//------------------------------//
// Equestrian Log - File 2 - Beware Of The Neck Breaker 
// Story: [DATA EXPUNGED] 
// by rpp4d2 
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Both of us still ran towards where we heard the sound, though it had stopped a while ago. Still, we needed to be sure, so we kept running. 

Eventually, we saw a dark alley. The walls were made of dark blue crystals, and the floor was dark purple. We entered the alleyway, and kept walking through it's endless darkness.

The corridors were dark, darker, yet darker. Me and Twilight walked for a while, I could see she was scared and trembling a little bit. Eventually, we reached the end of the alleyway, where there was a door, connecting to one of the buildings. 

The door was crystal pink, decorated with some details in white. It was slightly open, and it was possible to see a little bit of the inside of the place. The lights were dim, and the place seemed to be somepony's house.

We opened the door and entered. When we did, I had to put my hand over Twilight's mouth in order to keep her quiet, as well as restrain her. I saw pure fear in her eyes, so I hugged her, and tried comforting her the best I could. She hugged me back tightly, sobbing a little bit. Eventually, she calmed down. I let go of the hug, and she just stayed there with her eyes closed. I knew what the feeling was, and seeing her like this reminded me of the first week in the foundation. 

As I walked around the room, I started inspecting everything in it. It was a mess, the tables were literally turned, and everything seemed to have just been thrown away into the air, and fallen down again. In the middle of the room lay a motionless pink mare crystal-like pony. Her mane was light green, like an emerald, but some parts were brown-ish, due to the pool of blood below her.

I walked over, and knelt close to her. I put my hand in her chest. She was definitively dead. I looked at her neck. Parts of the crystal were shattered, and cracked. She had been strangled to death. Through her eyes I could see she died with them closed. All the pieces added up.

"SCP - 173 has already been here. Let's move. We have to find it before any more victims appear." I told Twilight. 

She was shaking and sobbing uncontrollably, clearly in shock. I knelt down and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Belive me, I know how you feel. You don't have to do this. If you want to, go back to your friends, I can handle this." I comforted her.

"No..." She said. "I want to do this with you... There are lives on danger. I won't back off now." She said, still visibly shaken by the scene. 

I smiled at Twilight, even though she couldn't see it under my helmet. I took her hoof and helped her up. Both of us left the room, and back into the alleyway. Finding 173 was going to be a harder task than we originally thought.

Both of us went into every single nearby place to the building, but nopony seemed to know anything, and nopony seemed to have witnessed or felt anything out of common. We searched every single building near that alleyway, but nopony knew anything whatsoever. After almost an hour searching, Twilight sat down huffing heavily.

"Where... could something... like that... hide..?" She lookedies extremely tired, even though she tried her best to hide it. "What does it even look like anyway?" She asked.

I took a picture of it, which I used while asking the locals if they had seen it. She saw the picture, and looked at me in a mixture of discomfort and dread.

"I think I saw something like that..." She stuttered. 

"Where?!" I inquired.

"In one of the ponies' house. Follow me!" She ran as fast as she could towards said house, I followed suit.

Eventua, there we finally reached it, and Twilight rang the doorbell.

"There's no time for that." I warned her.

"But the door is locked." She said.

I took off my gun and shot the doorknob, unlocking it. Twilight just froze in shock of what I just did. Pony weapons probably wouldn't be able to do something like that, I assumed. I entered the room, pointing my gun at every single possible thing I could see, yet, it didn't seem to matter. 

The room was cleaner than the last one, but still had some signs of damage, as well as a trail of blood. 

I followed the trail, while Twilight stayed in the other room. When I got to the end of it I saw a white crystal pony stallion, with a blonde mane, and mustache. He seemed to have had his neck broken. 173's signature. I knelt down to see if I could find anything. When I got closer, I could see he was holding a picture. 

I took the picture into my hand. It seemed recent enough. It showed him and another white crystal pony mare, with a red mane. What called my attention the most though was what the mare was wearing. It seemed like an adornment in her hoof, but upon closer inspection it seemed like a ring for ponies. A Jade Ring to be more specific. Simple, green. Not transparent green, just green, and without any kind of decorations. I had an Idea  and I hoped it was just my imagination. 

