Epilogue 2: Containment Failure
“When did it come through?” Twilight asked as they trotted speedily through the castle.
“Five minutes ago. A portal opened above the device Queen Joro sent, and it popped out. It requested you and hasn’t moved since,” the guard reported.
“Thank you, Captain.”
A squadron of guards saluted outside of the door; the location where Twilight had sent the device to be studied in one of Canterlot’s secure labs. Evidently, that had been the correct call. She had sent the Queen the full report from Sassi on their journey through the Silos, but the mare hadn’t heard anything back until now.
Walking into the now-cleared room, Twilight couldn’t help but stare.
A bipedal, teal-skinned creature looked at her; the same Astral and Sassi had reported encountering in the final Silo. This one was slightly different, standing at the height of a normal pony with two sets of three eyes glancing the Princess’s way. The eyes angled towards the center of the face, arrayed in the creature’s upper cheekbones. The gangly-limbed individual bowed its head respectfully to her, lips parting to reveal a set of neat needle-like teeth.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” the creature said, voice carrying an odd but pleasant, musical-like tone. “It is an honor and pleasure to meet you. I am Exo-dimensional Scout Three hundred and twenty-seven. I come on behalf of Queen Joro of the Seventh Layer. She will speak through me shortly.”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Twilight managed to say, sitting down and waiting.
“I wish this could be under better circumstances.”
The voice that resonated from the creature was abruptly far more powerful and feminine. It carried with it a weight of both age and experience, and the creature’s expression changed into that of worry. The shimmering, magically-projected image of Queen Joro’s face superimposed itself over the Scout’s, the Queen nodding in greeting.
“I will make my points as clear as possible,” Joro said through her scout. “Your kingdom and world are in danger. Something moved in the portals before you all rescued Astral and Sassi.”
“What do you mean moved?” Twilight asked. Even though so little had been said, an odd sense of dread abruptly began to crawl into her heart.
“There was a single active portal in the Silo before the last reactor overloaded. It was shut down internally by Astral and Sassi, judging on the reports you sent me, but something went through it,” Joro explained. “I’m able to track the corrupted magic the Company uses for such travel. The individual entered my realm from the Silo and then returned to yours. But it didn’t go back through the original portal. It exited somewhere else in Equestria.”
“Where?!”
Joro shook her head, eyes drifting downwards in worry.
“I do not know. It also didn’t use a different Company portal. Likely, it was simply ejected somewhere in your world. I don’t even know if it’s still in your kingdom.”
“What is it? Do you know?”
“Not specifically. And Limbo magic will repel any of your world’s magic, including tracking spells. It’s a nullifying force that, even in minute quantities, will disrupt your world’s arcane mechanisms.”
Twilight’s mind was already spinning, the mare having to take a few deep breaths to refocus.
“Alright, so what would the next steps be? If it’s one of the Company’s creatures, it’d be easy to locate once it nears a populated area. We’ve dealt with such escaped creatures before.”
Joro’s pause was telling.
“Queen Joro, there’s more to this, isn’t there?” Twilight asked softly.
“I don’t think it was a creature like the ones Astral and Sassi encountered,” she admitted. “Its signature was…disturbing. A sick fusion of your world and mine. I only could sense it for a moment, but it was hungry. Eager. I sent scouts to the location it came through on my end. They all had to be killed.”
“What?!”
“The drones were driven mad and tried to attack the second group of scouts. The area has since been sanitized,” Joro explained.
“Whatever that creature brought through the portal with it, it began to infect all of the organic matter in my realm including the scout team. Drones, and plant life; it spread through the air and began to transform the realm into something else. The infected drones were killed as they made a run for one of the larger rivers here. I imagine it was to spread the disease further, compelled by some malevolent instinct.
I can tell you it’s spore based at least. I fear it’s a pathogen unlike anything comparable in your world. Limbo infections are…virulent. This creature carried one with it a new disease unlike anything I’ve ever seen. We have samples, but I will not release them unless it’s confirmed you can handle the specimen. I dare not take the risk of an accidental release. I will send a drone to personally inspect the labs before I consider sending it.”
With a pulse of magic, Twilight immediately sent out notes to meet with the highest levels of her advisors and department staff, then focused back on Joro.
“Ok, so a fungal-based, potentially magically-terraforming infection? I’ll start preparing a location immediately so we can study it. How do we treat it, if it starts to spread here? That’s likely how we’d find this creature if it’s hiding.”
Joro looked up, and Twilight’s heart constricted as she saw the genuine, motherly worry in the Queen’s eyes.
“Queen Joro, how serious is this?” Twilight whispered.
“In regards to treatment and containment? Princess, do you want my answer as a ruler, mother, and caretaker of thousands of subjects? Or do you want an answer driven by numbers and survival? They are two different things,” Joro finally said, her tone grave.
