(28 Part Two) Nations United
For Cadance, there was only one thought on her mind, This needs to go right. Everything since their initial encounter, since that accursed creature broke into her castle and foalnapped her daughter, has been a total disaster. Their initial investigation into the attack, the interrogation, the expedition north, everything. If this goes wrong, the world might just be destroyed.
She felt cold at the thought, We need to win, we have to win. She relaxed her body and took her seat at the circular table. She looked down, everything was ready for nearly every possibility. She was ready for if the Griffons, Dragons, Changelings, and Equestria were ready to either attack, or back out. The only possibilities she couldn’t account for, was for that of the Foundation.
On her left side was Shining Armor, who had allowed himself to go back to sleep before the meeting had started. Apparently, he personally saw to the security of the castle all night, and only was in bed an hour or two before the meeting.
She also had to talk to him to make sure that he wouldn’t kill Doctor Bright if the doctor decided to sound off, or even outright insult her or any of the royalty outright. She couldn’t account for the other royals and their guards. Admittedly, she might just laugh if Dragon Lord Ember burned the good doctor to a crisp, but it might not bode well for their alliance.
On her right was Princess Luna.
Cadance could read her aunt’s face. She was tired, sad, distraught. Ever since they returned from their expedition, she was more and more scarce around the Crystal Palace. It was like the early days after her return from her imprisonment, she rarely interacted with anypony other than Cadance, Shining Armor, and maybe a hoofful of guards and castle staff.
The sound of papers shuffling around brought Cadance’s head back to her left. On the other side of her husband was Twilight, she was staring at a dozen or so sheets of parchment while she also held a cup of tea in her magic. She was here before even the current guard shift. I never could get her to go to bed on time when I foalsat for her. Cadance faced forward and inhaled and exhaled slowly, calming her body.
“Twilight?” Cadance asked.
The purple princess poked up from the mass of papers that were spread around her. “Yes?” Twilight asked, “Do you need anything Cadance?”
“No… well… we all really didn’t get a chance to speak last night,” Twilight lowered her papers and tea onto the table, “What was their… facility like?”
Twilight stewed for a moment. “It was… big… maybe about half the size of Ponyville at the most.” She described, “There weren’t many windows to look out of… I did ask about that, but the Overseer said something about them being too fragile. It was a lot like an apartment complex, but rather than going up, it went out if that makes sense.”
“It does,” Cadance said. She turned to Princess Luna, “It’s like the one Luna and I went into…”
Cadance glanced at the nearby clock mounted on the wall, 5:45 in the morning. Not the best time to hold a meeting that could decide the fate of the world, but I’ve had worse meeting times. A flash of magic then covered the whole room in a bright white light and blinded the royals who were present. Well, this is pretty high up there now. Cadance heard several groans from the guards, her husband, and Princesses Luna, and Twilight next to her. At least I’m not alone.
“Ummm…” Cadance said as she quickly blinked away the dots in her eyes, “Queen… Novo? We weren’t-”
“I am sorry for the intrusion,” She stated, her normal happy but serious demeanor was replaced with one that was entirely stoic, stern, and serious. “And that thank you for the Invitation Princess Twilight. May I take a seat?”
“O-of course you may,” Cadance stammered a reply out, “You can take a seat right there,” the Pink Princess pointed to a seat next to Princess Luna. “The meeting should hopefully start shortly.”
Duchess Eagleclaw and Grover both walked in a few minutes later, followed by two Griffonian Knights. The Duchess nodded her head to the other royalty in the room. Cadance did the same and replied, “Good Morning, Duchess,” She looked at the young Emperor, “Emperor Grover. I hope both of you had a restful sleep.”
“Thank you, Princess,” Grover yawned, “But perhaps I can get some coffee?”
The Captain did say that one of the Griffon guards was up all night conversing with the humans and some guardsponies on behalf of ‘his majesty.’ Cadance nodded, “Of course,” She looked behind her and one of the butlers was already out the door. The princess looked back at the young Griffon, “They’ll be back shortly.”
