//------------------------------//
// Equestrian Log - File 3 - Rotten Carnage 
// Story: [DATA EXPUNGED] 
// by rpp4d2 
//------------------------------//

"Yes" I said simply. 

Both Twilight and Discord looked at me curiously. I simply looked back and said again. 

"Yes, that is an SCP." I took a deep breath. "Through the description, it is possible to assume that you're talking about SCP-106, A.K.A The Old Man. I never thought we'd have to go through something like this. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I'll be able to save everypony." I took yet another deep breath. 

"Anthony, are you okay?" Asked Twilight, concerned. 

"No, I'm not. SCP-106 is actually a Keter. It's abilities include killing everything by touch. It can also travel between dimensions, using the ability of corrosion. Anything it touches instantly decays. And if it catches you, it may not kill you instantly, but it will send you to 106's pocket dimension. An entirely chaotic world, where everything keeps changing, except the growing feeling of dread. If it catches you there, you are definitely dead." I explained. 

Once again, Twilight failed to hide her fear. Never before had she met a Keter SCP. Discord then spoke up. 

I had almost forgotten he was in there. I didn't look at him much seeing it was something difficult to look at. He seemed like an amalgamation of various parts of various beings. Some of which I didn't even recognize. 

"Perhaps I can find something to help you guys contain it." He said in a serious tone that didn't seem to fit him.

"What about us?" Asked Twilight. 

"Where has it been spotted last?" I asked Discord. 

"Somewhere around the Everfree Forest, last I checked." He said.

I knew where the place was. Twilight had been teaching me about Equestrian geography. That place seemed to give everyone the chills, just because it's a 'natural' place. It's not different from any forest in my world, save for the monsters. 

"Twilight, go get the other bearers, we have to go into the forest." I told her.

"Okay..." She said, shaking slightly. 

She left, and I looked at Discord. He gave me a rather embarrassed smile, and cleared his throat. 

"So, you're from another universe right?" He asked.

"Yes, I am." I answered. 

"Do you know how have you gotten here?" He asked.

"Through an SCP. It was a new one, it hadn't been even cataloged yet. Me and my team were fighting them, when that SCP seemingly activated, and I woke up here. I was too tired, so I fell unconscious, and woke up in Twilight's house." I explained. 

"Do you know where that 'SCP' came from, or why did it activate?" He asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Most of the SCPs are complete mysteries, and some are priorities, that one was just another of the many." I said.

"Perhaps I may know it's origin." He said.

I looked at him, he was sweating a little. 

"Explain, then." I said.

"Well, perhaps I may have had something to do with this SCP... You see, recently I have been experimenting with interdimensional travel. You know, to pass the time..." He started, looking at little anxious. "But then, one of my experiments were lost... It seemingly was transported into another universe, and, well... 2 days later you came here..." He said.

"Hmm, I see..." I said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause so much trouble! Heh, when I thought I was reformed..." He said.

"It's not your fault, that portal could have led anywhere, it was just unlucky to end in my universe. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this." I assured him.

"Heh... thanks..." He said.

"Still, I'm curious, why can't you just send them all back?" I asked.

"I can, but first we have to find them." He answered. 

"And I'm sure we will." I said, confidently. 

"So, in the meanwhile, what is your favorite pie flavor?" He asked out of the blue. 

I couldn't help but smile a little bit. He really is the god of chaos.

We kept talking about random sunjects until Twilight arrived with her friends.

"Is everything ready?" I asked them. 

"Yes, everypony is ready, and you?" Twilight asked. 

"Always." I said, grabbing my gun. 

All of us left the castle and went towards the Everfree Forest. The walk wasn't that long, and few minutes later we reached the entrance of the forest. 

"If anypony wants to go back, do so now." I warned. 

None of them said anything, so I assumed everypony would come. Still, I could see all of them were shaking slightly, even Twilight. 

