(27) The Overseer
“I must go raise the moon, Princess Twilight,” Luna said as she got up from her chair. The humans have been gone for a few hours at this point and dusk had begun to set across Equestria, “I shall return in a little while.”
Twilight nodded, “Alright, Luna,” she yawned, “I’ll see you later then.”
As Princess Luna left the room, Twilight’s eyes settled on her brother. He and Cadance hadn’t sent anything to her since she had left the Empire back in April.
“Soooooo...“ Twilight began to ask awkwardly, “How’s Cadance, Shiny? I noticed she wasn’t here.”
Shining seemed to slump down at the question, “I thought we could talk about what was going on in Baltimare?” He said, “But, yeah Cadance is just… being out there, getting caught and… I don’t know… something else, she didn’t tell me, it really took its toll on Cadance.”
Shining sighed, “I heard there were some things going down with Queen Novo’s Nephew?” He pivoted off the subject of his wife, “Is everything alright there?”
Twilight shook her head, “Terramar… he… he’s sick… really sick, some sort of zompony, he attacks anycreature that tries to go near him. He attacked Silverstream and Sandbar when they went to look for him.” She looked away from her brother, “Gallus, Ocellus and Smolder went with some guards to try and bring him back, but there were dead- undead humans there too, attacking them. I think it was… it was the virus that caused them- the humans, to fall in the first place.” She closed her eyes and calmed herself. I still can’t believe the only reason we as a species, and every other species, exists, is because so many died to a ravenous plague. She shuddered at the thought, If something had gone differently if they had found a cure, we might not even exist.
Twilight was broken out of her thoughts by her brother. He was muttering something under his breath, just quiet enough for Twilight to be unable to hear him and she broke out of her brief silence.
“Is something wrong?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah… The male Colonel, Nye, he told me that Luna and Cadance stumbled on an abandoned site… He said it was where they kept their Zombie Virus… or something like that,” Her brother looked at her, “Were you able to cure him, Terramar?”
“N-no… we were able to cure a guard that got bit though, well… I wasn’t, Ocellus was able to.”
“We might want to tell the-” The wooden doors of the situation room flung open, and an enraged human strut in.
Velvet had an undoubtedly frustrated look on her face, “What exactly is this?” She threw a newspaper onto the table. Brother and Sister both looked at the headline. ‘Exclusive Interview with Prince Shining Armor about the Mysterious New Race; Humanity!’ Every creature’s eye slowly turned to the sole male in the room, “Well?” Velvet asked again, much more animosity in her voice. She was standing there cross-armed and tapping her foot against the Crystal floor.
He raised a single hoof, “Okay, Okay, to be fair,” The Prince stretched out the word, “That interview was conducted before you arrived, the only reason it didn’t go out was that you actually showed up.” The Prince explained, “If you had waited… I don’t know, an hour? It would’ve already gone out.”
Velvet cooled, “Oh, I guess that seems reasonable?” she replied in a normal tone.
“R-really?” Shining asked back, dumbfounded.
“Nnnnnoo!” She yelled, “Of course it fucking doesn’t. I read the article, you published classified information in a newspaper!” She sighed and brought her hands and cupped them around her mouth and nose, then slowly exhaled. “You’re lucky that I convinced Jack to let me handle this. He would’ve just walked in and punched your face into a bloody pulp.”
Twilight briefly thought about the scenario playing out, Twilight suffice to say, didn’t like what came to mind. Twilight clenched her teeth, the situation is quickly going south, Hopefully, we can come to some sort of compromise? She thought. “What if…” She started to speak, she waited until both pairs of eyes were on her, “What if we give you back the recording, and anything else we might have from the Foundation?” She offered. “And we won’t talk anymore about you, or your species.”
Velvet sighed, “I guess... That’ll have to do,” She answered, “I’ll have one of my men come and get it later.”
Twilight saw her brother breathe a sigh of relief, “I’ll make sure that my guards will be there to give it, then,” He answered back.
