Countermeasures
A deafening high-pitch screech echoed down the dimly illuminated streets of the night city as a F-150 screeched to a halt near an abandoned two-story brick building, for sale advertisements peppering the structure's walls. Heavy breathing filled the car as Alex watched his friend kill the engine before practically jumping out of the car, slamming the door shut with much more force than necessary.
Following his friend's example, albeit with more care towards the vehicle's condition, he left the car and approached Danny, all but fuming as he clasp a hand over the researcher's shoulder.
"The hell was that about? That's the last time I'm letting you drive, Danny!" His rant went unanswered, the man continuing on his way towards the seemingly abandoned building. Not satisfied with the cold shoulder he was getting, Alex turned Daniel around, his hands clasping the researcher's shoulders with a death grip.
"Talk to me, man! What's so important you risk crashing into a brick wall just to meet up with Memory's people?" He saw indescision in the researcher's eyes, the man chewing his lower lip nervously, the freshly scabbed flesh ripping open once again. Taking a calming breath, Daniel ribbed the bridge of his nose and spoke in as level a tone as he could manage.
"That portal has been open for a long, long time. Think thousands of years old, perhaps even older. Can you imagine what kind of things could've crawled out of there in that time?" He shook his head, Alex's grip on him weakening as the man mulled over Danny's words.
The researcher stopped just before the broken down door, beckoning Alex inside.
"The faster we get this situation under control, the better."
A stray ray of sunlight krept up the worn-down faux leather sofa, sliding onto the thick moth-eaten blanket that stood between a somewhat comfortable warmth and hypothermia. Golden locks interchanged with fiery red shifted as sunlight tickled amber skin, lips curling upwards at the much welcome warmth. That smile turned upside down once sunshine moved up towards closed eyes, dreams of home and good old times dissapating with each second the light lingered.
A tired groan broke through the silence of the room as Sunset cracked her eyes open, turning to lay on her other side in a vain attept to return to a blissful slumber. The coveted sleep never came, the incessant ringing of an alarm clock dashing away any hopes of rest.
With a defeated sigh and a lethargic movement of limbs, Sunset reached for her phone, blindly tapping the screen, finall silencing the dreaded alarm. Rubbing her eyes clean of sleep crust, her blurry gaze attempted to focus on her phone a bold 7:00 staring back at her, accompanied by around a dozen messages from her new friends, all asking her to stay the night in their place instead of a warehouse.
Sunset yawned, scratching he back of her neck as she stood up and pocketed her phone, walking towards what constituted a bathroom. Her shoes hit the cracked the tile floor hard, her reflection tired and fragmented in the cracked mirror. A bottle of water stood on top of the sink, and right beside it was a cup filled with an acient-looking toothbrush and a near-empty tube of toothpaste.
She began her morning routine by picking up the two objects from the cup, unscrewing the bottle cap and filling the cup around halway with water, dipping the brush into it and sloshing the water around for a moment. Covering the damp brush with paste, she went through the motions of keeping her teeth in a presentable shape. Once she was done, Sunset dipped the brush into the cup once more, before filling her mouth with water, sloshing it around and spitting the mix into the sink.
The weight in her pocket made itself apparent again, her finger tingled as she fished the phone out, her friend's messages lingering in the notifications all night, left unread. Grabbing a box of probably stolen flakes, Sunset poured herself a plate, flopping into a rickety wooden chair, the furniture groaning dangerously under her weight. The dry food crunched, grating at the roof of her mouth as she tapped the notifications, reasoning her friends deserved to know she at least seen their offer.
Even if she'd never take them up on it.
Disappointment greeted her as the messages failed to load, prompting a sigh from the woman. Her internet was being a bitch again, and as experience taught her, there was no use in contacting the provider.
With a half-filled stomach and a miffed expression on her face, Sunset rose from the dinner table, snatching her schoolbag from besude the sofa, before making her way for the door.
The unicorn-turned human stepped into the chilly morning air, a lungful of relatively smog-free oxygen breathing hope for a better day into her.
The door shut behind her with a quet thid, the bacon haired girl walking into the sunrise.
"That's insane, Pinkie." Sunset retorted, lazily scanning the pages of a physics textbook, fighting a smirk at the thought of how many times Pinkie must've heard that phrase in her life. "The Internet can't be down for everyone at school, it's probably maintanance day, or a screw up on the provider's side." She closed the book, judging she wouldn't get much more mileage out of it before the day's test, and stuffed it into her bag, her attention now squarely on the hyperactive pink girl.
"But that's the thing, Sunny, it's not just one provider that's having trouble, it's every provider in town!" Pinkie argued passionately, practically vibrating in place with worry.
