Location: Yuma, Arizona, USA
Date: July 18th, 2017
Yuma, a desolate town if any one ever saw it. Ever since the United States came under invasion from Equestria, towns in 'no man's land' had become ghost towns. A bad thing? Yes and no. Sure, the population of these towns had evacuated in rushes, driven from their homes as a result of the invasion, but the fact that is was now a ghost town made it a perfect hiding place for human guerillas.
"Jaguar 6, this is Jaguar 0-4, the patrol is heading your way, over."
"Roger that, how much have we got?"
"The ground force is about a platoon's worth, and they've got a carraige. We've also got those pegasai from before, how copy?"
"Solid copy. All Jaguars, get to your positions. Do not engage until I give the order."
The ponies continued walking down the street, having no clue that they were going straight to their deaths. Each pony was armed with a powerful stun gun, strapped to their hooves, that could zap a human unconscious for hours. They were also equipped with nets to carry such humans. Is this case, the combat strategy was to bag and drag. First, they would zap a human, then net him, and board him onto the carriage, which was about as large as a trailer of an eighteen-wheeler.
"Alright, hold up," the patrol leader queitly ordered ponies behind him, who silently passed the word onto the rest.
"Everypony, fan out and sweep this area for any lead on The Jaguars. Regroup back here within fourty minutes."
As he spoke...
"I have eyes on their leader. Jaguar 0-7, you see him?"
"I got him."
"Drop him."
Next...
*BANG*
The patrol leader was hit square in the neck by a deadly sniper round, instantly killing him. His corpse was throw to the ground like a rag doll.
Next...
"Jaguars, open fire!"
The sound of rapid gunfire vibrated through the air as a sandstorm of bullets began cutting the patrol down. Screams of pain escaped the mouths of many of the ponies as over a dozen of them fell in quick seconds, their blood spilling on the street. The ponies scrambled to whatever cover they could find and began firing their stun guns in the gunfire's directions. They tried to narrow down where the shooting was coming from, but as far as they could tell, it was coming from all directions.
Several ponies attempted to use the carraige for cover as the six earth pony stallions who were hauling it quickly unstrapped themselves and ran for cover... though not getting far. Suddenly, another bang rang out, louder than all others, and just a milisecond later, the carriage was smashed like a board of lumber that was hit by a sledgehammer. If one was to divide the full length of the carriagge into three equal sections, the middle section would be completely destroyed, and the other two wouldn't be fairing well either.
It was a rocket. The explosion instantly killed a small number of ponies who were to close. Others suffered a more agonizing death, shrapnel. Chunks of debris that let fly and cut right into your body. The ponies unfortunate enough to receive this torture were forced to scream and writhe in pain as they bled to death.
The bullets flew and the bodies fell as the onlaught continued. The rate of fire had pulled down to a slower level, but was still pouring on, sounding off from all directions like several jackhammers. About over half the patrol had fallen by this point, and three pegasai had been shot out of the air. Some of the remaining ponies attempted to move closer towards the gunfire in order to flush out the enemy... only to be cut down like their friends.
Three ponies took cover behind a wrecked car while popping their heads around it and firing bursts in the direction of the gunfire, although they were still slightly oblivious to were it was actually coming from. One of them thought he heard a strange clinking sound and looked down to see something that nearly made his heart stop.
"GRENA-"
*BOOM*
The stallion tried to warn his friends, but it was too late; the grenade detonated, shooting out pellets that ripped through the flesh of the trio.
"Retreat!"
The ponies remaining, knowing that they were neck deep in a crossfire, retreated back down the street to a parking lot at an intersection in order to regroup and retaliate.
"They're falling back to point Papa Lima. Team Two, move up and keep them supressed, how copy?"
"Sollid copy. Team Two, moving up."
"Team One, one me!"
As the ponies moved behind cover, some of their troops, armed with more long-ranged stun guns, laid down covering fire for their comrades. They only consequence was of this act was death as gunfire tore their blood vessels and organs and fractured their bones.
"We've got humans behind cover over by those buildings, they're pinning us down!" an earth pony yelled to his friend as they both hid behind cover.
"I think we've found The Jaguars," he said with apprehension.
Before his friends could respond, more shouts were heard.
"AAAAHH!!"
Death came from a distance in the form of bullets wrapped in full metal jackets.
The fourth pegasus was now dead and the fifth pegasus was only seconds from joining him as he was hit twice in the midsection and crashed.
The last pony to fall was a unicorn mare, who, being a rookie, finally snapped under the pressure of panic. She let out a primal roar as she jumped out from cover and charged in a random direction with a blazing stun gun... only to fall like the rest. She wailed in agony as she took multiple rounds.
