When an assault on a government base dealing with anomalous materials goes wrong, Kingsly is left alone to fend for himself in this odd place.
Kingsly and the rest of his Mercenary group have been hired for a simple job, assist the MTF in securing the containment breach at the LTF foundation. That is, until things go from bad to worse. Now stuck in what could only be a hellish nightmare, they must fight for their lives, and for the fate of Equestria.
The Apache helicopter soared through the air, its spinning blades roaring through the air. Kingsly sat back in his chair, the rest of his team anxiously preparing for their new mission. He gazed out the window, staring out at the distant building getting closer every minute. The wind was billowing, and the sun shined brightly. It felt like a good day, but Kingsly was stuck on this new mysterious mission. He looked about the 8 other soldiers, either idly chating or preparing their gear for their drop off. He thought back to his briefing, nearly an hour ago.
“I'm sending you in as a precaution. We already have several squads in there, but we just want to remain certain that the job will get done. There has been a major breach at the LTF foundation, and needs to be dealt with. Any and all SCP’s must be eliminated, and any d-class members should be treated as hostile. The mission is simple, but there’s too much risk for a regular troop to go out. Those are our orders. Over and out.” Celestia said without hesitation.
He had not been given a chance to say no, and his troop was ready for a new mission anyway. They had been given minimal information, but the rumors spoke louder than the truth. Animals testing, monsters, and the highest recorded death toll out of any other research facility. And those were just the recorded deaths. They were running on the call sign ‘Nine Tailed fox’ one of the designated names for the groups the MTF sent out. They were the best, and they were being sent right into the fray first. They were just under loan, but there rules still applied. Designated armor, designated weapons, all highly limited for any possible risk. It was all kept very secretive, and Kingsly didn't like it.
. . .
The helicopter landed with a sudden thump, and Kingsly and his team jumped out and ran towards the building. In large letters above the large gate read ‘GATE B’. This was to be there entry point. His radio crackled in unison with the loud speaker overhead.
“Mobile Task Force Unit Nine Tailed Fox has entered the facility, all remaining survivors are advised to stay in the evacuation shelter, or any other safe area until the unit has secured the facility. We'll start escorting personnel out after the escaped SCPs have been contained." The female voice blandly said over the dieing sounds of the chopper flying away.
The gate in front of them opened up with a smooth click. Kingsly lead the way, pushing open the chain link fence past it smoothly. He waved his team forward. His 7 team members, then 2 pegasi from some other group. They ran up the glass walkway, leading to a simple elevator.
“Alright, not all of us are going to fit, this will lead to the lower levels where we need to be. Sev, Trippy, stick with me, will catch the next one.” Said Kingsly noting the size of the small box.
Everyone else crammed in the elevator, complaining the entire time, with little room to move. The doors slid shut, and the elevator was on its way.
The three remained silent for a while, looking about the building.
“So what’s your take on all of this?” Trippy asked him, now with just the three of them.
“I think it’ll be an easy job, easy money. And they didn't give me a good chance to refuse either. Celestia can be a bitch like that sometimes.” Kingsly said, fiddling with his weapon.
“Well, theres not much that can go wrong can their? Just a few experiments wandered out of their cages, and we gotta put them back in, then whoever's left, just shoot them!” Sev said happily.
“You make it sound easy.” Trippy said with a laugh, as the elevator door slid open. They entered wordlessly. Trippy pushed the single button that rested on the wall. The elevator slid up quickly, and soundlessly. The sudden silence was broken by gunfire, and screams.
“The hell was that?” Kingsly asked.
The door slid open, their guns raised, their flashlights piercing the sudden darkness. Rainbow Raven, a dark Pegasus, was being brutally gripped by a pink earth pony, screaming. Her cry was suddenly cut off with the sickening snap of her neck. The three sent a hail of bullets at the shape, but it was gone as soon as it had come. Kingsly stepped out of the elevator, racing towards the bodys.
“Their dead. They're all dead.” Sev said sadly.
“What was that thing? It killed them all this easily, snapped their necks. Not a drop of blood. It looked like a pony, but what kind of pony could do this?” Trippy asked in anguish.
Kingsly scanned the bodys, before breaking the silence, “Where's Eclipse and Specter?” He asked.
Indeed, two out of the 6 ponies that went up had been missing.
“I'm calling command, this got way too ugly, way to fast. Four ponies already gone in the first five minutes.” He said raising his radio to his ear.
While he talked, Sev and Kingsly scanned the area.
“You know, that pink pony kind of reminded me of Pinkie Pie.” Sev said suddenly.
“Pinkie Pie? What could she be doing here? Though... It DID kind of look like her...” Kingsly said waning off.
