Dashing Through Paranormalities

by gapty

Slow Motion, Part 2

Rainbow had to admit that she was impressed by the incredible persistence of the creature. As she waited for it to stop its attacks, she counted over a hundred attempts to break in — after that she’d stopped counting and had checked around the building again.

Wherever she was, she could hear the creature trying to break in. It seemed to always know where she was, even if there was no sight contact.

When she didn’t find anything interesting, she returned to the window and took a glance at her watch, only to groan when she saw that a minute still hadn’t passed.

Was she stuck here to wait? How did the creature appear from the outside? Did it knock out anything in its surroundings? She couldn’t see it, as the window was facing away from the street.

Then she remembered: Her geode! What if she took it off? Would time appear normally for her again? She was just about to take her wristwatch off, until a thought came to her mind.

What if the neon sign‘s ability was just temporary? She wouldn’t be able to react if it broke through the window.

She waited for a little longer, until she couldn’t hear the flaps and the crashing against the window anymore, and took her watch off.

…

She rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. Sure, she heard some wind from outside, but she couldn’t see the creature anymore. Was it so fast that her eyes couldn’t recognise it? The banging sounds against the window had stopped too.

Looking at her watch, time passed normally. She exhaled in relief, but the sudden disappearance of the creature bothered her. Just to test it, she took her geode back in her hands.

She felt immediately the magic flow through her and pony her up. Just a second later, she saw the creature back before the window, flapping its wings with sounds like a thunderclap and crashing against the window.

“You’ll never stop, will you?” she asked.

Maybe she should pony up every so often to check on the creature. It seemed like a good option, considering the others were to risk a superball killing someone or to wait all eternity as just minutes would pass for the outside world.

Just as she was about to let go of her geode, she heard a stomping sound from a room next to her.

She turned around. Sounds of scraping stone came from the room, until they suddenly stopped. She scratched her head, until the sound came back — just for a single moment.

She quietly went to the open door, but stopped when the sound appeared again for another single moment. Wait, was it connected to her blinking?

She blinked on purpose.

Yes, indeed, the sound came back, but vanished the next moment when her eyes were open.

Not another one…

She gulped and slowly continued walking further, this time paying attention to not blink. And then she saw it.

Near the door was an almost humanlike statue made of concrete. Where its face was supposed to be, was a painting kind of resembling a face.

Blink.

It was now at the door, staring right at her. Wait, she was still moving faster in time, right? She couldn’t check her watch, but the sound of the creature banging against the window remained.

Her eyes began to burn, so she walked backwards until she felt the window behind and blinked.

When the statue had moved a few metres forwards, she bit her lip.

She was trapped, and to make it worse, by two faster anomalies. Did Equestrian magic want to kill her at this point?

However, when she blinked again, suddenly the flying creature had stopped banging against the window. Was it gone? Or did her geode run out of magic? Feeling the top of her head, she still had her pony ears on her.

As she couldn’t look behind, she blinked a few times, the statue moving closer to her each time.

She gulped. Somehow, this thing was scarier to her than her previous chaser. Was it the concept of how it moved? Was it the necessity to stare at it?

As she thought about it, she came to the conclusion that it was the uncertainty of what it would do once it reached her, and she surely did not want to find out what it was.

When the statue was in the middle of the room, she walked across the walls until she reached the other side at the door. Here, she could keep an eye on the statue while looking out the window.

To her surprise, the skeleton-being was standing before the window, its skull staring in the direction of the statue.

Just to check her assumption, she moved to the side while keeping both in their view. Indeed, the creature only paid attention to the statue.

Was it hunting after the fastest beings? It seemed like it, considering it had chased only after her and now was interested in the statue. Sure enough, when she blinked one more time and the statue was another step closer, the being screeched and flew back to strike against the window again.

