Hard-to-Destroy Reptile
"Warning: T-Minus 40 Minutes to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now."
Twilight hated that automated announcement every time it came on.
She arguably hated more the horrible, burning pain that was racking her leg.
Twilight crawled out of the elevator, dragging her leg along. She gritted her teeth hard as she did so. Looking up, she examined her surroundings. Standard left-to-right hallway, with a door to her left and a door to her right. The door to her right appeared to be pretty standard, with a large red button next to it. The door to her left was different, however. A small keycard slot sat next to it, and Twilight could see a large label next to the door.
'Storage Area L-5.'
Fantastic.
Twilight crawled herself toward it, dragging her leg. Her encounter with SCP-939 really did a number on it... she only hoped that there was a medical kit or something in there. Something to ease the pain and stop the bleeding, that was all she needed right now.
...Celestia, that hurts. It's like somepony dragged a razor sharp, thousand degrees knife across her leg.
Ugh.
She hated this facility with a passion.
Twilight approached the door, albeit slowly, blood trickling out of-
Wait a minute.
Twilight stopped, her eyes darting towards the door. It was open. Half-way open, in fact- which was odd enough as it was, she rarely came across open doors. Why didn't she notice this before? But what really caught her intrigue wasn't the open door, but the noises coming from inside the room. It was very dark inside, and Twilight couldn't see inside very well. The corner of a metal shelf was just barely visible in the shadows, near the door. The shadows seemingly crept outside, intruding in places that would normally be bright. Granted, nothing about this facility was bright- it was still very dim, the only source of illumination the red emergency lights.
The noise was a sort of shuffling, as if somepony, or something was inside, trying to find something. Searching the shelves, perhaps. Twilight gulped and lifted herself up, careful not to make a sound. Bracing against the wall, she slowly moved inside, her vision being swamped with darkness, as if somepony had thrown a tarp over her eyes as she entered.
Whatever was making the sound, it was in the far right corner of the room, looking through the shelves. Twilight went left instead, trying to make it to the opposite end of the storage room by leaning against the wall. The thing hadn't heard or seen her enter, she knew that much.
Or at least, wouldn't have.
As was almost tradition at this point, Twilight tripped. As she walked, her hoof banged into what felt like a metal bucket. Her body tumbled down in total darkness, smashing into several other janitorial supplies. Fortunately, her bad leg was mostly saved of any more injury. Unfortunately, metal objects made loud noises when they came in contact with a pony's falling body, as does the pony itself, typically.
Twilight now found herself on the floor of the Storage Room, several pans and metal objects spinning out of control on the ground. Her eyes dilated as she realized what had happened, her pupils becoming pinpoints as sweat began to pour. Her heart beat out of control, seemingly about to burst out of its chest for the seventh time today as she listened carefully, trying to make out any noise.
The shuffling had stopped.
Twilight, although in full knowledge that the thing was now VERY aware of her existence now, held her breath and her stiff posture nonetheless. She dared not move. She wouldn't be able to outrun it, anyway- not with her bad leg. For what seemed like an eternity, nothing happened. Not a sound. Not a movement. Nothing. But as Twilight's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she began to make out more of the room. Several metal shelves, various supplies and other things around. But as time passed, Twilight finally began to make out the other end of the room. More specifically, the tall, dark, bulky figure situated there.
Twilight felt like they had made eye contact, despite it only being a silhouette of a figure too large to be a normal human so far. Then, Twilight's eyes twitched. She swore she saw-
The figure's arm started to move. Very slowly at first, almost unnoticeable to most. But Twilight saw it, and it finally managed to convince her it was real. For the last short while she had been hoping that, somehow, the figure was just a statue- a non-threat. Actually, no. With her experience, statues were very bad in this place. That she was just hallucinating, that the figure wasn't real. That it was just a shadow of nothing. But those last thoughts were crushed into little nubbins as the creature's torso leaned forward, it's long leg stepping outwards in her direction. Its pace was slow, almost cautious. It was either toying with her, or was just as scared of her as she was of it. Both options seemed sub-optimal to her at this point.
It approached, and Twilight began to make out more detail. First off, most of its unnatural bulk came from a vest of some kind. Second off, it appeared to be wearing a helmet, a gold visor layered across its face. A large black stick sat in its hands, pointed in her direction. Twilight's heart sank as she realized what it was.
"W-what... who, uh... wh-what ARE you?" the figure said, stopping less than two meters away from Twilight.
Twilight tried to speak, to say something back, and her lips even moved, but no sound came out. She was frozen with fear, unable to move as the figure stood right in front of her, blocking the light steaming in from the door.
"What are you?!" The figure yelled, aiming the black stick at Twilight. "Tell me now! Can you... can you even talk?!"
Twilight squeaked in response, shuffling away from her aggressor. As she did, her bad leg must have hit something. What it was specifically didn't matter. What did matter was that it was hard. It scraped Twilight's leg, which normally wouldn't be so bad, but her nerves flared up as it crossed over the SCP-939 bite mark, agitating the wound. She let out a small scream and toppled over, trying to pull her leg away from the object. She collapsed onto the floor, unable and unwanting to move another inch. The figure's face was obscured by the gold visor, but as Twilight looked up to meet it's gaze, fear and pain in her eyes, it's weapon's muzzle dropped to face the floor. The figure leaned down, weapon still in hand to meet Twilight's gaze.
"...WHO are you?"
