Celestia blinked at the human, “H-how?” She asked, “Tha-... it should be impossible for anypony to know that.” Celestia looked at the human still in chains. “How?”
The human shrugged, “Can’t really tell you that,” He said, “Sort of a breach of secrecy sort of thing.”
‘Really,’ Celestia thought, ‘my age is where you draw the line,' She deadpanned. "I'm going to need to discuss this with... them," She said while looking away, "I will be back to finish this later."
"Damn, and I was just starting to have fun," He mocked.
'This thing needs to work on its manners,' Celestia thought. She looked back to the bound creature. "Well, if you want to talk to somepony," She turned her head to the crystal mirror behind her and motioned with her head, "I'm sure one of my friends will be more than willing to accommodate you."
A few seconds later, a smaller purple Princess walked into the interrogation room. "H-hello," she said. 'Her mind must be going crazy right now, talking with a new form of intelligent life.'
"Hi," Ross said, "And you are."
"Oh, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle," Twilight replied, "I just have some questions about your technology. If you want to talk about it, that is."
"Okay, shoot."
"Well, I'll see myself out, I will be back within the hour... most likely," Celestia said. She turned around and opened the door in her magic. Only for it to swing open, startling everypony in the room. If the prisoner wasn't there, Both Celestia and Twilight would've "eeped" in surprise.
Shining Armor, barely containing his anger, trotted into the room. He was visibly frustrated.
Celestia looked at him annoyed, " I thought I told you-"
"She's fine Princess," He cut her off, "One of my guards said it was talking," He said turning attention to Ross, "I only have one question, then I'll be out of your mane."
Ross shifted in his seat, "Something tells me you won't like the answer," He said preemptively, caution in his tone.
"I don't care," Shining said, "But I expect you to be truthful."
Ross didn't respond.
Shining breathed in and out, calming himself a bit, "Where is she?" He asked, as calmly as to be expected. He had to practically spit the words out like there was acid on his tongue. Both Celestia and Twilight, who was levitating some device in her magic, held their breaths.
Ross turned to Celestia, "You're gonna need to untie me first," He said to her, "Before it answers."
"It?" Shining asked, "Just what is your game?"
"I also want to know what you're talking about," Celestia asked, closing the door with her magic and moving back to the table, "Are you expecting one of us to answer?" She added.
"No, of course not," He gave a shallow laugh, "Look, just untie me and I will give you the answer."
The three royals looked at each other. Celestia spoke first, "That would be a gross breach of security colonel," She said, "We can't have you breaking out."
"I agree," Shining Armor said, "What happened yesterday was-"
"A mistake on my part and my and my superiors part," Ross said, "If the mission went smoothly, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now,” Ross shook his head, “Too many things went wrong during that mission. I hate hurting other beings,”
“You mean Sunburst?” Twilight asked absentmindedly, “That was you?”
“Yes. That was me-“
“He’s fine, we’re getting off-topic,” Celestia said.
"Teach, we are. What exactly was that mission?" Shining asked condescendingly, "I doubt you've told her,” He said while raising his hoof to Celestia. ‘Thanks for bringing me into this Shining,’ Celestia thought, ‘I really need to get his wife to knock some sense into him.’
“Shining, please,” Twilight said, her magic still grasping the strange object, “We need-”
“Answers Twily!” Shining said, “And he,” He gestured to the human, “Has them. I for one,” He again looked at Ross, “Want to know, why you assaulted my daughter-”
“Shining Armor,” Celestia bellowed, “Stop this instant.”
“You’re taking this too far!” His sister chimed in.
“Well, his Foundation sure took it too far when he-”
“Hey if you think for a-”
A blast of magenta magic whirls past Ross’s head.
“SHINING ARMOR! STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!” Celestia yelled, which didn’t seem to phase the prince. The four being in the room finally all took a collective to breathe. Shining was staring daggers at Ross who returned the gesture to the guilt-ridden father. Celestia was wondering if she should encase him on the moon or not. Twilight was still trying to gain her footing, shaking her head to get her vision back.
