The day was blistering hot. The sky was empty. The sun shone down on a motorized military convoy. The wheels of trucks and tanks screeched and rattled against the sun baked tar road. "ah, when are we gonna get to Lemur base. this heat is killing", exclaimed Desert Valor. He was a young, fit and battle ready marine with an impressive fighting capability and attitude. "We still have our ways to go, about thirty five clicks, maybe more" shouted Tanned Metal, in response to Valor's exclamation. Valor slung his rifle to his side, and stopped for a moment. He gazed into the open desert and wondered as to why it was well, empty.
Just then, a commanding over watch Pegasus ordered Valor to "keep moving". And so he did. The convoy was nearing a town. The convoy was on the outskirts of the desert, so it could of been hostile. "Graveyard one-five, where the is Graveyard one-five" shouted the commanding Pegasus once more. The five pony marines assembled in front of the convoy. "alright, the town ahead appears to be deserted. Could be housing enemy presence. We want you and Aero squad, to push up and secure it, you got it". The Marines exclaimed with a firm HOORAH ! Graveyard squad regrouped with Aero squad and prepared to secure and investigate the unknown town.
Valor pulled his rifle from his side, and held it firmly in his hooves. Squad leader 'Valiant Ace' ordered his ponies with the following command. "Mags in, safeties off boys!". The sound of weapons being loaded and safety switches being clicked, echoed the narrow streets on the 'ghost' town. Aero squad followed behind them. Everypony regrouped in a rectangular courtyard at the center of the town. "Ok marines, our objective is to scan and secure this town. Civilians seem to have been evac't so it should be safe". "but sir, what if we run into enemy contact?", Valor questioned. "Dont worry son, we wo-. Valiant's sentence was interrupted by a loud sound in the distance.
The sound came from the convoy's direction. The pony marine squads both rushed to the towns outer walls. What they saw, shocked them tremendously. Their convoy was being attacked by, natively dressed pony figures. Valiant ordered the machine gun team to "lay down some lead on that position". Valor and the machine gun team moved up, onto a structure that overlooked the convoy. The support pony grabbed some ammo boxes and started feeding the machine gun. Soon enough, the rapid fire of the machine gun filled the hot air, and brass casings clinked all over the floor. Pretty soon, the gunfire stopped and the convoy seemed motionless.
"We need to get back to the convoy NOW!" shouted Valour. "Copy that lieutenant, Oscar Mike". The Marines headed for the gate of the town. Hooves and webbing clanked around as everypony was running towards the convoy. "It's not far boys, come on". Valour secretly gestured to the rest of The ponies, to hurry up. Everyone approached the convoy and Valiant ordered them to hold position when they got there. Everything was quiet, and the smell of burnt lead and death hung in the air. "oh my god sir, they're all dead" stated a marine from Aero squad. "Seems like it marine" responded Valiant. "Should we search for survivors or radio equipment?". "Affirmative, let's look around", said Valiant silently.
Valor and Valiant started looking through the armored vehicles and trucks. Only extra ammo and some Anti-tank equipment lay around. Just then, a static sound came from inside the cab of one of the truck. The two soldiers moved the sound and discovered an out-of-tune radio that read "Rhino three-three come in this is earthpony fortress. Rhino three-three do you copy". Valiant grabbed the radio and responded with "earthpony fortress, this is Graveyard one-five, do you read?". "Afirm graveyard, where's Rhino?". "Convoy came under attack by an unknown enemy, numbers unknown, break?". The radio broke off into static after that.
"He-he-help me, someone". A wounded pony marine said faintly, but enough to catch the attention of Desert Valor. "Hey, Medic over here" exclaimed Valor. The pair of ponies rushed to the wounded warrior. "My leg, its screwed up. My wife's gonna kill me", mumbled the Marine. "Don't worry man, You'll be ok, the medic will take care of that. Valor looked cover to the medic. The medic pony, shook his head in sorrow. Valor went blank. "Ok marine, we need to know what happened here. who did this?" Valor questioned. "They- they did. they shot us to pieces before we could even lift our weapons". The marine was nearly dead by the looks of it.
"Who, who did?". The marine pointed to a truck. Valor looked towards the direction the pony was pointing at. He noticed a message painted on the side of it. Before he could read it, the sound of the now-dead pony's hoove hit the floor. Valor looked at his emotionless face, and took his dog tags. The medic added. "we have to leave his body here, to much trouble to carry him with us". Roger that. The squads regrouped. "And, you get anything?" asked Valiant, "yeah, on that truck. We got a dead marine though". Valiant responded with, "that's tragic, but we've got bigger problems". Valor snickered at Valiant as they approached the truck.
When they came up to the disabled military vehicle, a message read as follows on the side. "Invade our land, Invade your lives". Nopony knew what it meant, but it was definitely a threat. The groups of marines just stood there and looked at each other until Valiant ordered, "we have to move, up the road". "Copy that squad leader" shouted Valor in an aggressive tone. And so the Marine ponies of Graveyard and Aero squad went, on their way to discover, and unknown enemy....