The guard's tone had shifted dramatically, Twilight noted. It obviously felt sympathy for her, which was good, even if it's voice was shaky, clearly nervous. Nervous sympathy was better than death, after all. She needed some help to get out of this hellhole, anyway. Twilight's eyes focused on the gold visor for a good five seconds before she moved her mouth to speak again.
"T-twi... Twilight." Twilight said, her lips quivering as she spoke. Another good five seconds passed before she received a response.
"...Alright... You can talk."
For the longest time, nothing but the faint beeping of the alarms was audible. That, and Twilight's heavy breathing.
"Uh... Twilight, was it? I... haven't seen you around here." Said the guard, looking down towards Twilight's leg, blood still leaking at a rapid rate. "I... uh, what... WHAT are you?"
The guard obviously was starting to feel more comfortable with her presence, satisfied that Twilight wasn't going to lunge at him and rip his head off.
The feeling was mutual.
"...I'm... I'm a pony. U-unicorn, sir."
Silence.
"Unicorn. Interesting..." The guard said, sighing deeply. "Of course you are."
More silence.
"You... your leg is awfully, uh... injured. You need some help. Stay here, I'll be right back."
Twilight watched as the guard left towards the shelves at the other end of the room. It took him only a second to find what he was looking for. A medical kit. The guard then came back to Twilight, before sitting down next to Twilight's leg before opening the medical kit.
"...Don't move... I'll bandage this up."
Twilight didn't dare object. This was the first creature since D-9341 that didn't want to either violently rip her to shreds, snap her neck, send her to a pocket dimension or generally murder her. Well, besides those scientists and guards she saw at the beginning, near SCP-173's room, of course. After all, they-
"AHH!" Twilight screamed, a jolt of pain rushing up her leg. "What are you-"
"Shhh, shhh!" The guard shushed her. "Calm down. This may sting a little..."
Twilight bit her lip in response, trying to ignore the pain as the guard worked on her leg. He wasn't an amateur at this, she could tell that. He actually seemed like a professional. His hands were steady as he worked. It took only a minute for him to patch up her leg... good thing, too. She was running out of time before Light Containment Zone shut down and decontaminated... whatever that meant. She knew it was most likely a bad thing, anyway.
Twilight opened her eyes and looked back at her leg. Bandages and wrapped. There was no more bleeding and the pain was certainly dulled, but that was probably placebo. Twilight looked back at the guard, and then back at her leg. Slowly, she tried to get up. Bracing against the metal shelf she eventually got herself standing up, and then turned back to face the guard.
"T-thanks."
"No problem. Uh, by chance, what's your designation?"
"...My... designation?"
"...Yeah. Your SCP designation?"
"Uh, oh! It's, uh, SC- SCP-047."
The guard paused.
"Really? I could have sworn that was- oh, well. Guess they changed the designations... come along, I'm supposed to bring some important SCPs from their containment rooms to the surface just in case they have to nuke the place. Hurry."
The guard stood up quickly, walking out of the room as Twilight followed. Her leg still hurt a lot, but she could walk at least. They passed through halls and rooms, the guard still holding his black stick as he escorted her around. He didn't seem very scared, or even worried as time went by.
"...So, uh... what's your name?" Twilight asked as they passed by a janitorial closet.
"My name? Uh, Reid. Reid Leyton. Security officer." The guard responded.
"Noted."
They walked for a few more seconds, passing through a door before Reid suddenly stopped, looking at something on the ground.
"What- what is-"
"Don't touch it!"
Twilight looked past Reid in confusion. On the ground, a large chunk of red ice was layered out, almost like waves. If Twilight didn't know better, she would be sure that it was once a liquid, which burst out of the broken pipe on the wall and fell all over the floor before it suddenly froze. Reid backed up to the left wall, trying to scoot past it without making contact with the ice. It took him very little time to get past it.
"Okay, now- come over here, but don't touch the ice at any cost. You hear me?" Reid yelled. Twilight nodded before splaying out her wings and taking to the air, flying over the ice easily. Reid looked at her, even through his visor, his mildly shocked expression apparent.
"You- you can fly?" Reid said in confusion.
"Yeah." Twilight giggled.
The guard stared at Twilight for a good few seconds before coughing and turning around, continuing on with Twilight close behind. They had barely passed through a single short hallway before Twilight saw something which piked her interest. On the left side of the hallway, a very large steel door, similiar to the one which had protected SCP-914 and SCP-173 sat. Next to it there was another label, the words SCP-009 in plain sight. Suppressing the urge to ask about it, she ignored it and continued following Reid through the facility. Or at least for a few seconds before Reid stopped again.
"Oh, what is it-" Twilight started.
"Shh! Listen." Reid interrupted. Twilight paused as she tried to hear what Reid had obviously heard. Her ears perked, scanning the nearby surroundings. The faint dripping of water, the beeping of the breach alarm, and... what was that? The very faint of stomping. Heavy stomping. Somewhere several hallways down, something very large and heavy was walking towards them. Several long hallways and a few doors sat between Twilight and whatever was making the sounds, Twilight could tell that. But still, it did nothing less than frighten her half to... wait. The stomping had stopped. Whatever was making the sounds had...
Crash.
A muffled crunching and smashing noise came from a few hallways down, muffled by the doors and long hallways in the way. The thing was apparently attempting to break something... it sounded like a wall. Something large and heavy was bashing down a wall, not too far away. It was no secret that this was an absolutely horrifying prospect for Twilight- anyone with half a brain could see it on her face.