The door burst open. Two guards with their spears at the ready immediately entered the room. “Your majesty’s? We heard… commotion.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Ross said sarcastically, he shook his head.
“We are fine,” Celestia said, “Return to your posts.”
There was slight stuttering in their speech, “If you say so, your majesty.” one of the guards said before they turned and left. Shutting the door behind them.
As soon as the door shut, Twilight turned and tried to gain control of the conversation. “W-we sorta got off track-”
“Sorta?” Ross said under his breath.
“B-but, you were in the… um… middle of explaining why-”
“You were going to tell us why we should let you out of your bindings.” Celestia finished the nervous princess’s sentence. “Exactly why again?”
“Hey-” Shining said, trying to regain control of the conversation.
“In a minute Shining Armor,” Celestia said, “You can ask your questions after we ask ours.” The Crystal Prince merely grumbled in response. ‘In a minute… a really long minute,’ Celestia thought, ‘Please be a long minute.’
“It will just be easier to operate that,” He said while gesturing to the object suspended in Twilight’s magic, “I would say, trust me, but… ya ’know…”
“Fine,” Celestia said.
Twilight whirled around, “I could just study it. I mean… it would probably be a couple of weeks,” She said, Celestia raised her eyebrow, “I-I mean…”
“I already said fine,” Celestia said as she magically took hold of his bindings, “Do not make me regret this.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Ross replied, “I won’t.”
Ross felt the warmth around his hands leave along with the bindings. He brought his hands around and rubbed his wrists. “Thanks for that,” he said as he looked at Celestia. “Now can I see that.” He pointed to the object in Twilight’s magic.
Twilight was hesitant, “How do I know you’re not going to destroy it?”
“Well,” Ross replied, he folded his arms, twirling the zipper on his vest, “You don’t, all I can give you is my word.”
Twilight looked at Celestia, who raised an eyebrow in turn. “Fine,” She said, “I’m going to trust you in this.”
She lowered the tape player on the table. ‘A couple of millennia… and we still use tapes,’ Ross thought, ‘We really wasted our time… At least they improved the capacity.’ Ross got to work, popping open the tape player. He took out the tape that was already there. He looked at the label, ‘Foundation History since Event Omega,’ He set the player down and took the tape.
With his other hand, he pulled the zipper on his vest down. He quickly switched the tape and pulled the zipper back up. He looked at the label, ‘SCP 106 REV. 1063.’ He looked around the room, Celestia and Shining Armor’s magic was on their horns, ready to strike. He looked at Twilight who was watching intently at his actions.
He put the new tape in and closed the player. “So What was that?” Twilight asked.
“I just put a new tape in,” he replied, “It should… answer some of your questions.” He pressed the triangle play button.
“Scp 106, object class- Keter,”
“I’ll be right back!” Twilight announced, “I need to take notes.” She charged her horn and teleported out. Ross sighed and pressed the double line pause button.
“Sorry…” Celestia said.
“She really likes taking notes,” Shining added. His horn went dim.
After a few moments of silence, there was another bright flash and Twilight was back. In her magic were a notepad and a pencil. “Okay,” She said lifting her head up, “You can start it again.” Ross moves his finger, “WAIT!” all the heads turned to the Princess, “How did you stop it?”
“This button right here,” Ross pointed to the pushed in double line button. Twilight looked down at her notepad and began writing down something. “Okay, thanks.” Ross again pushed in the play button.
“SCP-106 appears to be an elderly humanoid, with a general appearance of advanced decomposition. This appearance may vary, but the “rotting” quality is observed in all forms. SCP-106 is not exceptionally agile and will remain motionless for days at a time, waiting for prey. SCP-106 is also capable of scaling any vertical surface and can remain suspended upside down indefinitely. When attacking, SCP-106 will attempt to incapacitate prey by damaging major organs, muscle groups, or tendons, then pull disabled prey into its pocket dimension. SCP-106 appears to prefer human prey items in the 10-25 years of age bracket.”
