//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Destabilized // Story: The Conversion Bureau: New Tactics Part II // by no sh*t sherlock //------------------------------// Chapter 9: Destabilized Kid I was scared, so very scared. The night was warm, but I shivered anyway. With help, Taylor had removed the seats and most of the engines from the cars. It didn't make them light as a feather, but it was a difference we definitely felt. Before we left, someone had the idea to put all our guns, ammunition, the mortars and the ballistic shields in the cars so we would have less to carry on our backs. That turned out to be great idea, but made some cars heavier than others. The solution was that we used was to rotate which cars we pushed every couple hundred feet. It was a little under a mile to the bureau and after what didn't seem like a long time, we arrived at the building Rain mentioned. The guys who would be on the roof assembled and took the mortars and most of the LMGs. Lefty took a HK 416, two C-Mags then came over to me. "You're one of the youngest people here." Lefty placed his hand on my shoulder "I've never told anyone this, but the reason I'm here, is you. I'm fighting here for you, Kid" "Why?" I asked, completely taken by surprise. "Because you are our future." He said smiling proud. "And you deserve to live a world where you don't have to run for your life or to hide in the shadows during the day. You deserve a world without ponies." Damn it I thought to myself as my eyes starting welling up. I thanked him and he gave me hug before he left with the others six up to the roof. Now was the time that Rebecca decided to put her plan into action. She, Hudd and Jacob grabbed a couple of assault rifles and one by one disappeared from view. Jacob keep muttering "This is stupid, this is so stupid." He clearly wasn't a big fan of her plan. To me, that was completely understandable. About fifteen guys moved her three special cars into position at the top of the drop onto the field. The last of our gasoline had been put into cars that wouldn't even have a driver. Three guys with Ballistic shields walked up to the drivers side door and opened it. I jumped when a dart exploded with green liquid on the guy at the middle car. Despite that, all three of them placed a cinder block on the gas pedal, then tossed a rope connected to it in the back. They then turned to Taylor, the mechanic and he nodded. On his command, they put the keys in their ignitions and started them up. The cars raced forward. The zoomed down the hill and sped towards the ponies. A couple of them in the front rapidly shot bright green liquid filled darts, which exploded harmlessly on the cars' hoods and windshields. Their fright, however, was short lived as the cars rolled to a stop just a few yards from the ponies lines. A couple shot darts into the drivers side only to discover that there was no one at the wheel. Everything else was in place except for one important thing: The ground team. That was me. Rain was supposed to be here too, but she ran off while the gettin' was good. I cursed at her silently while we all moved the five remaining cars into positon at the edge of the field. We made sure that we all had a weapon, some people took two or even three. I was handed an M-27, though I didn't really matter what I got. If it shot bullets, it was good enough for me. With one final shove, the cars were pushed over the edge of the drop. Two of them flipped over and the other three turned to the side so there was move room to take cover behind. We scrambled down the hill and took cover behind them. I could see activity on the Bureau's roof which confirmed that there were pegasi up there waiting for us. My heart starting pounding. My hands started sweating and my rifle nearly slipped out of my grip.I tried to swallow my nervous feelings, but they wouldn't go away. This was it. People I couldn't see made uplifting comments like "We're gonna fuck these ponies up!" and "If Celestia thinks we'll just go away quietly, then she's got another think coming." Finally I heard it: The static of a radio being turned on. "Alright guys, we're ready down here." The guy said into it. "Give em' hell when you're ready." A few seconds later a heard a distant pounding sound, like if a giant hammer struck an enormous iron block. A second later I heard it again. Then everything was completely silent for a few moments. That was until I heard a whistling sound over my head. I looked at the towards the Bureau's roof again just as the two 81mm mortar shells dropped on it. It was a great sight. What looked like two dozen, possibly even more, pegasi were blasted from the roof. They feel on the troops below, some injured, most dead. Then something happened that filled my entire body with courage. "FOR HUMANITY!" Someone shouted. This was enough. All of us rose up and started shooting. With all the anger rushing back to me for what they had done, I raised my rifle, pointed it down the field and let out a yell as I pulled the trigger. Everything seemed to go into slow motion. The ponies had all focused on the explosion behind them. Our bullets were hitting them in their backs. I'm not afraid to admit how great it felt. I imagined that I could see each and every pony that my bullets hit. Doing that only made me want to further decimate them. I fired in bursts to control the recoil and to be careful that I didn't hit the cars that were already in front. I was through with my first clip in about 15 seconds. I had to reload at about the same time as everyone else. Before I ducked down, I could see that most of the first two rows were down. I also saw that the remaining pegasi were past their shock and were taking flight. Another mortar shell struck the few that were still on the roof. The ones that were in the air, shot