Velvet looked back at the two royal ponies, “Good,” She replied as she turned her head to Shining Armor’s sister, “In other news, the Overseer has approved your request to tour Site three and meet with her, you get to bring one other pony with you.” She said mundanely, “Congratulations, you leave in an hour.” The human then abruptly turned around and began to walk to the still-open door.
“Wait- I still have-” the door slammed shut behind the lone human. As she walked down the winding hallways, she tried to keep up her “tough” persona to the various castle staff and guards. Nye, your intimidation tactics better work. She thought to herself. After a few minutes of wandering, getting lost, getting back on track, and getting lost again, she finally reached the door.
Abigail walked into her and her squad’s makeshift quarters. It was apparently an old barracks that was no longer in use, but in all honesty, it looked more like their personal rooms back in the command site. As the wooden door closed behind her she saw both Lambert and Pickney stand at attention. And that leaves Davis to guard the chopper, She mentally noted, Shift change in… She looked at her watch on her wrist, 15:47… thirteen minutes.
“At ease,” She told her men as she walked forward and sat on one of the solitary beds in the middle of the room, “I don’t know how Nye does it… you know?” She took off the bulletproof vest and her helmet, placing them uniformly at the foot of her bed. She gave a passing glance at her P90. I still need to clean it before I go out again.
“Does what V?” She heard the annoying voice of Pickney ask back, making her slump back and fall on, admittedly comfortable, the bed below her. She threw her head back and faced the purple ceiling before turning her head to the left, facing her subordinate.
“How he is such an asshole,” She sighed as she turned her head back to the crystal roof “Honestly, he’s always been this way. For years, even before he was MTF.”
“Yeah, we know,” Lambert said to her, “You’ve only told us this twenty times. And honestly, I don’t think either of us wants to hear it again.”
“Pfffftb…” Velvet sneered, “It’s not boring.” spat back in rebuttal, “Anyway, We have a chopper to catch,” She raised her wrist to her eyes, “In about forty minutes we’re going to site three, Nye and his team are staying here. Insurance so we don’t kidnap their princess or something.”
“Again,” Lambert reminded her, “I also read the report from Pi-1, they had to kidnap one of their princesses in order to escape.”
Damn! She thought back to the report, and it clicked, “It was the purple one, wasn’t it?”
Lambert nodded, “Yeah… I think so, Is she the one-?”
“Yep,” Abigail interrupted, “she must be completely crazy or determined.” She got up from her bed and picked up her vest, looking it over.
“We’re leaving now?” Pickney asked.
“Yes, I need to talk to Nye,” She sat up in her bed, “Now get ready, I want to leave early.”
“Really? And I was starting to miss the grey walls and bloodthirsty monsters!”
Expectedly, the pilots, Lambert, and Nye were all at the choppers already as Velvet and the rest of her team walked through the growing crowd of ponies. Unexpectedly, So was that Purple Princess and one of her friends. Velvet looked at the orange-ish stetson wearing pony. Alright, I guess we can leave early then?
“You’re early,” Velvet stated as she finished wading through the crowd.
“Well…so are you-”
Velvet waved her off. She couldn’t do this now, especially in front of the crowd. She turned her attention to Nye and gave a brief nod. To which he responded in kind.
“Get in,” She said to her squad, “Put your guns on the bench,” Her team wordlessly entered the chopper and took to her orders. She turned to the Princess and her friend, “I trust you two are ready?”
“Eeyup,” The orange one said with a cheerful country accent, while Twilight just nodded silently.
“Okay good, then we can leave early,” She gave one more glance at Nye, “I’ll keep you informed.” Velvet then stepped onto the metal ramp of the Chinook, followed by the two ponies.
Twilight shivered.
Despite the “Pilots” claiming that the heat was on, the main cabin of their vehicle was still at or below-freezing temperatures. Twilight was able to make a makeshift blanket out of her wings, and she did her best to cover and remain next to Applejack. She turned and looked at her friend. She was shivering, constantly; her breath came out as a frosty white mist as she exhaled. We’ve had to face down Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, and Tirek, She steeled herself, I WILL not allow a bit of ice to defeat us!
