Ulgrin pulled himself up into a sitting position on one of the many green walls. He groaned in pain as his leg came down on the ground, touching the cold, greenstone. He clasped his hands around his right leg, it burned like nothing he’s ever seen before. He gasped in pain, his gas mask muffling his pained groans.
‘Can’t breathe…’ His eyes began to close and his vision began to go dark. He reached up and pulled the foundation-issued gas mask off of his face, throwing it on the ground in front of him, ‘Improve breathing… fuck that thing…’ He shook his head, ‘where am I?’
As he turned his head to look around, he screamed in pain. One of his hands, its glove slathered in SCP 106’s secretions, went to his neck to comfort the burn, only making it worse. “Fuck!!! AH!! Shit!!” He quickly tore off the offending glove. ‘Fuck me…’ He reached behind his neck and touched the outer nylon layer of his uniform. His index finger burned at the touch. Suffice to say, he quickly retracted his finger.
“Well, shit…” He pulled down on the zipper on his vest, he pulled out one of his survival kits, ‘Three bottles of water and an MRE…’ He looked at the hallways, ‘Should last me a while… I guess.’
He took off the helmet and inspected it, it too was covered in SCP-106 goo. He sighed… “If I don’t bring this back, they might just kill me for leaving behind the research,” He then pulled down the hood, exposing his brown hair, and felt the back of his neck. Sure enough, there was a burning sensation, he pulled his finger away quickly. He reached into his vest and pulled out a small first aid kit. He practically tore the kit open and took one of the alcohol pads out and applied it to his neck. He sucked in air sharply.
‘Is it me or is it cold in here?’ He placed his hand on the ground, it might as well have been an ice lake. He quickly retracted his hand and cupped hot air into it, after the third breath it finally began to warm. ‘Not doing that again Ulgrin,’ He thought to himself.
With his other hand and teeth, he took some medical tape and taped down the disinfectant pad on the back of his neck. He then turned his attention to his legs. If his neck hurt that bad, then his nerves for both of the appendages were beyond scorched. He peeled the now useless combat trousers as if it was a banana peel. He ground his teeth together in pain.
As he finally was able to expose his leg, he nearly vomited. His muscle tissue was exposed, it seemed as if his skin came off with pants. He looked at his meager first aid kit off to his side. Off to the side was the rope that he used earlier, he quickly wrapped it around his leg. He stared at his bound, bleeding leg, ‘That is not gonna cut it,’ He put his hands on his head, ‘I’m going to bleed out here… I’m going to-’
“*Sniffle*”
“Wha-” The man’s exposed head whirled around. He couldn’t see anything in the dark. He scooped up the kit next to him. Using his gun’s flashlight, which had broken off when he fell from the ceiling, however long ago that was, he flashed it around the room. He also pulled out his 1911 sidearm, ‘Can never be too sure,’ Ulgrin thought to himself.
Ulgrin slowly shined the light around the room, there was nothing that could make that noise, at least nothing that he could see. ‘Maybe there is somebody else?’ He tried to think, but could barely recall the events to him coming here for some reason, maybe it was the pain, maybe it was 106, maybe it was his mind trying to protect him.
He made another sweep with his light. As the light passed over a completely black spot on the wall, though, he heard something.
“Nnng, mhmm mm…”
He squinted his eyes. ‘That’s not human,’ He thought, ‘looks like a pony?’ He pushed himself up with the wall behind him. His leg shaking, “H-hey!” He said, slightly stunned.
The sobbing stopped, the mass began to shake.
‘I am going to hate me later,’ He threw himself next to the mass, he reached into his vest and put on one of his gloves from his first aid kit. He tentatively touched the now three-dimensional no longer part of a wall body in front of him. Despite the substance, he could feel the fur part as he touched the mass. He pulled out one of his water bottles.
‘Complete waste of water,’ He thought as he uncapped, ‘And probably against proper procedure,’ He poured it on the form, ‘And I’m probably going to hear an earful from Ross when I get back.’ With his hand, he rubbed off the black and brown substance, revealing a stained brown coat of fur.
The form shuddered, ‘probably passed out from the pain, poor pony thing,’ He pouted more water, revealing a snout. He moved up and cleaned the face of the pony, he moved his hand up. Only to come into contact with a bone-like appendage coming up from its forehead.
