//------------------------------// // Severing and Binding // Story: Secure, Contain, Protect // by Teh_Zodiac //------------------------------// The sharp pain pierced her head like a rusty and crooked nail. Everything around her was a complete blur, with the whites taking over her vision and adding more rhythmic throbbing through her skull. Slowly, painfully, her eyes adapted. It was her study, the sun was flooding the room with the pure, incandescent light of a midsummer noon and the sky was an almost annoying pale shade of blue.. She lifted herself from the desk using her hooves. Immediately, the hurting sensation returned, but only for a little while. She looked down at her workplace: she apparently slept on a blank parchment which was, surprisingly, dry and not drenched with drool. The parchment was also surrounded by many books. She couldn’t even remember what she was studying, and that was bothersome to say the least.. She looked at one of the covers: Marvelous Merits of Mare-eval Magic, by Starswirl the Bearded Ugh, she knew that book by heart. She had read it so many times she was actually sick of it, strangely enough. She decided to not worry about it since she didn’t even remember what she was studying, so whatever. A familiar voice called up from below, “Twilight, are you awake? It’s almost noon, get down here for lunch!” Spike sounded bothered by something. Maybe it was the fact that she slept in while he probably had to do all the work down in the library. “Twilight, are you awake? It’s almost noon, get down for lunch!” Spike sounded bothered by something. Maybe the fact that she slept in while he probably had to do all the work down at the library. “In a minute, Spike!” she shouted turning away from the desk. She looked around. A thought was bugging her. She was missing something, but she couldn’t recall what. She stomped on the ground in frustration. She was FORGETTING something, what was that? What, what, what? What if it was an assignment, from the Princess? Or a friendship report? No, that wasn’t possible. There is no way she could forget a task given by the Princess. And how could it be a friendship report? The day before had passed with no problems whatsoever. And why she would need a book like that for a report? “Twilight, move it! Your daisy sandwich is ready!” Spike interrupted her line of thought She started walking out of the room, hitting various piles of books on the way out. “I’m coming!” Was it really that important? I mean, if it was REALLY important, she would have remembered, right? She stepped out of the study and went down the cool, dark stairs. It was going to be a long day. It was hot. Really hot. She could see the Everfree Forest and the horizon past it, being deformed by the heat. She was slowly but steadily making her way to Sugarcube Corner, the only place in town with air conditioning. It was going to be pretty cramped, she was sure of it. But the heat was unbearable. Spike was actually comfortable with the burning temperature, as he was a reptile. But for mammals, it was just excruciating. Twilight could feel the sweat beads rolling down her coat as she walked in the hot summer day. It was the moment when the Sun was at its peak. In retrospect, she could have just waited inside the library for it to go down, but she was compelled to get out and breath air not saturated by the dust of old books. The heat also made her very prone to gratuitous irritation, and would always bring the worst out of her. It was a year after the “crashed wedding” incident with Chrysalis, and she was still bothered by it. The bonds that she managed to create with her friends had a lot of up and downs, but Twilight, even if she hid it, was still greatly disappointed in them. The way they didn’t believe her, even if she didn’t let it surface, it still hurt. A lot. “They didn’t trust me right away. Just good ol’ Twilight being crazy, don’t mind her”. She was actually getting tired of them. It was like they had fixed, unchangeable personalities. They were small things, but they really started to annoy her: Pinkie’s constant babbling, Rarity’s frivolity, Fluttershy’s cowardice, Applejack’s rustic behavior, Rainbow Dash's self centered personality. At first, she thought of them as merely affections of their personality, unpleasant traits that were just incidental. No one can be completely pleasant. But as time went on, she started to get the impression that those affections were in fact their identity, the means through which they presented themselves to the world. Fluttershy wasn’t just coward, it was all that there was, just like Rainbow being a narcissistic, egotistical pony. There wasn’t more, they were just like cardboard cutouts. She didn’t like it. It’s not like she hated them, but she felt like she HAD to be friends with them, for some cosmic plan or something. She wouldn’t dare confess this to Spike or Celestia, especially Celestia. She was getting more and more distant as time passed, and, looking back, she started to see all the little obnoxious characteristics of her