FimFiction Link - Short ID: 544589/the-splendid-panzers-of-miss-harshwhinny
Published: Nov '23
The Splendid Panzers of Miss Harshwhinny is an 8,3k word Equestria at War story. In it, we deal with an industrial revolution.
It's the first of these I read. Considering the reactions EaW tends to get, I'll assume the quality of this story is an outlier rather than the norm. Not to say it's flawless, but it's certainly engaging.
Upon realising the faraway war between the Changelings and the deer won't stay far away for long, Miss Harshwhinny quits her job at the Equestria Games and starts researching about tanks. Unlike that weird cousin you have who's really into WW2 tank manufacturing, Harshwhinny ends up with something to show. She takes her research and designs to anyone who will listen to her until she eventually catches the eye of someone in Equestrian intelligence services. They give her the time of day, and upon testing the tanks, its found that they work quite efficiently.
This leads to an industrial and economical revolution as Equestria moves onto mass production of these tanks, while Harshwhinny continues to make new prototypes and different models. The story then continues as Equestria is finally dragged into the conflict with the changelings. This time, Harshwhinny and company have to deal with narrow-minded nobles, generals who think they know better, and good ol' disorder in the production chain.
Overall, this was a really good story. Maybe it helps that the author never played the game, and just based it off what he knew about WW2 and some cursory wiki research.