“A unicorn,” he said aloud.
“Ali...orn…” He heard a muffled reply, almost as if someone was asleep while saying it.
“Ali-what?”
The pony stirred, “Dad?” he heard the voice of a young girl say, “Is tha-that you? Is that thing gone?”
Ulgrin looked at the face of the young pony mare. Her eyes were closed, ‘Probably imagining herself somewhere better right now,’ She began to shake at Ulgrin’s silence.
“D-dad?” she tentatively asked again.
‘Fuck me, how am I supposed to answer that?’
Her voice went quiet again. “You… you're, not my dad… are you?”
Ulgrin sighed, “Sorry kid, I'm not.”
He looked down and saw her finally open one of her blue eyes, looking up at him, which then immediately closed. “W-what are you?” She asked, “I-i’ve studied every species in existence…” She added, “I’ve never seen anything like y-you before.”
“Human,” He said, taking a swig of the water bottle, ‘Is it me or did it get colder here?’ He shrugged it off. He looked back at Flurry, ‘Jeez, they do look more colorful without goggles on,’ he thought. She scooted away from him at his gaze on her.
“A-are y-y-you an-another o-one of those th-things?” She asked, her voice stuttering, “The o-o-one that ch-choked m-me?” He noticed her ears went floppy and she looked at the ground.
“No,” He said flatly, “I’m the f-” He cut himself off, “guy that cleans up its mess,” He said, “It is a nasty creature isn’t it?”
“I-Isn’t it o-one o-of y-you? Y-you l-look l-like i-it?” She tentatively asked. Her covered wings sheltering her
Ulgrin put his fingers to his eyes, ‘I am not a fucking babysitter,’ He offered her the half-empty water bottle, she closed her eyes and concentrated. ”Here, drink this.”
She began shaking.
“Look it’s just water, you saw me drink some of it,” He assured her.
A spark of yellow magic came off from the appendage on her horn, sporadically sparking like a fire.
“You might not want to try something like that right now kid,” Ulgrin said. She opened both her eyes and looked at him, “106 seems to… like messing with things, y’ know.”
She just looked at him in response, ‘Shit, she probably doesn't know how-’ She took the water with one of her cleaned off hooves and chugged the rest of the liter water bottle. After drinking, she pushed herself up against the same pillar Ulgrin sat against, groaning in pain.
Ulgrin pulled out another bottle of water and uncapped it. He took a swig, “So, what’s your story?” He asked the kid, “I think I remember something about a castle?” He added as a question. He offered her the water.
“My parents… they rule the Crystal Empire,” She said as she wrapped another hoof around the bottle, “I’m… waiting to come of age to help rule.”
“Huh,” Ulgrin said “Neat.” Everything came back to him, him and Ross taking out those ponies in the alley, entering the caste, finding that orange stallion, shooting said stallion… the list goes on and on.
“What’s your name?” the pony asked, “Despite species, everypony has one of those.”
Ulgrin looked at the pony, his face scrunched up, “Eugene Ulgrin,” He replied, “And my middle name is Zander... if that means anything to you.” He looked away, down one of the many many dark hallways of the pocket dimension.
“U-Gene?” She said, trying to grasp his name.
“Yep, that’s it, but please call me Ulgrin,” He said in response, “It just comes to most people more naturally.”
“I’m-”
“Flurry Heart, I already know,” Ulgrin said as he cut her off, “Happy Birthday, by the way.”
“Th-thanks,” Flurry said, slightly scooting away from the human, “How did you know it was my Birthday, th-that’s kinda creepy.”
Ulgrin blinked, and looked at the pony princess, “Huh?” Flurry cocked her head a bit, “Oh, yeah, that,” He laughed a bit, maybe not the best idea to tell her where I got that information,’, “Today is actually my birthday.” He looked at his watch, ‘Nevermind,’ he thought, “Actually, yesterday was my birthday, yours was er… two days ago.” Flurry gave a questioning look, “Time works differently here,” Ulgrin offered to her as a response. He again looked at the hallways, all looked the same.
She merely nodded, “So, where…” She gestured with her front hooves, “ah... is here anyway?” She asked, “Some kind of dungeon.” Ulgrin nodded, but grabbed her front right forehoof, as she brought it down.