mentor. Her childish personality, always pulling pranks, making jokes… Twilight was starting to think she did it just because she could, because no one could dare tell her to stop, to just quit it and grow up. A sadistic desire to see others understand the different scale of power. Worst of all, she heard she had started to tutor someone else… Twilight thought she was being a tad protective, but she really valued her time with Celestia. She wasn’t just her teacher, she was her mentor, like an aunt, or a surrogate mother. First, she had given the privilege of friendship reports to other ponies! That was HER job, her link with the Princess. A time when she could be less of a student, a researcher, a scientist, or a scholar, and more of a normal pony who had just received a pretty harsh lesson about reality. She thought of them as something special, like a journal, or a diary. And then she just went ahead and… and… and, YES, PROSTITUTED her special moment! Now EVERYONE in Ponyville could write to her, even those insufferable foals, the Cutie Mark Crusaders! And after that, a new protégé? What was she for her, anyway? A student? A daughter? A tool? A weapon? Did she valued her time with her little more than a teacher teaching a student? Only Spike never disappointed her. With him, there were no lies, no deceptions, she was just herself. She wasn’t the Princess (ex-)personal student, or a famous magic researcher, or the Element of Magic. She was Twilight Sparkle. But he was growing up. She could tell. As each day passed, he would become a little more short tempered, prone to anger, possessive… Sooner or later she would have to give him up. But not in the near future. She stopped. She was standing in front of Sugarcube Corner. She could hear the air conditioner running, but no muffled babbling. Twilight was sure that today was Pinkie’s turn at the register. Also, it was strange hearing no small talk, no chitchat. She had lived in Ponyville for three years already, and every summer, Sugarcube Corner would always be full of ponies meeting there just to escape the hot, scorching sun. But now, there was just an eerie silence. She actually realized that she had not met anyone on her way here, which was beyond strange. Ponyville was no Canterlot, but there were always ponies going around, fillies playing... She slowly opened the door. And everything froze. She could feel her own blood pulsating painfully through her veins. Her ears were suffocated by a soft, rumbling sound. Her vision fixated on the center of the room. It was just standing there. Captivating, actually. A statue, of some sort. The form was not dissimilar to Spike. It stood on two short stubby legs. The arms were a little longer, with no hooves. The head was much bigger: no mouth, no ears, no hair, coat or mane. Just two green balls which Twilight assumed were supposed to be eyes, and a strange paint pattern of black and red on its “face”. It seemed to be carved out of ordinary rock. How could she stop watching? It was something so alien, so strange, so unique. She didn’t want to stop. Her stupid body, with its need to blink. Every second, she felt her eyes getting more and more sore, but she didn’t want to avert her gaze, even for an instant. But her vision was starting to get blurry. It was just so annoying. She had to do it, or her eyes would start to water. She blinked, only for one moment did her world turned completely black. A sudden noise. The air moving. She heard the door opening behind her. She opened her eyes, and turned around. And she was there. And the statue was there too. Celestia, visibly strained, with her horn lit and the statue with its “hands” just some millimeters from her white, slender neck. She heard a male voice coming out from behind Celestia. “Princess, hold it still!” “Just be quick, Bright!” She shouted. And she turned her head to face the lavender pony. Twilight felt a warm tingling on her neck, and she passed out. Oh, the heat, it was unbearable! Why did they choose this day to go near Applejack’s orchard to have a picnic? She was nibbling a daffodil sandwich when: “Twi? Is there sumthin’ wrong, sugarcube?”Applejack asked with a concerned look on her face. “No. I’m fine Applejack, really” She waved an hoof. “Darling, you do look absolutely exhausted!” Rarity intervened. “Yeah Twi, you’re looking more egghead than usual!” said Rainbow Dash, hovering above her. “Uhm, Twilight, maybe, uhm, they are right. You should, uhm, really rest, uhm, if that’s okay for you…” You could hardly hear Fluttershy. “She’s right, Twilight! You really need to take it easy and par-tay!” Pinkie Pie took her hoof and tried to get her up on her legs, but stopped as soon as she saw the lack of enthusiasm in Twilight’s eyes “Girls, thanks for the concern, really. But I can’t stop right now, I’m in the middle of something important…” and she went back to eating the sandwich. “Care to elaborate, darling?” “Actually, I don’t remember… I do remember the small things though. Get up, organize the library, studying, writing friendship