I rushed back to the other room, and met Twilight, holding a few letters. 

"Did you find anything?" She asked me curiously. 

"I think I did, but I hope I'm wrong." I said, showing her the picture. "Look at her hoof. See anything?" I asked her.

"A... ring..?" She looked at me, confused.

"If I am correct, and I really hope I'm not, that ring is also an SCP" I answered. 

"Another one?!" She looked at me in disbelief. 

"SCP-714, to be precise. It's a ring that reshapes and changes size to fit into the user's fingers, or in this case, hoof. It's a Safe class." Twilight looked more relieved. "But it still doesn't mean it's harmless." Twilight looked concerned again.

"And what does it do?" She asked me.

"Basically drains all your energy and speed, but it also provides immunity to toxins and psychological stimulation." I explained.

"Oh, so it also explains the letters." Twilight commented. 

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

She showed me the letters she was carrying. 

"They seemed to be conversations between our victim here and his lover. The poor mare had seemingly fallen ill for no apparent reason, and the doctors said she had no signs of infections. She was also becoming more aggressive over time, and less concerned about anyone's opinion." She said.

"The symptoms match. Any idea how old these letters are?" I asked her.

"From what I see, two days. The same amount of time since he proposed to her." She answered. 

"And he probably used the ring. Alright, we must go find her. Did the letters have any information on where does she live?" I asked Twilight. 

"Yes, follow me." She said, as she exited the place.

I stepped out, and quietly closed the door. Twilight winced as I did. I knew she was terrified by all of this, but she wouldn't admit it. We both moved along the street, distancing ourselves from that house. While we moved, I saw something with the corner of the eye. It looked black and white, and was moving extremely quickly. When I tried looking at it however, it was already out of my sight. 

Eventually we reached a house, and Twilight knocked on the door. Eventually, a white crystal pony, with a red mane came through the door. She was exactly the one in the picture, though she seemed even more exhausted. The jade ring in her hoof was still there.

"What is it that you want?" She asked in a monotone voice.

"Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Anthony Williams." She said, gesturing at me. "We're here to talk to you." She said with an obviously fake cheery tone.

"Sure. Come in, or... whatever...." The mare said looking horribly ill.

Both of us entered the house. The insides were much simmilar to the other crystal pony houses we've met before, except much cleaner and organized. Porbably because 173 hasn't been here yet. We saw she enter aswell and close the door. She looked at us uninterested. Twilight cleared her throat.

"So... um... What's your name?" Asked Twilight.

"...Rocking Note..." She said.

"That's a... lovely name..." Twilight said.

"What do you want here?" Rocking Note asked.

"Oh. Um... you see... Anthony thinks that... maybe... this ring of yours is a paranormal object... And... He would like to inspect it..." Twilight said awkwardly.

"Sure, you can see it." She removed the ring from her hoof.

When she did, she fell unconscious immediately.

"W-What happend?!" Twilight stuttered.

"She removed the ring." I said, picking it up.

"What?! Is that it?!" She asked in disbelief. "Don't tell me you knew this would happen." She shot me an icy glare.

"I don't have to, you seem to have figured it out by yourself. When someone removes the ring they can have some often unpredictable side effects. Faining is one of them." I explained.

While Twilight attended to the unconscious mare on the floor, I looked at the ring. Something told me I'd need it in the near future, so I put it in my pocket. 

While strolling around the house, I was thinking about things. SCP -173, and SCP-714 were here, so... were there any others? Prehaps there were, wich made me very concerned. If 106, or 682, or any other Keter for that matter were here... Then everyone was in grave danger. Still, there was hope, prehaps some members of the foundation were here too. They could help if that was the case.

Eventually I had to stop in my tracks, as Twilight came close to me.

"Yes?" I asked her.

"She is awake. Should we tell her, or...?" I knew what Twilight meant.

"Prehaps it would be too big of a shock at once. Let her calm down first. I'll go and search for 173 around this area. You stay and help her." I told her. "Meet me in the town square, in... 30 minutes?" I asked her.