“H-hey, th-that h-hurts!” She said as she tried to pull the hoof away.
“I know, it’s bleeding, badly at that.” He said as he inspected the hoof, “Seems you caught a few stray rounds while 106 had you, check your neck.”
She put her other hoof to her neck, “It-ah, feels… awkward?”
“106 likes to burn things… this black goo also does that, but it wears off after some time,” Ulgrin said. He paused and looked at her neck “Your fur is probably seared to your skin where he was grabbing you.” He felt the skin, his assumption was right, flakes of her now brown, fur, coated her neck.
“W-what!?” She asked, panicked, “T-there are ways to fix that, r-right?”
“The people I work for have ways, but for now,” He looked into her eyes, “There’s nothing we can do about it, but it shouldn’t really hurt you.”
She took her hoof off of her neck, “Oh, ok.” she slid the remainder of the way down the wall. Her coated wings wrapping around her.
Ulgrin put a bandage on her still-exposed hoof, coving the two holes, stopping the blood, “You probably won’t be walking on that one for a while.” That much was evident, the small pool of blood had accumulated over the course of at least a few hours, which could be any amount of time back in the real world, a few days, a week, maybe a month.
Flurry sighed, “Yeah…” The blackened wings around her tightened up. Her rear legs moved into her chest. Ulgrin looked at his right leg, the one which still had his clothes seared to his skin. There was blood seeping out of the cracks. He looked at the other leg, there was a more considerable amount of the red substance surrounding it.
He closed his eyes and folded his arms, ‘I don’t think I’ll be alive if I go to sleep again,’ He thought. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, ‘If I die, then she’ll probably die too.’ He looked to his right, the Alicorn was shaking, no, shivering, ‘She’s freezing,’ he thought, he had all this gear on him, practically making him a microwave, but she only had a thin layer of fur to protect her, ‘Well, great then.’ He pushed his hands against the ground and began to rise. He gritted his teeth as he felt the icy floor with his exposed hand.
Flurry Heart took notice at him moving. “W-what a-are y-you d-doing?” Her teeth were chattering and there was steam coming out of her mouth as she spoke. She also mimicked him and attempted to get up, only to fall onto her front-right forehoof.
He reached down and picked her up, “What am I doing?” Ulgrin asked sarcastically, “No, we’re getting out of here.” He added as he finally got up, his legs barely holding him up.
“H-How?”
“Dunno,” He said, “And I honestly don’t like the chances, but one way or another, we’re getting out of here?”
Flurry paused and thought, “What are our chances?” She asked, “Of getting out of here I mean.”
“You really don’t want to know.” Ulgrin placed his hand on the wall he looked down one of the seemingly endless black hallways. He began to get a growing sense of unease and grew ever tenser. Using the wall as a support, he began to walk down the hallway. He heard the light trot of Flurry Heart behind him.
With his other hand, he reached forward, trying to feel for something, anything, but all he found was more and more hallway. ‘Made my bed, now lie in it Ul-’
His thought was cut off as he suddenly found himself somewhere else, it looked like one of the many corridors of an old Foundation Site. He looked behind him, Flurry, was looking down at the floor, her eyes probably closed. ‘She is one tough filly, that’s for sure,’ He thought as he turned back and looked at the door.
Flurry kept walking until her horn bumped into Ross’s battered, broken, and bloodied leg. Ulgrin seethed and fell over, only adding to his pain. “Err... hahaha,” Ross said in place of swearing, “That… smarts a bit.”
“I-I a-a-am s-soo sorry!” Flurry said she quickly limped over to his face, only to fall flat on the ground. “A-a-are y-you okay?” Ulgrin pushed the ground, slowly coming off the ground.
“Yeah, just a bit…” He paused, thinking of the right word, “battered, I guess.” He looked at the filly. The majority of her fur, mane, and wings still covered by now cold black secretions. Her purple mane with a streak of cyan, just barely powering through the darkness. Ulgrin moved his attention from the filly currently trying to help him, to the dark and desolate door in front of him. “Does that horn of yours work now?” He asked Flurry Heart.
“Um…” She stood up and looked up to horn, a sun-like yellow lit up around it, “yeah…” She said, “Why do you ask?”
