//------------------------------// // Containment Breach // Story: Containment Breach // by gamerboy11116 //------------------------------// Blackness. That was all Twilight saw. Slowly, she came to, beginning to regain her consciousness, stirring from a sleep that felt like it had lasted years. Almost instantly, she regretted that decision. A sharp pain coursed through her head as she moved her hoof across her back, attempting to rid herself of an unpleasant itchy sensation, a groan escaping her lips. She placed her hoof on her head and encountered a wet feeling on her hoof, as something dripped down her forehead through her fur. She inhaled sharply as another wave of pain blasted through her skull, a gallon of stale air entering her lungs. She began to examine her senses more closely, disoriented and confused. She smacked her lips, attempting to rid her mouth of a faint metallic taste. Her tongue felt like a desert as if she hadn't drunk anything in weeks. She perked her ears in an attempt to get a more detailed idea of her surroundings. She heard faint breathing as she inhaled more stale, stuffy air, and not much else. Vibrations, albeit weak ones from far away, moved through the floor and into her body. She heard the faintest hint of music somewhere, a kind of pop song. She was soaked in something sticky, the floor covered in a wet, viscous substance; not to mention the blood dripping down her forehead. Something long, thin and light lay across her back, rolling back and forth with her slight twitches. Her bottom-left hoof was caught in something plastic, stuck in a large supply of that sticky substance from before. A heavy metal object lay across her body, pinning her to the ground. Slowly, she opened her eyes, looking around in both confusion and curiosity. It was dark, with little to no visible light illuminating the room she was in. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she began to take in her surroundings. A small light shone from under a door, less than a foot in front of her. The room she was in was small, less than two-and-a-half meters wide and three meters long. The walls to her left and right were filled with shelves, filled with various bottles and janitorial supplies, several knocked over, their contents spilling out onto the concrete floor. Sniffing the floor, she discovered it smelled like soap and detergent, which was a greenish color. Moving her head backward, she saw she was almost completely covered with various supplies from this closet. A metal ladder lay across her back and a mob sat across her rump, with an obscene amount of green liquid covering her. Her rear hoof was stuck in what appeared to be a yellow mop bucket, spilling out dirty soap water. She attempted to get up, but her legs didn't seem to agree. A sharp pain coursed through her leg as she gasped and fell back towards the floor. It was injured, obviously. Something hard and metal had hit it when she appeared here. It was severely bruised, maybe broken. A wrench, perhaps? She started to notice a dull ache reigning throughout her body. She had several bruises from hitting the concrete floor, not to mention a small cut along her side. Biting her lip, she kicked the mop bucket off and slowly got up, pushing the supplies off with her magic. She stood up-right for only a second before slipping on the liquid coating the floor and falling back down, crashing into the concrete floor with a thud, unfortunately landing on her bad leg. It wasn't broken, she noticed that immediately- but it sure as hell didn't feel great. She let out a small yelp as her weight landed on it, a wave of pain coursing through her lower body. Quickly removing it from underneath herself, she panted heavily, trying to gather enough strength to stand up again. She waited for at least a minute, mentally berating herself for not checking the safety of the spell before she used it. She attempted to stand once again. Every nerve in her body told her it was a horrible idea, but yet she pushed through and stood once more, bracing herself against the metal door to the janitorial closet. Damn it, Twilight. You should have double-checked that spell before using it. Tested it, even. And now she wound up in the middle of a closet, with bruises and cuts and all sorts. She was soaked and sticky, her mane and fur covered in dirt, and had a large cut across her forehead. She wondered where she ended up. There was hardly any concrete in Ponyville, much less metal doors leading to janitorial closets. Where did she end up? Manehattan? Vanhoover? Fillydelphia? Los Pegasus? Whatever the case, that spell had depleted her magic reserves. It had used up so much, she wasn't going to be able to do anything that magic-intensive again for a while. Her spell hadn't worked and she was going to have to spend a lot of money to get back home. She growled through her teeth as she looked around for something to clean her head with. Some bandages, a napkin, whatever. As long as it wasn't soaked in detergent. She found a piece of paper on the very top shelf, and she brought it back down to her level with telekinesis. She glared at it, blinking in surprise. It had a logo on it she had never seen before. It was a large circle, with three small bumps along the outside. Inside the circle itself sat a smaller circle, with three arrows pointing in towards the center along the sides. The logo itself covered the top 20% of the paper. There was writing on it, right under the logo, but no matter how hard she squinted, she couldn't make it out. She focused her magic to create a small light at the end of her horn, illuminating the room in a faint, eerie purple glow. She stared at the words adorning what she now saw was a flyer of sorts. THE SCP FOUNDATION SECURE. CONTAIN. PROTECT. She blinked. 