reports. I’m really missing something here, girls.” She put the sandwich on the ground. “Twi, are you sure you’re not imagining things?” Applejack said with a smile. “Maybe she’s right, Twilight. I mean, we’re totally awesome, we saved Equestria three times! Just how cool can you get in ONE life time?” “But, it's been almost a year since the Wedding and nothing new has happened…” “Twilight, who cares? As long as you have your friend, and lots and lots of parties, what more could you possibly want?” “Twilight, uhm, what is more beautiful than an happy, peaceful life? Surrounded by your friends, with Spike, and the Princess that, uhm, watches over you?” “Yes darling! Even if the Princess threw you away like trash, she still likes you!” “What?” “I said that even though you don’t see the Princess as much as you did, she still loves you. Are you feeling well?” “I don’t really know. I feel like something is missing.” Red light flooded the room. Outside, everything was pure and utter red. “Do you really wish to continue?” “I don’t know. I feel happy. Why would I want to change my life?” “You’re not happy. You’re sedated. Were you happy when you locked yourself in an ivory tower, burying yourself in books?” “No, but I-“ “You thought you were. So, what’s different now?” “I have friends, now. And I’m much closer to Spike!” She sprung up from the floor. “So?” “What?” She looked puzzled. “You have friends, and you’re closer to Spike. So what?” “I-“ “The closer you get to them, the more you realize you were just building idols in a cave. They are hollow, Twilight. And so are you. The only difference is in the self defense mechanism. They shield themselves with fashion, a strange and random persona, motherly care, work, exhibitionism, the desperate need of growing up. You used to have your books. Now you have fallen behind. And you realize that you are nothing but a fragile shell, just waiting to be broken. They are filled with air, you are hermetically sealed, just waiting to explode for the difference in pressure.” She smiled. “That’s not true! They are my friends! And…” “You see? You can’t disprove me, because you know you were right; I’m right. You studied a lot, Twilight. You know something about hedgehogs?” “What does it have to do with any of thi-“ “Please, humor me” She rolled her eyes. “Fine. They are mammals. They have a large cluster of spines on their back and-“ “So, what do you think happens when it gets cold, and they have to huddle together lest they freeze to death?” “Well, they get closer…” “And?” “And… The closer they get, the more they are hurt by the spines.” She woke up to the sound of the flames consuming the wood of a torch. The light irradiated softly and flickered on the cobblestone wall. The room was fairly rustic: she was on a crude bed made out of what looked like cheap wood, and a torch illuminated everything with a light and gentle glow. There was a door at the left side of the room. It was made out of black metal, probably darkened steel. There were some marks on the surface; they looked like claws. It was cold. Water was dripping in a corner of the room She felt fine. No headaches, no stomachache, no pain at all. She felt right. She started to remember what happened: the statue, the need to not close her eyes, Celestia. The strange sculpture was the thing that interested her the most: the peculiar shape, the captivating form. It was, even in a reminiscence, mesmerizing, like watching the campfire dance, so alien and different from his surroundings, in the black of the night. She didn’t even care where she was held captive, or who her kidnappers may be. The door opened, painfully slow. Princess Celestia entered the room. She walked to the bed and put and hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, with a small and warm smile. “Twilight, I-“ She shook it off. “Where is it?” She looked a little surprised, but she quickly regained her composure. “Where is what, Twilight?” “That thing, the statue. I want to see it again.” Celestia got closer to her. “Twilight, I’m afraid you can’t see it. It’s far too dangerous.” She turned around, and pierced Celestia with an inquisitive gaze. “I want to know what is that thing.” “I’m afra-“ “Why am I here, then?” And she looked around, studying the room in detail “I thought you needed to rest. So I brought you here.” “Where is here?” “You know what my answer is going to be. Right, Twilight?” She sprung up from the bed. “Princess, please! That sculpture it’s driving me crazy! I can’t stop thinking about it! I need to know what I just saw!” “No, Twilight, for your own safety. Now, please forgive me…” “For wh-“ She faded into nothingness. The sharp pain pierced her head like a rusty and crooked nail. Everything around her was a complete blur, with the whites taking over her vision and adding more rhythmic throbbing through her skull. Slowly, painfully, her eyes adapted. It was her study, the sun was flooding the room with the pure, incandescent light of a midsummer noon and the sky was an almost annoying pale shade of blue.. She lifted