She looked at the occupants of the opposite bench, the humans were all sitting there with their eyes closed, say for Velvet, who was staring at her and Applejack. Twilight, almost too happily, returned the stare with a glare. She could see the white breath of the humans’ breathing, but none of them so much as shivered, let alone complain about it.
A shudder from Applejack brought her eyes to her friend once again, How can they just be so… numb? She ground her teeth as she thought, Maybe it’s because they’re just so cold. She turned back to the human Colonel, “Can I warm it up in here?” She asked, breaking the silence, well, Silence except for that razor blade cutting through the sky. “It’s freezing in here!” She hissed.
Velvet, just shrugged, “I don’t care, princess. Just don’t blow us up.”
Twilight felt the metal monstrosity hit the ground. Or “landing pad” as one of the humans across from her stated. She looked over at Applejack and looked at her friend. She had volunteered to be the lone plus one that was allowed to come on this trip. Twilight sighed, We’ve only just arrived, and I already feel uncomfortable. If Applejack was to be hurt on her watch, I couldn’t forgive myself.
Thankfully, her friend was doing much better as she was the first one, before even the humans, who hopped off of her seat. Can’t blame her, Twilight thought as she also got off the uncomfortable metal bench, It really hurts my flank.
The red light that she had been with stuck with her throughout the entire trip, went green, and the ramp began to slowly descend. The humans, after that, all also stood up, and rather quickly, made their way to the exit.
Twilight walked out of the chopper, following the humans outside and into the freezing cold. Twilight put a hoof down onto the rooftop, her head swept to the left, then to the right. The building, base, whatever they called it, was massive. A structure of stone expanding out at least two miles in every direction. She started to walk the edge of the roof to get a better look.
“HEY!”
The Princess turned back to the humans, one of the subordinates, Lambert maybe? Had turned and looked at her, “There’s plenty of time to enjoy the view later, the Overseer is a busy woman.” He motioned with his head for the pair of ponies to follow.
Applejack looked at Twilight, and for the briefest moments, Twilight considered it to be a bad idea. For her to teleport her and Applejack back to the safety of the Crystal Empire with all of her friends. The moment passed. If I do that now, any chance of an alliance with them is probably gone for good. And… I don’t know if we can win against them with the elements of harmony alone...
“Alright,” Twilight turned to her friend, “Let’s go AJ. I want to meet this mythical Overseer”
Twilight, expected something else. She was expecting a large behemoth of a human, so strong that it could bend iron. She expected a monster, a soulless being with little to no morals. Instead, she found a human, slightly taller than Colonel Velvet, which was still taller than her and any of the other princesses, including Celestia. She had a reddish mane, wore glasses, and looked like she would break an arm if she attempted to do a simple pushup.
An egghead.
“Good Evening, Princess Twilight,” She said as she sat behind a desk strewn with papers, files and Celestia knows what else, “I am O5 number three, but, you can adjust call me Overseer Green.”
“Um… thanks for seeing us, Overseer,” Twilight replied, still slightly taken aback by her, “This is my friend Applejack.”
The human sitting across the room nodded, “Pleasure to meet you Applejack.”
“Yeah… the same to you.”
The Overseer looked at both of them, “I’d assume you want to know about the Foundation or more about some aspects of us?”
Twilight blinked, My brother and Luna said that they had to pry the answers out of them, and she’s just offering them to me? She nodded, “Of course I do.” She felt the wind outside pick up speed, the window behind the Overseer began to get blocked out with frost and snow.
Twilight grits her teeth, “What happened?”
The Overseer sighed, “You will need to be more specific than that. You could be referring to a lot of things.”
Twilight steeled herself from babbling like a filly for answers, “That night, when that thing took my niece, what happened?” Twilight’s eyes glanced at Applejack for a quick second.
“It is a long story,” She motioned with her hands to the seats to tall for ponies, “Please sit, and I will start at the beginning.”
