. All the apple pies in the world couldn’t put a dent in it, and now she was gonna be shot to pieces by that terrible barrel of death. Applejack braced herself for the imminent quickness that she had seen befallen several other ponies here in Ponyville. She heard the turret stop spinning, the seconds going by felt like hours, when finally the machine’s gun fired.

When Applejack didn’t feel anything, she opened her eyes to see what was going on. She heard the clang of a shell falling and hitting the cobblestone street, and saw that she was surrounded by a kind of magical shield. When the field faded away, she looked back over to the armored wagon from hell in the middle of the street, and noticed somepony had climbed on top of it. It took Applejack a few seconds to recognize the purple mare.

“T-Twilight?! What in tarnation are ya doin’?!” She shouted. Either Twilight didn’t hear her or was ignoring her, because she then used her magic to open a hatch on the top of the the machine’s turret. She pulled out a small metal device, pulling it’s pin out and dropping it down the hatch. Applejack swore it looked like a miniature pineapple. Twilight quickly closed the hatch and held it shut with her magic. Several seconds later, a dull *thud* was heard on the inside of the armored wagon.

Twilight Sparkle released her magic and hopped off the metal beast. She quickly walked over to Applejack as smoke started to pour out of the hatch.

“You hurt?” She asked in a low, monotone voice.

“A-Ah don’t think so. But Twi’, what in Equestria is goin’ on?” stammered Applejack.

Twilight sighed and lowered her head, “I might as well explain everything to all of you. Gather the others and meet me at the library,” She glanced at the sight of her now former home, and sighed again. “Well, what’s left of it anyway.”

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“Well my little ponies, here we are,” said Princess Celestia, as they arrived at a large garage door, stopping in front of it. Celestia walked over to a switch on the wall next to the door. The princess of the Sun grinned, “Dr. Porsche has something to show you, and I think you will enjoy it a lot.”

The six multi-colored ponies in front of the garage all stepped back at the sound the door made when Celestia pressed the switch down. The door slowly lifted, to reveal a large black abyss beyond it. Suddenly a deep, mechanical roar came out of the blackness, the loudest any of them had ever heard. The sound of the engine steadied, and slowly, the source of the noise came out of the darkness.

The first thing they saw was the barrel. It was long and thick, the biggest gun all six of them had ever seen. It had a small muzzle cap on the end and was reinforced where it connected with the turret. The turret itself was rounded in shape, but flat at the mantle where the gun connected to it. Then came the chassis; It was huge! Twilight guessed it to be almost as large as Fluttershy’s cottage. It was vaguely box shaped, with lots of hard corners and angles. The treads that supported the whole beast were as wide as a pony, making the ground shake as the tank traveled across it.

Once the massive machine was clear of the garage, it came to a stop. The engine shut down as large plumes of smoke billowed out of its exhaust. A round hatch on top of the turret flipped open, and a relatively tiny pony popped out.

“Hey girls! Check out this baby!” Yelled Porsche, waving at the six gaping mouths in front of their new toy. “So, what do you think?” He asked with a big smile on his face.

A few minutes went by, until finally somepony spoke up.

“Now THAT’S a tank if ah ever saw one!” exclaimed Applejack.

“It’s beautiful! The design is so elegant and... aggressive,” Rarity gasped.

“I-It’s... so b-big... a-and... scary...” whimpered Fluttershy, backing away from the tank further than the rest of her friends.

“It’s so big we could have a PARTY inside it!” Yelled Pinkie Pie excitedly.

“This tank... is SO AWESOME!” Squealed Rainbow Dash.

Twilight turned to Celestia, still in shock, “Is... is this tank ours!?”

“Yes my faithful student, I think it is well suited for your mission.” Celestia smiled down at Twilight. She then glanced over at the huge beast. “This... "Tiger" tank, as Dr. Porsche has come to call it, will get you through even the toughest challenges you’ll face.”