All was silent...
"Jaguar 6, moving in to the parking lot, give me cover. Jaguar 5, move back and check the street, how copy?"
"Solid copy, moving to the street."
Seconds later, a man stepped out into the street, dressed in miltary equipment and armed with an XM8 rifle. However, the most interesting aspect of his appearence was his mask. He wore a full head wool mask with only a small slit for his eyes. What was so eye catching about this mask? It's camouflage style. The mask's color was a blend of yellow and orange with black spots all over. It was camouflaged like the coat of a jaguar.
The man stepped into the pakring lot where he carefully surveyed the area, making sure the ponies in the area were all lifeless. There was a groan. Acting on instinct, the man flipped out his M2013 pistol from its holster and fired it in the direction of the groan. A cross between a groan and a scream. Another one dead. The man sweeped his gaze around for a few more seconds.
"Parking lot clear," he said over his two-way throat radio. "Jaguar 5, status?"
"Street clear, all tangos neutralized."
"Jaguars, regroup on me."
Seconds later, a few humans began to enter the parking lot from all sides, and more after them, and more after the. Each human was armed to the teath with lethal weaponry and wearing the same 'jaguar mask' as the man. The humans all together formed a group of twelve. Guerilla fighters, they had been hiding like bats in a cave, just waiting for the patrol to walk into their death trap.
"Alright, let's get this place cleaned up!"
Unkown to the guerillas, they too were being watched from the roof of a hotel, but not by hostiles.
"It's them!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed, as she viewed them through a telescope. "It's The Jaguars!"
"Are you sure?" asked Stone.
"Positive, they're wearing the same mask, and their cleaning up their kills."
She moveded aside as Icepick, formely known as 'Spike', stepped up to the telescope to peer through. The teenage, human-shaped wingless dragon had to squat down to glimpse through the lense, as he now stood at a whopping seven and a half feet, to think that he was once a baby.
"Yep, it's them alright," he confirmed.
"Alright, Derpy, do you still have the flag?" asked Doctor Whooves.
"I got it, chief!" she chirped
"Don't call me 'chief', now fly out there and get there attention."
"On it- oof!"
Because of her... unique eyesight, the pegasus indivertibly slammed into Crow, who fell back and knocked down Vinyl Scratch, who intern fell on Incepick's tail.
"Oh!"
"D'OH!"
"OW!
"Careful, Derpy!" The Doctor scolded.
"Sorry," she replied sheepishly before refocusing her eyesight and launching off the roof. (Albeit, rather haphazardly.)
"And remember, ask for Jason and Bryan Parker!" Twilight shotued.
Back at the street, the guerillas prepared their procedure for cleaning the street. First, they would scoop up the rubbish pile that was once the carraige, and clean up the gory bodies. The Jaguars had hidden two bulldozers in plain sight to scoop away to wreckage and bodies. Their cleaning supplies would also be useful in washing the gore from the streets. It wouldn't be likely for The Jaguars to erase all evidence of the ambush, but they had to erase as much as possible. An elite fighting force was one that covered up it's tracks.
About half of the group was tasked with these priorities, while the others would keep lookout from a distance. If any other ponies came around, The Jaguars had to jump back into the shadow immediately. The elements of stealth and surprise were their greates weapons against the ponies, and ever since they were betrayed, it became imperative that those weapons be protected as best as possible.
"Jaguar 6, this is Jaguar 7," Jaguar 6 heard a voice through his radio. "We've got something, over."
"I copy, Jaguar 7, what is it?"
"Uh... there's a grey pegasus flying around, she has a white flag."
"Coming this way?"
"Hard to tell."
"Define 'hard to tell'!"
"Ehh... her pattern of flight is very askew."
Strange. Why would a pegasus simply fly out into the open waving a white flag? Wait, a grey pegasus with an askew flight pattern... Derpy Hooves.
"All Jaguars, stay in position and hold your fire."
A split second later, The Jaguars noticed a grey pegasus flying towards them (or, at least it seemed like it, as her flight pattern was nearly identical to that of a fly.) As it was said, this pegasus was waving a white flag in her mouth. The Jaguars were itchy as the pegasus closed in. Nearly every pair of human eyes was locked on target and every index finger was lightly wrapped around a trigger as the pegasus slowed into a hover.
"Nngh mmmph nngghh," she spouted out a phrase of incomprehensible gibberish.
Questioning glances were cast between the humans.
"What?" one human asked.
"Mmmpph mmmmpppph!"
"Spit out the flag!" another exclaimed.
