Fall of Cleveland: Like Hot Pockets, but Fluffier

>You were an exterminator once...
>Actually, you basically still are.
>You've been sent east to Ohio, where the President has requested the particular skills of people like you.
>As it turns out, you're one of the best.
>You've been commissioned as a Captain in the Ohio Army National Guard.
>Immediately after, you were transferred to the Regular Army.
>Your expertise is now helping the Department of Defense unfuck Cleveland.
>You've been attached to the newly raised 2nd Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment.
>As part of the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, your area of operations consists of the northeastern part of the city along Lake Erie.
>The neighborhoods of North and South Collinwood, Euclid Green, Glenville, Forest Hills, and St. Clair Superior are your unit's responsibility.
>Operations in the Ohio City part of town, just south of the downtown area, have resulted in massive destruction.
>First Air Force bombed ferals with incendiaries, causing them to explode into flames and catch several dozen buildings on fire.
>You can see the smoke even from here, billowing up past the abandoned skyline.
>At your recommendation, III Corps is trying a different tactic here in the north.
>You will be advising another Captain, from the Armor Branch, as they test a new weapon.
>He will be in charge of a platoon of four experimental vehicles specfically built to kill fluffies.
>Your testing will begin in North Collinwood.
>The four vehicles, M60A3 hulls that have had turreted versions of the Active Denial System mounted, surround Humphrey Park.
>The ADS heats water molecules in skin, causing discomfort in humans.
>It should wreck a fluffy pony.
>The vehicles, known to the Army as M904A1s, but to everyone else as microwave tanks, are situated at the corners of the park.
>The Army wants to see if it can kill fluffies without causing collateral damage, and the suburbs shall be their guinea pig.
>”Why did you say to keep the engines off?  What if we need to move?”
>You stop looking at the nervous, cornered ferals through your binoculars to look at the Captain.
“Loud noises will make them scatter.  We won't need to chase them if they're not afraid.”
>”Won't they run when they start dying?”
“They won't understand what's happening.  Since they can't see the threat, they'll be too focused on trying to hug their wounded friends.”
>”How the hell do you know all this?”
“It's my job.”
>A fluffy conglomeration of about six hundred is occupying the park.
>They've grazed it completely bare, but aren't willing to leave because of the 'big munstas' around them.
“Let's get started.”
>The other Captain issues instructions to the individual vehicle commanders.
>”I hope the power unit noise doesn't scare them off.”
>A hum begins as each ADS is powered up.  You're standing right beside one, and it's not too bad.
>”No wike buzzy noise!” a nearby feral yelps.  It tries to 'hide'.
>Most of the other ferals do too; only the smarty friends of the combined herd stand, puffy cheeked and yelling threats.
>”Wow, this is like shooting fish in a thimble.  All right, start the test.”
>At first, nothing seems to be happening.
>ADS was designed to annoy humans; its radiation doesn't penetrate very far.
>”Shit, what if it can't get through the fluff?”
“We'll see.”
>Ten minutes on, the fluffies are starting to complain about 'too wawm'.
“Are they at full power?”
>”They will be now, just a second.”
>He radios the order out.
>”Owwies!  Wha huwt fwuffy?!”
>There it is.  You watch as they begin wobbling around on their bellies, flailing their hooves.
>They're trying to swat away the invisible assailant.
>Pop.  What just exploded?  You both scan the herd with binoculars.
>You find a pale orange pegasus fluffy shrieking incoherently.  Its eyes have exploded.
>”WHY DAWK, WHY NO SEE, WHY OWWIES?!”
>There goes another one.
>Smoke attracts your attention.  It's pouring from the ears of a silver earth fluffy.
>”Heba wub fooowaga weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!” it screams, before becoming still.
>A smarty friend staring directly at the ADS dish suddenly lacks his eyes.
>Any fluffy that doesn't have their eyes covered yells about it getting dark, big owwies, and then their eyeballs pop.
>The vehicle commanders begin aiming the dishes.
>Unit Three points theirs at the center of the fluffy blob, where all the pregnant dams and new mothers are sheltering.
>Shrill chirps begin to enter the chorus of agony.
>Foals, whose tiny bodies offer even less resistance than their parents, are actually frying through.
>You catch sight of one flopping around and screaming.  It's red.
>Looks exactly like bacon.
>Dams, now blind, can't find their children.
>They usually step on them and kill them in their frantic search.
>A bigger pop occurs.  One of the pregnant dams just fluffsploded.
>Her foals fly through the air, sizzling as they hit the ground.
>No flames.  That's a good sign.
>”Looks like the fluff is acting as a conductor.”
>Fluffies continue to roast and bleed to death.
>Most are now hugging each other for comfort, begging the 'munsta' to go away.
>It takes two hours, but the whole herd has been cooked to some level.
>Only a few were smart enough to try and leave.
>They blindly waddle around, yelling for the shiny ball to come back.
>You go with the Captain to survey the results.
>80% of the adult fluffies are now eyeless, and still alive.  You leave them to bleed out.
>Nearly 99% of the younger fluffies are cooked through, their corpses emitting soft sizzling noises.
>Only one pregnant dam exploded.  The rest have steam coming from their rear ends.
>Looks like the waves boiled their amniotic fluids.
>The rest of the adults are smoldering a bit, unable to move because of the pain.
“What do you think?”
>The Captain scratches his head.
>”They're sure as hell not going anywhere else, and we didn't die.  I call it a success.”
>You listen idly as he places his report to III Corps Headquarters at Fort Hood.
>He seems to be pleased with the results, although he recommends further tests.
>Looks like the Lima Tank Plant is going to be converting a few more old Pattons soon.