"...Twilight. Be quiet... follow me." Reid whispered, taking out his weapon before continuing to advance through the halls. Twilight knew three things for certain at that moment: one, that stick was an incredibly imtimidating weapon, and almost certaintly lethal. Two, that creature that was bashing down a wall not too far away was probably a huge, bulking abomination, and almost certaintly lethal. Three, Reid was obviously trying to act badass, attempting to offer some form of comfort to her by pretending like he had everything in check, although the wavering of his voice told otherwise.
This was also probably lethal.
They had passed through two long hallways before finally entering a third, extremely long one- Twilight noted it's rather unusual length. So long she couldn't see the end through the darkness of the facility, and could just barely make out a large door on the side of the hallway, at the end of her vision, almost invisible by the darkness... Huh. That's odd. The door didn't seem to be very large, now that Twilight looked at it longer... it seemed to have previously been quite small, actually. But... the wall around it had been busted in by something. Whatever had done it was most likely inside that gaping hole. Probably the behemoth she heard earlier. Twilight opened her mouth to question what SCP had done it so she knew just how boned she was, but was interrupted by a loud, ear-piercing screech. Twilight let out a small scream and pushed her ears against her head in response.
The screech was almost omnipresent; like it was coming from all directions. It quickly dissolved into a faint static. Removing the ears from her head, Twilight again tried to open her mouth to ask questions, and again was interrupted, this time by a familiar male voice coming from the intercom.
"...Cough... uh, hello, everybody. In wake of the recent Containment Breach that I'm sure you know about, we dispatched several MTF Task Forces, including Epsilon-11, to this facility a few minutes ago for immediate re-containment purposes. We advise all personnel to remain in your evacuation shelter and to ignore any and all personnel attempting entry unless verified to be both human and at least Class-C. We can't take any risks in a breach of this magnitude."
Twilight paid close attention to the broadcast. But as she did, her ears perked. She heard something else, something... faint. A loud thumping sound from inside the hole in the wall. The thing was moving further inside the hole it had made at an alarming rate, the creature still not visible to Twilight and Reid.
"...Alright. The following SCPs are confirmed out of containment, or otherwise have had their cells opened or removed from lockdown: SCP-002, SCP-005, SCP-008, SCP-009, SCP-016, SCP-017, SCP-019, SCP- wait, what is- OH MY GOD!"
Twilight's pupils dilated as she listened. As the announcer screamed, so did something else- the raspy voice of something screaming alongside the announcer. That one wasn't of terror, though. That voice was screaming in a battle-cry of sorts. The screams of the announcer quickly turned from terror to agony, the ferocious, ravenous ripping of flesh accompanying his cries. Bones snapping, tendons ripping- flesh and ligaments squishing and twisting in ways it was never supposed to, blood most likely flooding around his by now mangled body. His pained chokes were suddenly silenced by a large crunch, putting an end to his torment.
Twilight had gone pale by this point, and although she couldn't see Reid's face through his golden visor, she guessed he had, too. She tried to ask where the intercom room was, just to see how far away that creature and its teeth were, but she couldn't muster it up. Silence reigned for several seconds before the same raspy voice from earlier was heard over the intercom, hatred and rage practically dripping off of each syllable, the voice breathy and gritty.
"...You... disgusting... RETCHED creatures..." The voice began slowly and deliberately, with each word its anger increasing tenfold, bitterness lacing every syllable. Twilight couldn't tell whether he had difficulty speaking or simply spoke extremely slowly"You... HUMANS... you think I am secured here... you think... I can be contained. That... you... are... protected. That you... are in control. That any of these... ABOMINATIONS... can be... locked away. That you can win."
The voice stopped for a minute, seemingly trying to calm its rage. Loud, heavy breathing could be heard as it did this. During this time Twilight managed to let out a faint whisper, her voice laced with fear.
"...Wh... where... is the i-intercom room, e-exactly?" Twilight asked, gulping silently. As much as Twilight didn't want to admit it, she already knew the answer. Reid's arm slowly raised up, weapon in hand, as he pointed towards the hole in the wall not too far away. Reid was terrified judging by how much his arm shook as he did so, that was for sure. Another thing Twilight noticed was his grip. It was rather weak, a consequence of fear, she supposed. Of course, Reid was also mightily distracted by the unseen creature in the intercom room, having just finished its dinner, blocked only by a wall. All of this combined meant that Reid hardly had time to react as the heavy weapon slipped out of his grasp.
"You... are gravely mistaken..."
Crash.
The weapon's head smashed into the concrete floor of the hallway, vibrations shooting all the way up its length and into the trigger. Twilight wasn't exactly sure of how it worked or how dangerous it was at first, but she got a faint clue when it activated.
BLAM.
A loud bang echoed throughout the facility, the weapon activating on impact with the ground. A metal shell shot out of the barrel and into the concrete, sparks and pieces of both metal and rock flying across the hallway, a bright light blinding Twilight for half a second. The noise itself wasn't the thing that made Twilight scream, though. Nor was it the bits of concrete colliding with her hooves, nor was it the bright light.
It was the fact that she heard the sound of the weapon firing over the intercom that frightened her.
Time came to a stop, each second lasting an eternity.
She couldn't move an inch. She froze.
Silence.
A roar echoed over both the intercom and through the halls as the creature took flight, it's heavy steps a clear sign of movement. It burst out of the intercom room, ripping parts of the wall off as it left the restructured door it had created. Skidding across the concrete floor and smashing into the opposite wall, Twilight finally got her first view of the creature.