“Both.”
“As a Ruler and caretaker, I would try to save as many as I could, and I would fail. When the outbreak begins to spread, I’d quarantine the city, and treat the infected with whatever anti-fungal remedies you have. Also, restrict travel as you’d do with any airborne pathogen. I imagine there are protocols to deal with a hyper-infectious disease. That is what I would do as a Ruler. But it wouldn’t be enough,” Joro explained. “These efforts would fail.”
“And the other option?”
The Queen’s eyes then locked onto Twilight, a primal, terrified, and desperate fire in their depths.
“Not if, but when this infectious disease begins to spread anywhere in your world, you must immediately isolate and sterilize all affected and nearby population centers, be it barren land or populated city, within two days of flight from the outbreak site. Erect a shield around the perimeter and superheat the air to a plasma and turn the ground to glass. Anything less, and you will be forced to consider the survival of your species rather than just Equestria.”
“To all Advisors on the Joint Military and Civilian Catastrophic Quick Response committee. The following is considered Top Secret.
Action items to be implemented immediately regarding the now-designated “Black Cloud” scenario. These actions take priority over all other tasks not designated “immediate action.”
1. Prepare Biosecurity Lab 9 to receive a level 10 biohazard sample for analysis. Conduct independent checks of security measures and seals. Test primary, secondary, and tertiary containment, sterilization, and self-destruct mechanisms. Repair, reinforce, and upgrade all measures until no fewer than five consecutive stress tests of all containment functions are 100%.
2. Move all critical political, economic, and military functions into mountain shelters as per Continuity of Government Order 7. Establish primary, secondary, and tertiary backups for communication to exterior listening posts and outposts across Equestria. Reduce migration time to under 3 hours.
3. Inventory all infectious disease protective equipment. Begin procurement to allow town and city-based dispensing points to provide for their entire population and 15% overflow. Begin distribution of localized shielding fields to any population center at or above 250 creatures.
4. Begin immediate training and refresher courses for all soldiers and healthcare staff to operate in an air-hostile environment with positive-pressure spells & PPE.
5. Collaborate with infectious disease analysts and response specialists with the Gryphon Empire, Kirin provinces, Dragon Lands, and additional staff as needed. (They will be reaching out within the day.)
6. Collaborate with the Last Light Organization, specifically with medical staff, rapid-response teams, and sterilization procedures.
7. Bring all combat creatures to fully active status.
A public announcement regarding these changes will be made within 12 hours.
-Princess Twilight Sparkle”
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"Everyone, sir?"
"Everyone. Oh, and Cortana? Give our old friend a warm welcome."
11683656
Holy crap, SCP-610?!
Can't say I saw that coming, but it makes so much sense. Wait, oh my GOD, the fonies! It's been here the whole time...
11683737
Not an SCP, but whatever it is....it'd definitely be contained by the foundation.
*Reads about the SCP* Yeah, ok. That's....that's pretty close.
"What is it?"
"That stench. I've smelled it before."
"One single flood spore can destroy a species. Were it not for Twilight's counsel, I would have glassed your entire planet!"
11683891
i.imgflip.com/4vkjw7.png
So… Flood Protocol?
Like from Halo, just… glass the bitch until its gone? Thats… yeah, that sounds about right.
11683982
Pretty much
Something tells me this was the Company's ace-in-the-hole, their way of saying "if we can't rule the world, no one can."
11685417
As they suggest, it's not a planned failsafe, but if things were to go south....the Company would view that as a plus.
How hard to create and cast would a spell to heat a creature, from skin to core, to say... the melting point of lead and keep it there for a few hours be? Because if that level of heat is enough, then I can think of at least one well suited creature, and dozens of... less intellectually capable ones who would not need to fear protective gear being breeched.
Actually given who Arcane rescued, Spike might not be the only Dragon who understands the scientific method well in this era. Hurray for The Princess of Friendship and Education!
A biology that gives rise to personalities that* looks at thick, but still liquid lava and says "Time to change this out for something warmer." has some utility...
*Never seen this scene, only heard mention of it in passing.
I... think that Arcane would find the idea of glassing a town a blow to his psyche, to say the least. Even Twilight is reluctant. God be with leaders, the mighty*, and the psychiatric professionals who help them.
*Frontline soldiers come to mind for IRL examples.
11687764
Technically, it's superheated to the point of turning the air to a plasma. Outside of Arcane, everything else would be atomized- dragons included. It's mainly the scope of the operation. It's not enough to kill whatever is carrying the pathogen...but you need to make sure a single spore didn't escape.
Y'know the Flood from Halo? Yep.
11687766
...Well shit.