An idea came to her mind, but…

She scratched her chin. This was probably the dumbest idea she ever had, but did she have a choice in the matter? Somehow, the creature staring at the statue didn’t affect the latter, meaning that if she wouldn’t look, the statue could do anything to it — if the former would even do anything.

When she blinked again and the statue was way too close for her liking, she gulped and went along the walls back to the window. Feeling blindly with her hands, she searched for the neon sign and, once found, took the plug and felt for the power outlet.

Blink.

“Stop it!” she yelled, as her heart started to race in her chest. Where was that annoying power outlet? It didn’t help that panic came over her as she tried to control her blinking and her arm was shaking from the stress.

Blink.

Finally she found the power outlet, but she struggled to plug in. She turned and tried from different angles, but by now her eyes were begging to blink again. Sure, the statue was probably far enough, but…

Blink.

This wasn’t controlled, and she flinched in shock when the statue was just a few feet away from her. She held her breath and kept trying to plug in.

Finally, it went in! She waited until she heard the creature strike at the window again, and only then pushed the plug in completely.

Immediately she ran around the room — her view still on the statue — and stopped when she passed a door. The next moment the window broke down and the creature thrusted straight at the statue, piercing its scorpion tail repeatedly at it.

Blink.

It screeched… no, it screamed. A high pitched sound that banged into Rainbow’s ears even when covering them with her hands. The statue had repositioned itself nearer towards a wall, while the creature still attacked it.

Blink.

Blink.

Another blink.

The statue was now out of her view and free to move. Immediately the creature screamed even louder, but what gave Rainbow the chills were the sounds of breaking bones that continued on for several seconds.

The screaming silenced at the same time as the breaking of the bones, and what was left was a quiet whimpering, while Rainbow could make out a small part of the statue in her sight.

Good news: Her plan worked. The bad news: She had no idea what to do against the statue. If it was able to break the bones of the being, she didn’t want to imagine what would happen to her.

Well, for now she could change between the rooms and let the statue come at her, but there was no way she’d be able to keep it up for long.

Blink.

It stood right before the door… Wait, already? How did it move so fast?

She raised her left hand into her view. Her geode wasn’t glowing anymore. As she didn’t dare to look away, she held her watch against her ear. Hearing the ticking, she took a deep breath.

So time was moving for her normally again. She didn’t know if that was a relief or a bad thing, considering she still had to deal with that statue now being a lot faster.

Wait, if time was going normally, then that meant that she could…

“Aaah!” she screamed and stumbled backwards away from the suddenly nearer statue right in front of her. Too close! Leaning against the wall, she caught her breath as she kept staring against the statue.

She should concentrate if she didn’t want to end up as a bone soup!

She picked up her phone and scrolled in the side of her view through her contacts, calling the first one that she saw on the list.

“Rainbow!” she heard Applejack respond. “So glad to hear somethin’ from you! Are you alright?”

“I'm fine. Listen, I’m currently at… uhm… What was the address again…”

“Don’t worry, we already know it. Already on the way.”

“Oh, good then.” Rainbow blinked and flinched when the statue was right before her. “Stop it!”

“Stop what?”

“Not you!” Rainbow exhaled and walked across the wall towards the other room. “Listen, I’m currently trapped in that building with a statue. It moves whenever you don’t look at it, even blinking is too long. Come fast!”

“Just a few more minutes!” Applejack responded.

Rainbow hung up and blinked again, making the statue appear right at the door. From her eye corner she could make out parts of the still whimpering creature, and even without seeing it clearly, she saw enough twisted and broken bones to gulp in concern.

Please come fast.

---

When Rainbow heard the front door open, she exhaled in relief.

“Rainbow! Where are you?” Sunset yelled.

“I’m here! Don’t go near the bones, it’s still alive!”

Soon, one by one of her friends came into the room where she was, each staring in surprise at the object that stood in the middle of the room.

“Is that the statue you were talking about?” Applejack asked.

“It is. Could you watch it for a while? I’m done staring at it. And no blinking at the same time!”