Trippy neared them, the flashlight on his p90 helping to pierce the darkness.
“Command said we are on our own. We have to complete the mission. Though they did say that rescuing our comrades was a new objective as well.” Trippy said gladly.
“Anything on the pony that attacked them?” Sev asked.
“They said that it was classified at this point, and unnecessary to complete the objective.
“If our objective is to capture the thing, THEN WHY NOT TELL US IF IT WILL KILL US FIRST!?” Kingsly screamed. He furiously kicked a wall, sending waves of pain through his hoof.
“All we do know, is that we have to expect more of those things, and find a way to contain them, if possible.” Trippy said with authority.
Kingsly ducked his head around the corner, then wave at the other two, symbolizing that it was clear.
“Man this place is huge, don’t you have a map or something? It feels like we're going in circles.” Sev complained.
“I thought you were leading us.” Kingsly said suddenly.
They both turned to Trippy expectantly.
“Okay, i’ll admit it. We’re lost.” Trippy said.
They all groaned in anger.
They stopped at a large locked door. A yellow sign read ‘SCP-914 object class: Safe, Non-standard space time.’ A picture of Twilight Sparkle rested beneath those words.
“Twilight? What is she doing here? How... I don’t...” Trippy stopped speaking and looked at the sign with an almost pained expression.
“If you know anything, now would be the time to speak.” Kingsly said menacingly.
“I don’t know anything.” Trippy said quickly.
Kingsly whipped his revolver out of its holster and aimed it carefully, pulling the hammer back.
“I’d start talking. A .357 round at this range would probably blow your head off. We’ve lost more than half our team. Friends. Good pony’s with families. They were attacked by something you know about. Now talk.” Kingsly demanded.
“Alright, alright. It was about... Maybe 2 years ago? But it was one of the last attacks by the changelings on Canterlot. I was escorting the princess Celestia’s student's friends around canterlot. A nice bunch I suppose. They were the Elements of Harmony ponies. Really special I guess. But once the fighting started I lost track of them. I finally caught up with them after a while, but the situation was pretty bad. Most of Canterlot had fallen, and Chrysalis herself had them cornered. I don’t know exactly what happened, but there was this big green light after Chrysalis tried some magic on them. Like an explosion. All the changeling died, and those ponies were supposedly taken to a hospital. After becoming hostile, and... Getting weird powers or something like that, they were taken to a more appropriate location. At least that was what I was told.” Trippy ended.
Kingsly sighed, lowering the handgun. “So something happened, something magical that went wrong, they got put hereafter weird stuff happened, and now they're loose? Brilliant, just brilliant. And since we're the clean up crew, it’s our job to get them under control. I'm getting this all correct right?” He asked.
Trippy nodded solemnly. Kingsly rolled his eyes.
“Maybe we should find some scientists or something, maybe they could tell us what we're up against. All Those ponies back thier had their necks snapped. What we could assume was Pinkie Pie herself that did that. I don’t want to be going up against anything like that without at least knowing a way to run away.” Sev said breaking the tension.
“Good idea, now if we maybe go this-” Trippy was cut off by the sudden shushing of Kingsly. He pointed his hoof down the hallway, were sudden giggling was heard. The trio raised their guns, flashlights casting down long beams. A pink shape at the end of the hallway stared at them, giggling ceaselessly. Kingsly’s eyes widened, fear gripped him. There was something so... Unsettling about the way she simply stood there.
“Oooh, more friends to play with! Oh Rainbow Dash!” She hollered.
Kingsly fired several rounds at the pony, all missing. One round found its target, but simply ricocheted off, as if hitting stone.
“Well that wasn't very nice!” She called out.
A sudden hum rang down the hallway. The sound of hooves echoing out. Kingsly swiveled around, facing the other end of the hallway. A dark figure slowly hovered towards them. Covered in blood, filling the room with the smell of blood and rotting flesh, stood Rainbow Dash, her pure white eyes glaring at them. Sev had his back to Dash, staring at Pinkie Pie in fear. Kingsly glared at Rainbow dash, his gun trained on her. Trippy’s head swiveled back and forth between the two, scared and confused. Kingsly quickly fired off several rounds, causing all hell to be released. Sev shut his eyes as he sprayed bullets down the hallway towards Pinkie, who gradually came closer by the second. Dash hovered closer, the bullets shot by Kingsly simply gazing through her as though she were nothing but mist. Kingsly’s gun clicked, out of bullets. Dash hollered out, laughing as she flew towards Kingsly. He raised his gun to defend himself, but the gun was pushed out of his hooves, Dash lept, and tackled Kingsly. Screams filled his ears, and his vision became blurry, but then it all faded to black. Kingsly felt as though he were falling constantly. So this is what it felt like to be dead...