The young Griffon sat down at a chair seated next to Queen Novo, and his aunt stood behind him. He then promptly sat his dead down on the crystalline table. He probably would’ve fallen asleep if it weren’t for his aunt pulling back up and chastising him through a fairly loud whisper.
After sitting back upright, the Griffon turned to the Hippogriff next to him, “... You are Queen Novo of Seaquestria? Correct? I didn’t see your name on the list of-”
“Yes, and you are Emperor Grover the sixth of the Griffonian Empire… and it was a last-minute arrangement.” The Hippogriff Queen didn’t look down on the younger ruler. “I am saddened to hear about your father.”
Cadance saw that he was about to say something, a question of concern perhaps, but decided against it, “Thank you, it is appreciated,” He replied as he looked back at the map on the table. Cadance looked at Eagleclaw, her name was on the list of attendants, however, the Princess couldn’t help but suspect that she didn’t want to be here. Given the Emperor's jubilant and ecstatic tone yesterday, I suppose she only decided to come because he insisted that they go.
Following the pair of Griffons and their guard, was Dragon Lord Ember, who seemed equally tired to the Emperor. “Next Time, we have the meeting at noon.” She bluntly stated, “Otherwise you can count me out of the whole thing.”
“I-I’ll try, but… Doctor Bright didn’t really give us much of a choice when he said to meet at six.” Cadance explained, “He just… walked off after.”
Ember slumped down in her seat next to Twilight, “Well next time, maybe grow a-”
“Ember!” Thorax and Pharynx walked in behind the cranky Dragoness, “Let’s uh… try not to insult our hosts?” The Changeling king tentatively said. “We did just start, and I’m sure there will be more time to do some things in the city later.”
Ember turned away from the Changeling, “Fine… but this meeting better be quick.”
Thorax took his seat next to a grumbling Ember, with Pharynx and another Changeling standing behind him. Cadance glanced back at the clock just as it began to chime, “Well…” Cadance started, “They should be here any moment now.”
“I think the Dragon Lord is correct.”
All eyes at this point turned to Duchess Eagleclaw as she turned to Princess Cadance, “Why do you let this… thing… dictate when the meeting should or should not be? It is your kingdom?” The Pink Griffon questioned, “And I do mean that with all due respect.” She quickly added.
“Well… heh,” Cadance began to try to think and speak at the same time.
“Because…” Princess Luna spoke up, “We have no choice but to work with them at this point.” She sighed as she looked at the Duchess, “We’ve already seen what kind of power that they possess, and the… items... in their possession are quite powerful, if they were to be turned against us, or any other species in the world, they wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“Mhm…” The Duchess grunted in reply, “I have yet to see any of these items that you speak of. For all we know, they could be some old magical artifacts or yours that you lost.”
“They aren’t, Duchess.” Queen Novo spoke up, She finally turned away from the crystalline table and faced the Duchess, “They are real. I am sure everycreature here, save you, your nephew, and perhaps the Dragon Lord can attest to that.”
“And just how do-” The door opening cut off the Duchess’s reply as the rulers and their guards all turned to face the newcomers.
“Ah… Good, you all actually bothered to show up,” Doctor Bright said in an obviously sarcastic tone. “I really didn't think anyone would show up.”
“Why would you think that?” Cadance said, “Of course we would, we-”
“Moving On!” He interrupted as he turned around and picked up a medium-sized cardboard box behind him, then turned and walked into the room. He looked around the room at the various creatures gathered as he put the box down on the table. “Well, I guess I can work with this.”
He opened up the box and began to dig through it, all while the other leaders watched with either curiosity or what could only be described as disappointment. “So…” Bright said not looking up, “Who is who?” He briefly looked up and pushed back his glasses, “I’m not really adept in the politics of nowadays.” He looked back down, “Ah here it is.” He pulled out a folded piece of blue cloth.
A few seconds passed in silence before he spoke up again, “Well?”