*Ptoo!*
The pegasus spat the flag from her mouth, which unintentionally hit one of the humans in the head.
"Ow."
"Sorry," Derpy replied.
Despite her mentally challenged demeanor, the ditzy pegasus knew that most of the humans below her had no clue who she was, but she also carried absolute certainty that two of them would remember her.
"Derpy? Is that you?"
----------The Conversion Bureau: Jaguars----------
Everyone has their dreams. Some dream of worldwide prosperity, some worldwide destruction, some dream of conquering all, and some dream of obliterating black-hearted tyrants. Right now, I'm sure that last one is every human being's dream. Who would have thought that the first extra-terrestrial race we'd come in contact with would try to wipe us out? Conspiracy theorists who no one really listens to, and no one expects to be correct. As crazy as it sounds, there's a first for everything. They've been trying fulfill a genocide of all humanity.
Back in Octobor 10th, 2010, they came to our planet. A race of sentient ponies living in a land called Equestria. Their Princesses, Celestia and Luna, were said to able to manipulate the sun and moon. Now that I think about it, that's probably a lie they made up to make their ponies to blindly follow them. At least, it would make sense. Ever since they came to Earth, every other sentence they've delivered to humanity have been nothing but white lies. "Peace and prosperity to all mankind?" Yeah, and Neil Armstrong stepped on Mars. Equestria's presence was met with a widely mixed reaction. Some people were estatic, some people were completely freaking out, and some people, such as myself, just couldn't wrap our heads around what it. I mean, come on. A nation of sentient ponies with two princesses who can, supposedly, raise the sun and moon? Who could have possibly thought of that?
But if you think that's crazy, the best is yet to come. They offered us lives as ponies. They had this chemical they called 'ponification serum' that would transform a human into a pony. Acording to their story, they had seen the corruption that plagues Earth to this day, and wanted to help us. Albeit, it was a bit creepy knowing that a race of ponies had been spying on us, but many people couldn't help but feel grateful that they'd want to help us. Sadly, that's where things went downhill. We absolutely had to become ponies? That was their idealism, every human on this planet most become a pony. Celestia herself said it to the world. Okay, she didn't say that immediately, but it did come. With human permission, the ponies set up these centers called Conversion Bureaus. They were kind of like a cross between hotels and hospitals. People would go to one a rent a room there for a few days, waiting for their turn to become ponified. My family and I took a brief look at one ourselves, and to be honest, the ponies really knew how to show hospitality. They great food, entertainment, and the like, but the most important thing about them were the ponification rooms. When it was time for a number of humans to be ponified, they would be guided to one of these rooms, they would take the serum, via injection, and soon step out of the room as ponies. On November second, the first Bureaus went up in several major cities, including Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney and others. So how did it all boil over? It's how life works, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong...
...And that's how we got into this mess. I'll explain all that in a minute, but I don't want to dump to much information on you so quickly. Plus, you're probably wondering who I am. I'm Bryan Parker, one of The Jaguars, and this is our story....
A Situation Misunderstood
Hovering inches above me was Derpy Hooves. Poor girl, one can easily tell that despite her happy-go-lucky persona, she's been through alot. There were bruises and scars all over her body, including a particularly nasty gash dangerously close to her eye. All wounds received from battling her own fellow ponies. It was sad, really. She was shunned and distrusted in Equestria simply because she liked humans and didn't agree with what her fellow ponies were doing.
"Derpy? Is that you?" I asked.
Her adorable golden eyes suddenly widened as they darted towards me.
"How do you know me?! Who are you?" she shot back at me.
Oh, did I meantion that Derpy has a terrible problem for forgetting stuff? Believe me, I know. Sometimes her antics prompt me to sarcstially question whether or not she is the same pegasus who saved my life in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, her outburst reaped a consequence.
*BANG!*
"AAAAAUUUGGHHH!!!!"
Everyone, myself included, nearly jumped out of our own skin. Their was an abrupt gunshot that I promise went off right next to me, and the next thing I see, Derpy collapses to the ground, clutching a bloodied wing while bawling like a girl who just broke her leg. I'm serious, she was just squirming in the ground, crying loudly in complete agony. My Dad was the first to snap out of his shock as he rushed right next to Derpy and frantically attempted to calm her. He kept shouting at her to indicate where she was hit, although her incessant crying garbled anything she said.
As most everyone around me moved in to help Dad, I snapped my head to the side where the shot was fired. My friend, Tim "Snap Shot" Luther, was simply standing there. I noticed his hands were violently twitching, shaking his AK-47. Although his eye slit was small, I could still see them. What I saw, a look of fear.