“How would we blink at the same time?” Rarity asked.

“Doesn’t matter! Just make sure at least someone is always looking at it!”

“Then we do as follows,” Twilight said. “Whenever someone has to blink, they announce it.”

“Good idea!” Pinkie responded.

Rainbow sat down, relieving her aching legs from their constant work, and closed her eyes.

Finally a break.

Hopefully Equestrian magic didn’t have another surprise for her. All she wanted was for this to finally end. The creature, the statue, they all could die off or get captured by the organisation if it was for her.

“So, what happened?” Twilight asked after Pinkie had announced her blinking.

“Too much at once.” Rainbow sighed and filled them in.

When she finished, a silence followed that was only interrupted by the announcements of a blinking.

“Where’s the paper?” Sunset finally asked.

“Down the floor at the table.”

“Keep looking at it, I’m going to check it out.” Sunset left the room.

As soon as she was about to leave, the front door burst open and footsteps from multiple people entering were heard.

“1-1 to base, found a still twitching pile of bones at the entrance. The subjects are in the next—”

By now, Rainbow had looked up and saw a man in a black uniform appearing at the door.

“Everyone to me!” he suddenly shouted and entered the room. Three other people in the same outfit followed him and were staring with wide open eyes at the statue.

“Girls, stare at it!” he ordered.

“We already do,” Applejack groaned.

“Shut up! 1-1 to base, we have a Scissor Event with SCP-173. Requesting immediate backup to contain it!” His voice was seemingly calm, but Rainbow could still hear the panic in it.

“Base to 1-1, the containment team is on its way. SCP-173 is now your highest priority,” a female voice replied over his radio.

“Everyone, remain here!” He ordered. “1-2, check on the piles of bones.”

“On it.” another man replied.

Rainbow remembered the other objects in this building. Now she got the reason why she had to return them as soon as possible: To remain unknown to the organisation. In worry for whoever had helped her, she jumped up and ran out of the room before the man could.

“Stop!” ‘1-1’ shouted, but Rainbow had already left.

Now with her super speed, she ran to the floor, took the piece of paper and the box and then ran towards the neon sign. However, it wasn’t there anymore. Did they already take it?

Out of nowhere, the paper and the box were ripped from her. Rainbow turned immediately and could make out the back of a hooded person, before it jumped and… vanished in mid air?

Rainbow froze in her position. Who was it?

Suddenly she felt another grip, but around her left wrist. The next moment her watch was pulled off and her arms grabbed tightly so that she couldn’t move them anymore.

“Just what are you doing?” The person pushed her to the ground and put handcuffs on her.

She gritted her teeth, but remained calm. Whoever…

Whoever…

…

Why did she run away? What did she want to do? How couldn’t she remember it?

“I said to stay here!” she heard from the other room.

Suddenly she heard a punch behind her. The next moment she was pulled up.

“Let’s leave, sugarcube!” Applejack said to her.

“And the statue?” Rainbow asked.

“Their problem!” Rarity replied and opened the front door before leaving the building.

“They have to focus on it,” Sunset explained. “Our chance to get away!”

Rainbow took her watch back and followed them outside, but stopped right after, standing next to the girls.

There were multiple vans and cars, and several people in uniform had their guns aimed at them.

“Raise your hands, you’re surrounded!”

“So much for getting away,” Rainbow muttered.

---

Despite the Rainbooms being all together alone in a single room, nobody said a single word. Each was looking nervously at each other, now knowing what would happen next.

Rainbow had no idea how long they were here by now. Each of their geodes had been taken, and their phones, and then they’d been driven to a building outside Canterlot City, put into this room and left alone. They had talked just a bit with each other at the beginning, but out of fear to reveal their knowledge of the organisation, they’d silently agreed to not speak at all.

The silence and non-action was suspenseful. What was the organisation waiting for? Did they expect to overhear something through their conversations? Whatever it was, Rainbow could wait. A little rest after all that stress was in her favour anyway.