Kingsly feel, for how long he did not know. It was just the constant feeling of falling, except slow, not like off a high building. As if he fell through water. He could not see, nor smell or taste. He could only hear screams, and the voices in his very head. He tried blinking, but couldn't tell the difference from his eyes open, to his eyes closed. And it scared him. Sudden laughter brought his mind rushing, as if being yanked forward at the speed of light. He suddenly impacted with the ground, his back cracking violently, and the air escaping from his lungs. He blinked the spots from his eyes, bringing the odd sights to his eyes. An octagonal room, with eight different corridors leading to different directions, all bathed in a irere rainbow colored light, or perhaps... The stone it was made of itself was rainbow colored.
“Hello?” He called out. His words bounced off the walls, echoing in all directions.
“Is anypony there?” He asked. His pleas were met with laughter, bouncing around like rubber in the small room. His hooves stumbled as he turned slowly to gaze at each corridor before stopping where he started. He slowly made his way down the darkened corridor. He was extremely tired, sluggish, and hungry. It was almost as if this place, wherever he was, was draining the very life from him. His ears were filled with crude laughter as the pitch black tunnel he had walked through led to another small room, this time, leading to only four rooms. He gazed at each in turn, then took the one straight ahead of him. He gazed about as the rainbow colored light darkened, becoming a blood red. The small hallway widened, becoming almost conelike. He stopped in front of a casket like shape, willing his neck and eyes to try to see the small shape sitting atop. Rainbow Dash sat atop the throne, cackling.
“Rainbow Dash? What... What is this place?” Kingsly demanded.
“Oh this? It’s just a little monument to my Awesomeness.” She said casually, glancing at her hoof.
“Well, let me out of here!” Kingsly hollered.
“Oh why would I do that? It’s so much cooler in here then out there. In fact, I could use a little exercise. How about a little run? I'll give you a 10 second head-start even!” Dash said excitedly.
“Listen I don't think this is such a good id-”
“10. 9. 8.” Kingsly galloped out of the small room at these words. Back at the cornered room, he quickly turned left, racing down the hallway.
“2. 1. HERE I COME!” Dash hollered from the far away room. The hallway opened out to a narrow strip of land that pierced the darkness ahead of him. Everything else was pure black. He ran forward, stopping suddenly as a large rainbow colored boulder cut in front of him, sliding into the abyss below.
“Better run faster!” Dash announced, getting close to him. He did as she suggested, breaking into a full sprint. He could feel her hot breath on his back as he continued running. He spotted an odd structure ahead, almost like a well.
“You're not getting away that easy!” Dash hollered, fighting Kingsly at how close she actually was. He glanced behind him at the approaching pegasus, and an idea formed. He suddenly stopped, and dropped to his stomach. Dash flew past him, not being able to stop as quick as he did, hovering just over the well opening.
“Wait, where did you-” She was sickened by a sudden kick to the face, as Kingsly leaped into the opening, hurtling down into the dark abyss below.
. . . “Oh you have got to be kidding me!” Sev demanded. He held a small navigator computer, the S-Nav 300, in one of his hooves, angrily hitting it.
“Did it break again?” Trippy asked.
They had been scouring the facility, looking for any trace of anything living, that didn't want to kill them of course. So far they had no luck. They did find the newly acquired device though, in a small office cubicle. Batteries included! Unfortunately that offer wasn't as good as it sounded.
“No, out of battery.” Sev countered, disappointed. It had been useful in the time it did work, providing them not only a map of the facility, but also alerted them if any SCP were in the area.
“Well, we have to decide now. Do we continue looking for a scientist, or do we look for Kinglsy?” Trippy asked.
“I... Don’t know. The right thing to do would be to look for Kingsly. He might have disappeared, but he might still be around somewhere. We were told from day one though that the mission comes first. No matter what emotions come first. That makes a good soldier, right? Or is it that we should take care of our brothers in arms? Hmm...” Sev pondered this for a few moments.
“Kingsly can take care of himself. If he is dead, he’s probably in a better place than here. If not, he’ll fight to his last breath. He can be stubborn like that.” Trippy said jokingly.
“Too right man.” Sev said laughing. He stopped laughing, his attention forward. A gray pegasus stood staring, an orange jumpsuit marking her as a class D.
“Don’t move, or we will shoot. Do you know what went on here?” Trippy asked threateningly.
“I just don’t know what wrong!” She said sadly. Sev fired off a few rounds in the air, scaring all three of them.
