Lunar armies moving to Saddle Arabia?
	
	The conflict in Saddle Arabia between the Celestial backed government and the rebels has been intensifying for a few months, and now reports suggest that the Lunar government is sending several battalions to support the rebels. Celestial recon pictures show several suspicious container ships that seem to be marked with the sinister Nightmare Moon heading for the desertic continent, and some pilots claim to have been fired on by AA guns onboard. The Lunar foreign minister has refused interviews so far, and denies that his government has somenothing to do with the ships. More on page 3.	

	There were several dozen of ponies sitting in the tent on the bare sand, each with their insignias, some with their hats on. They were all chatting, trying to think of anything else than the scorching heat. The ponies all went silent and stood up straight when they saw a grey unicorn with a lieutenant colonel insign lift up one of the flaps and get in. He took out a pile of papers out from his rugged saddlebag and threw them on a table before focusing his attention on the ponies in the tent, adjusting his glasses over his nose..

	"At ease. For those who do not know my name, I am Lieutenant Colonel Ironstroke," he said in a clear but low pitched voice. "I will be the one, with the assistance of some rebellion leaders, to command Foxtrot batallion, and my call sign will be Foxtrot as well." He trotted from one side of the tent to the other, surveying all the ponies who stood in front of him. "We are operating on foreign soil and with the cooperation of Saddle Arabians, so I don't have to say that I expect you all to have a behavior that is loyal to the true value of Lunar soldiers, and especially Lunar tank crews. Did I make clear?"

	"Yes Lieutenant!" Screamed all the ponies.

	"Good. On this table," the lieutenant showed them the papers with his hoof ", you will have your assigned crew for this operation. If you are already assigned to one, pick your paper up anyways, as there might have been changes. All tank commanders, briefing in my tent in five minutes. Drivers, you will go to the boats and unload your tanks from there when you find your assignment. Dismissed!"

	About an hour later, the tanks had almost all been unloaded, and were standing by the beach. The place was a complete cacophony, with conversation noises mixed with multiple engines' rumbling. In this crowd, a light blue unicorn was trying to find his way.

	"Sorry, have you seen tank 471?" asked the blue pony

	"I think I saw it earlier went that way," said a yellow mare. "Not sure though."

	"Thanks anyways." he said, continuing his search.

	Moments later, he spotted a tank with four ponies around it instead of the usual five.  Confident that it was his, he trotted towards it, to meet what was probably going to be his future crew. The sand colored tank had a boxy hull and thin threads, coupled with a turret made of various metal sheets at various angles, holding a small box at the rear. The thick cannon was made of two short pieces, each probably only a few hoofs long. 

	"Tank 471?" he asked.

	"It's us," answered a dark grey unicorn with a dull, monotone voice, cleaning his binocular's glasses on the turret. "And who are you?"

	"Private Focus Point, radio operator."

	"Oh, so it's you. We've been waiting for you for already twenty minutes. Be more ponctual next time. No, not a word," he said as soon as Focus Point wanted to start talking. "we've wasted enough time already, and we don't have too much left. I need to brief you guys up about the situation."

	The grey pony slided off the turret's side onto the sand. He got to the front of the tank, holding a folded paper in his mouth.. 

	"Oh yeah, forgot. Crew, this is our new radio operator, Focus. Our gunner will be Tornado"-A white colt with a blue mane shook his hoof with Focus-"our loader, Firestorm"-A red crystal pony presented his welcome-"and our driver, Whirlwind." A brown earth pony nodded his head towards Focus. 

	Focus Point noted that during all the time he talked, his commander's voice did not change from that dull, monotone sound. He really didn't know why, but that level of calm stroke fear in him instead of reassuring him. Silver Streak unfolded the paper he had in his mouth on the hull, revealing a map. 

	"Now that this is done, here is what we will do for now. The ships landed here"-Silver Streak put his hoof on a peninsula on the bottom of the map-"and our objective today is Al-Hoofuf village."-he pointed a spot northwest of their position-" It's a resistance stronghold, and we can expect it to be relatively safe. We will move when the sun sets. We still have time, so I'll try to familiarize you guys with the type 4 tank."

	Silver Streak folded his map and climbed in the tank from the hatch in the turret, and told the four other ponies to do the same. Firestorm and Tornado climbed in from the same hatch as he did, Whirlwind climbed in from a lower hatch on the top of the hull, and he told Focus to do the same with the hatch left to his.

	"Okay, so this is what we will be using for now. Not the best tank ever, but it'll get the job done. Whirlwind, take care of the blue pony, I'll teach the two others."

	"Sure commander," he answered. "So, what tank did you use during training Focus?" he asked.

	"I think it was the type 2 one."		

	"Well, the type 4 doesn't have any significant difference from the type 2, except the size, which you probably already saw. You also have a better radio, but they work the same way. Also, here" - Whirlwind showed Focus two handles connecting to a rectangular structure with a belt coming out of the right side - "is your hull MG, which you don't have on the type 2. You'll be tasked in using to to clear infantry, got that?"

	"I think, yeah," Focus replied in a hesitant voice.

	"You'll see, everything will fall right in place when you're gonna use this in combat. Everything better fall in place, or we're all burning in this tin can," he said before exploding in laughter. "We're the leaders of third platoon, so you're going to be tasked with coordinating it when Silver is too busy. Don't let us down, okay?"

	Focus Point nodded in response, and, with his typical laugh, Whirlwind gave him a firm tap on his back.

	One hour later, as the sun pointed out its last copper rays and the the soldiers began turning on their flashlights, some orders came in from their battalion commanders, for a last minute check before moving out.

	"Okay, stop what you're doing now," said Silver Streak. "We're doing the last check-up before going out, so we better listen to the radio."

	A few seconds later, the familiar voice of Ironstroke came in, crackled by the radio's sound system.

	"Foxtrot company, all platoons report," he said in his clear voice.

	"First platoon here"

	"Second platoon reporting"

	"Third platoon ready for combat," said Silver Streak.

	"Fourth platoon coming in"

	"Fifth platoon ready to kick plot sir"

	"Sixth platoon loud and clear"

	"All the radios are working, excellent," said Ironstroke. "We will move out soon. Turn off your flashlights and don't make too much noise. Officially, our division is at home performing maneuvers, and any signs of us in Saddle Arabia could start a war. We move out now, follow your platoon leader. Foxtrot out."