Once the ponies had comfortably scampered their ways onto their chairs, the Overseer began to speak. “We received word of the containment breach at around six in the morning, I was given the graveyard shift with Overseer nine, and we both sent the order to pursue.”
“The rest of the council convened an hour or so later, when we realized that it was heading for your city, we knew we had to do everything to get it back, we couldn’t allow 106 to expose the Foundation’s security, so we gave Colonel Ross the orders to Capture 106 by any means necessary.”
“We now know that 106’s containment breach was planned by the Chaos insurgency. They also must’ve coerced it into going south. Probably the birthday party of your niece. He… it… is wily and unpredictable, but a large gathering is something 106… seems to exceedingly like. It’s not the first time 106 has gone after children.”
Twilight shuddered. Not the first time he’s gone after children… and they don’t go and find them. She felt her heart skip a beat as she shivered, They left them for dead, didn’t they?
She sighed, “In my opinion, they didn’t expect your niece to survive the encounter. MTF Pi-1 is a… subpar Mobile task force at best, and completely incompetent at worst. They were placed at Site 26 by Overseer two, and knowing her, she probably helped Shawns in the coup.”
Applejack gasped, “They… wanted to kill Flurry Heart? What good would that do them?”
The Overseer frowned, “Given your track record in dealing with threats, you,” she nodded at Twilight, “And your friends would attempt to pinpoint 106’s origin and attempt to save your niece. Given that 106 also devastated a small town north of the city, you would’ve searched there and gone north.”
Twilight imagined her and her friends, the Elements of Harmony, trudging through snow and ice to find her niece. The Overseer leaned to the right, “It most probably would’ve sparked a skirmish between us and you, giving a casus beli to attack. And I doubt you could’ve won such a war, magic or no magic.”
Green turned to the princess, “We were all lucky that MTF Pi-1 had worked as swiftly and as good as they did. Otherwise, we might not be having this discussion right now.”
Twilight looked down at the floor, It was manufactured to kill a member of the Royal Family… to start a war for them to conquer the world. Twilight knew that her brother wouldn’t have been able to hold himself back, he would’ve attacked, with or without his wife’s or Princess Celestia’s permission. It would mean they would only be defending themselves, a ploy to get us to attack first.
Twilight blinked, And they nearly succeeded… She looked up at the Overseer, “Thank you… for that. I… guess it clears up some things.”
“You are very welcome, you both are free to ask any and all questions, and I will give you answers to the best of my knowledge.” The overseer nodded her head at the Princess, giving the Purple pony permission to continue.
“Thank you… Overseer,” She smiled softly, “Do you know where my niece is?”
The Overseer sighed, “No, I’m sorry.”
Twilight frowned, Of course, she doesn’t! Twilight raised her voice, “But, you’re their leader, how can you not know!?” She asked, her voice’s volume going higher and higher with each syllable.
The Overseer sighed and shook her head calmly, “I am, but… I don’t know where she is, last I knew, she was in a containment cell in Site 1, but, she disappeared a few months ago.”
Twilight realized that she was standing on the chair, and looking eye to eye with the human leader, “Do you have any other questions, perhaps?” She turned to Applejack, “From you perhaps?”
Applejack looked at Twilight, only to see her head lower. The Orange Earth pony looked back at the de-facto leader of the Foundation, “Y-yeah, I do…” Applejack started, “Are you, humans, always soo… violent?”
“A good question with an easy answer,” Green stated, “Yes, humans only evolved to fight other humans, whenever had the access to magic like your, and the other species on Earth, so we advanced using technology. Whichever side could get the best spear, sword, firearm, bomb, could beat the other.” She straightened her back, “It took thousands of years for Mankind to evolve, and now we’re here.”
“Ah….” Applejack squirmed in her seat, “So… you’re all soldiers?”
Green chuckled, “No… we are not, here we are mechanics, researchers, medical personal, teachers. Only around one-fifth of humanity is in a military field.”
Applejack rubbed the back of her head, slightly offsetting her stetson. “Um… what was the planet like… back then? When humans were ah… everywhere?”
