Reviews:
President Eden: Yub yub!
LexiconHuka: I need to get around to writing that weed chapter...
Kyubisaurus: More like her planet's past, instead.
iOptimumReaper: I have that song!
rainchaserbrony: small amount compared to the gold.
MLPFan298: Fuck it, I'll give out a spoiler; Mark will be dead before the battle with Tirek. The story will not end with his death, and I don't know who's POV I'll continue the story with.
IronicNoun: Eh, you're off by ten chapters.
Lone The Dark Hearted Wolf: More like edjumacational.
Co-Author's Note: Holy hell, its a landcruiser... a battleship on wheels!
"I brought in another tank, Mark." Was the first thing that I heard out of Dawn's mic, causing me to sigh.
"Where?" I asked, standing outside the library.
"East edge of Ponyville. Came from WWII, and it had '205' written on the side in German." My blood didn't go cold, it froze.
"Dawn, I will hurt you later." I dropped the books I was carrying and fucking booked it right then and there, confusing the fuck out of Apple. Mugs clung to my shoulder guard like it was a life preserver. My helmet automatically set a waypoint as I ran as fast as I could, Gallan and Schmidt following after me in confusion. Both of them were in their WWII uniforms, unfortunately.
"Gallan, don't follow, you'll just get an 88mm shell to the life!" I shouted, causing him to skid to a stop. Schmidt probably knew what I was talking about.
"Please tell me I'm wrong by saying there's a certain tank ahead..." Schmidt groaned. I shook my head. "VERDAMIT!"
"Let's pray that he's reasonable." I sighed, passing past Ditzy, who merely pointed a hoof to where I needed to go.
[Outskirts]
"Tiger tank '205' is in sight." Schmidt muttered, crawling backwards to my position behind a low wall. "Should I go out there?"
"Negative." I whispered. "They may be trigger happy and think you're an Allied soldier dressed up like a Nazi. I'll go."
"You'll get shot!" He hissed.
"I have better armor, and I do not want to pull rank goddammit. Brigadier General is higher ranking than squad leader." I hissed back, getting to my knees and peeking over the top. The tank just idled there, as if there was nothing wrong with the world. I set Mugs on the ground and crouch walked to the edge, before getting up and walking carefully. I knew Schmidt was where I just was, Karbiner 98k pointing at the tank as if it would do squat.
"Hello?" I called out when I was a few yards from the tank, but getting no response. Which confused the hell out of me. "Anybody in there?" I waited a minute before sighing and pulling myself up. "Don't shoot! Friendly." I said as I pushed the barrel of an MG42 (I will squee later) away from my face.
I hefted the hatch open and did not get the expected barrel of a Luger pointed at me. Frowning, I lowered myself in and looked around. Nobody, but there was definite signs of people being in here before appearing.
"What the hell?" I muttered, looking through the stuff for a bit, getting inventory. 50 88mm shells, twenty belts of ammo for the MG42, five MP40s, and 1 StG-44 with 7 mags for each gun. But no Nazi troops.
"Is it safe?" Schmidt called out from a yard away from the chassis. I stuck my head out of the turret.
"Not a soul in here, except for me." I said, dropping back down and cracking my knuckles. "Now, I gotta remember how to drive these bastards..." Schmidt joined me by the time I recalled the lessons, sending the Tiger tank lurching forward with a small whoop. Not too different than driving Athena, fortunately.
"What." Moore stood dumbfounded as I pulled to a stop in front of him. Without shouting anything, I got Schmidt to lower the cannon, causing him to scramble to cover.
"Ha!" Schmidt laughed as he popped up, before pulling himself out of the tank. After I made sure I couldn't run the Kraut over, I continued off towards my destination.
Another third of the way there, Duffy and a few of the others stopped me and Pinks, who got in through her special magnets.
"Load up the special shells and aim at them!" I called back to Pinkie, who saluted with a wide grin.
"Aye aye, tank commander!" She chirped, before opening the hatch and shoving a 88mm shell with a pink tip. After she secured the barrel, she stuck her face into the sights and did her best to aim something with human technology.
"Uh, should we get out of the way?" I heard Duran ask.
"The armor will protect us from the 70mm shells that thing can fire off." Duffy answered, crossing his arms.
"Uh, that particular tank can fire off 88mm shells, Duffy." Hill imputed. "Everyone in the Allies who fought the front lines, including Athena, feared that Tiger Tank 205 was going up against them, not only of the shells, but of the crew itself." Duffy looked a lot less sure, now.
Time to act.
"FIRE!" I yelled out enough in German (and sounded a lot like a Nazi) for them to hear, causing Pinkie to release hell on earth at them.
Confetti.
I did not know how Pinkie managed to make a 88mm confetti shell, but when I saw it after stopping the second time, I did not question it. I merely acted like a good soldier. Out of nowhere, a loud ass thump came at the edge of the town, and I turned the tank around as quickly as possible to see what made it. A second later, a tremor shook the tank and the people behind me fell to the ground.
"What the hell?!" I muttered, hoping that the shaking didn't break the tank; I wanted this sumbitch so bad. When the tremors stopped, I carefully rotated the rest of the way and stared at what was sitting in the field.
The P1000 'Ratte'.
"That's impossible..." I muttered, opening the hatch and climbing out. Pinks popped up next to me as I slid onto the ground.
"What is that thing, Mark?" She asked in confusion. Understandable; thing was about as big as the C-5.
"Something that was never built..." I muttered in awe. "What the hell is it doing here?"
"What's going on?" Ditzy asked as she clumsily landed next to me.
"A masterpiece of Nazi engineering." I said as I started walking over to the Landkreuzer. "Never built, and it was designed to withstand almost anything the Allies could throw at it, save for coastal batteries."
"Are those barrels off of a ship?" Blake asked as he jogged up to me.
"Yep." I said. "Twin 280mm cannons. Armor's anywhere from 150mm to 360mm thick; almost 15 inches."
"Goddamn." Blake took his helmet off and rubbed his chin. "Any idea why it's here?"
"The project to build the P1000 was cancelled in 1943, before they could begin construction." I shook my head. "Right now, the only way I'd need to have to change my skivvies is if the P1500 'Monster' appeared."
"Bigger than this?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Way bigger. Over a hundred Nazis were going to have to crew that bastard, and a single shell was bigger than a T-34 Soviet medium tank."
"How big?"
"800mm." I said. "Super-Heavy artillery, in more than one way. Thing was 1,500 tons."
"Jesus..." Blake rubbed his face a little bit. "What're we gonna do with this?" It took me a moment to come up with an answer.
"Destroy it." I finally said. "We have no use for this, and it's way too big for conventional use."
"What're we gonna use?" He asked as I turned around and went back to my tank. I don't care what anybody says, this is my tank. I shall name him Jerry, and many an enemy will be run the fuck over by Jerry.
"Get creative!" Was my reply before I slid down the hatch and started off for the farm.