"Do you even know where the town square is?" She asked me.

"I'll find out." I said, leaving the room.

When I got back outside, I continued my search. 

I went from door to door to see if anyone had seen SCP-173. Things progressed rather repetitively. Knock on the door. Crystal pony answers. Help him get over the shock. Accept them calling me 'alien', 'monster' or whatever they chose. Get out without any information. I was beggining to lose hope, when at last, one of the ponies said she saw something.

When knocking in one of the doors it was immediately answered, and a mare came out. The mare was a light blue unicorn, with a yellow mane. 

"Oh, what do you want here?" She asked me kindly.

"I'm looking for something like this." I said, showing her the picture of SCP-173. "Have you seen it?"

"Oh, my, yes. It's in the backyard. I wondered why would a statue like that appear." I rushed towards the backyard. "Everything okay?" She asked me.

I looked at it. It was in the living room. Standing there, just standing. Waiting to make a move. The yellow-ish sculpture, with it's green orbs, that we at the foundation assumed were eyes staring directly at me.

The mare came to my side, and screamed from the surprise. I looked at her for a split-second, and when I looked back, the sculpture was much closer.

"Be careful, it can't move right now. Keep looking at it." I instructed her.

She nodded, and both of us backed away slowly, trying our best not to blink. 

"Close all the entrances. It can't get out from here. I'll keep it here, okay?" I told her.

"Ok, I'll go get the keys." She said, then left.

I stood there for a few minutes. Always keeping one eye open, and the other closed. When the open eye was feeling dry, I'd open the closed one, and close the open one. I kept repeating the cycle, over and over. Once in a while I made a mistake, and had to move to the other side of the room, to distance myself further from it. 

Eventually the mare came back, and called me to the front door. I walked backwards towards it, still without blinking. We got out of the house and locked the last door.

"Do you live alone?" I asked her.

"No, actually, but the rest of my family is out for the day." She said.

"Good, don't let anyone get there." I said.

"What was it?" She asked me.

"I'll explain on the way. I should get going to the town square now." I said. "I don't really live here, so... could you take me there?" I asked.

She smiled and told me to follow her. We walked along, while I explained her about the foundation, and SCP-173, as well as what it was doing here.

"That is... horrible." She said.

"I know, and that is why I must contain it." I said.

"Alone?" She asked.

"I don't want to put anyone in danger, so alone would be better." I said. "Still, I'm not really alone. The princesses are aware of my presence here, so they have allowed me to get help whenever I needed it." I explained.

"That's good to hear." She said.

"We've been talking for a while and I don't even know your name." I said.

"Oh, sorry. You can call me Frosted Drop." She said.

"I like that name." I told her. She smiled.

Eventuallly we got at the town square, and met Twilight.

"Here you are." She said, looking slightly annoyed.

"Sorry, I'm late." I said.

"Did you find any information?" She asked me.

"Not really, just the creature itself." I said.

"...WHAT?!" Twilight was looking terrified.

"It was at my house actually, I thought it was just a statue." Frosted Drop answered.

"We were able to contain it there. We closed all the entrances." I told Twilight.

Suddenly, a mare came to Twilight's side. It was Rocking Note. She looked horrible, even worse than when she was wearing the ring. I could see in her eyes she had been crying a lot recently.

"Why is she here?" I asked.

"Well, I couldn't just leave her alone, could I?" Twilght said.

"It's dangerous." I said.

"I don't care." Rocking Note said. "That thing... It killed my boyfriend. He even had proposed to me. I will not live it down knowing I did nothing to help stopping it." She said in a firm tone.

"I see..." I simply said. "Well, the creature won't be leaving that house so soon, so, we have a few time to make a plan." I said.

...

It was almost sunset, we spent the rest of the day trying to get the equipment we needed to capture it. We all met each other at Frosted's house. I had a pair of steel handcuffs, Twilight and Frost were carrying some chains. Rocking was carrying the shock collar.

"Seems like we have everything." I said.

"Do we get in now?" Asked Rocking.

