As the yellow sun rose on the horizon, the camp came to light. Built up overnight, it was an amalgamate of brute shapes, beasts of steel and birds of silver. Despite being covered in dirt, rust and metal patches, these physical traits did not make them look obsolete nor weak. It was instead like an old warriror's scars, showing how much the machines had been trough, how many rivers were crossed, towns were conquered, planes were shot down and vehicles were penetrated,  not to mention how many hits were survived. Most of the damaged tanks were Tigers, clearly distinguished by their size. The "Tigers" were among the most feared tanks on the battlefield, boasting about the Lunar army's general quality in its war machines, which was preferred over quantity. Even tough Celestia's Shermans and Lees were coming out in greater numbers, a Tiger could easily kill a fair number of them while sustaining little damage. 

	A few days ago, the 16th and 20th tank divisions left this camp. Their mission: take back Canterlot. Even though the city used to be the capital of all of Equestria, the recent events such as the bombing of Ponyville and the development of new long-range bombers from Luna left to desire on the wisdom of leaving all of Celestia's administrative buildings in range of the destructive weapons. The decision was chosen to relocate the administration to the much safer Crystal Empire, which was way too far for any current plane to even think of reaching. However, Canterlot still hold some prestige from the royal palace which was left there, but it was mostly sought after by the armies for its strategic location. Being built on a hill, and being near the Everfree iron mines, Canterlot was the best place to be in for miles around. The raw materials needed to build planes, tanks and other weapons were going to be in shortage soon, and the Everfree mines were the biggest that had been found in all of Equestria. Taken with the fact that new fortifications had been built, Canterlot would be one though nut to crack, but not without a significant advantage.

	However, the operation did not go as planned. The divisions fell into an ambush when approaching Canterlot. Even when they fended off the attackers, more than a third of the 16th division and half of the 20th were put out of combat, without counting all the mechanical failures. But the orders did not change, the attack on Canterlot had to be done at any cost, and support from artillery and bombers was expected on the assault day. What wasn't taken in account was the new 85mm gun which now armed the new heavy Celestian tanks, and had much more penetrating power than the precedent 75 and 76.2mm ones, and also the introduction of the new and heavily armed Yak fighters. Bombers were quickly intercepted before they got into range, and the artillery had mostly been neutralized after a bold attack from Celestia. All those factors togheter lead to the massacre of what was left of the 16th and 20th division, with less than a dozen tanks escaping. Most of those had taken refuge in the actual Everfree forest, which was a dangerous but safer option than to stay near Canterlot. However, some did have knowledge of Ponyville and retreated to the destroyed town, which had been forgotten by most of Equestria.

	So there we are, in the ruins of the once lively town, Ponyville. Amongst the rubble stood a few buildings, which were hastily repaired using whatever could be found there. Comfort was less than minimal, once basic services like magic and running water soon became a luxury, or even an impossibility after the incident. The few ponies who stayed here where only there for three reasons: nostalgia, obligation, or because they were lying in their grave. The ones who were there for the first reason were considered fools, the ones who were there for the second reason were mostly the old or the extremely poor, and the ones who were there for the third reason were many. However, as the exception confirms the rule as it always does, there were a handful of young and once energic ponies who were there for the second reason.

	In the ruins there were two of those ponies, a grey mare and a dark blue stallion, scavenging for metal.

	"I tell you Blitzkrieg, the commander is crazy! This -what does he call it, Ponyville?- place is literally right next to Sunbutts and he wants us to stay here for the whole time that our repairs will last!" Protested the stallion

	"I don't know, he does seem to have a certain knowledge of this place. Shouldn't we trust him Sturmovik? I mean he is older than us... So you know, more experience?"
	
	"Everyone knows old peoples are senile Blitz! They're even worse than me! Celestia bless the socially able."

	"He's not that much older than us silly!" -Chuckled Blitzkrieg- "Only maybe a few years, a few months. I don't know, after all he's been trough he does look a lot older."

	"Even still, you can't deny it's madness to try to find the spare parts needed to put "Emil" back in shape. Why would a tank factory be established in such a small insignificant town? And why would there still be spare pieces left after so many years?"