Eagleclaw Spoke up first, “I am Duchess Gabriella Ea-”
Bright Broke out in a fit of small chuckles that made the Duchess look at him warily, “S-sorry, please, go on.”
“*Ahem* As I was-”
Again Bright cut her off with a fit of barely contained laughter, “I...I’m sorry, it might just be your voice, or just the way you look… but I just can’t listen to you straight.” The grinning doctor quickly changed his attention to the Emperor, “You go,” He pointed his index finger at the surprised emperor, “maybe it's a species-wide thing?”
“Grover-” The young Griffon turned his attention to his aunt, “Don’t, the th-”
“STOP!” Bright yelled as he stood up out of his chair, bringing on a brief moment of silence.
This is going well… Cadance thought, “Maybe we should uh-”
The Human seated across from her gave her what could only be described a death glare. Cadance felt her husband’s magic reach for a sword that was stashed under the table. “I…” He looked back at the frightened pair of griffon royals, “Am speaking to him, not you,” he pointed at Cadance, “and certainly not you,” he moved his finger at Eagleclaw. He rested his hands and gave a frustrating sigh.
“I honestly don’t care why you would… given the boy’s youth, I’m guessing you’re his advisor or something along those lines. But I’ve seen many of my own colleagues be taken advantage of by a scheming co-worker, I’ve seen members of even the O5 Council be controlled by forces beyond even my understanding. And because of that, I have a grudge against those who can’t speak for themselves,” He looked at Eagleclaw, “and I hate those controlling them even more.” The Human relaxed and turned to the Griffonain Emperor.
“So. Tell me your name.”
Grover swallowed a lump in his throat, “I am Emporer Grover the sixth, Ruler of the Griffonian Empire.”
“See…” the human doctor said as he adjusted himself in his seat, “Was that so hard?” Bright pulled a clipboard and paper out of his box, followed by a pen. “Now, who’s next?” He looked at Queen Novo, “You?”
After such a rocky start, the meeting had finally gotten underway when all the proper introductions were in order. Pharynx, for his part, took two steps back when it was his brother’s turn to answer the human.
“Ok, now I know Princess Pink has told you my name, but I’ll re-introduce myself anyways.” He stood up, “I am Doctor Jack Bright, a Senior Researcher in the Foundation.” He sat back down. “Now, that all the… pleasantries are out of the way… I suppose you’ll all want to hear some answers. So,” he dropped his pen on the clipboard, “ask away.”
What, Twilight thought, Anything? She cleared her throat, “You mean anything we want to know, about anything?”
“Yes,” he answered, “Hopefully it’s not too hard to comprehend.”
She groaned internally, but had her interest piqued, “Well…” She felt every creature’s eyes on her, “How long as the Foundation existed? We have a few guesses, but never...”
“Give or take a few,” He looked up at the ceiling, “Around thirty-two hundred years.”
“That’s Impossible!” Eagleclaw stated, “There would’ve been some-” A glare from Bright brought the rest of her statement to a grinding halt, she sighed, “With all due respect, Doctor, I will want to ask questions too.”
Bright continued to glare at her, and she continued to stare back. “Fair’s Fair,” he relented as he looked away. “As to your question, we are supremely qualified for staying out of the eye of the public. Have been since the creation of the Foundation.” He answered, “The Foundation motto is… we die in the dark, so you live in the light. Not really the best motto, but, it gets the gist of the mission across.”
“And that mission is to what?” Grover asked, “I know there are some sort of monsters that you have imprisoned.”
“Well, the SCP Foundation doesn’t use the S, the C, and the P for no reason. Secure, Contain, and Protect. In an essence, we get the nasty anomalies that shouldn’t exist in this world and lock them away forever and ever.”
“Like the creature that took our daughter?” Cadance asked, “SCP One-Zero-Six, was it?”
“The Old Man. A nasty fucker to be sure. Traps people between the age of twelve and twenty-something in his own little hell hole. Before your daughter and that MTF soldier, there was only one other guy who successfully escaped him, and he did it like... twenty times I think, the security camera footage is incredible.”