I took a deep breath and entered the forest. I could see the 7 ponies accompanying me. All of them with fear in their eyes.

The trees were dark, and there were many shadowy places, as well as multiple plants I haven't seen anywhere before. Every once in a while one of them would say something like : "Be careful!", "Don't touch this!". Still, no one on the group was harmed.

We walked for several minutes, and found absolutely nothing. No evidence from 106. Still, we continued searching. Any sign of corrosion, on the trees, floor, even the animals, would have been good evidence. But no, there was no evidence at all.

After a long time, they were all tired. I didn't want to push them too far, so we found ourselves a way back to the entrance of the forest. I waited for all of them to be fully rested before I asked again.

"Does anypony want to leave?"

Fluttershy nodded. I gestured for her to leave. It was no surprise for me she would do that. 

"Anyone else?" I asked.

Once again, no response. 

"All right, then." I said, as we entered the forest once more.  

We walked, as I kept observing those twisted trees, with their bases looking like faces, trying to scare us away. I heard Pinkie giggle behind me. I could only wonder why. 

I had lost count of the time, after walking through the strange plants for so long. It could have been  minutes, or perhaps were they hours? I didn't know anymore. There were several complaints, but usually I ended them quickly.

I don't know for how long we walked, but eventually we found a corpse. It was a giant corpse of a creature that resembled a wolf, but made out of wood. It was smelling of rotten wood, when I got closer to it, I examined it. 

Just as I thought. It was dead, and rotten. But it wasn't rotten because it was dead, that was the cause of the death. I examined it further, and saw the direction it was looking at before dying. It's eyes were turned north. 

I looked behind me. Everyone seemed to be shocked, and some at the verge of tears. Twilight was there least shocked, but still, she came close to me, breathing heavily.

"What happend?" She asked. 

"106, it has gone north. That's where we're going." I said, as I pointed towards some trees.

Twilight looked concerned, as she suddenly realised something. 

"That's where Zecora's house is!" She shouted.

I understood, it was a friend of hers. We both started running, with the rest of the group close behind. 

While running, I realised the floor below me was corroded, and had a black color to it. Some of the trees' branches were darkened, and their fruits rotten.

We reached a cottage, and all of us blasted inside. Twilight looked around frantically, as she was searching for her friend.

"Zecora? Zecora!" She called.

I had a look myself, but I realised she was not there. There was no sign of 106's presence, therefore I assumed she would be safe.

I told Twilight about this, but she still insisted we looked around. 

After finishing their investigation, they came back without any clue of Zecora's location. We decided to keep following the trail of 106.

We kept walking amongst black floor and decaying trees for a long while. We saw some other decaying corpses of birds, squirrels and other small animals. Thankfully Fluttershy wasn't there. 

At last, after who-knows-how-long we finally reached a castle. It seemed like an old building, with several trees around it. The entrance was rotten, but not 106 rotten, just age rotten.

The area had a soothing aura. Both Twilight and her friends looked nostalgic of the place. I saw a black spot on the floor, and walked towards it. 

Upon entering the building, I saw several pieces of rock lying on the floor. The black spots marked locations around them. Apparently 106 had examined them before me.

Upon closer inspection, I could see the rock shards had a familiar shape. It is only then I realized they had the shapes of the other ponies' cutie marks.

"Twilight!" I called her. 

"Yes?" She said, trotting closer to me.

"Do you know what this is?" I asked, pointing at the stones. 

"These... these are the original elements of harmony. How are they still here?" She asked. 

"Not sure, but our friend seems to have been taking a good look at them." I said, pointing at the black spots. 

Twilight gasped. We got up and went to get the others, before continuing to follow the trail of decay.

Once we left the castle we started following the trail as quick as we could, walking along more dead animals and more decaying plant life. 

"What kind of creature would do such a thing?" Wondered Rainbow Dash. 