“Hmm…” Green looks down at her desk and blinks, “That is a question… that everyone here at the foundation, has asked or thought about at least once in their lives. I know I have. And I badly want to know,” She sighs, “I… I don’t know, however.”
“But…”
She cuts off Applejack, “Don’t get me wrong, should I need to know about the world before, it is a simple search in our database for me. But… If I look at that, I might never stop. I might search for books, movies, shows, comics, any form of media. Apparently, it was good, but, It would… complicate things. And for that reason, nothing, no form of media referring to our previous world is allowed in the foundation.
“I know the specifics, data, population, the odd country here and there. Things like locations of past facilities, uncontained SCP’s in the wild, satellites in orbit. You never know what we might use to better secure the SCP’s we hold here.… I know what’s necessary to be known to act effectively as a member of the Overseer Council. ”
Twilight perked her head up, “You said it would complicate things, why?”
Green looked back down at the desk, and sighed, “I might want to go back to that, back to those days. Back when humans dominated the planet, and not when there were Other Species. I might want to dismantle the system and rebuild it in the image of the old world.” She paused for a moment, “It happened once before, to our predecessors, some foundation agents found a copy of the Constitution, and read it. By the time they plugged it, they were demanding to be let out. And the council caved, though, they did have false memories implanted.”
“So you’re saying… you might want to attack us?” Applejack asked, “To take over the world? Like the Insurgency?”
“Yes,” She answered, “As I said, It was good. A place where humans could be who they want to be, not just live here in seclusion. But… in my honest opinion, our species ruined the planet, we no longer have the right to it. We just have to deal with the scraps left behind. Make sure no abominations get out.”
Silence persisted for a few minutes, the only sound being the ticking of the clock and the whittling of the wind.
“I have… one more question…” Twilight said, she raised her, head, so she could look at the human in the eye, “Can we have a tour?”
“Ah,” The Overseer of the Foundation stopped in front of one of the many doors inside the concrete labyrinth. “This is SCP 035.” The two ponies stop behind at either side of her, “The possessive mask.” She swiped a red card and the door slid open. The two ponies followed her inside.
“Ya know, most of these ah dangerous, from their name alone,” Applejack commented. She looked through the glass at what looked like a white porcelain theatre mask. Though there was a number of black lines trailing down from its smiling mouth and wide eyes.
“Yes, most of the things we keep here are supposed to be safe, though, with the situation,” She sighed, “We’ve had to put Euclid and Keter objects here too.” She nodded at the mask on its pedestal. “We haven’t been able to move them to safer locations.” She turned around and walked out, followed by her guests.
As they walked, Twilight and Applejack were introduced to many of the human’s SCP’s, a statue of a soldier who could walk around and “fire” his weapon. Twilight wasn’t sure how they could keep a stone statue locked up, but they somehow did. In one of the many halls between the roaming guards and researchers, she saw a cat. A cat with half its body missing.
According to the Overseer, 529, or “Josie,” is freely allowed to roam the halls of the site, and is one of the safest SCP’s they had. At least they have something that won’t want to kill us all. She seemed to have taken a liking to the ponies, as she began to follow them for a while.
In one room, Twilight and Applejack watched as Green conversed with a person who seemingly lived inside sheets of paper. “Cassie,” or 085 as the doctors said, could traverse through any sheet of paper. Be that comics, books, or just a plain old sheet. I wonder how Spike would react with her in his comics?
The next item, Twilight got to meet herself when Green took showed her, “I can only seem to talk about myself in the first-person?” Twilight cocked her head slightly to the left, “Why can’t I talk about myself… my...self?”
“Don’t worry, It happens to everyone,” The Overseer said, “Now let’s get out of here before you begin to identify as me…”
Twilight knew what she meant by that, but what couldn’t she talk about herself in the third-person? Twilight cocked her head to the other side, I am thinking about myself in my thoughts? Twilight shook her head and gave up. She looked over at Applejack, who, even with her Element of Honesty, could only talk about herself in the first person.