Ross pressed down on the fast forward button, “This is just describing what it is, you can listen to the whole thing later… probably.”
Ross let go of it, “Limited observation of this “pocket dimension” has shown it to be comprised mostly of halls and rooms, with *Bzzzt* entry. This activity can continue for days, with some subjected individuals being released for the express purpose of hunting, recapture, *Bzzzt*. To date, there has only been one successful “escapee” from 106’s pocket dimension. All others have either gone insane or have never been seen again.
Note from 05- *Bzzzt*, ‘During event Site-19 - 23, a site-wide containment failure of site-19, subject D-9341 was “captured” by SCP-106, *Bzzzt* times with little damage to his person. See event Site-19 - 23 for more information.’”
Ross paused the tape. “I’m sorry,” he said, “But 106 is… not really the merciful type.” He looked at Shining Armor, who had looked away from him. He was shivering.
He looked at Celestia, there were tears going down her muzzle. “I believe that’s all we need to hear,” She croaked out.
He looked at Twilight, who had put down the pencil and pad. “Wh-What made this 9341 so special?” She said tears welling up in her eyes, “Was h-he just l-lucky? *hic* I-i mean is there a chance she’s alive?”
“Twily, I-“ Shining Armor said, “There’s…” he started to walk out. “I’m going to go tell Cadance.”
“We should go too, She won’t take it well,” Celestia said, “The guards will take you to a cell… later…”
Ross nodded, “I am… very sorry… I know what it feels like…”
“... I doubt it…” Shining said, trying to maintain a strong appearance, he could tell, “How could you, with all your technology… ever have to feel something like losing a foal to a complete monster?”
Ross tried not to remember, “...”
“I thought so,” Shining replied, he charged his horn and teleported out.
“We should… go, Princess Twilight,” Celestia said, “I will go get my sister… meet me and her in the council chambers.” She charged her horn and also left, that left the human and Twilight.
She was still writing down things on the tablet, oblivious to the fact she was crying onto it, ‘Has her mind just… not caught up to her yet?’ Ross thought. The sound of the pencil writing on the notepad rang throughout the room.
“You seem to be taking it pretty hard,” Ross said, “you need to… talk to someone about this. It helps.”
She kept writing on the pad. “Are you okay?”
“...”
“Excuse me?” Ross said.
The writing stopped, she dropped the pad and pencil and broke down. ‘I was way worse than that.’ He thought, ‘I already know what she’s thinking, ‘what if I were faster,’ what if… what if…’
Ross sighed, “You should-“
She charged her horn and left. Leaving him alone in the room. He pressed his hand to his radio, turning it back on.
“Sorry ‘bout cutting you off like that kid, but your idea worked,” Ross said into the mic, “I’m on the sixth floor, two lefts and a right, there are two guards in the viewing room, so watch out.” He was about to leave it at that, but thought back to Celestia’s words, “Actually, they’re going to move me, wait for my word.”
“Got it, sir,” Natalie said, there was a pause, “sorry for having to put you through that… I’m sure it… was hard to keep those memories repressed.”
“I don’t care, private, cats out of the bag, let’s just go,” he got out of the chair and stood up, “I really need a fuckin’ break.”
Twilight walked into the council chamber planning room. She began placing various things on the table. The Princess looked around and sighed. She was the only pony here. She charged her horn intent on gathering more objects from the interrogation room. Then it fizzled out.
‘What if they haven’t moved him yet,’ apart of her brain said, ‘I might just break down all over again, and you can’t let a prisoner see you weak.’
‘It’s been an hour,’ another part of her brain said, ‘They should’ve moved him by now.’
‘Well, they weren’t really given a timeframe.’