I could see they were either angry, in the case of Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Twilight, Rarity and Starlight were concerned, while Pinkie seemed upset, so much that her puffy mane had gone flat. I myself wasn't happy about this whole situation, though I knew batter than to attack 106 directly. 

I could feel we were reaching closer and closer to the heart of the forest, and the trail was getting more and more fresh. We were close. 

We reached a strange place, right in the heart of everything. 

"Where are we?" I wondered aloud. 

"Close to... THE TREE OF HARMONY!" Said Twilight, running towards the place. 

We followed her. Once we arrived, we saw the creature himself. SCP-106, standing tall, with it's grim look, and dream haunting smile. It's hands were touching a gigantic crystalline blue tree, the branches in contact with 106 had become black. We wondered what he was doing, then suddenly, he looked at us.

"We're fucked." Is all I could say.

"It's destroying the tree of Harmony!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

I took Applejack's lasso, and used it to tie Rainbow before she did something stupid.

"Let me go!" She shouted. 

"It can kill by touch, be careful." I said.

I took my gun and shot towards the tree. I hit the branches that had suffered 106's touch. The trees started to glow.

106 started to walk towards us, leaving a trail of death behind him. The Old Man extended his hand to touch us, but Twilight blasted him with magic, as all of us ran past him, and towards the tree.

"We came in time, they tree will heal." Twilight said, examining the broken branches.

"What about us?" Asked Applejack, looking at 106's approaching figure.

"Do you girls trust me?" I asked.

"Yes." Each of them said.

"Good, all stay close to me and don't let go." I said as all of them hugged me tight. 
counted to three, as I ran towards one of the black spots, the biggest one. I jumped inside it, while 106's screech could be heard behind us all.

We had fallen into the darkness.

...

I woke up. My vision was blurry. It took me a while to be able to focus on anything, but when I did, I saw we were on a big round room, with a yellowish dim illumination of torches, that felt ghostly on the dark green hallways. The whole place had a smell of putrid flesh, and burnt rubber.

I looked around, all six ponies laid beside me. I went to Twilight first, and woke her up. Meanwhile, I could hear a groan behind me.

I looked back and saw Starlight, who got closer to me. She was also having problems with her vision, as she bumped into me.

"Sorry..." She said.

By that time Twilight was waking up. Her eyes fluttered open, and she started sitting upwards. I went to wake Rainbow up next. 

"Where are we?" Asked Twilight. 

"In the Pocket Dimension." I said.

"What?" Questioned Starlight. 

"It's 106's hideout. I've been here before. Never wanted to come back, but it was an emergency." I explained. 

"What about the tree? Won't he try to destroy it again?" Asked Rainbow, now awake. 

"Nah, the infected branches have been destroyed, and the trees started defending itself. Twilight said it was going to heal, so there is nothing to worry about for now." I said.

Twilight and Starlight helped waking the others up. Once everyone was back to consciousness, we started moving towards the corridor.

"Where are we going?" Asked Rarity. 

"Out of here." I said.

"Excellent, I really don't want to stay in a foul place like this..." She said.

We walked along, descending into darkness. We eventually reached a place that seemed some ruins, in the middle of nowhere. The corridors we were in now disappeared. 

"What...?" Wondered Starlight. 

We kept moving, until we looked in the distance, and saw 106 looking at us from afar. He started moving in our direction. Realising we've been spotted, I jumped outside of the ruins, and all of us fell indo darkness once again. 

When we hit the floor, there was no pain, it was as if we had merely jumped in the same place, and not fallen 10 meters. 

We were in a place extremely like the first room we were in, but this time, instead of one corridor there were five.

"Which way?" Asked Twilight. 

"I don't know." I confessed. 

"Didn't you say you were here before?" Rainbow asked.

"This place defies all laws of nature, it's ever-changing, only 106 knows how to travel this place with perfection." I said.

"We're running out of time!" Said Starlight. 

"Furthest to the left, then!" I said.

All of us entered the tunnel, and reached another room much like the previous one, but with two doors.