This couldn’t be said about the others though. Twilight fumbled with her hair that was by now a mess, Rarity’s teeth were grinding against each other, Fluttershy was sitting in an fetal position with her hair covering her face and Pinkie Pie was sighing annoyingly too much out of boredom. At least Sunset and Applejack seemed more casual, leaning on their seats and having their arms crossed.

Finally the door opened and two armed men in black uniforms entered the room.

The Rainbooms stared at them silently.

“Come with us.”

One led the way, while the other waited till everyone left the room and followed after them. They were led into another room and ordered to sit down at the chairs.

Curiously Rainbow looked at the “investigation room”, which had a table leaned onto a wall. Over the table the wall was made of glass, revealing another room behind with another table. On the tables were a microphone and speakers in each room.

It reminded her too much of a prison.

When they sat down, the soldiers left them alone. Everyone stared in suspense behind the glass, awaiting for what’s going to happen next.

Finally a man wearing a white lab coat entered the opposite room. He had a tablet in his hand and sat down at the table.

“Good morning, Rainbooms,” he greeted them in a neutral tone, not even giving them a glance. “Sorry for the long delay. We had some disagreements and decisions to clear up among us before.”

The girls looked at each other, before Sunset leaned over the microphone.

“Uhm, good morning, too.”

“My name is Dr. Arctic Charge, Site-Director of this outpost. We’re the Foundation, with our goal being to secure, contain and protect any anomalies from the public world.” He looked up to them for the first time, watching for their facial expressions. “But let’s get to the point, shall we?”

He returned his view towards the tablet and pressed on it. Suddenly, over the speakers an audio file was playing.

“Hello, this is Twilight Sparkle.

“And Sunset Shimmer.

“Pinkie Pie!”

Rainbow felt her face turning pale with each name being said, as she watched with wide open eyes at Charge. Could it be…

“If you’re listening to this, then it means that you have forgotten doing the recording two days ago…”

It was.

The audio file he was playing was indeed the same audio file that they had heard a week ago! But if he had it, then it meant…

Charge pressed on the tablet and the audio file stopped playing.

“We found the tape under the rubbles of the burned down building. It took a while to recover the file, but it was worth it, don’t you think?” He grinned at them.

No one replied. Everyone was too struck to be able to respond.

“Not so quick on the trigger?” He chuckled. “I have to admit, it wasn’t a bad plan from your side. Hacking our system to get the files, let us forget you and then remember it later while finding out how our amnestics, the ‘memory erasers’, work. We could find two hard drives with the stolen files. Either you have hidden the third one too well or you didn’t expect us to search for more.”

Rainbow looked over to Twilight, who visibly gulped.

“You don’t have any hard drive with our files left, do you?”

Twilight shook her head.

“Anyway,” he continued, “at this point you told your Princess what is going on, so trying to keep ourselves a secret from you seven will be pointless.”

Rainbow scratched her head. This seemed like a lie, considering the amount of effort they took before. Looking at Applejack’s expression, she seemed to not believe these words too.

“So what do you want?” Sunset asked.

“First of all, answers about what you call ‘space rifts’, which we refer to as scissor events as soon as a skip… an anomaly passes through them. In your recording, you knew about a future scissor event. How?”

“And why should we answer you?” Rarity took over the word.

“Normally I have a method taking advantage of your strong empathic nature,” he replied with an almost threatening look, “but today’s event should be enough reasons for you.”

“Why? Rainbow alone defeated that being.”

“And how did you intend to neutralise a neck-snapping statue?”

Rainbow rubbed her own neck, remembering the times the statue was too close to her.

“Uhm, we didn’t have time to think about that yet,” Twilight responded, “but maybe using our magic would be able to deal with it.”

“Under the right circumstances, probably. If the scissor event would’ve happened at the wrong time, on a dark night, you’d have corpses with twisted necks all over the city.”