at us with what sounded like a paintball gun. The darts smashed against the cars' sides and some of the black liquid splashed on the ground next to me. Heavy fire picked up behind me and some of the pegasi started dropping from the sky. They stopped coming for us and scattered to find where the fire was coming from. They didn't know it was Lefty and the other LMG guys on the roof. They continued to drop the flying ponies as I slid in another mag. I rose up to engage again, but I was met with something. A dart exploded on the car's door right in front front of me. That one was immediately followed by another and another. The ponies forces had gotten themselves together. Their dart guns fired extremely quickly. Anybody who tried to jump up for a shot quickly took cover again from the barrage of darts. Then it happened. I knew it had to come sooner or later, but I never expected to someone so close to me. The man next to me decided to rise up for a shot. As soon as he was above the car, he screamed in pain. He fell back down again with four darts stuck in his chest. He looked to me and "Oh no." were the last things he said before his face curled up in absolute anguish. He dropped to the ground and began screaming as he banged his feet and started thrashing around. All of the sudden, his feet cracked to the side. He kept banging them and it looked as if the bones inside simply crumbled. The rest of his legs and arms soon followed. His body continued jerking and crunching until his two feet had rearranged themselves into two hooves. Seeing him convert into a pony before our very eyes only further enraged everyone around him, including me. We all nodded at each other and simultaneously, we jumped up and fired again. Ponies all fired at different targets and we were able to down a few more them. Our courage spread to the guys who remained behind cover and they rose up to shoot too. All together we maybe got four dozen more. The ponies just decided to shoot at everything and thats when another man cried out. He slumped to the ground with his back on the car and two darts in his arm. Another man who I guessed was his friend, placed his hand on his shoulder. The two nodded at each other just before the changes starting taking place. The man rested his friend on the ground while he writhed in pain. He was clearly angry and jumped up yelling with an M249. He was hit by a bunch of darts, but he didn't seem to give a damn. He kept firing with the SAW and was able to take down maybe 20 ponies by himself. Unfortunately a human body can only take so much conversion serum. His run was finally brought to end when his hands crumbled from the recoil of the gun. After that, things weren't looking good. More and more people started getting hit with darts-and we couldn't afford to lose much more. I knew what had to be done, but the guy with the radio had been hit. Luckily for us, The LMGs on the roof had dealt with the pegasi and were now concentrating their fire on the the ground ponies. The mortar guys had finished carefully repositioning to be careful of the cars. The LMGs, combined with the two shells that had just dropped on the ponies, gave me enough time to run over to the guy who had held the radio. "Now guys, Now!" I yelled into it. I dropped the radio again and managed to empty out the rest of my mag. I crouched down and placed a new one in as I readied myself. ************** Jacob I didn't like Rebeeca's plan. Nope, not at all. For one thing, I hated tight spaces and I where was currently held was DEFINITELY a tight spice. Worse than that, was I could hear sounds of the battle all around me. Sure there were a bunch sounds of ponies dying, but I could definitely make out human screams as well. That made me want to jump and kill em' all right then and there. Unfortunately, I'd been ordered not to move until instructed. For now I would have to wait. After what seemed like forever, I finally started to hear what I had been waiting for. The static over the radio cleared into Rebecca's voice. "....ob...Ja...b..... Jacob?" She called. I quickly grabbed for my walkie and hit my head in the process. "Yeah, Im here!" I answered anxiously. "Jacob, its time." Rebecca said. I silently celebrated and got my weapon ready. "More info comes from Lefty: Jacob, you've got seven on your left. Hudd, theres a group right in front of view. Lets do this!" I pushed upwards and my back hit the top of my confines. I popped from the trunk of the middle car and immediately turned. When Rebecca said they were on my left, she damn well meant it. I turned to face a pony, caught off his guard by my surprise appearance. He had no time to react before I raised my carbine and gunned him, and everyone close to him, down. As I ducked down again to reload, I saw Hudd had cleared the ponies in front of him and Rebecca had pulled the pins from two Incendiaries. I had a fresh mag in just as her two grenades exploded behind us. I was able to step out of the trunk as more fire came from the roof. Kid and the guys on the ground were able to continue shooting as well. With all the combined fire, ponies began falling by 5s and 10s. I was able to move up to the drivers side and use the open door for my cover. A couple guys from behind, including Kid, started moving up as well. They crouched and crawled using the cars ahead for cover. Then it happened. The ponies turned around and started running. They managed to fire a couple shots behinds them as they ran, but they went in crazy directions and endangered no one. "Come On! We've got them on the run!" I shouted as I pointed towards the bureau with my gun. Everyone yelled in triumph and ran towards the bureau after them. Those who were still cautious put their guns on their backs and carried ballistic shields. On my request, Kid brought me. I took it around my