"Right!" I commanded.

We kept following the dimly lit tunnels for a long while. At last, we were at the darkest part, where nothing could be seen, but with a light at the end of the tunnel. We were walking towards it.

...

We opened our eyes and looked around. We weren't at the tree of Harmony, instead, we were back at Ponyville. 

"How?" Asked Twilight. 

"We moved. Quick, if we're here, he is probably here too. Be careful." I said.

I walked around, and saw the distinctive black spots that 106 leaves wherever he walks. They led towards the Castle of Friendship, whose doors were slightly open, and corroded. There seemed a few dead animals lying on the floor. The plants around it were decaying.

"There it is!" Shouted Rainbow. 

We went towards the castle, however, upon getting closer, the smell became too much to handle. Staying there for too long would turn out to be toxic. 

I reached into my pocket and picked up the Jade Ring, putting it in my finger. I looked at Twilight and the others.

"Don't go in. I'll. Go myself, take care of anyone who gets too close. I'll be back soon." I said.

Twilight waved me farewell, as I entered the castle. It's original soothing aura had become twisted, as though instead of feeling calm, I felt like dying. Or perhaps that was just the ring, draining my energy.

I walked around the now black corridors, with this grim aura everywhere. I felt more and more tired, and a little braver, or prehaps reckless. I didn't feel the putrid smell anymore, all I felt was that something bad was about to happen, and I was running towards it.

I entered Twilight's room. Nothing there. Moved towards my room. Still nothing. If it kept like that, I wouldn't be able to check all the rooms in time.

At last, I heard a noise on the upper floor. I ran towards it, and once I got there, I looked at the middle of the hallway, and saw the creature again, who in turn looked at me. I was going to get my bullets, when I saw the creature was using its powers on my bullets, that were rusty when fired.

I had no power against it, and the minimum consciousness I had left told me to run, and so I did.

The creature wasn't after me, quite the opposite, in fact. The creature was running away from me. I could simply leave it to it, but it was my mission to contain it.

Suddenly I head voices from the stairs, and I turned to see Twilight, and Discord, both wearing gas masks.

"So here you are, quick, where is it?" Said Discord. 

"It's trying to get away." I said.

"We must lute it back somehow." He commented.

Lure it back..? That was it! On the foundation we always had a method to recapture 106, that involved a lure subject, that was used to call forth 106's attention. We basically took a member of D-Class Personnel, and broke their femur, so that 106 was attracted by the wound. 

Now, there were no D-Class personnel, but I knew the plan, and I was still there, with a mission to complete. I told them my plan.

"That's crazy! Why would you do such a thing?!" Said Twilight.

"Nu-Uh, there must be another way!" Discord complained.

"Look, I know you care about me and all, but I must do it, to protect everyone else." I said.

"But why you?!" She asked, teary-eyed. 

"Because I am a soldier. Getting hurt is part of my job." I said.

...

We had everything ready. We were at one of the rooms, where I'd attract 106, so that Discord could contain it. Twilight was trying her best to hold back her tears, while I simply was breathing deeply. 

Discord gave me the sign, and I nodded. I looked at Twilight, and gave her thumbs up. She was still looking very nervous, but agreed to do it. She took one of the devices she developed to break rocks (for research purposes) aimed it at my leg, and...

After a while all I could hear were my own screeches of pain. 106 had appeared in front of me through one of its portals, but Discord expected that, and contained it in time, wrapping him like a gift, in a giant glass box, that was supposedly indestructible. 

After a while, the pain had taken a bigger effect on me than I thought it would. I could see Twilight crying with the corner of the eye. I gave her one last smile before closing my eyes, and falling unconscious once again. The pain kept me awake long enough for me to be able to feel satisfied, for saving many lives, and avenging others.

All I could see is darkness, and hear the cries on the outside. I couldn't feel my leg really well, but eventually I completely lost consciousness, not feeling anything at all. Finally, I started dreaming.