'The SCP Foundation'? In all her years of living, she hadn't heard of anything even remotely similar to that. She began to think more heavily about it, trying to figure things out. 'Secure, Contain, Protect'. Whatever this foundation was, it clearly was obsessive about security. What do they secure and contain? What do they protect? A small part of her didn't want to find out. She examined the flyer more closely, trying to make out what it said. There was tons of text written underneath the logo. Several paragraphs, in fact. She tried to read what it said, but no matter how hard she squinted, she couldn't make it out. The words 'Classified' were just barely visible, written in red ink and all caps underneath the logo but above the actual text. Biting her lip, she began to wonder whether reading this truly was a good idea. What was this organization? Giving the fact she hadn't heard of it, and the whole 'classified' bit, she made the assumption she wasn't supposed to be here. She looked around nervously, before perking her ears to try and listen for hoofsteps. Her faint breathing, barely audible music in the background, the sound of a ventilation duct behind her bringing in fresh air (albeit poorly), the faint humming of this building/facility's various electrical systems... but no hoofsteps anywhere. She gulped and funneled more energy into her horn, illuminating the room even more. Gazing at the newly visible text, she began to read. On behalf of the SCP Foundation and our staff, we welcome you to an exciting one-month working period in one of our top-secret research facilities. Unfortunately, the exact details of your upcoming work assignments are highly classified, but please read this document carefully to make your stay as safe and pleasant as possible. Each of the Class-D Personnel (you are one of them) has been given a numerical designation. Your personal designation is: D-10482 Please memorize your designation, as the staff will use it to refer to you from now on. During your stay, you will be taking part in various testing procedures. Some of them can be extremely dangerous if appropriate precautions are not taken. This is why we need your FULL COOPERATION at all times in all circumstances- out highly trained researchers and scientists know how to minimize risks and ensure the safety of the personnel involved in testing. If you fail to comply with the instructions you are given, you will be sent back to your term on death row or shot. If everything goes as planned (meaning that we have your full cooperation), you will be released at the end of the month and you will be granted an absolute pardon for all your previous offenses. Welcome, D-10482, to the SCP Foundation. We hope you enjoy your stay. SECURE. CONTAIN. PROTECT. Twilight blinked, her heart-rate rising. No wonder she hadn't heard of it- it was top secret, hidden from the public eye. She now knew for sure she shouldn't be here. 'D-Class Personnel'... clearly they weren't important. She shuddered as she thought about what the 'extremely dangerous' testing procedures they certainly went through were. And what did they mean by 'shot'? She shuddered. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't good. She had to get out of here. Looking towards the metal door, she tried to find a doorknob or handle of some kind to open it. Now, escaping or at least finding help from somepony was her top priority. Her hoof found it's target, and she pressed on the door. She was promptly greeted by a blinding light which burned right into her retinas. Covering her eyes with her free hoof, she walked out of the Janitorial closet. Blinking several times to adjust to the light, she looked around. She was standing in a large, rectangular room, a good thirty meters wide and twenty meters long, relative to herself. A set of stairs lay in the far-left corner of the room against the far wall, leading up to several steel platforms supported by large, concrete pillars. The platforms themselves stretched around the left and back walls entirely. Directly in front of Twilight, on the far wall, there sat a huge metal door of kinds. The door itself was obviously heavy-duty, constructed entirely out of reinforced steel with a large 'X' pattern on the front and a slit down the middle, signaling it split in the center to open. Towards