‘But Celestia did say the guards were to move him.
‘Then ask her!’
A hoof came down on Twilight’s back. She nearly jumped at the touch. “You okay sugarcube?” A voice said.
Twilight shook her head, “You want to talk about it?” Twilight shook her head again.
“Applejack-“ She turned around and saw her friends, “Girls… I should’ve-“
“It doesn’t matter Now Twilight,” Rarity said, “What’s done is done.”
“Yeah nopony’s perfect,” Pinkie said, “Everypony makes mistakes, even Princesses!”
“You need to stop expecting so much from yourself,” Twilight looked and saw Fluttershy, “You need to ask for help once in a while.”
“But I-“
“No buts Twilight!” Rainbow said, “Whatever happens, we’ll be with you, Nothing has stopped us before and Nothing will!”
Twilight felt better, it’s not the first time she’s had a pep talk with her friends before. She breathed, letting most of her frustrations leave her, but one remained. “There’s one thing I need to get,” She said, now giving off her usual light smile, “Wanna come and help me?”
“Yeah! I’m ready to go kick some alien flank,” Rainbow said, flaring her wings and puffing up her chest.
“Yeah,” Pinkie said, “Then save Flurry from being probed and-“
“Actually girls,” Twilight interrupted, “I think these things were here before us. We can talk and trot.” She said.
She began walking back to the room. “These… creatures are called humans. They well… I haven’t heard anything about them. There are no books, sightings, anything.”
“So they’re aliens then, right?” Rainbow asked, “they’ve never been seen before.”
“Well,” Twilight said, trying to wrap her brain around things, “I suppose it was the way he talked and the things he knew.”
“Like?” Pinkie asked.
“Celestia’s and Luna’s age,” Twilight said, “They never knew their parents, from what they told me. Starswirl found them and raised them.”
“What does that mean?” Fluttershy asked.
“Them knowing Celestia and Luna’s ages means they could know more. They could’ve seen the rise of pony civilization as we know it. Tartarus, they could know everything!” Twilight began breathing as the fact dawned on her.
“And this creature is causing them problems?” Applejack said, “Then we have a lot to deal with right now.”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, sighing loudly, “A lot.”
Twilight opened the door to the interrogation room, she walked in, followed by each of her friends. She immediately noticed that there were no guards or human in the room. She sighed again. She magically levitated the objects on the table in front of her. She grabbed the strange stick and the smaller one next to it. She grabbed
Twilight turned her grand and gazed into the interrogation room proper. On the table sat the ‘player,’ as Ross had called it. She opened the door with her magic. She quickly grabbed the player and left the room.
An “Ooh!” Came from Pinkie, “What’s that?” she asked as Twilight walked back into the room.
“You’ll see at the meeting tonight,” Twilight said dejectedly, “He said it would answer questions, but it's only given me more questions.”
“How does a small box like that give you questions?” Rainbow asked, she began to flap her wings and darted to it. Slightly hovering above the player, she grabbed at it, Twilight pulled it away with her magic.
“Come on,” She said, “It’s just a dinky old box, I just wanna see it.”
“You can see it fine!” Twilight yelled, “No we nee-”
“What’s this do?”
Twilight turned and saw Pinkie press one of the buttons on the box, “DON’T TOUCH THAT!” It was too late, Pinkie’s hoof fell on one of the buttons and the strange whirring noise sounded again. Twilight fumbled to see which one she pressed exactly.
“Wha-?” Twilight tried to press the pause button, but forgot which one it was exactly, ‘Was it the triangle or the two lines?’ She pressed the triangle.
“Testing log 106- 12/14/3556,
Note from Doctor Bright, “For the record, I’ve already submitted my objection to this test, but I am personally petitioning the 05 to discontinue *Bzzzzzt* testing, it’s wrong and cruel, even by my standards.”
Response form 05-2
“Your objection has been noted, doctor.”