It was large. Huge, even. It barely fit inside the long, tight, dark corridor that separated Twilight from it. It was... reptilian, almost. Like an alligator, or a crocodile, but... revolting. What appeared to be slightly yellow rib bones stuck out from the creature's chest at unnatural angles, dried blood stuck on to the dark gray scales on every part of its body. Large and small wounds dotted its body sporadically, adding to the mess covering the creatures body. Some of the blood probably didn't belong to the creature. The number of eyes the creature had was only outmatched by the length of its claws and its amount of teeth, all of the aforementioned body parts large and yellow, protruding from the creature's body in horrible ways. A large, scaled tail was barely visible from behind the creature.
Twilight would have gone over its visage in more detail, had her instincts not kicked in and dialed her legs up to 11. Reid had already jumped back at the sight of the creature and was already several meters away by the time Twilight realized what was happening, and Twilight was not one to be left behind in the dust. Literally. Putting a wing up in front of her face to shield her from the spray of concrete as the creature's body thrashed about, trying to get up and chase them through the narrow corridor, she ran down the hallway in wordless terror.
Twilight could barely see where she was going as she backtracked, passing through hallway after hallway she had already passed not a few minutes ago in a blur of fear. She could hear the sounds of the creature finally getting up and giving chase from behind her, the roars of anger getting much louder much faster than she would have liked.
Not that she would have liked it at all if the pace had been much different.
Time seemed to extend into hours once more as the adrenalin kicked in, lengthening Twilight's reaction time. Alright, now THINK. Think. Thinkthinkthink- what are you going to do? Come on, THINK! You didn't get to this planet by being stupid- uh, well... alright, fine. But still. You aren't one of the four princesses of Equestria for nothing. How in the hell are you going to get out of this one? Blast the creature with your magic? No, who knows what that'll do? Have Reid attack it with his weapon? She wasn't alone in her escape, after all. Reid was right next to her, running for his life just like herself. No- he dropped it back there, didn't he?. Yeah, that was caused the creature to attack in the first place. She doubted he still had it. Ugh. THINK.
As Twilight passed through yet another door into yet another hallway, the roars of the creature smashing through wall after wall on its way to violently maim her getting exponentially louder, Twilight's mind shifted to what she now saw in front of her. The large metal door she had seen earlier- the Containment Chamber for SCP-009, she remembered. Everything up to that point had shown to her that large metal doors with large 'X's on it were typically a bad thing to avoid, but as the creature neared within five meters, she made a split second decision.
Calling up the magic reserves she had been slowly building for hours now, she desperately tried to muster up enough energy to cast her spell. Normally she would have immense difficulty casting such a complex spell in such an unfocused state, but fear of being ripped in half by an abomination from another dimension was an excellent motivator. But she needed to be looking at the door first, didn't she? Yeah. She needed to see what she was teleporting into before she could do it. Acting upon years of performing teleportation magic, she instinctually slammed her back-left leg into the ground and used her momentum to whirl around on the spot, drawing up her magic.
Immediately, she was presented with the open maw of a creature ten times her size and a hundred times her weight. The creature had plenty more teeth than she originally thought, she noted. All of them rather large, but packed together tightly to form more of a crushing device rather than a ripping mechanism. At least towards the back- towards the front of the lower and upper inner jaw, the teeth grew larger, sharper and more dispersed, allowing for easy ripping ability in the front. If she would have guessed, judging from the muscles on its jaw, it could bite through the leg of an elephant with ease. Hell, it could eat an elephant in one bite if it wanted to. Clearly, the creature was an omnivore. Twilight wondered the specifics of its diet for a moment. It would be easier to know that specific bit of knowledge if only she could see its neck muscles. She wondered for another moment why she could not. It was at that point that the fridge horror kicked in and she realized the creature she was studying was very much alive and not just some picture from a book, and was currently hurtling towards her at 30 mph with its mouth wide open. Ironically, the thought of how she could think all of this while also trying to perform a complex teleportation spell with limited magic barely crossed her mind.
Ah, the wonders of pure terror induced adrenaline.
Maybe she could fabricate some to help her with her studies.
The next thing she knew, space-time had warped itself around her and Reid and teleported them into SCP-009's Containment Chamber, just inside the door. Of course, momentum was still a thing, despite how unlikely it was that the fundamental laws of physics still applied in this physics-defying hellhole of a facility, and Twilight's head quickly met the wrong end of a solid steel wall. She wasn't the only one to meet that fate, as Reid smashed into it shortly thereafter. Not one to be outdone, the creature from earlier swiftly followed both of their moves and smashed its head into the concrete wall outside the chamber. But Twilight couldn't see that occur, not that it was really a mystery to her, judging by the roars of anger that had come from outside.
Twilight barely got a chance to contemplate the aforementioned information, as the very second it all occurred to her, her vision was replaced by a field of stars dancing against a black background, dancing around wildly. Pleasantly accompanying the spectacle was a violent stab of pain in her brain. With it, she finally conceded that she would most likely become very acquainted with pain within the next several hours.
Presuming she lived that long.
Presuming she lived more than one minute longer.
As she slid down to the ground with a thud, a half-happy half-sad half-pained half-confused mostly terrified cry escaping her lips, she blinked away the stars and took note of her new surroundings.
Small room, metal floors, and walls. The door she had teleported past was to her right and a locked keypad next to a door was to her left. Ugh- what was the point of having such a massive steel door when you are then just going to follow it up with a keypad and locked door? It's not like the door can keep out any of the SCPs the facility had here. Or at least not the one she had nearly become dinner for, which had evidently caught her scent and as a result was currently trying to bash down the door.
