//------------------------------// // SECTION 4: James Steel // Story: TERMINAL5 // by Master Lyra //------------------------------// A/N Swearing warning. >; SEARCH DATE “7/5/13” >: SEARCHING. . . >: SEARCH COMPLETE. 1 FILES FOUND. PLAY FILE (Y/N) >; Y >: PLAYING VIDEO “SECURITYS37/5/13” A grey scene appears. There is a large round table in the middle of the room filled with important looking people. They wear fancy suits and dresses, but their faces betray it with looks of fear and worry. Idle chatter fills the air. They seem to be waiting for something. As if on a cue, the doors swing open to reveal a large yet pristine man. The room turns silent. The man, now flanked by two bodyguards, sits down at the table. He looks at the faces surrounding him, sighs, and says only; “They’ve captured New York.” Shocked and displeased murmurs pass through the table, but the man holds up his hand, effectively silencing everyone present. “Has the biologist said any more, Mr. Strassen?” “No, Mr. President,” one man at the table replies. “I’m afraid I won’t have that title for very long unless he tells us something.” The man slams his hand on the desk. “Those damn ‘ponies’ have converted 2 million more. If we don’t find a cure, and fast, then we’ll be the United States of Equestria!” The president looks to a woman at the table. “Bring him to me.” The woman nervously nods her head and leaves. The room stays silent. After a few minutes, a man hoisted by two bulky bodyguards enters. He looks to be about forty years old, and he has a grubby stubble. He wears a smirk as he is planted and locked into a chair. The president, with a look of obvious disgust, starts asking him questions. “What the hell is your name?” The grubby man shrugs. “James Steel.” The man replies. “Can we turn the people back?” The president asks again. The man’s smirk grows in size as he very slowly shakes his head. The president sighs and runs his hands through his hair. “Why did you do this?” The man laughs. “The world as we know it is corrupt. People are by nature greedy, selfish bastards who’ll stab you in the back the first chance they’ll get, if they think they will gain something from it. The ponies, by nature, are pure, selfless beings. They naturally love and tolerate each other, coexisting in harmony. Face it; the time of humans is gone. We have killed so many people to benefit ourselves. Our attempts at peace are always disrupted by some whack-job who wants to cause chaos. You may think this is ironic, but I only want the world to be better. If the world is innocent, pure and peaceful; isn’t that what the world has wanted for so long?” “Maybe it takes a new species for this to happen. All I know is that we just need to embrace the ponies. Sure, I didn’t think it could spread, but is it really so bad? It was bound to happen sooner or later. We were probably going to kill each other by a nuclear war. At least this way our spirit lives on, and the generations after us do not have to suffer for what we’ve done.” The president scrutinizes the man, looking past his eyes. Finally, the president sighs. He turns to the rest of the round table, and reluctantly says; “We’ll surrender.” The video ends. >: VIDEO FINISHED. AWAITING FURTHER INSTRUCTION. . . >; SEARCH AUTHOR “Lance Steel” >: SEARCHING. . . >: SEARCH COMPLETE. 1 FILES FOUND. PLAY FILE (Y/N) >; Y >: PLAYING VIDEO. . . The video turns on to show a dusty basement with a table bathed in a yellow light. The camera is shaky, jerking around. The camera then turns to show an older teen with jet black hair. He looks excited. “Hi guys. This is Lance. I snuck into my dad’s basement to look at what he didn’t want me to look at. It’s a weird desk, but the rest is dark and I didn’t want my dad to find me here.” Suddenly, loud footsteps sound in the background. “Oh shit! I gotta hide!” The camera moves away from his face and faces the desk again, but lower. Lance is presumably hiding behind something. A man walks into view. He glances around, checking for a disturbance. He frowns, but then he shrugs and flips a switch. It reveals the rest of the room. The room is large. The walls are white-wash. Strewn across the room are various chairs and cages containing animals and the occasional person. The people are disturbing. One man is half human half pony. He gives an occasional twitch. Another man is fully cartoonish, but randomly bursts out laughing and also screams randomly as well. One of the cages is filled with a rabbit that is cartoonish, and he seems to be fine. Another cage has a dog that is a mixture of limbs of cartoonish qualities and normal qualities. It barks with a strange voice. The man looks at the cartoon rabbit with a look of accomplishment. He takes the cage to the table and writes down information. Lance gives a startled gasp and mutters, “Oh my god…” The man instantly freezes. He gets up, and turns around. Lance screams. The man calmly approaches Lance. Lance place the camera behind an object, but it is still in view of the scene. Lance is dragged by the man to a chair. He locks Lance into place. The man starts speaking. “Lance, why did you go down here?” Lance gulps and meekly answers, “I wanted to see what was down here…” The man shakes his head. “Son, when will you listen to me? But I can’t really be mad at you. When I was younger I was also adventurous. So I’ll just test on you instead. You arrived at the perfect time, Lance. I just finished a new version of the medicine I’ve been working on. I hope this teaches you a lesson, Lance.” The man picks up something off the desk and walks over to Lance. It looks to be a syringe. He pulls up Lance’s sleeve. Lance struggles against the bonds, but to no avail. The man injects a pink substance into Lance’s arteries. Lance bites his lips. The syringe empties, and the man puts the syringe in a trash can. He picks up a clipboard and a pencil off the table and walks towards Lance. He pulls up a chair and sits there, watching. He begins to ask a few questions. “So, how are you feeling?” Lance frowns. “Not that well. It feels all tingly.” The man writes down something. “Okay. Tell me, what do you like to do?” Lance gives him a curious glance. “Well, you know I like to play soccer. I also like to go skateboarding and hang out with my friends.” The man nods. “Okay. So, who are your friends?” “Well, my best friend is Josh. I also have a crush on Emily.” The man smiles, and writes down something. “Why do you like Emily?” “Well, she’s hot and nice.” The man nods. “Why are you being so honest?” Lance opens his mouth, but then closes it. “Uh, I don’t know.” The man writes something else down. “Tell me, who is best pony?” Lance smiles a toothy smile. “Pony? Best pony is not a pony. Best pony is Discord.” The man’s smile disappears as he freezes. He then slowly nods. He writes something down. He stands up, and releases Lance. Lance looks surprised, but quickly walks off. The man smiles. “He’ll be a good servant.” The man leaves the room. The video stays showing the same scene for roughly ten minutes. Then, the screaming man abruptly screams very loudly. Then he starts to morph. His limbs move, the audible crunching and snapping sounding. His skin color slowly turns orange. The limbs arrange into a quad pedal position, and his hair recedes but comes back, golden, to form a mane. A snout forms, and his eyes become larger and have large eyelashes. A tail grows. Finally, freckles form on his face, and a Stetson hat pops out of nowhere onto his head. He passes out as an explosion somewhere sounds and blasts the camera away and off. >: VIDEO FINISHED. AWAITING FURTHER INSTRUCTION. . .