"And how do you know that, Pinkie? You know everybody in Canterlot?" Sunset's reply meant to sound sarcastic, but as she thought about it, she realised that Pinkie probably did know everybody in town. It was a somewhat ominous conclusion.
"I know my fair share of people around town, and all of them had troubles with the internet this morning!" A frown made itself apparent on Sunset's features as the memories of past few days resurfaced once again. She wanted to believe those ASA guys would hold their word, but this seemed a little to convenient to be a coincidence. Government suits come in to investigate strange things, and not sooner than two days later the Sun-damned Internet goes down?
I'd better call AJ, see if she's having any trouble with Internet. If she even uses it, that is.
"Pinkie, do you mind if I make a call?" Recieving a smile and a shake of head, the girl continued.
Sunset scrolled her rather expansi e contact list, one she'd been building up long before the fall formal. In the bad old days, she'd call any name on that list, and the person had to pick up nore or less immidiately, or suffer the consequinces. Now though, practically everybody from that contact list had Sunset's number blocked, ever since the rainbow beam of death friendship incident.
Which was a good thing. Sunset reminded herself.
Zeroing in on a photo of a freckled face, Sunset tapped the call icon, holding the cellphone to her ear, patiently anticipating each coming beep.
"Hey there, Sugarcube! Is there somethin' I can do for you?" Applejack's voice sounded cheery, even painfully so.
"Hi, AJ, are you busy right now? I just wanted to ask you something important."
"I'm in a bit of a pickle right now..." Applejack trailed off, coughing once to change the subject. "But, If you're callin' bout the 'net bein' out, then yeah, I've noticed that too."
"How'd you-"
"Pinkie called me first thing in the morning." There wasn't any malice in the girl's voice, but it had an irritated pitch to it.
"AJ, are you in trouble right now?" Sunset asked carefully, not glossing over her friend's previous words.
"No trouble as far as I know, just some complications, is all." The quiet that set over the line indicated Applejack could continue if she liked, and continue she did.
"Big Mac was 'sposed to make a delivery just outta town, a half an hour detour, then he'd give a ride to school." Sunset peered at the time, her eyebrow quirking up.
"Well, sorry to disappoint, but you're probably going to be late."
"Figured that out some twenty minutes ago, sugarcube." Applejack replied, irritation clear in her voice. "We couldn't even get out of town! There's a mean traffic jam on all the major roads 'n highways from what I heard." A worried weight stirred in Sunset's stomach as she listened, her brows furrowing.
"A traffic jam?"
"E-yep, some folks here say they've been tryin' to get out of the city, driving around from highway to highway, but everythin's jam packed-." The sound cut out for a moment at the tail end of her sentence, not easing Sunset's worries.
"AJ? Can you repeat that? Something's wrong with the reception."
"Sun- -hear- -someth- -rong-" Her words devolved into seemingly tansom syllables from that point on, and soon enough the conncetion severed, peaving a thoroughly bewildered Sunset and a somewhat worried Pinkie.
"What did she say?" Pinkie asked with a tilt of her head.
"I think we better go see Principal Celestia about this."
The room's interior was surprisingly clean in stark contrast to its exterior, freshly painted walls leaving an intoxicating smell to linger over the room. A set of lightbulbs illuminated the tables and chairs in warm hues, three shadows occupying the sitting places. A pine green skinned woman donning a dark blue suit sat opposite of the other two occupants, pages of documents laid out neatly upon the table.
"I assume you two are comfortable?" The woman asked, but her words commanded no rebuttal. "Let us begin then." The woman cleared her throat, fixing a strand of her apple green hair behind her left ear, before pushing one of the documents towards the two residents.
"Two hours ago, after a number of reports regarding SCP-4004, the O5 Council had gathered for an emergency meeting regarding questions of interdimensional security. While the exact details of the meeting are classified, certain key points and observations are availible in the presented documents, which you may peruse through at a later date."
Her blue eyes left the papers laid out on the table and focused instead on the two men sitting opposite of her. Noticing the nervous expression on one of the man's faces, she strove to rectify the situation.
"You are not in trouble, Daniel, if that is your concern." She noticed the Daniel flinch at the namedrop, his gaze flicking to the man beside him. "And neither is Alex." The latter simply nodded, his impassive expression unchanged.
"Due to the urgency of the situation I will spare you the details, and get down to brass tacks." The woman swept the documents into a neat pile at the side of the table, revealing a map of Canterlot city and the surrounding area. She pulled out a red marker from the breast pocket of her suit, pulling off the cap and setting it against the map.