A small- alright, rather large scream escaped her lips, which immediately joined the sympathy of sounds straight out of a horror movie that surrounded Twilight, echoing through, across and around the room, reverberating straight into her brain from the very floor and walls she was now pressed against in fear. The sound of the creature bashing its disgusting face into the steel door, the only thing that stood between her and living long enough to see her home again.
She hoped the engineers of this facility were smart.
Scooting towards the far end of the room Twilight now found herself in, Twilight tried to put as much distance between her and the creature as possible. She bumped into another living being on her two-second journey to the far wall- Reid. Of course. She had been smart enough to use her magic to teleport him into the room as well. Good thing, too. Well, for him, anyway. She didn't consciously make the decision to do so- it was more of a reflex. He seemed to have the same idea as her, though. The more distance between them and this creature, the better. Which, unfortunately, seemed to be about five meters, soon to be none.
Pressing her back against the cool metal, memories and thoughts began to flood her mind. Memories she never thought she would see again- is this what a 'near-death experience' was? She hoped not. Hoped that she was just insane. To imply a near death experience is to imply she was near death. She wanted to believe that wasn't true, but as the dent in the metal door became larger, those thoughts might as well have been figuratively and literally crushed into a small ball and thrown into the mouth of a volcano.
The creature roared.
It reered back once more.
BLAM.
The metal bent and tore inwards, threatening to give way.
Twilight screamed for the nineteenth time that day.
...
Hey, that rhymed.
...Man, she did not want that to be her last thought.
BLAM.
She supposed her last thought would probably be something along the lines of 'OHGODWHYNOAHHHCELESIAMAKEITSTOPITHURTSPLEASEAAAAAAAGHH' or something equally terrifying, accompanying the sound and feel of her face being forcibly removed by her body unconsensually.
BLAM.
Presuming the thing chose to kill her painfully, of course.
BLAM.
This seemed likely.
BLAM.
...What if it wasn't, though? ...What should her last thought be? If she could choose, of course.
BLAM.
...Perhaps a thought of her friends. Her home. Her family. Sappy? Yeah, she supposed. But it's not like there would be anyone to judge her for her sappy thoughts, anyway.
BLAM.
Maybe she should include D-9341... he helped her through a significant portion of this facility. She would most likely be a corroded mess of organs and flesh if it had not been for his help. Heh... that name was kind of tedious. She never really noticed, as much of a surprise that was to her.
BLAM.
...Reid, too, she supposed. He had helped her quite a bit, and now he was going to die by her side. It only made sense.
BLAM.
...It's taking quite a while for the creature to break down the door. How many 'blam's' have we gotten through, anyway? It's quite a sturdy door.
BLAM.
But anyway. How... how should she imagine it? Should she at all? Maybe she should just close her eyes and wait for the door to break. No, of course she had to have a symbolic last thought. Obviously. But back to the original question. What about positioning? Their expressions? Should they all be sad about her imminent death at the teeth of an omnivorous abomination? Or should they have a happy expression, as you would see on a wedding postcard or something?
BLAM.
...Perhaps the latter. Make it nice. But where, though? Maybe in a field, Canterlot in the distance. Or Manhattan. Nah, that has no meaning. She never cared for the place emotionally. Maybe Ponyville. Yeah, that seemed good... wait, with Canterlot in the distance! Fantastic. But where in Ponyville? In front of the Town Square, maybe? Maybe in... front of... her...
BLAM.
...home...
BLAM.
...
BLAM.
...This was never supposed to happen.
BLAM.
Why? Why did she have to do this? She- she was curious, fascinated with it. The ability to travel dimensions. So enamored with the possibilities she didn't even begin to consider the potential dangers. And now look where she was.
BLAM.
Stuck. In a room, with a horrifying abomination, something so terrifying she couldn't even begin to comprehend had she not seen it first hoof, outside the door, ready to devour her. Smashing it's huge body into the door in an attempt to break it down. Snarling. Growling. Waiting for it to give way.
BLAM.
And now she was going to die.
BLAM.
And now they were all going to die.
BLAM.
And it was all her fault.
BLAM.
The metal gave way, shattering with ferocious force. Razor-sharp shards of metal ripped through the air and pelted Twilight's body, despite her attempts to block it with her wing. The door busted open, the feet-thick metal somehow being pushed to the side as a large gash opened up dead-center of the door. The creature's hideous face became visible, its many pupils pinpoints, staring deep into Twilight's soul as it clambered, trying to get inside the room. The gash was large enough for Twilight to slip through, undoubtedly- but the creature's width was too much for it.
Gasping in pain as a small bit of metal clipped her bad leg, she stumbled forward. Maybe Reid was screaming. She couldn't blame him- but she wouldn't know. Her mind was dead-set on the ferocious set of jaws mere meters away from her. Maybe SHE was screaming, too. In fact, she probably was.
Right then, when the door was pushed to the side far enough that it seemed like it was less than a second away from completely busting down, something... orange appeared. It moved fast. Twilight barely had time to figure out what had happened before the thing had slammed into the side of the creature and pushed it to the side, both the new orange thing and the horrifying creature leaving her view.
Twilight stared at the open hole in the metal door, where what she believed to be her imminent doom once stood. She could hear the sounds of battle mere meters away, but too far to the side for her to see. The sounds of the creature roaring and of the strange orange thing... squelching forced her to press her ears to her head to try and block out the noise. She barely had enough time to breathe before Reid ran past her in a hurry, grabbing her by the head and urging her along.