"Yes, everyone, on my signal." I said, getting closet to the door. "One..." Frosted got the keys. "Two..." She unlocked the door. "Three..." She opened it. "GO!" I said, as all of us entered at once. The room was empty.

"Where has it gone?" Asked Frost.

"I couldn't have left the house, not alone, at least." I said.

We separated into two duos. Twilight went with Rocking, and I went with Frosted. Both of us were looking eveywhere to see if we could find it. Frosted was shaking, so I looked at her. 

"Are you okay?" I asked, kneeling down, closer to her.

"Yes, I'm just... I'm scared." I looked at her eyes.

"Don't worry, you'll do just fine." I ressured her.

"I wasn't made for this..." She said.

"What do you mean?" I questioned her.

"Look at my cutie mark." She said.

Twilight explained me about those. I usually prefer not to look at them. Looking at a pony's flank just feels kinda wrong, but in this case, looking at her pleading eyes, I just had to do it. It was very pretty, actually. It was an Ice cream cone, with some ice cream on top of it.

"You see, now?" She asked me. "My special talent is actually making ice cream, not being a detective." She said slightly sad.

"Do you see my cutie mark?" I asked her.

She looked at me, in every possible angle, searching for anything, then pointed at my shoulder. 

"Is that it?" She asked.

"No, it's just part of my armor. It's only the logo of the foundation." I said.

"Then where is it?" She asked.

"I don't have one. No human has." I said.

She looked at me in confusion. "How is it possible? How do you know what to do, then?" 

"We don't." I said simply. "And that makes it so much more interesting. We can do whatever we want. So, why don't you try something new every now and then?" I asked her.

She smiled at me, and nodded. Both of us went back to work. While searching the kitchen, we heard a scream from upstairs, and quickly rushed towards it. We arrived at one of the dorms, where Twilight laid unconscious on the floor, and Rocking was struggling with 173's grip.

I quickly went over to, and checked her, while Frost kept looking at 173.

"She's still alive." I said, relieved.

I quickly helped Rocking out of 173's arms, and we kept staring at it. I went over to it, and placed the handcuffs, to prevent it's arms from moving. Frost then came to help me, as we chained it down on basically every spot, except the legs. Finally, Rocking helped place the shocking collar on it's neck, as I held it on a steel leash, that had a metal bar, preventing it from getting too close.

"Excellent. Could you girls bring Twilight outside? I'll carry this thing. Stay away from it." I said.

And so we did. When we got out, Twilight was finally returning to her senses. 

"What do we do with it now?" She asked.

"I would like to destroy it, especially after the damage it has done, but the foundation wouldn't allow it. Our acronym is Secure, Contain, Protect, not Destroy, Destroy, Destroy." I said.

"Then where are we going to keep it?" Asked Twilight.

"Prehaps somewhere safe, back in ponyville. Does Applejack's barn have som clear space?" I asked.

"For now it seems to have." Twilight said.

"Well..." I said, looking at the creature behind me. It was still unable to move. "Now that space won't have to be empty..." I grinned. Our job was done.

...

It has been three days ever since the incident in the Crystal Empire. Ever since we contained SCP-173, there has been no reports of anomalous activities, or deaths, though Applejack complains every once in a while about how that 'infernal creature keeps banging at her barn like crazy at night'. Rocking has been doing some psychological treatment, and Frost is doing something new with her life. Turns out that besides ice cream, she is very good at making spicy food. Who could've thought?

As for me and Twilight, well... We are still searching for the SCPs. Several anomalous activites have been reported through several places already, but nothing has been found. Nothing, until...

"Twilight! Thank heavens I found you!" A weird creature said, entering the room. It was just... Undescribable...

"Discord! What are you doing here?!" She asked it.

"I heard from Tia that you have been helping out a human capture some strange anomalies, is that right?" It asked.

"Yes, it is." I answered. "Do you happen to know anything?" I asked.

"Is one of them a bipedal creature, much lie a human, but with a black skin, a murderous grin across all his face, and seems to be able to teleport and kill anything by touch?" He asked.

"... Start from the beginning..." I said.