herself from the desk using her hooves. Immediately, the hurting sensation returned, but only for a little while. She looked down at her workplace: she apparently slept on a blank parchment which was, surprisingly, dry and not drenched with drool. The parchment was also surrounded by many books. She couldn’t even remember what she was studying, and that was bothersome to say the least.. She looked at one of the covers: Marvelous Merits of Mare-eval Magic, by Starswirl the Bearded Ugh, she knew that book by heart. She had read it so many times she was actually sick of it, strangely enough. She decided to not worry about it since she didn’t even remember what she was studying, so whatever. A familiar voice called up from below, “Twilight, are you awake? It’s almost noon, get down here for lunch!” Spike sounded bothered by something. Maybe it was the fact that she slept in while he probably had to do all the work down in the library. “Twilight, are you awake? It’s almost noon, get down for lunch!” Spike sounded bothered by something. Maybe the fact that she slept in while he probably had to do all the work down at the library. “In a minute, Spike!” she shouted turning away from the desk. She looked around. A thought was bugging her. She was missing something, but she couldn’t recall what. She stomped on the ground in frustration. She was FORGETTING something, what was that? What, what, what? What if it was an assignment, from the Princess? Or a friendship report? No, that wasn’t possible. There is no way she could forget a task given by the Princess. And how could it be a friendship report? The day before had passed with no problems whatsoever. And why she would need a book like that for a report? “Twilight, move it! Your daisy sandwich is ready!” Spike interrupted her line of thought She started walking out of the room, hitting various piles of books on the way out. “I’m coming!” Was it really that important? I mean, if it was REALLY important, she would have remembered, right? She stepped out of the study and went down the cool, dark stairs. It was going to be a long day. It was three in the afternoon. Twilight was busy reading, as always. Spike was at Carousel Boutique, helping Rarity with some new orders from Canterlot. The front door creaked and opened. “I’m coming!” She called as she ran to the door. “Welcome to the Ponyville Library! How can I help you?” A pony stood in front of her. He had a short grey mane and a jet black coat. His eyes were shining with wisdom and experience, but he couldn’t have been more than 20 years old. “Please, do come in. Is there something you need?” She gestured to get inside. “Your friend is dead” said the stallion with a blank face. “Wh-wha-“ “Good, positive reaction from high priority emotional impulse. Now stay still.” She was blinded by an incredible white glow. A flood of information invaded her brain. Images slowly started to build, steadily overflowing her senses with pure light and white noise. And then everything turned clear, and she remembered everything: the strange object. Celestia. The room. “Now you should remember everything. My name is Bright Light, and I’m here to make you an offer. I know that what you want now are answers. I can give you all the knowledge you want. I can show things that shouldn’t even belong in this world. I’m offering you the chance to capture and study them. But you have to leave your old life behind. I can answer some questions, but be quick, as my time is limited.” “I don’t understand…” She stopped, pondering what to say. Where was the harm in listening to him? “Fine, first question. What was that thing?” “SCP 173, The Sculpture. A non pony-made object, carved out of mundane rock. It’s extremely hostile and it will try to strangle or snap the neck of its victims, but it can only move when it’s not directly observed. How you managed to understand that instantly, I don’t know.” “What was Princess Celestia doing there?” “Celestia is immortal, so we ask her help in the case of a containment breach. She’s not directly involved with us though. You could call her a freelancer.” “Ok, who is ‘us’?” “We are a super partes organization composed of all of Equestria's sentient races, dedicated to finding, containing and studying strange, supernatural or downright dangerous objects, beings and artifacts that we call SCP. We are the SCP Foundation.” “What did Princess Celestia do to me?” “She used an amnesiac spell. They have no contraindications, and work on the part of the brain allocated to long term memory. They cause immediate and precise amnesia on events chosen by the spellcaster. I just removed the lock from your brain.” “Why do you want me?” “Why do we want you? Why wouldn't we? You are the Princess protégé, an incredibly talented unicorn. You also unconsciously knew of 173's weakness. Maybe you have a sixth sense of some sort with supernatural objects. In that case, you could be invaluable for retrieving new SCPs. Also, I sensed it the moment I saw you. You are like me. You don’t simply want to lock up these things and throw