Twilight looked out through the glass and peered at the tree. “What’s it do?” She asked, “It just looks like a big fruit tree,” Her eyes wandered up and to the right and looked at the Overseer, who was returning the look. “I mean… It’s impressive, what does it do?”
The Overseer looked around the room, before her eyes finally settled on Applejack, “May I see your hat?” She asked. “I promise it will not be harmed in any way.”
Applejack looked squeamish for a moment, “Alright, but I have your word, not a mark on it.”
“Of Course. Stay in here.”
She slid her keycard on the small lock on the door, and it slid open. She’s going to walk in there? It must be safe, right? The Overseer walked up to the large tree and tapped the hat to the tree. Almost immediately after, Twilight saw something, it looked like a flower budding on the branch of the tree. Then she noticed. Its color, it looked almost exactly like the hats’.
It’s copying the hat! She stared with her mouth agape. The Flower bloomed, and almost like an apple growing in a tree, it began to grow the hat. It went so fast. A few minutes later, it was done.
“SCP 038,” the Overseer said as she walked back inside, “Is possibly the most important asset we have. Over the years, we can copy and clone almost anything, from machinery to armor, to paper.”
“That’s incredible,” Twilight said, not taking her eyes off of the magnificent tree, “What do you do with it?”
Green gave Applejack her hat back, but held onto the copy, “Everything,” She stood up and turned to the tree, “It used to be… much worse. Its copies were decrepit and would fall apart easily, malfunction and jam. But we’ve been able to improve it over the years.” She sighed, “It’s the only reason that maniac hasn’t attacked yet.”
“Now, we use it to make bullets, guns, machines, electronics… everything,” She turned back to Twilight, “It is perhaps the Foundation’s most prized possession, and greatest asset.” She blinked, “Well… that just about wraps up the tour.” She made for the exit, “Shall we head back to my office? Or would you prefer to agree to our terms and return now?”
Twilight looked at Applejack, then looked back at the Overseer, “We’re allies,” She stated, “And I’m sure we’ll both benefit from being allies.”
“Good,” Green said with a hint of relief, “You’re free to return then,” She turned back around and looked at the ponies, “One of my doctors, he volunteered to return with you, he’ll speak on my behalf, though, he is a bit… eccentric.” She stared off into space for a moment, contemplating her next words, before turning her attention back to the ponies. “He… knows many things that I do not, including our past. Feel free to ask him.”
“How does he know that?” Applejack asked, “I thought you said only the oh-five could know?”
“I did, but… he is…” She put her fingers to her chin and thought, “Well, you can ask him. I can’t speak of him, I don’t know him personally.”
“Does he have a name?” The Princess Asked.
“Yes, Doctor Bright,” She stated, “Doctor Jack Bright.”
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... this could end well or verry badly depending on how bright has done over the years
10557347
my first thought there is oh god and my second thought is why no 999? I would have liked to read one of them getting pounced on by the tickle monster
10557420
Little guy might be shy or the cause of some of the equestrian specise
Get the fucking mini gun, Dr. Bright is leaving the SCPF.
Oh boy it's doctor bright
Oh Boy! Dr. Bright is here. Lets see what shenanigans he gets into
Oh boy! Doctor Jack Bright is here, really look forward to it!
Great chapter! Xd
10557446
999 cuddled and tickled the hard to destroy lizard which is definitely more dangerous than anything the Everfree can spit out
God, I forgot about that tree! I knew it exists, but I thought they have replicator tech of some sort, similar to Yellowstone facility's. Shame on me, who knows nearly 2 thousands SCP entries and co-created some. Perhaps human replicators are based on research conducted upon the tree.
P.s. You used one SCP items I supported before, to my delight, cus that scene was cute.
10557420
999 was in dufferent facility, where Flurry was
Oh no, not Bright, ANYONE BUT DR. BRIGHT!!
Just please stop him.
Don't touch the shiny.
Don't mention family.
Don't question the doctor.
Be aware of any chainsaw cannon in his possession.
i say we need pinky pie and 999 to meet up.
Okay, this is gonna be interesting.
10559593
Oh like clef or gears would be any better