“On the topic of our daughter,” Shining spoke, “Do you have… any idea where she could be?”
“...”
“Doctor?” Cadance pleaded.
“I… did follow the events around her after she reached site 01, she was away when it fell to the insurgents. I made a point to ask the Administrator about where she was, but I never got around to it, some idiots decided to nearly release a virus onto the world.”
“The Administrator?” Grover asked, “who is that?”
“... Before… humanity was forced underground, the Administrator was the one who interacted with the various governments and other organizations around the world, but after… well everything, we phased it out. Nowadays, we just call O5 number one the Administrator.”
Luna perked up, “You worked with your own, but not us?”
“In all honesty… err… Blue one, the foundation isn’t usually the one to reach out. Even you can tell that the only reason I’m here is that the foundation is on its last legs.”
“What about possible world-ending entities? Tirek? Discord? Tartarus, me when I went mad?” The Princess of the Night listed, “Would those have not been your problem?”
“The Council voted, and they voted that they would only intervene if the structure of the Foundation was in jeopardy,” he paused, “I’m not saying it was the right decision, but it was the decision that set the precedent to stay out of possible future incursions.”
“And were the ponies and other species you captured for your… tests? Dragons, Changelings, Griffons… so many logs from just that one recording,” Luna chastised, “Were those staying out of possible future incursions?”
“What!” Eagleclaw screamed, “You captured griffons?”
“And Dragons?” Ember seethed.
“And Changelings…?” Thorax asked with his mouth agape.
Bright sighed, “As a famous titan once said, A small price to pay for salvation.” He looked at Princess Luna, then to Grover, then to Cadance, “I’m not going to deny it, the foundation kidnapped members of your species to use as test subjects. Was it terrible? Maybe? Did I like it? No.”
The statement caused gasps from everycreature in the room, including the staff and the guards.
“But was it necessary? … Absolutely.”
Ember shot up out of her seat, “I SHOULD BURN YOU TO A CRISP!” She screamed, “That’s something only a monster could say!”
“If you want to kill me, go ahead, but I can guran-”
“NOW let’s not go attacking each other Ember,” Thorax stood and put his hoof on her back, “We all know that it was wrong and terrible, and I think we all agree when I say you will answer for those crimes.” The Changeling King looked at Bright, who shrugged.
“I mean maybe… I can’t say I agreed with the council’s decision to enact that policy, but it was repealed some time ago.”
“Exactly how long ago?” the Changeling countered.
“Exactly how much do I care?” Bright responded.
Thorax, usually the spitting image of calm, collected, and polite, raised his voice, “You keep changing the subject!”
Bright faked being surprised, “Am I?” He asked sarcastically, “Am I really changing the subject? I thought we were supposed to be figuring out how to beat the people who could annihilate us at any moment.” He replied in an obviously fake pouty voice, “instead, you all keep badgering me with questions that have barely any bearing on the current situation.”
Bright turned, “Well, I suppose you can see this now.” He picked up the Blue cloth that he placed on the table from earlier and began to carefully unfold it. “I honestly don’t know why I brought this, but it seems… poetic in some way.”
Twilight looked on as he slowly unveiled the flag, she could’ve sworn she had seen it somewhere before. It was a sky blue with what looked like a greatly distorted map of Equus was painted in a bright white. “It’s the flag of the United Nations.” he said, “and currently, you all are going to go the same way as the previous leaders of the planet.”
He sighed, “Well, I saw how that went," He shook his head and stood up, pushing the chair back, "and I'm not going to be a part of it again, good luck.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.022 seconds
Total duration
867 users online
1,121,979 hits today, 1,872,792 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Imagine a 343 vs Discord reality warping battle- I'm not waiting for it to happen here, I'm gonna do it myself (with minimal interruptions from Bill Cipher and the occasional Mxy appearance)!
10831320
343 literally erased someone who figured out a certain secret about him I won’t mention. Who’s to say anyone would have heard of Discord by time 343 is done with him?
10831320
Bill Cipher out of this league.