away the key. You want to know more about them. Few colleagues in the Foundation share my mindset. Maybe with your scientific authority in the field of magic, we could change their minds.” “That’s really…” “A lot, I know. It’s fine if you don’t want to. It’s a tough life. A dangerous life. A sad life. No one knows about your accomplishments. Normal ponies just go on with their lives, not even imagining how close they are to an endless pit. We push them away. And a lot of times we fall down in the process. But, I can offer you knowledge. You could see the inner workings of a dark, obscure, and powerful world.” “I need to think about it…” “Yes, of course. I can give you one day. Just one, before Celestia realizes what I’m doing here. She doesn’t want any harm to befall upon you. But, I have the Foundation’s resources and I can make things happen. It will look like an accident. You will not see your friends, your baby dragon or your family again, even Celestia will be convinced of your departure. I’ll come back tomorrow night, at 9 pm sharp. See you later, Twilight.” “ And ah, compliments for how you’re dealing with your loss. You’re going to need that quality, trust me.” And he walked away into the scorching sun. Loss? Oh yeah, right. I forgot, how silly of me. Pinkie is dead. Yes, her body was over the counter. Her neck was snapped and her tongue was dangling out of her mouth. Her eyes were open and looking straight at me. Isn’t it kind of strange I actually overlooked it? She screamed. It was midnight, yet she couldn’t sleep. No one actually heard her. She didn’t even cry. She just went back into the library to continue her work. Spike came back and cooked something for dinner. She ate, and she came up with an excuse to go to bed early. What was she betting? Her old life? Her friends, Spike, her family, the Princess? What could she lose? A groundbreaking discovery? A life full of risk and adventure? Knowledge beyond measure? Pinkie was dead. No one knew except her. Of course, this was not her friend’s fault.. But how could she pretend to be interested in Rarity’s fashion-themed rants, Fluttershy’s annoying nervousness? How could she just resist the levity of her current life, where the biggest problem was Applejack not accepting any help for her apple orchard? She regained her memory and she didn’t even think about Pinkie’s death until someone reminded her. Sometimes she found Pinkie Pie just insufferable; but she was still her friend. She was actually the one that cherished that relationship the most. And she was gone. And she didn’t actually care. She couldn’t simply dive back into a normal, slow, boring and uneventful life. Twilight, look at yourself. Your best friend died and you didn’t even cry. Now that’s something you don’t see very often, right? How could you live beside these ponies? They are full of love, and joy and they care for others, while you are a mental case. You’re borderline obsessed with studying, socially awkward and here's a newfound trait, completely incapable of sympathy. You’re a monster, Twilight. You belong with monsters. It’s time to fill yourself up with something. You need to get out of here. Right now. We can show you wonderful things, incredible things. You just need to follow the light, Twilight. There was no doubt. The cool air flowed through Twilight’s mane, making it float like the ethereal hair of the Princesses. She was standing in front of the library. Spike was already sleeping: she had given him plenty of difficult tasks during the day to tire him out and, after dinner, the baby dragon went straight to bed. The moon illuminated everything with her pale, sweet light. Twilight Sparkle always liked nighttime: everything changed, in a subtle but obvious way. Normal, everyday objects would be charged with no less than a new life. No one was around. There were no cruel eyes watching her, judging her (because, even if no one actually spoke, Twilight knew. It was written all over their faces.) expecting something of her: a “hello”, a “how are you doing?”. She heard a familiar sound: teleportation magic, then hooves. Bright Light slowly walked out from the shadow behind the library. “Good evening, Twilight. I assume you made your decision?” “Yes. I’m in.” “Perfect. We must be quick, though. If I’m seen here, Celestia will pretend my head from the 05. I can’t teleport us back to base. I used a particular piece of equipment to get here, a one-time only device. We must reach the Everfree Forest, the Foundation has a small research outpost there. I know one of Celestia’s informants is here, in Ponyville. I managed to find out the codename used by the agent: “The Hand”. Anyway, let’s hurry. If we’re lucky, we shouldn’t even meet someone this lat-“ “Good evening there, Twilight! Who’s the nice stallion?” Said a voice with a warm smile. A female voice. Twilight already knew who had just greeted her. It was one of her favorite ponies in Ponyville. She wasn’t surprised to see a mare with a green coat and a lyre cutie mark come out from the darkness. “Hi there, Lyra…”