//------------------------------// // The Cost // Story: SCP: Equestrian Protocol // by P0nies //------------------------------// The sleeping Twilight Sparkle rolled in her bed, the spring noticeably stiffer than they usually were. A groan escaped the pony's mouth as she ran a hoof across her body which had succumb to a sensation of itchiness. The feeling of her body as she ran the hoof across did not feel like the blankets Twilight had fallen asleep with. She tossed in bed again throwing the blanket off of her and onto the frigid cement floor. Even with the blanket off of Twilight, her skin still crawled under a skintight orange jumpsuit. The jumpsuit was somewhat loose around her body, but it began to slowly tighten and contour to her body structure. As it tightened more, the purple mare started to become more aware of what was happening. Her eyes slowly cracked open, a hoof coming up to rub the drowsiness out of her eyes. Before it could even reach head level, she froze in place studying the neon orange sleeve that covered her leg. The surroundings became more vivid as her time awake passed on. Twilight sprang up in the cot, standing at the ready to defend herself if need be. She scanned the room for any immediate threats, the walls a pure white and both the floor and the ceiling a slab of concrete. An object that was located in the upper corner of the room grabbed her attention as it panned slowly to the left and right at a steady pace. Eye contact was not broken at any time with this strange object, there was no telling what it could do or what it was. By general observation, all she knew was that it had a small cord of some kind protruding from the back of the object and up into the ceiling to disappear beyond. It had a small glass lens on the front of the device along with a small blinking red light. The object became engulfed in a violet aura as Twilight ripped it from its mount, a small spark emitting as the cord was severed. The lights in her room flickered for a brief moment, most likely due to a short during the removal of the object. She brought the object slowly closer to her, carefully scrutinizing it. On the back of the odd object was enscribed writing that read: RayCor Class-F Surveillance Device Twilight dropped the device and quickly turned her head as she heard a small clicking sound from behind her. The door located on the far end of the room was a large iron door, rivets protruding from every edge. The door had a small slot near the center with a small platform attached to it. The slot quickly slid open and a single piece of paper was slid onto the platform. The slider quickly slammed shut with a loud clanking sound. Twilight walked cautiously over to where the paper was, and after determining it was harmless she took it in her telekinesis and read it. Class-D ID#1894-18 You are now under control of the Foundation through Protocol 12; stating that any foreign object brought about through testing of any SCP-XXX is to be detained and imprisoned under the facilities OS-X operator. Below the written portion of the letter was a logo that consisted of 3 arrows pointing in towards the center and circle intersecting with each end of the arrows. Below, in large bold letters read: SCP Secure. Contain. Protect. “Class-D test subject EQ-9083, please step forward,” a stern male voice called out over the intercom. As directed, a single man from the line of humans took a step forward. His face was dripping with sweat and his eyes darted around, not knowing of what he would be sent to do. “Enter Testing Room-2B3,” The voice called out to the man who had been singled out. A door slid open to the far right of the man, the metal screeching as it slid across the floor. He proceeded to walk towards the testing room, his boots making a small squeaking noise with every step that he took. Once he arrived at his predetermined destination, the man took a turn to the left and entered the room that he had been directed to enter. Moments after walking in, the door slammed shut behind him; slightly startling him. There was a single camera on the far corner of the room locked on the test subject. In the center of the room was a metal table, a laptop sitting in the middle of it. EQ-9083 walked with a slow pace, stopping behind the chair that was located in front of him. “Sit down, and open the Laptop-PC,” commanded the overbearing voice. The subject did just as he was directed once again. “To your right, there is a manilla folder containing all of the files required to complete the test. Follow as they instruct.” He gave glances around the room thinking that this was some sort of joke. A laptop, of all things, couldn't be this highly classified, he told himself. Its most likely just a Safe Class object, so no worries. The folder was labeled: SCP-1243. The man reached his quivering hand over to the file and opened the folder. The laptop in front of him displayed a page that had a black background and an image of a box with “Relocation Services” written upon it. Below that, there was a text-input labeled 'Name', text below that which stated 'Cost' and a button labeled 'Place Order'. He directed his attention back to the file, which directed him to type the name 'Twilight Sparkle' into the 'Name' box. Well, strange name for them to want put in he thought to himself as he carefully typed it. As he finished typing, another name appeared next to 'Cost'. The name was EQ-9083. His palms began to sweat and his face turned pale. His eyes were glued to the screen, unsure of what would happen to him. He peeled his eyes away from the screen, looking to the file and then to the camera that was still locked onto him. The cursor on the screen moved and hovered over button. He looked back to the camera and clicked. At first, he noticed nothing strange happening to him or anything around him. He sighed a breath of relief, before the video stream of the room was cut-off, the screams of agony and pain emitting from inside for a few moments. The halls went quiet, and the screaming stopped as the video feed continued to show the inside of the fabled testing room. The man was now gone, and on the screen of the laptop was two words: Order Placed. Twilight paced slowly around the room, her mind swimming from the fact that she was now somewhere she had never been. The suit she was wearing also seemed to be impervious to her means of trying to pry it off with hooves or magic. She had just given up at one point when she started to be more worried about where she was and why she had been detained. What was Protocol-12 or anything else that that paper had mentioned? And what was this place for anyways, seeing as how its slogan was 'Secure. Contain. Protect.' Protect... from what? “State your name, and country of origin,” a masculine voice called out, startling Twilight. Whoever was on the other end of the voice, she didn't want to mess with him or anyone here since the voice itself was terrifying. “I'm... T-Twilight Sparkle, from uh... Equestria.” “Confirmed, please stand by,” it replied back to Twilight. Twilight continued to wander around the room, examining every crack and crevice in the room to attempt to get any more information where, or why she was here. She raised her head up from looking at the walls and the floor, her left ear twitching slightly. Twilight stood still, expecting to hear something. She knew that something was about to happen, she could feel it. Just as she had expected, the door emitted sounds of gears turning and the hinges creaking open. There was a large bipedal figure standing in the doorway, who was dressed in all black and carried various devices with a large, metal device strewn across his chest. He wore a black helmet, the gold visor reflecting Twilight's face. He lifted the metal object, making various clicking sounds as he brought it up to his torso. The thing was pointed at her and Twilight shrugged back, intimidated and scared by the strange weapon. Her ear twitched again, hearing something even though she wasn't exactly sure what it was. She looked down the hallway, but her vision was partially obstructed by the legs of the bipedal figure that stood in front of her. The lights suddenly began to flicker at random intervals. The guard left the room, switching on his flashlight as he left the room. Twilight watched as the door began to swing shut but before it could come to a complete close, the room went pitch black. Bright flashes and extremely loud banging noises in a rapid succession came from outside. She kept her eyes fixed on where the door should have been. Screams of agony echoed through the halls and the room, the violent ripping of flesh able to be heard. The lights came back on for a few moments, and out the door was a massive pool of blood flowing into the drainage pipes. There was a mask looking at her, the head still trapped inside with the visor partially broken. A lone, baby blue eye stared back at her as the lights flickered again, the head now gone. The lights went off, but this time an eerie red glow filled the hall and her confinement room. Various alarms echoed through the site speaking of "containment breaches". A voice came back up over the speaker. It tried to speak something, but whatever it had tried to tell her was made into a gargling mess from whatever had attacked her. Twilight was frozen by fear, unsure of what to do. She wanted to live. The speaker came back to life, the wet cough and dying breaths of a female pouring out of it, speaking a single word. Run.