"Hurry! While it's distracted!"
Twilight stumbled forward, following Reid out of the hole in the door and into the hallway. Reid dashed to the left, the same path that originally lead them to the intercom room, with Twilight in quick pursuit, not wanting to be left behind with the creature that was currently battling the strange orange blob. Twilight glanced back as she left, trying to catch a glimpse of what that orange thing was.
Looking behind her, she saw the creature that had nearly killed her up against the wall, struggling to move as the strange orange blob kept it in place with its tendrils. It appeared to be gelatinous, like a large mass of sentient orange jelly. She barely got a second to look at the odd situation before they faded into the distance, the darkness of the facility absorbing them as she ran.
Twilight tore across the facility hallway back in the direction of the Intercom room, wheezing heavily. She wasn't used to running this much, that's for sure. She made a mental note to exercise more when she got back home. Oh, well. With the amount of running she was currently doing, and doubtlessly would be doing in the next couple of hours, would probably make up for most of her life so far.
As they approached the Intercom room, the sounds of battle still close behind them, Twilight started to make out a small metal object on the ground. Well, several, really. The weapon that had alerted the monster to their presence lay in pieces on the ground, presumably smashed into oblivion by the monster as it chased them back to SCP-009's chamber. Reid barely gave it a second thought, hesitating only for a second as they passed it.
Trying not to trip on any pieces of concrete debris on the floor, Twilight followed Reid closely. Soon, they passed the Intercom room, entering into another long hallway. The floor was scuffed up, the walls had scrapes and small holes all over them, occasionally boring deep enough to reveal small pieces of iron rebar. The monster had obviously come from this way originally. Speaking of the monster...
"...R-reid..." Twilight started, breathing heavily as the ran through the hall, "wh... what was that thing?"
Reid didn't stop running, only looking back to her through his golden visor for a second before answering. "...Ugh... uh, y-you mean the lizard thing? That was... ugh... SCP-682, I think... the orange blob was... ugh... SCP-999." Reid's response was raspy and labored, wheezing as he spoke, still refusing to stop running until they got far away from the creature that had nearly murdered them. Weaving left and right as they passed through intersection after intersection, Reid led Twilight away from the creatures.
"...Whu... Six-eight... two? What is it? What... do you know about it?" Twilight said through her gasps for air. By this point her legs had started to burn. They had traveled through no less than four long halls and several intersections by this point.
"I... it's... a large lizard-like creature, I think... it can't be killed. Trust me, we've tried everything. It... it's very intelligent... and it wants to murder everything." Reid said, slowing down as he realized the sounds of the battle of the two creatures had long since disappeared.
"...And nine-nine-nine?" Twilight asked, dropping to her knees to catch her breath.
"Uh, a large blob of goop. Very friendly. It's like a dog and quite smart. It loves 'tickle wrestling', believe it or not. Never... never seen it attack something like that before." Reid said, joining Twilight as he tried to catch his breath, leaning against a wall. "...Man, I'm not used to running that much."
"...Sounds... ugh... adorable." Twilight said, standing back up to her full height. "Hurry up, we can't stop moving... not now, now that I know that thing exists. It can't keep six-eight-two occupied for long."
"...You'd be surprised." Reid muttered under his breath, prompting a curious glance from Twilight, which Reid noticed and quickly corrected. "Uh, it's nothing. You're right. Come on, I think the elevator that leads to Level 1 is just a few halls ahead."
Following Reid through the facility, Twilight let out a sigh. She still wanted to run. They had passed through a lot of hallways, so many that she couldn't hear 682 and 999 at all, but she still didn't feel safe. But that was the case even before she knew those things existed. She would never feel safe in this facility, regardless of what she knew, who she was with, where she was, why she was there and how she got there. It practically emitted an aura of unpleasantness.
...Now there's a unique phrase.
As Twilight mulled over the perpetual feeling of imminent obliteration that the facility gave her, she found herself subconsciously increase her walking speed. She didn't notice she had passed Reid by several meters until he called out to her, bringing her back into reality.
"...Uh, Twilight?"
"Yeah?"
"...You, um... what's with that bag, anyway?"
Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, every muscle in her body freezing up. She had practically forgotten about her make-shift saddle bag. Particularly the bag's contents. If she knew one thing about this organization, it's that they were obsessive about security, even if it didn't always work out in the end. How would Reid, a trained guard of a facility owned by that organization react to her, who as far as he was concerned, was a dangerous anomaly that violated the laws of physics carrying a bag full of potentially valuable and/or dangerous anomalies?
"...I... my bag?"
"Yeah. I just... didn't notice until now. What's in it?"
She could hear Reid approach her from behind as her mind raced, trying desperately to formulate a clever, brilliant sentence to get her out of this potentially life-threatening situation.
"...I, uh... I just found these things... interesting and wanted to keep them."
Fantastic.
"...What? Hold on, let me see this for a second..." Reid said, taking the bag off of Twilight from behind. She didn't move an inch as he did so, still frozen in place, her body refusing to move. He wouldn't kill her, of course. She was just as valuable as any of the other things in this facility. So that was at least somewhat comforting.
Right?
"...Are... these... where'd you get these? How... some of these things take at LEAST a Zone Manager to access! How did... you... what..." Reid trailed off as he looked farther into Twilight's bag. Although she wasn't looking, it was pretty obvious he had just found her Zone Manager card in the bag.