“But what if,” Rainbow said, “the scissor events only happen whenever we’re around to defeat it?”

“That abandoned apartment where we found your recording tells otherwise. Your classmates were almost killed and had to be put into medical care. Many interactions would have been deadly if it weren’t for our interference, like that cop chasing after you, and several other dangerous or abusable items are still somewhere among the citizens, but can’t be found.”

Rainbow didn’t know what to reply. If that was true, then Equestrian magic was putting everyone in danger. Her friends seemed to think the same, as Sunset bit her lip and looked to the side.

“So, how did you know about the space rifts?” he asked.

“We don’t know,” Twilight replied. “This was something we were wondering about ourselves. My theory is that it was someone else, but considering that no one else came to us after the recording, I’m not so sure anymore.”

Charge looked her deep into the eyes.

“I don’t believe you.”

“But it’s true!”

“Where’s the Desire camera?”

“Uhm…”

“Didn’t Photo Finish have one?” Sunset looked up. “I remember how I tried to bring her back into her passion after she took a ‘perfect photo’.”

“That was months ago, and she doesn’t remember how she lost it. How did you find it?”

The girls looked at each other, or more correctly everyone at Rainbow.

“How do I know?” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I know as much about the space rifts and that camera as everyone else here.”

Charge lowered his eyebrows, his eyes wandering between the girls’ expressions.

Suddenly, he pushed his tablet to the side and put his arms on the table.

“Maybe you’re not getting the seriousness of the scissor events. Over the past week, we had seven of them spread over the whole city, and these are the ones that we know of. Nine if you include the two today. These numbers are getting bigger, and the skips coming through are more dangerous each time.”

“Then why don't you evacuate the city?” Twilight asked.

“To say it colloquially, the scissor events go rogue as soon as you or any other citizen leaves the city. We found that out the hard way when you were allowed on that cruise trip. They calmed down for a short time after your return, but as I said, now they’re getting worse again even with all of you in the city.”

“So you prefer risking our lives, but still try to keep the space rifts a secret?” Rarity crossed her arms.

“Our focus is on finding out how to predict and prepare for a future scissor event. As soon as we can do it, the extensive containment procedures regarding Canterlot City fall.”

“And we’d be free?” Twilight asked.

Charge didn’t answer.

She gulped. “What would you do with us?”

“It depends entirely on how the scissor event works. You’d probably still stay somewhere near if you reduce their amounts.

“But back to your point, Rarity. We can’t keep the space rifts a secret, at least around you, while keeping you and our personnel safe. That’s why I’m offering you the opportunity to work with us.”

The girls looked at each other. That was unexpected.

“How would that work?” Sunset asked.

“You continue living your life, keeping your memories of us. In return, you won’t tell anyone else about the Foundation and you contact us whenever you face a scissor event, getting the necessary information on how to deal with skips and also helping us finding and re-containing them.”

“And if we don’t agree to this?” Rarity asked.

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“Because you contain us like animals in a zoo!”

“If you prefer, you can get you a containment cell, some entertainment media, and you stay there for the rest of your life, like an actual zoo. Modifying some empty buildings in Canterlot City won’t be difficult, it would be just lonely for you.”

“But—”

“The only reason this wasn’t done before is because we didn’t know much of Equestrian magic. The only thing we knew was it being referred to as “the magic of friendship”, and to research that, we allowed you to roam freely and see if it’s really connected with friendship and how it affects other people around you.

“As for now, enough discoveries have been made and our priority is the research on the scissor events, so we consider taking harsher containment procedures for your own and our safety.”

He stood up from the table.

“You can discuss the decision amongst yourselves. I’ll return in five minutes. If you need more time, you get another five, but then you have to decide.”

He took his tablet, tapped it a few times and then left the room.

For a while, none of the girls said anything. Twilight was the first one to break the silence.

“I think we should agree to it.”

“I don’t want to work with them,” Rarity muttered.