her right on the right wall, there sat another, regular-sized door with a red button next to it, and a sign above which read 'Chamber Exit'. Twilight stopped in her tracks as she took in her new surroundings. She slowly approached the large, metal door, her hooves making a loud stomping noise against the concrete floor, dragging behind her a trail of detergent and dirt from the janitorial closet. As she arrived at the metal door, she looked behind her. The janitorial closet she had come from sat directly in front of her now, and she could now see where the metal walkways went. They lead directly into a small observation room of sorts high above the ground, inside of which many complicated electrical systems sat, as well as several monitors displaying the interior of some kind of room. Twilight breathed in heavily as she turned back to the metal door. Suddenly, a wave of disgust washed over her. She reeled, her muzzle scrunched up as she stumbled away from the metal door, a horrible smell reeking from whatever was inside, assaulting her sense of smell. Suddenly, her ears perked up, a loud, scratching sound suddenly appearing. It was coming from beyond the door. Her heart dropped into her stomach as her eyes widened, the scratching quickly being joined by loud, concrete scrapping. The sound of concrete against metal against concrete. Her ears folded against her skull as she walked back into the janitorial closet, away from the door. Whatever was in that room, she was glad it was locked up. Suddenly, a loud blaring sound came out of nowhere. It seemed to come from all directions, an omnipresent sound if you will. It was quickly followed by the deep voice of a middle-aged male. Maybe 20-35? "Uh... attention, all personnel. There seems to be a problem with the SCIP Network. No Foundation computer at this site seems to be able to access the Control Systems remotely, and that includes the Door Control System. We fear we might have been hacked by a Splinter Group, or a massive system glitch has occurred. Whatever the case, we are initiating a site-wide Class A1 Lockdown out of precaution, until control can be remotely restored. All current tests involving Keter-Class Objects scheduled past 6:00 P.M are being postponed, and all tests scheduled past 12:00 A.M is as well. We will update everyone shortly." The voice quickly faded back into nothing, the blaring stopping. Twilight bit her lip, trying to decipher what that man had said. First off, he clearly used some kind of announcement system, which explains the whole omnipresent voice thing. Second, 'SCIP Network'? 'Computer'? 'Access the Control Systems remotely'? All of those terms seemed to remind Twilight of something. Computers were relatively new devices to Equestria, only appearing as huge behemoths which take up entire rooms. They only ever appeared in large industrial centers like the Canterlot Royal University, the Manehattan Grand University and the San Franciscolt Central University. She had the luxury to mess around with the Canterlot University Computer back when she lived there, but it couldn't do much apart from simple calculations. Third, a 'site-wide Class A1 Lockdown'? Whatever that was, it clearly wasn't good. She guessed that meant the 'site' was locked down, essentially meaning nobody can leave or enter. But that didn't really make much sense. Fourth, 'the door control system'? Apparently, they couldn't access them remotely. That implies they originally COULD do so using the computers they have here. She hoped that didn't mean that metal door would be opening any time soon. Speaking of which, the scratching seemed to have stopped. Now she could only hear concrete shuffling, even from all the way over here near the Janitorial closet. Fifth, 'tests'? Must be those tests she had heard about in the flyer. Those 'extremely dangerous' test bit seemed to make a lot more sense now, after she had encountered... whatever was in that room. Sixth, 'Keter-Class Objects'? They clearly have a lot of objects to have their own classification system to identify... how dangerous the objects were? She wasn't entirely sure but presumed that 'Keter' isn't a good thing. Just as she was putting the pieces together, her ears perked up. She focused entirely on her hearing, trying her hardest to pick up whatever she had sensed. Slowly, her eyes widened as she heard voices. Hoofsteps. Loud hoofsteps, from behind the door to the right. They were approaching fast, and she had to hide. Quickly diving back into the closet and shutting the door, she put her hoof across her mouth and tried not to make a sound as she gazed out a tiny crack in the door. The door to the right opened, and several... creatures walked out. They weren't ponies, much to her shock. They were... bipeds, it seemed. Three of them were wearing clothing of some kind. A black, tough-looking vest, a helmet with a golden visor, and each carrying a black stick in their arms. Judging the way they were holding them, she determined they were a kind of weapon. They seemed to be escorting three other