"Heh... uh, yeah... you know SCP-914?" Twilight asked, slowly turning around to face Reid. She still couldn't see him through the visor, but she could only imagine what his expression was as he sorted through the objects she had in her bag. Reid didn't respond, continuing to look through the bag.
"...Yeah. Uh, I just kind of... found a keycard lying around. Just... on the floor, yeah? Uh, I used it to access SCP-914... and I... uh... put the keycard in the machine on 'fine', and it, uh, came out like that." Twilight finished, smiling nervously as Reid stopped looking through the bag and looked directly at her, causing Twilight to flinch. He didn't respond, and Twilight, unable to see his expression through the visor, braced herself for a negative reaction. One that never came.
"...Oh. And you just kind of... uh, used the Zone Manager to access some of these SCPs? And then took them? Just because?" Reid asked, his voice more questioning than cold. Twilight hesitated before answering.
"...Yes."
"Ah."
The two stared at them for long past what's considered an uncomfortable length of time. A minute of absolute silence reigned, Twilight nervously fidgeting in pace while Reid stayed motionless. If it wasn't for the fact she knew he was alive, Twilight would think he was dead. Reid suddenly interrupted the moment by handing Twilight back her bag.
"Here. Hold onto it. And, please, be careful. That glass sphere could have enough energy inside it to wipe out the entire continent of Europe for all we know." Reid said, strapping the bag back onto Twilight, before walking past her as nothing had happened. Twilight blinked in surprise for a moment before turning back to Reid, opening her mouth to say something, but deciding against it, opting instead to simply follow Reid and be grateful he didn't kill her.
They barely got five meters away before Twilight said something.
"...You... you're just going to trust me? Just like that?" Twilight said, her voice a little above normal volume. "Just like that? Why... you... for all you know, I could be one of the most dangerous creatures in the multiverse! And you're just going to trust me with... all of this?" Reid didn't even hesitate before he responded.
"Only those with genuinely good intentions would be confused, and perhaps slightly angry by being trusted."
Twilight stopped for a moment before following, not pressing the conversation any farther. The statement didn't make any sense, of course. Well, it made some sense. A little. A bit. Perhaps. She didn't really understand what it meant, but she at least appreciated the attempt.
Twilight finally got a true breather, a moment of calm in this facility she so desperately craved as she walked with Reid towards the elevator to Level 1, supposedly just a minute away. She took the opportunity to breathe in, and breathe out a few breaths that weren't induced by either terror or running for her life.
It lasted all of twenty seconds.
As she passed another identical door and found herself and Reid in yet another identical hallway, the only visual difference being an open elevator about ten meters away in the side of the hall, her ears picked up something rather peculiar. Specifically, the faint sound of stomping from something large and heavy rapidly approaching from the other side of the hall, opposite of them.
Evidently, Reid picked up on it too, judging by his reaction.
"Oh, shi- Twilight, come on! Run, NOW!" Reid yelled, immediately charging towards the open elevator door. It took Twilight an embarrassingly long one and a half seconds to figure out what was happening. First off, SCP-682's fight with SCP-999 had ended a bit ago. Second off, SCP-682 had managed to track them down, somehow coming towards them from the opposite direction. Third, it had just bust down the wall on the opposite side of the hallway to them.
Twilight let out a perfectly justified scream as she ran across the hallway, in the direction of both SCP-682 and the open elevator door, which Reid had just passed through. She dashed across the floor in pure fear induced panic, a previously rare now extremely common feeling for Twilight. SCP-682 did the same, roaring in anger as it saw Twilight charging towards the elevator door. Soon, Twilight found herself in a race between herself and what could very well be her imminent demise.
Twilight practically skidded into the elevator, not caring enough to slow herself down so her momentum wouldn't carry her face into the elevator wall. Which it did. Rather violently, in fact. Her poor muzzle was getting quite a beating today, the wall now bearing a perfect picture of her muzzle, painted in her own blood by the wonderful artist known as 'the First Law of Motion.'
She pondered for a second how many other paintings and works of art that particular artist has created since its inception, but she never got the chance to continue the thought. Reid pressed the close button on the elevator the second she had passed into it, but elevator doors were notorious for closing too slowly. Typically, the reason they closed slowly was so that if another person wanted to get into the elevator even if the button was pressed and the door was closing, all hope was not lost. Of course, sometimes it would be greatly beneficial for all if that person, or in this case, horrifying abomination of the lord of the underworld himself didn't make it in time.
The doors had barely managed to close by the point SCP-682 had made it to the elevator, its face trying to replicate Twilight's own recent activities, in that it smashed straight into a solid wall because of a lack of caring for the First Law of Motion. The door was strong, fortunately enough. Strong enough to hold off a several-ton behemoth for a few seconds, before the elevator began to descend. Twilight only hoped SCP-682 wouldn't try to bash down the door anyway and immediately fall down the elevator shaft and right onto the elevator carriage, obliterating Twilight from existence. But it was supposed to be smart, so she presumed it wouldn't do something as dumb as that.
Hopefully.
Reid and Twilight both leaned against the far wall of the elevator as it descended, the sounds of SCP-682 angrily snarling as disappearing quickly, the familiar hum of the elevator calming Twilight's nerves, the adrenaline numbing the burning pain in her muzzle. They didn't speak to each other at first, barely able to think straight after the twenty-seventh close encounter with death they both experienced since entering this facility for the first time.
Eventually, Twilight got the nerve to look back at Reid, who still seemed focused on the spot SCP-682 had been mere seconds ago. She still couldn't see through his visor, but his body language told her everything she needed to know. He, much like her, just nearly died violently, at the hands of a creature whose only purpose in life seemed to be to maim and murder everything that breathes and then some.
