//------------------------------//
// SCP-EQ-018 - The Room that Time Forgot 
// Story: SCP Foundation - Equestrian Files 
// by DagaYemar 
//------------------------------//





Item #: SCP-EQ-018

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: A barred gate has been affixed to the entrance to SCP-EQ-018. At present, no other containment method is deemed necessary.

MTF Sigma-8 (Biblio-Fillies) are to be permanently posted in the guise of royal guards assigned with the duty of patrolling the affected area. Members of MTF Sigma-8 should read this report at least once every twenty-four hours, if time permits, and report any creature coming or going from SCP-EQ-018, if they feel like it.

Description: SCP-EQ-018 is the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the Canterlot Archives. The physical room was constructed long after Starswirl vanished and records of its construction and original architect have been lost. Located within are 1,291 1,299 scrolls, papers, and spell books, though that number is subject to change as spells are used. Every spell found to date appears to have been penned by Starswirl personally, despite the volume of written works present requiring decades to create by a single pony. 

Central in the room is a large hourglass containing an amount of sand-like particles theoretically capable of measuring ten minutes worth of time. These particles are constantly pouring into the lower container of the hourglass. Should an observer look away from the hourglass and then look back, most of the particles will have returned to the top section. No pony has ever managed to continuously watch the hourglass long enough for it to finish, stating boredom as the primary reason for looking away. It is unknown whether cameras will be able to record the entire time span, since no such tests have been proposed. As this is clearly just an aesthetic object to fit the room decor, it is to be ignored.

All articles located within SCP-EQ-018 seem to be powerful spells and spell books universally centered around the theme of time. Examples of spells include: the ability to travel backwards or forwards in time, to send others backwards or forwards in time, to create stable time loops, to create unstable time loops, to observe events in the distant past or far future, to remove creatures or objects from time, to freeze time, to freeze time for every creature save for oneself, to freeze only oneself in time, to reverse time, to speed up time, to alter history so as to create alternate timelines, to alter destiny so as to create alternate fates, and many others. All spells read thus far are constructed in such a way so they will only function once.  About half of these contain names and apparent dates of when these spells will be used written in the margins. Any one of these spells could potentially represent a TK-Class Causal Restructuring Event and would normally qualify SCP-EQ-018 for Keter classification, but it doesn't really matter in this instance.

SCP-EQ-018 emits a strong apathy field which causes every creature to become indifferent as to SCP-EQ-018 and its contents. Proximity is not a factor, as simply knowing about the object subjects a pony to its effects. SCP-EQ-018 itself is very well known and its contents common knowledge in the surrounding community, but nopony is capable of caring about it very strongly. Spells that could make any unicorn the most powerful pony in existence go ignored. Aside from being locked shut at night like the rest of the building, SCP-EQ-018 is open to the public and receives a fair amount of daily hooftraffic. The gate at the door seems mostly ceremonial, as all guards are perfectly willing to let anypony into the object should they wish it. No pony has gone on record as having used any materials from the object in any research paper or other such literary studies. Despite this lack of use, the owners of the object have never considered packing its works into storage to make better use of the space.

Any thoughts about preventing access to SCP-EQ-018 or studying any of its properties are considered of lowest importance. As such, anything other than keeping an eye on it is just a waste of further Foundation resources.

SCP-EQ-018's effects extend even to written accounts of it, and pictures of its interior or entryway. Chief Researcher Sunburst has stated that no sensitive information be included in this report, as such information will not be considered important enough to be redacted.

Occasionally, a unicorn or other creature capable of using magic, hereafter referred to as the Subject, spontaneously becomes partially immune to SCP-EQ-018's influence, enough to be aware of its existence and importance. The Subject will then inevitably make their way into SCP-EQ-018 and locate a single spell from among its contents. The Subject frequently takes a long time sifting through all the various spells but will only ever settle on one, apparently uninterested in any spell not pertaining to their current interests. Once found, the Subject will either cast it right away or take it with them for future use. No Subject has ever been interrupted or questioned during their search, as this is not very important. 

Subjects themselves are not included in SCP-EQ-018's apathy effect, save for their relation with the object. Since no pony has bothered to keep track of subjects, all information regarding them comes volunteered from Foundation personnel who have become affected. Subjects frequently lose their immunity to the apathy field once they cast their spell, remembering the events but attaching no importance to the memories. This leaves a very small window for information about the object to be collected, presuming anypony would want to. Of the few experiences documented, the only shared trait among Subjects is a case of sudden onset mania and/or fixation upon a singular subject that only extreme measures would be able to solve.

History: The Foundation has been aware of SCP-EQ-018 since shortly before its current inception when one of our founding members became a Subject. SCP-EQ-018 has been occasionally brought to the attention of previous iterations of the Foundation, though it was never important enough to warrant SCP status. 

Twelve years after the object came to the current Foundation's attention a unicorn named Luster Dawn appeared in the Site 18 cafeteria in a burst of magic. She claimed to be a member of the Foundation from an unknown point in the future who traveled through time for the sole purpose of delivering this report. It is unknown why she would go through such extraordinary efforts for something so unimportant, though when asked she replied that "It was the only way this would work". She vanished back into the future before more information could be obtained, and this report was submitted as is.

Addendum: Upon doing a casual read of the few documents concerning SCP-EQ-018 in Foundation possession, Assistant Researcher Background Pony noticed that the current list of its contents put out by the Canterlot Archive's records states it has eight more scrolls than written about in this report. It is assumed that these represent spells that will be cast in the intervening years between now and when this report is written. Background Pony has updated the report to reflect this, after flipping a coin to decide if he should bother.