“Can you maybe…”
‘“Ulgrin stop the bleeding!” Ross shouted.
“On it,” Ulgrin grabbed one of the bed’s sheets and ripped it into a makeshift tourniquet. The sound of shouting currently on the backburner of his brain. He ran over and grabbed the pony by its forehooves. He dragged it over into dying sunlight so he could see.
He grabbed the right forehoof and began to apply the ripped bedsheet, but was cut short. He looked at the ground that the pony was on, it was turning black.
“Fuck!” Ulgrin fell back, just before a blast of magenta energy connected with his chest, sending him even further back.
“CONTACT CONTACT!!”’
“Actually, nevermind,” He said, “Just open that door right there, the button’s right off to the side.” He sighed, his eyes grew heavy, but he was able to catch Flurry nod and walk up to the door. He saw with her yellow magic, she pressed the button. Ulgrin sighed, “Of course it couldn’t be easy.” He looked into the doorway, he saw nothing but pure darkness. Ugrin laid his head on the ground then his eyes closed and all he saw was black.
Flurry took a step back from the door, “Ul-Ulgrin? What is that?” She kept trotting backward until she felt something at her back hooves. She turned around, it was Ulgrin, “A-are y-you okay?” She poked him with her one good forehoof, wincing as she had to put her injured one down. “Ulgrin?” He didn’t respond, she looked back at his legs, there was a fountain of blood spewing from where her horn poked his weakened skin. Her eyes widened, “No! No! No!” She quickly rushed over to him, her horn already filling with healing magic. ‘Why didn’t he just ask for me to-’ Her magic touched his leg, but it only widened the cut, “Wha- but Aunt Twi said-” She cut off her magic. Her eyes began to search for something to use to cover the bandage.
‘ “Remember Flurry, if you find yourself out of magic and injured, you could always apply pressure with your hooves or wings,” Her dad said. Flurry cocked her head in response to her father’s explanation.
“Why would I ever be out of magic?” The 9-year-old asked her father.
“Oh, you never know Flurry, your aunt has been in a number of situations that when she's run out of magic. Plus, as a coltscout, we had a motto, "Be Prepared," this is also first aid 101 in the guard, especially for Earth and most Crystal Ponies,” He said.‘
Flurry gulped at the blood leaving his rear legs. She put her hooves on the wound. ‘Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew…’ She thought internally. She could feel the warmth of the blood on her forehooves, while her rear hooves were practically ice. Speaking of forehooves…
“AHH!” She yelped as she put pressure on not only Ulgrin’s leg but her wounded right-forehoof.
Flurry, despite the pain, still worked on a way out. She saw the bottle of water on the floor next to her. She reached out with her magic and uncapped it, "Sorry..." She said through the pain in her hoof as she poured it over Ulgrin's head.
Ulgrin breathed in “Wha-?” Ulgrin’s head came up from the ground, “Huh?” He looked back at her, “What happened?”
“Y-you passed out,” She said with blood seeping out and around her hooves, “N-now help me!”
“Yeah, on it.” He reached into his vest and pulled out the kit. He opened it and took out the medical tape. He threw it to Flurry, “I can’t really see what’re doing back there, so I need you to wrap my leg, don’t worry if some more blood comes out, just get it wrapped.” Flurry nodded, not actually knowing if he saw. She magically grabbed and took the bandage, and removed her hooves.
She put it on as quickly and as precisely as she could. She heard him breathe in as sharply she applied it, “So-sorry!” She apologized.
“Don’t apologize, just put it on!” She looked back down and wrapped it around his exposed leg. She sat against the wall, out of breath, staring at the human, “I take it you’re done?”
She nodded, and moved her eyes down to her forehooves, they were covered in blood and other fluids. ‘I-’ Her mind began to reel/
“Let’s get through that door, or whatever hell is on the other side of it, probably both for all I know,” Ulgrin said.
Flurry raised her head, “Y-yeah…” She turned her head and looked into the darkness.
“Hopefully, we’ll be out of here soon enough.”
She saw Ulgrin get up and begin to limp towards the door. Flurry closed her eyes and did the same. The next thing she felt, was air rushing under her and an alarm blaring into her ear.