I dropped my own AK, allowing it to dangle by its sling as I lunged forward, grabbed Snap Shot by his collar, and pulled him in my face, all while yelling.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!??? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER!!!"
"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he stammered. "She just-she just scared me-
"SHUT UP!!! You better get yourself together, NOW!"
With that, I shoved him back from me in anger. I honestly shouldn't have been too harsh on him. Snap Shot is a good fighter, but he sometimes has a habit of letting his fear get the better of him.
Over the past few weeks, my friends and I had gone from being your average teenage boys to brutal guerilla fighters. Snap Shot, however, was still recovering from the shell shock he received in Los Angeles. Add that to the fact that he was naturally a jittery kid, and his reaction to Derpy's outburst was very plausible.
Who am I kidding, we're all still suffering from shell shock. Seeing your hometown, in which you have lived your entire life, completely ransacked and seeing your own fellow humans spasming on the ground in utter pain after they've been zapped by pony stunners (and some don't even survive!) We all lost something, yet, simultaneously, but we wouldn't quit. My friends and I fought back, armed with little more than .22 caliber guns and knives, and after Dad brought The Jaguars together, we continued to fight.
I'm getting way off course. Back to the topic at hand, Derpy was mortally injured and crying. I walked up to the group surrounding here, trying to actually get a look at her wound. Specialist Will "Patch" Armstrong, our top medic, rushed in. I popped my head over my Dad's shoulder as he spoke to Derpy.
I cringed as I got a good look at her wound. Well, I couldn't exactly see it. There was so much blood gushing all over her wing and upper back, I couldn't tell where she was hit.
"Derpy! Calm down! Where are you hit?" my Dad exclaimed.
The only response he received was garbled by Derpy's sobs.
"What?!"
Again...
"Derpy, listen! Unless you tell me where your hit, you're going to bleed to death!"
And Again...
Dad grunted in frustration.
"Patch! Where's she hit?" he shouted to Patch.
"I think it's at the base of her wing!"
Suddenly, a blast of frost went out several feet away.
"LOOKOUT!!!" yelled Freddy "Hawkeye" Otunga.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!!!!" another voice rang out.
I jerked my head up to see none other than the dragon himself... lunging forward and bringing down a solid blade of ice.
"SCATTER!!!!" Dad yelled as he pulled Derpy into his arms and jumped back.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!*
"AUGH!"
Icepick clutched his arm in pain from the rounds that penetrated his scales.
"CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE! Dad thunderously adjured.
"Jaguar 6, what's going on down there?!" I heard the voice of '7' over my radio.
"Hold your position, Jaguar 7!"
"Icepick! Break the blades!" I yelled at the dragon.
"WHO ARE YOU!!?" he snapped.
"Icepick, it's me, you idiot!" I pulled my mask off for emphasis.
The dragon suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide.
"Oh... " he sheepeshly said as he thawed the ice blades around his arms. "Sorry, Bryan, I... I heard Derpy scream. I guess I just freaked out."
"That's fine, Icepick, just... be careful."
Icepick was no normal dragon, this guy could literally manipulate ice, shape it into anything he wants, even forming blades around his arms (they didn't call him 'Icepick' for nothing). Not to mention his signature 'frost jump' teleporting long distances using his ice magic.
I turned my head to my friends standing behind me, all in combat stances with rifles leveled to their heads, gazing down the sights at Icepick.
"Put the guns down dudes, this guy's on our side," I assured them.
"That goes for the rest of you, safeties on!" Dad said to the rest of the group before laying Derpy down.
I checked the rest of the group while Dad and Patch tended to the grey pegasus. The rest of our cohort was obviously relectant to obey, I could see their fear and uncertainty in their eyes. How? Trust me, when you and your friends spend a lot of time wearing masks that cover up like nintey-seven percent of your faces, you learn to read emotions just by looking into the eyes. I couldn't blame them for being uneasy. When I first meet Icepick, I was... intimidated to say the least.
"What's going on here?"
My train of thought was abruptly cut off by a flash of light and the voice of a fimiliar mare. I turned to see a lavender unicorn mare, acompanied by some friends. The unicorn was obviously a veteran. She wore a black spandex suit that was riddled with cuts and gashes. Around her head was a band that covered a hole in her skin. Her mane was singed from repeated pyro exposure and she wore an eyepatch over a laser scorched eye. I was knew all this well, as my Dad and I had meet her before, although my friends were highly suspicious of what we told them.
However, just as I was about to greet her, Murphy's law decided to pounce once more at the exact moment in which I dreaded the most.
"Hold it, that's Twilight Sparkle!"
Not again.
