//------------------------------// // Revelations // Story: One Bad Apple // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// Brian waited on the response from the Analysts, twiddling her thumbs in boredom. Eventually, a ping came through, as a message had arrived. It read: "Babs Seed, Babs Seed, what we gonna do?” It was the lyrics from that irritating song. Brian roared in anger, and typed in: "Why did you do it?” “Do what, exactly?” Brian shook as she typed her response. "Ruin my life? Turn my cousins into freaks? What does this achieve?” A few moments passed, until another answer came in. "We didn’t ruin your life.” “Yes you fucking did! I look like a horse, and nobody will hire me now!” A few moments later, an answer arrived. "We saw a lonely child in need of friends when we saw you. A cold, aloof person who was alone. You are just like her.” Brian sighed. "You could have at least asked me before sending that email. You gave me absolutely no choice, nor did you give my cousins any choice.” “It’s not a matter of choice, Babs. They were all destined to be those characters, just as you were destined to be who you are now.” Talking with this person clearly wasn’t helping. "Well, destiny this!” Brian logged out. She’d had enough of this conversation. But it was apparent her family weren’t the only ones affected by this. She then remembered what Redford had said. “Our colleagues in the Australian Border Force have confirmed several cases in Western Australia, and another in Alberta was confirmed by the RCMP.” There was a pattern. They were targeting NATO countries. So, they must be somehow connected to NATO’s enemies! Another person stepped into the room. “Good evening Brian,” he said. He was dressed in a white labcoat. “I’m Doctor Maynard, and I’ll be looking after you and overseeing your medical care.” “You give me my shots, I take it?” Brian answered. “More or less,” Maynard replied. “But first, I need to take a blood sample.” Brian turned her chair around. “Why?” Maynard smiled. “I believe that General Harrison mentioned something about a cure. Well, we have a sample of your blood before you were infected. If we can compare it to your blood after the infection started, it could hold the key to making you human again!” Brian’s face lit up. “Really?” she said. “I can’t guarantee anything,” Maynard told her. “But it’s a lead worth pursuing in my books.” He took out a needle, and extracted what he needed. Brian winced briefly, but wasn’t overtly bothered. After all, she’d received injections before, and this was effectively that-just backwards! “Thank you,” said Dr Maynard. “I’ll get back to you when I’ve had a breakthrough.” General Harrison returned a few hours later. “We’ve got your cousins,” he said. “How’d you find them?” “The Australian Army performed a Snatch-and-Grab for us,” the General replied. “Don’t worry, all entirely legal. We’ve got them in the medical ward, and we’ve performed a blood extraction for analysis.” “So, you can cure them?” “That’s the intention. Was there something you wanted?” Brian sighed. “Sir, I think I have a lead on who might be behind this.” “I’m listening.” “Sir,” Brian began, “I’ve noticed that the infections have thus far occurred in 3 countries. There’s Australia, Canada and now the US.” “Odd that,” Harrison answered. “One of the ones we recovered, a Mouse-like creature, is an American citizen by the name of Alex Viator. But you are the first to occur on American soil.” “But what do the Analysts get out of this?” “Clearly, they’re not afraid to make enemies with 3 superpowers in one day.” Harrison shrugged. “I’ve got a meeting with the DoD tomorrow, and I’ll need your help to convince them of the dangers of this threat.” Suddenly, a claxon went off. Harrison sprinted over to a monitor, and pulled on his helmet and gas mask. “What’s going on?” he asked. “They’ve escaped!” shouted a soldier down the other end of the console. "We can’t slow them down! We’ll hold them off as long as we can, but-AAAARGH!” His voice abruptly cut off, and his brains were splattered all over the monitor. Harrison sighed. “Well, shit.” He reloaded his MP5 and holstered a Magnum .44. “I’ll have to make the most of a bad situation." “What’s happening?” Brian asked. “Seems like your friends have woken up,” the General replied. “But I’ve already got counters for that. Ready the Talons for deployment.” “Talon 1 thru 5 are already on the ground, moving into position.” “Wait for my word before moving in.” “Do you need me to do anything?” asked Brian. Harrison nodded. “Yes. I have a plan to stop them. And for that, you’ll need to play hostage. We get you in close, and then BAM!” Brian nodded. “I’ll do it.” They hurried down the corridor, Harrison holding his revolver to Brian’s head. Of course, it was all pretend, but the enemy didn’t know this. Several