bipeds. Those three each were wearing orange jumpsuits, with a number printed on both the front and back. She could see their posture and faces more clearly now. They walked on two legs and only had hair on their heads, with some visible fur along the chest in one case. They seemed incredibly balanced, despite only having two legs to stand on. Finally, there was one other biped wearing what appeared to be a white lab coat. She listened in to their conversation. "Damn it all to hell. Alright, listen up, idiots. We have very limited time to get this done, so listen to us and don't fuck this up. Alright?" The first biped said, waving his black stick around.. His voice sounded loud and powerful, with a tint of fear, anxiety, and anger to it. Clearly, he was worried about something. Quickly, he spoke again. "You! Sergeant, uh-" "Christopher, sir." "Christopher! Go head towards Evacuation Shelter L-9 and open the doors for us. Ready your firearm just in case a breach occurs. You'll hear it over the intercom if it does, alright? Good. Now fuck off." "Yes, sir." Twilight flinched at their harsh language as 'Christopher' ran off somewhere else. Clearly, they didn't mess around. "You! Private, uh... Liam, was it?" "Yep. Private Liam, reporting for duty." "Go stand out by the office space in case one of these fuckwits decides to escape, okay? "Roger that." "Alright. Now, you, Mr. Science Guy. I need-" "James, sir." "I don't give a fuck. Head up to the observation room immediately and open the doors, giving the damn Remote Door Control Systems seem to be offline." "Yes, sir." Twilight watched as the two bipeds, who clearly were lower rank, walk off to do their respective tasks. Then, the first biped, the one Twilight presumed to be the commander, stared at the three bipeds with the orange jumpsuits. "You guys, head to the damn door and do as I say. I swear to god if any of you try to escape I'll shoot you without a second thought. We have very limited time as the intercom said so hurry the fuck up." Twilight watched as the commander walked up the stairs to the metal walkway and stared at the orange-jumpsuit bipeds as they approached the metal door. The commander seemed to look towards the observation room and nod, and soon after the metal door started to open. Twilight's eyes widened as it revealed the interior of the room. The doors led to a large, steel room, completely cubical. On the floor, there seemed to be an odd reddish-brown substance and in the far-left corner of the room... Twilight dry-heaved as the stench hit her, even over the smell of detergent she had spilled and the distance to the room. Regaining her composure, she looked back towards the room, staring at an odd, biped-ish statue in the corner. It was tall, pale, looked like one of those bipeds except without any clothes and no hands nor feet to speak of. Its head was abnormally large, but its face wasn't visible, as the statue was looking in the other direction, away from her. But that didn't make any sense. Where was the creature she had encountered? "Alright, fuckfaces. D-9341 and D-9673, enter the chamber. D-10482, start- where is your fucking cleaning equipment? God damn it. Head back to the janitorial closet and grab some stuff IMMEDIATELY or I will personally schedule your execution for two seconds from now. Do this immediately, then we're heading to the evacuation shelter." The commander shouted, his voice echoing throughout the room. Twilight's blood ran cold as who she presumed was 'D-10482' started walking towards her. Time seemed to slow down as Twilight could practically hear her heartbeat. Right as the biped approached the door and latched its hands around the door, a loud blaring noise was heard and the intercom was heard again. "Attention, all personnel! The Door Control System is being accessed remotely from an unknown source. An immediate Class B3 Lockdown has been initiated per direct order of O5-7! We advise all personnel to seek out a safe space, or prepare for an evacuation. All testing and non-necessary procedures have been postponed. All SCP doors are to be shut and locked immediately." Silence reigned for at least three seconds before the commander shouted. "Oh, for fuck's sakes. Alright, scratch this. D-10482, head to the door and stay there. Science-guy, close the damn doors the second those guys leave the room. D-9341 and D-9673, back up and keep direct eye-contact with SCP-173 until the doors are closed and then join your friend near the door. DON'T BLINK." Twilight gulped as the doors started to close and the two bipeds left the room slowly. 'Don't blink'? 'Keep direct-eye contact'? What, does that mean that statue can only move when... well, that would explain the... scratching... oh god. Twilight dry-heaved once more. But suddenly, the doors stopped closing. A horrible screeching noise ripped its way into her ears as the several tons of metal scratched to a halt against the concrete before the doors started to open instead. Twilight saw the commander open his mouth to speak, but then the lights went out. "Wh- WHAT THE F-" Crunch. "I-" Crunch. And then the lights came back on. Twilight nearly screamed in terror, just barely managing to keep it in with her hoof as she saw the statue, in that brief second the lights were out, somehow managed to move all the way out of its chamber. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the dead body on the ground and the dead body in the statue's hands. "Oh my go- EVERYBODY HERE KEEP DIRECT EYE-CONTACT WITH THE STATUE, UNTIL-" The lights went out again. The sound of concrete against metal. The lights went on, just long enough for Twilight to see the commander screaming at the top of the platform, aiming its black stick at the statue. A second later, the lights went out again. Crunch. Crunch. Twilight couldn't hold back a scream this time. Even in pitch-black, she managed to slam the janitorial door shut, backing up deeper into the closet. All she saw was blackness. She slipped and fell right onto the janitorial equipment as she heard concrete scraping against metal and concrete, rapidly changing position, heading throughout the room, undoubtedly enjoying its newfound freedom without any light. She screamed in pain as the janitorial equipment hit her bad leg. Several other sensitive spots on her body were hit hard, too. Biting her lips as she struggled to get up, slipping on the detergent once more. She flipped sides and fell face first into the equipment, her face winding up straight in a bucket of soap. She quickly pulled herself out of the soap, rubbing her eyes and stumbling back out of the door. The door gave way as she slammed into it, causing her to fall directly onto the concrete floor outside the closet. This time, she couldn't get up immediately. Both her eyes and her leg burned. She just lay there, hyperventilating for a moment. Biting her lip to stifle another panicked scream, she perked her ears and waited five seconds. Nothing. The statue had left. Twilight immediately stumbled up, slipping on the detergent trail she had left earlier and rushed in the direction she thought the door was. The commander had said the evacuation shelter was over this way before he... he... She picked up speed before smashing face-first into a concrete pillar, the sound of the statue being heard again not to far away. Twilight let out a yelp, falling back down for only a second. She quickly got back up, ignoring the sudden urge to sneeze and the pain she now felt in her muzzle and instead leaned against the pillar, attempting to gather her bearings. The lights finally came back on. At least some of them did. Most of the lights were turned off, the only ones turned on were several red, flickering lights, which filled the room with an eerie red glow. Seconds later, an alarm started to sound. Twilight looked around the room in terror, unsure of what to do. Four dead bodies lay around the room. One in the observation room, one on the walkway, and two near the containment chamber. The window to the observation room was broken, the scientist lay half-inside and half-outside of it, neck broken and twisted in unnatural ways. The railing was almost completely shattered, the statue having smashed through it. A ventilation pipe near the ceiling also lay in ruin. Twilight's ears perked as she listened. Screams of agony rippled throughout the facility, from several floors above her to several floors beneath her, in an almost perfect match-up with the alarm blaring. The sound of growling echoed along with the sound of ripping flesh, the same loud bangs Twilight had heard the commander make with his weapon also accompanied it. Laughter from far away, an unnatural but almost equine scream of anger, small explosions, and one single scream, so full of pain, agony, and misery that it trumped all else. It was by far louder than any other, and lasted dramatically longer as well- Twilight hoped she never had to figure out who or what caused it. Suddenly, the broken ventilation pipe above Twilight started to make loud sounds, as if something was moving through it. Fast. A huge stream of red liquid fell out of the pipe, smashing onto the ground and washing away the brown-red goo on the floor of the Containment Chamber, along with several pieces of flesh. The intercom came on again, the same male from before's voice echoing throughout the room. "Attention, all personnel! Somebody is opening up the containment chambers remotely! This site is now experiencing multiple Keter and Euclid Class Containment Breaches, and we advise all remaining personnel of Class-C or higher to enter to your nearest evacuation shelter immediately! Both the Primary and Secondary Lighting Systems have been shut down remotely, only the Emergency lighting is still working. The Main Fusion Generator has also been shut down, we are operating on our Emergency Generator systems! Full-site lockdown initiated!" As Twilight ran towards the door marked 'Chamber Exit', she reflected on how she winded up here. Twilight wanted to visit another dimension. Her spell had worked. And as she opened the door, she wished it hadn't.