arm and pushed forward. As we moved as a unti towards the bureau, looking to the side I saw a comforting sight. More than 20 people were running and sliding down the hill unto the field. The great noise of our battle must' ve have drawn in people from a great area. They weren't well armed, most only had pipes or bats, but it great to see them here anyway. As we got closer and closer to the Bureau, I could hear...something. It sounded like a something spinning incredibly fast. Finally I saw it, but It was too late. I saw a tiny black orb spinning in the air about ten yards away. I stopped in my tracks and held back the closer people to me. "IT'S LUN-" The orb exploded. Not with the same force as the night I had escaped, but still powerful nonetheless. If not for the shield, I'm sure I would have been hurt more than I was. I pulled myself up and saw that everyone else was doing the same. Looking forward I saw Princess Luna materialize out of thin air. A guy hopped up and started shooting when he saw her. The bullets bounced harmlessly off Luna who lit her horn up with a blue light. She pointed it at the guy and a dark blue beam hit him right in the chest. He flew backwards and slammed into one of the overturned cars. I stood up and held the shield and started backing up. Undeterred, more people, started shooting at her as well. As the bullets her, her body seemed to grow darker and darker, her front hoof raised. Finally she looked back at us, her eyes a bright white. She brought down her hoof and released a wave of energy. I was knocked into someone else and we both struggled to get back up. I pulled the other guy to his feet and I didn't recognize him. I realized that he have been drawn in by the battle. He said nothing and ran back the way he came. Lots other people followed suit. I turned around and quickly saw why. Behind me, Luna was busy ending all of our efforts. Her horn was lit and coming from it was a dark blue beam. For a moment I just watched as it carved lines in the Earth while chasing after people. I noticed how she only aimed her beam at those who weren't moving. People who tried to stop and shoot were hit and went flying. I snapped back into it just she Luna zeroed in on me. I held the ballistic shield up just before the beam hit me. The force of it slid me back into the ground, but I still managed to keep the shield between me and her. She didn't take the beam off of me until I pushed my feet back in retreat. I quickly walked backwards, making sure that the shield would still protect me. It was all falling apart. We had a little more than 30 people still moving. Some didn't have weapons and the ones who did were still running. Looking behind me I saw Rebecca and Hudd dragging a bleeding guy, who had been unlucky enough to fall on a harder object, behind a car. Kid was back with them. Luna's rampage had put hope back in the pony's hearts. They poured from the Bureau's front entrance by he dozen. Seeing no other option I started running back. "Fall back!" I shouted to those who were still trying to hold out near Luna. "Fall back!" I was about halfway to Hudd when it happened. Two beams of blinding white light switched on from the the top of the hill. I brought my arm to block it and stopped running. What the fu- My thought was interrupted by the sound of a powerful engine being turned on. I pulled my arm down just a bit to see a giant, metal behemoth drive off of the hill. It hit the ground of the field and drove a wide arc around the remaining humans. It was a truck, a huge truck. Eight wheels and definitely military. It stopped about 50 yards away, to my right. After a few seconds of it idling, a large turrent on the top of the cab came to life and pointed directly at Luna. She made no moves yet but, her horn stayed glowing. Next thing I knew the turret started firing. A projectile exploded not a foot from Luna's face. She had 0 time to react before another exploded in the same spot. This knocked her to the ground. A cheer went up from behind me. People were grabbing their weapons again and running back to fight. The machine gun fire continued from the roof as they now had a much clearer shot at her. Luna couldn't move from the ground. All the gun fire and the explosions from the truck were taking its toll. Her blue beam sliced wildly in the air. People jumped in the back of the truck and came out with weapons. One jumped unto an M2 and provided even more fire. Rebecca continued to throw incendiaries. I could hear Luna crying out on the ground. We were hurting her. The thing about guns is that they eventually have to reload. That is precisely what happened to the turret on the truck. Most of the fire came from it and when it stopped Luna temporarily freed. She exploded into a thousand bats which scattered away in every direction. Once again I raised my weapon and cheered. The truck moved around in front of us and fired more shots at the ponies who were running back into the bureau. Once again we ran towards the bureau and this time we actually made it pretty close. I was about 10 yards away from willing entering a Conversion Bureau, when over the top of the building, the sun started to rise. Or at least I thought it did. A warm golden glow that I'd only known to be inherit to the sunrise rapidly filled my view. Then I heard her voice. At least she was straight to the point. "I hereby declare all Humans in this area to be classified as enemies to all ponies and to Equestria as a whole. Any humans remaining on this territory are to disband at once...under pain of death." Princess Celestia's voice was perfectly clear. Her rage was evident. "Where is she?!" Kid shouted. I scanned the sky until I saw the huge white alicorn speeding right towards me. Surprisingly at this moment, I could think of just one thing to say. "Damn it." End Chapter 9