“I’ve never heard of a doctor bright before…” Twilight said to herself, ‘Then again... I really didn’t get to hear much of it.’ Twilight looked at her friends, they were all intently listening to the recording. Even Rainbow had touched down and Pinkie was sitting on her haunches. Twilight sighed, ‘Fine, I guess… it already started.’
A new voice, a female began talking, “Alright D-23775, please open the door in front of you.”
Twilight’s ears twitched. Another female, distinctly higher in pitch responded, “I have a name you know, it’s *Bzzzzt* *Bzzzt*, not D 237- AAAAAAHHHH!”
“Shock collar works,” The first voice said at a quieter volume, “D-23775, please open the door in front of you.”
“What kinda ponies are these things?” Applejack asked, “That’s cruel… like that Doctor Bright guy said.”
“I can’t imagine anypony doing this to anypony… even if it were their worst enemies,” Fluttershy said to herself.
A male voice began talking, narrating the events, “D-23775 is breathing heavily.”
“Unless you want to be hit again 775, please open the door.”
The narrator spoke again, “Cameras show D-23775 get up and begin to turn the knob of the door. Currently, SCP 106 has entered in its 200th year of hibernation, no amount of probing has seemed to wake SCP 106 from its sleep.”
“Alright 775, close the door and firmly lock it behind you.”
“I really don’t want to do that.”
“Close the door 775, SCP 106 hasn’t been active for two centries. If everything goes according to plan, you’ll be back in her cell by night.”
“Well, that’s the worst motivation I’ve ever heard,” Rarity said, “Probably should’ve offered her a new dress or coat.”
“I don’t think they do that sort of th-”
“Or a CAKE!”
“Note. It is at this point that a small tremor shook the facility. Outside cameras indicate a solar eclipse has just occurred in the span of 5.68 seconds. In accordance with procedure, the outer doors were sealed. D-23775 runs back and closes the door. Camera’s within SCP-106’s containment chamber show that 106 is moving toward D-23775.”
“A solar eclipse? How on Equus would that cause a tremor?” Rarity asked.
“I-I think I know…” Twilight said, “This is an extremely old organization, they’ve been around since the dawn of pony and probably all the other -kinds.” She paused, “It was probably the first fight with Nightmare Moon.”
“SCP 106 moves toward the door and walks through it,” Twilight looked at Fluttershy, she was shaking but nodded at Twilight, “Camera’s within the hallway show that D-23775 is struggling with its *Bzzzzt* Restraint.’
“Please… Please… work magic please…”
The six friends all gasped or in Fluttershy’s case eeped.
“D-23775 backs up to the door, which has been charged with electromagnets. 775 is still struggling to remove its *Bzzzzt* restraint.*
“St-stay back!” The mare screamed, “Please j-jus-”
“775’s pleading is cut off as 106 grabs its neck,”
“St….o...p…. Ple….ase.”
“SCP 106 tightens its grip around 775’s neck.”
“Ca...n’t…. Bre...athe….bur...ns *Huuuh*”
“SCP 106 again tightens its hands around 775’s neck.”
“*huuuuuuuuh *Crack*”
“SCP 106 breaks the subject’s neck and proceeds to retreat into its pocket dimension. Note from Doctor Bright, ‘I believe this testing log is reason enough to suspend ‘native’ testing, but for some reason, I can’t say *Bzzzt*.”
Twilight presses the double-lined pause button, stopping the tape. She walked over to her friends. Rainbow and Rarity were busy comforting Fluttershy, Applejack had her eyes closed and her hat to her chest. Pinkie’s mane had gone flat. Twilight herself felt horrible, ‘They just… sat and… watched a pony die. How could they be so… heartless.’
The door opened, drawing Twilight's attention. A crystal guard walked in, “Your highness, the meeting is about to start.”
Twilight looked back to her friends, then to the guard, “Tell them I will be there momentarily.”
The guard bowed his head and walked off.