Twilight presumed this would be a rather common experience for her in the immediate future.
After all, it already was.
The door opened.
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New chapter!
Yes, a friendly guard!
Let us hope he doesn't die. 
… He's gonna die, isn't he?
Twilight, I don't want to imagine you dying, so if you could…
Yes! SCP-999! They are saved! It got the second meeting it wanted.
*snicker*
Hooray! It's the end of the chapter and Reid isn't dead!
Oh great, it's Mr. Personality.
Oh hey, 999! I forgot about you!
of --> have
They just can‘t have a break right? I think even of Twilight gets out, the fact that they don‘t know her...
Let‘s just say she will probably get in a liiittle bit of trouble
I'm glad to see the story back up and running.
Oof, nice accidental save by proxy.
THANK GOODNESS, 999 SAVES THE DAY.
Oof! The cliffhangers.
Idea: Maybe include 2719? It's a metaphysical pointer that either defines something as inside, or moves it so that it is inside of whatever is currently defined as inside. But you can never control which. Also, impossible interactions simply return the knowledge that it is "outside".
For example, in one test, a car was made inside, and a test subject was made to go inside. In another test, a test subject was made inside on accident, and another test subject was made to go inside, killing the second and exploding the first. (The original intent was to make the first test subject GO inside... whoops.)
Oh no...
The basement...
Assuming this is a different basement from the one with the reptiles, she's about to meet the Plague Doctors' minions. And the Plague Doctor.
9284274
Not necessarily. In this story, Site-37 (the site they are in) is laid out into three zones; the Entrance Zone, Light Containment Zone, and Heavy Containment Zone. Light Containment Zone has several 'floors', or 'levels'. The main way through to one of the lower levels was blocked, so Twilight had to go to the very bottom basement, the one with 939, pass through there, and head back up to bypass the blockage and reach the elevator to the next level. The entrance to Heavy Containment Zone, and by extension the Entrance Zone, is located in Light Containment Zone Level 1, the one they are heading to right now. I apologize if I didn't make it clear.
9283643
Thank you!
Oh my, you added my baby, 999!
Man, I saw the orange bit and for a second thought our good friend Benjamin came back to save us with the power of savestates. 999 is good too though.
And hey, a new chapter! Life's a bitch sometimes, but it's also pretty rewarding occasionally.
Thinking about it, I wonder if there are any explicitly magic-related SCPs. She could probably ask for a cup of magic if she ever finds the coffee machine that dispenses anything, but I wonder if she can get a magic boost some other way.
Wonder how long 682 is going to try and track them. Christ, 173 was bad enough, but now we have the Juggernaut if the Juggernaut was made of adamantium and had Deadpool's healing factor. And was also omnicidal. Also it's explicitly tracking you, not just opportunistically attacking. Greaaat.
Maybe it would be helpful if they had something like that gas mask that transports you to alternate dimensions. That's the only way I could see them, at least temporarily, escaping 682, barring repeated teleports with magic they don't have. Though, even that MIGHT only work once, given they'd probably reappear in the same spot upon exiting, and 682 would probably figure that out.
Twi does still have the atomic ring alongside the sphere of unknown power. She could TRY releasing a beam of pure energy at 682 and hope that at least cripples it. Probably a bad idea though, considering there's no way to delineate the power the sphere holds and the environmental energy around them. I'd say she could try teleporting with it, but even assuming that's within the ring's capabilities, she doesn't know where she is. Still, as a last ditch effort, she could attempt to teleport like 50 miles upwards and glide towards the ground.
Y'know, why is it bad to teleport into a solid object, but it isn't a concern teleporting into a bunch of air? Why doesn't suddenly occupying the same place as atmosphere cause the same complications?
Anyways, that's enough from my mouth. Enjoyed the chapter, looking forward to what happens next!
9285032
One of the best things to do in stupid situations like what I told you about in the Author's Note, if not the best thing to do, is simply raise your middle finger to the universe and tell it to kindly go fuck itself. It works for me.
I think the issue isn't the sudden occupation. Let's say it replaces the air where you want to go with you. The issue is I would rather be surrounded by air than be inside a hole in a block of steel, concrete or dirt of my exact shape.
Thank you!
I just want to see Twilight opening a door and suddenly hearing "Eric?" Followed by Beethoven melodies.
I wonder when twilight's going to get desperate enough to eat that energy sphere.
9285032
The "Coffe Machine " Takes the order from somewhere so it could just take it from Twi.
Ooh, what's this?
9287055
SCP-999.
9287258
He's for sure my new favorite SCP!
Reid is either the most trusting security agent in the Foundation or part of another GOI (Group of Interest). He seems a bit too lax for Security in a containment facility.
Eh, but maybe I'm just overanalyzing.
My immediate reaction upon seeing the chapter title:
i.imgur.com/k125vFQ.gif
Shouldn't that be 'alicorn'?
I've seen this story many time while browsing the different groups and story's and never really got around to reading this as I didn't think it would really work out.
Glad to say that at nearly one in the morning I got to bingeing this and I can say that this is a story that I'll continue to read so keep up the good work
9311177
BOOM
moar
Ker-SPLAT!
You know, I wonder if 682 would even want to kill ponies? He HATES humans for many reasons, many of which don't apply to ponies. I kept expecting him to catch up, kill Reid, and then spare Twilight.
I hope Reid doesn't die.