guards filed in behind them, ready to fire if things got nasty. They rounded the bend, and before them stood Ashley and her band of freaks. It made Brian want to puke, seeing these perversions of humans. Harrison raised his voice, jamming his revolver into Brian’s temple. “I believe she belongs to you?” he said. “I’ll let her go if you surrender yourselves, and tell us what you know about how you came to be the way you are.” He nodded. "So far, so good.” Brian wandered forward, and saw Ashley kneel down. “Hey there. You doin’ okay, sugarcube? Ah’m Ashley, and Ah’m yer cousin. This here’s Alex, and o’ course, yer family. Mah brother, Big MacIntosh, Granny Smith, and cousin Apple Bloom!” “Howdy, cousin! Ah’m so glad t’ meet ya!” One of the freaks ran forward, and hugged Brian. “You doin’ okay?” Who the hell did she think she was? Another one of them chided the small one. “Now, now, don’t be overcrowdin’ her. Give her a chance to get t’ know us better.” She turned to Brian, “Ah’m yer grandmother, youngin, but ya can call me Granny.” Brian had had enough. With a cry of rage, she shoved the small one back. "Piss off!" she snarled. "The last thing I want is to be related to freaks like you!" "Babs, Ah thought-" Ashley’s started to say. "Don't you fucking call me that!" Brian interrupted before she could continue. "You ruined my life! I was perfectly happy before you sent me that email and those Analysts turned me into a freak." "The Analysts want to save the world and spread the Magic of Friendship." Ashley stated, reminded of what Twilight told her when they first discovered their current mission after their initial changes. "And I imagine they also told you it was the Fausticorn's will to risk your ass instead of them doing it?" Brian was clearly furious. "What right do they have to use our world as their playground?" Ashley couldn't answer. She hadn't even considered that. Brian continued. "The Army, well, see, they have been keepin' an eye on me. They're already workin' on an antidote for my...condition. And then they can cure us all!" Ashley looked over at Brian, “A cure? What kinda lies are they feedin’ ya, sugarcube? We aren’t some disease a little needle can fix..” Just as Ashley reached her cousin, Alex vanished in an emerald flash startling the guards who started to look around. “YOU WANT TO KILL YOUR OWN MEN, GENERAL? HERE LET ME HELP YOU!” The General saw a fire-maned mouse woman glaring at him. “You are not worthy of the rank you hold, hiding behind a noncombatant. You're not worthy of being human more are those who blindly follow you.” Harrison laughed. “What a fool,” he thought. "Says the Servant of an Alicorn too scared to show her own face. Have you really questioned what is happening here?" He began to step toward her, calmly, his NCB gear clanking as he strode forward. Alex tried to conjure up a spell, but it spluttered and died in her hands as the General got closer. "What the?" she exclaimed, visibly terrified. "Not so powerful now, are you?" the General laughed. "It always makes me smile to see my foes shit in their boots, upon realising what a Hornet's Nest they've kicked up." With that, he struck her in the face, knocking her out. Brian suddenly became aware of a hail of gunshots behind her, as another soldier strode forward. Ashley was caught in the shoulder and fell down, injured. Brian saw her go for a revolver, and grabbed a taser in response. But something odd was happening. The previously unstoppable earth pony could barely lift the pistol. "Wha'?" she said. "It's like mah magic's gone!" "Quite correct," Brian said, and loaded the taser. "No," Ashley whispered. "Don't do this." "I have no choice." Brian pulled the trigger, and Ashley's collapsed. The same solder took down the others effortlessly, stun bullets rendering them unconscious. “Targets down!” he radioed in. Brian laughed. "Stupid fool. She's so honest she can't even detect when she's being stalled." Meanwhile, 4 of the others stepped toward the dragon. “Initiate the field,” said one. One waved his hand, and a powerful signal began to emanate. The dragon’s fire abruptly dried up, giving them a window to engage. “Open fire, AP,” radioed one. The solider equipped with an M249 opened fire, the bullets tearing through the dragon’s carapace, as tank shells rained down upon the creature. The soldiers strode forward, firing as they did so. The creature began to buckle and shrink under the onslaught, eventually being reduced to nothing but a human. The first of them handcuffed her, switching on his radio. “Target down, prepare for transit.” Brian saw Harrison and the other soldiers form up near her, carrying the bodies of the anthros. "Well done," Harrison told her. "You've picked the right side, and stopped a group of extremely dangerous terrorists. Come on, let's go! Get them into storage!"