“But if we don’t—”

“I’m not disagreeing with you, Twilight. Taking their offer is the only option for us. It isn’t even a choice.”

“Indeed,” Sunset said. “They use the same tactic I used before my reform: If you want someone to do something for you, let them choose either it or something worse to make them think they can’t do anything else.”

“So you two take their offer?” Twilight asked.

Sunset nodded her head.

“If I were alone,” Rarity said, “I would refuse to spite them. But I have a family and also you, so I’ll swallow my pride.”

“What about the rest?”

“I’m with you,” Applejack said.

“Me too,” Pinkie Pie added.

Fluttershy answered by nodding her head.

Now all eyes were on Rainbow.

“I'll take the offer,” she said. “I’ve had enough adventures with creatures chasing after me.”

“Then it is decided.” Twilight sighed. “Maybe they’ll answer some questions I still have if we agree.”

They waited until Charge returned and told him their decision.

“Then it is decided. If we catch you telling or even hinting about us, then the deal is broken, understood?”

Everyone nodded.

“If you detect any anomaly, or anything suspicious, call the number 111 on your phone. You instantly connect with us and your phone sends us your location.

“And most importantly,” he tightened his eyebrows, “if you ever find anything new about the ‘space rifts’, inform us immediately.”

“Understood,” Sunset replied.

“Good. An assistant will come and give you the contract. Once signed, you get back your geodes and your phones. The guards will drive you back to your school. Any questions?”

“Yes,” Twilight said. “How many ‘skips’ do you have?”

He stared at her silently.

“At least 5000.”

“And are they named SCP followed by a number?”

“Yes. Now my turn of question: You don’t have any hacked data remaining with you?”

“I swear I don’t,” Twilight responded.

“You better tell the truth. Any other questions?”

“What are SRAs?” Rainbow asked.

He raised his eyebrows, but replied: “Scranton Reality Anchors, neutralises reality bending.”

“Reality bending?” Sunset asked. “Didn’t know magic was referred to as ‘reality bending’.”

“It isn’t, but it works on Equestrian magic.”

“Maybe they also work on Pinkie Pie’s weirdness.” Twilight giggled and turned to said girl. “Reality bending would explain you a lot.”

“Don’t they prevent scissor events?” Pinkie asked instead.

“No, they worsen them. That’s why they’re only used when necessary.”

“Huh,” Sunset rubbed her chin. “That’s weird.”

"And what will you do with our chips now?" Twilight asked Charge.

"What chips?"

"The ones inside our arms," Rainbow replied.

"How did you… They'll stay."

"Really?" Sunset asked. "Why?"

"Because we have enough teleporting or through multiverses travelling anomalies. These chips are a standard procedure for the Foundation to make necessary information available if one skip gets lost and found somewhere else."

"No tracking?" Rainbow crossed her arms.

"No tracking."

Soon enough, two people entered their room and gave them the contract. After Twilight read through it carefully, she gave her okay and they signed it.

They were led out by armed guards into a van and entered it one by one.

Pinkie was the last one to enter, but before she did, she turned around and saw Charge in the distance watching them. Suddenly, she cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted:

“Am I by any chance a Type Green?”

It was too far for Rainbow to see his reaction.

When Pinkie finally entered, she had a grin on her face.

“What was that?” Sunset asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just a personal clarification.”

Author's Note:

SCP-173 was written by "Moto42".

Y'all said in the comments that the Foundation would work with the Rainbooms, so here you have it.

So anyway, this is basically the end of the fic I had in mind, however, one last chapter as an epilogue remains. Stay tuned!

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Pinkie asked an O-5 classified question?

[Cyrus Colter]

11451567
to be fair, she is a weird one.

[gapty]

11441150
Oops

11441102
Micro Chips, please don't ramble or you'll get heard from them

11441218
Hm…

11451567
As far as I know, it's a GOC term that the Foundation also took and use