"An hour ago, MTF Epsilon 5 "City Slickers" were mobilised, their primary directive is to block major highways and city roads to isolate the city." The woman crossed roadways and motorways on the map. "Furthermore, additional forces will be patrolling rural areas and outskirts of the city to prevent tresspassing. Any runaways will be restrained, questioned and sent back into the city." Raising her eyes from the map and focusing them on Daniel, she calmly stated.
"These forces will not be reporting to you." A puzzled expression appeared on the scientists face at the statement, his associate merely raising an eyebrow. "Director Memory is in charge of the lockdown effort, as such these forces will be reporting directly to him." She turned her attention to the map again, circling a familiar building in the city.
"Due to unforseen side-effects of the memetic inoculation, personell stationed within city grounds had to be picked from the pool of individuals not affected by SCP-4004, which greately reduced potential candidates for the job. As such, until the Memetic Division is done with troubleshooting their vaccine, we will, unfortunately, have to deal with a limited amount of personell." She sketched a small symbol on top of the previously marked building, a symbol familiar to any Foundation employee.
"Thus it was decided to set up a temporary base of operations, one that would be undercover and discreet." She pulled out a folded pamphlet out of her pocket, unfurling it and laying it flat on the table.
Tired of boring bland bad pizza?
Then you need to come down to Spicy Crust Pizzeria today!
You can eat it in or get dilivery, and wherever you choose to eat your pizza, know that our amazing spicy crust bases will always mean you get a brilliant meal!
You won't be able to contain your excitement!
You can trust Spicy Crust!
"By tomorrow this place will rebrand and become our temporary base of operations. Research personell as well as limited amounts of other necessary staff will arrive by then." She stood up, clasping her hands together and looking expectedly at the two men. "Any questions?"
Alex and Daniel shared a look, the latter clearing his throat before replying.
"Who exactly are you?"
The asnwer made the woman blink owlishly, soon recuperating and pulling out and ID out of her breast pocket.
"Pine Petrichor, Head Of Security of Temporary Site 11." A small smile made its way onto her face, the first emotion Daniel's seen from her during the entire conversation. "Reporting for duty, Director Miller."
Sunset practically flew up the staircase, uttering sorry's on her way as she did her best to avoid shoulder checking stray students on her path. That won't do any good to my reputation, that's for sure. Screeching to a stop just before the principal's office, Sunset abandoned knocking the door, choosing instead to enter unannounced.
Principle Celestia sat behind her worktable with a pensive expression, glaring daggers at a familiar man wearing a black suit. The man turned to look at Sunset, a small smile gracing his features.
"Ah, miss Shimmer, speak of the Devil." Alex said, pulling out a notebook with a pen out of his pocket. "I believe we have much to discuss."
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Spicy Pizza?
Those poor sods equipment just wont know whats happening every time Pinkie comes round to check the New Management at her favourite pizza place?
Another chapter so soon!?
I didn't expect that
11403517
Neither did I, guess life's full of surprises!
Classic Foundation obsession in naming they fronts that can always be short with SCP.
Edit:
You know I like to think the Sirens may have accidentally started to some wars and inspired tyrannies, along with rebellions, as part of they exile on Earth and may have been the ones that strted the myth of mermaids.
The SCP Foundation... There's something I never thought I would hear about again.
11403693
That's what three powerful individuals can do when given carte blanche in an alien world devoid of magic.
And how many artifacts do you think were deposited through the portal over the ages? What effect could they have on the world? EQG has some major differences when compared to real world, after all.
Guess you'll have to wait to find out
Honestly, the implications of some of the SCPs we know of already having come through the portal after being tossed out by Star Swirl makes some sense.
I’m very happy this story hasn’t died out yet. It’s been very fun seeing things play out, and I love to see more SCP crossovers.
Great story :)
It's kind of a Lavender Unicorn Syndrome, isn't it?
Looks like we both have the same detail when Canterlot City gets contained
And here is the "not getting out of the city" and phone calls part
The vegan tomatoes are definitely vegan, it's in the name!
I have no idea how I missed the other chapters. I mean, I kind of know, I put them on "Read it Later" and not "Tracking" by accident, but luckily I saw your story in the featured tab.
11408099
In my restless dreams, I see that pony.
Lavender Unicorn.
Guilty as charged.
English is friggin' hard, and I'm friggin' stupid. Caught myself talking to myself in le head in English more than my first language lately. Made me chuckle.
Coincidence?
I THINK NOT!
It just felt more natural to introduce the lockdown this way.
Yay, the featured tab is useful for once!