“Sorry, hoof slipped.” He said, walking off the mistake. The mare in front of them collapsed to the ground sobbing. Trippy shook his head sadly.
“Lets just leave her. She’s no use to us, and whatever's in here will kill her instead of us.” He said stepping over her. Sev stopped next to her, bring out his handgun from its holster, and aiming carefully at the back of her head. He shut his eyes, pulling the trigger. He stopped, raising the gun. He shook his head, putting it back into the holster.
“Not today.”
. . .
Kinglsy hit the tiled ground suddenly. He winced as his nose throbbed with the sudden impact. Waves of pain rocked through his body.
“Son of a... Mother of... GAH!” He sat up suddenly, clutching his head. He lowered his hooves as the pain slowly subsided.
“Today is just not a good day.” He said getting up. He looked about the office that he was in. A small plaque on the desk read: Dr.Gears. He looked about the office. Bookshelves covered most of the walls. Nothing of real importance stuck out. He gazed about the desk. A microphone lay on its side, and a record player sat simply up right. He sat in the rolling desk chair. He sifted through some of the papers. A large letter caught his attention first. He glanced over it concerned. A few phrases leaped out first. “A spy in our midst... A threat to security.... A Changeling spy... Nuke access codes...”
“This! THis is... Can this be... This... Is really boring! The shit you find in old pony’s desks, sheesh!” He said laughing, tossing the paper aside. He picked up the microphone, tapping the large red button on the side. The ‘LIVE’ button glowed red.
“Good morning SCP Foundation. This is your anchor pony with another weather forecast.” He said carefree, going through some of the documents on the table, he plucked a few out, the ones centered around the dangerous SCPs they already encountered, namely Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, along side others. He smiled as his voice echoed through the entire facility.
“It’s going to be partly sunny most of the day, with a 96% chance of major Shit-storms to hit you today with those escaped science experiments. The rest of the day will look pretty good from then on. Hey look mom i'm on the radio! Aren't you proud of me! I wonder if I can still beatbox? Untis Untis Untis Untis WUb WUB WUB WUB. DROP IT. Plllppllplshshs.” She hollered into the microphone, mimicking dubstep noises.
“Aw, who wants to hear that dubstep crap!?” He asked. Reaching for a few records off the shelf.
“Ooh, here's a good one! Lady’s and gentlecolts, it’s been an honor serving you today from the office of Dr. Gears, But his disk jockey had places to go, and places to be, so I’ll leave you with one of our finer selections.” Kingsly signed off, blowing dust off the player and cranking it, as he slid the large Vinyl record from its folder, and pushed the needle on to. He grabbed his rifle and pushed the door open, as soft piano music began to flood through the facility like a gentle wave.
. . . Sev and Trippy stared at the speaker attached to the wall, that now spilt out piano music.
“He is so dead. The SCPs are going to be all over him now.” Sev said offhandedly.
“No, he is a genius. Giving everyone time as the SCPs make their way there, as he makes his way to us. And besides...” He stopped, listening to the music.
“Even I know this piece. I hate classical, but this... Nocturne in E sharp, by Lili Boulanger.” He said matter of factly.
“It does sound nice.” Sev admired, as the foundation sang out in harmony to the tune.
Kingsly walked through the dark hallways, his mind racing, and his eyes flying. He held up the small stack of papers he had stolen from the doctors office. Some headlines stuck up at him: SCP-173 Pinkie Pie Euclid EXTREMELY DANGEROUS... Scp-106 Rainbow Dash... He scanned the few documents he had. A list of containment protocols for all Eucliced class subjects! He smiled in success, before slamming into a large metal door. He rubbed his head, glancing at the sign addressing the horror contained within. ‘Discord’... Discord? But... How was he here? He stuck the dark red keycard into the wide reader, causing the door to open with a loud groan. He traversed the small flight of stairs, revealing a large metal cage, with a small computer laying broken on a table. And on a computer monitor near it...
“Discord? How... How are you here?” Kingsly asked.
“Hmm? A pony? You're still alive? Well, how delightful! This might just work. May I ask how you got here?” Discord’s voice appeared from thin air, mixed with computer static.
“I was sent here under Celestia’s command. We’re the clean up squad.” Kingsly explained with a nod.
“Oh, is that what she told you? And i'm willing to bet you came here without knowing what you were getting mixed up in, right? Probably got some of your friends killed?” Discord asked, his voice thick with charisma.
“That’s right...”
“And you are probably asking questions right now, like how we all got here? Maybe how we all got here? I could answer your questions, but first, you need to do me a favor. Get me out of here! I know what they plan to do with this place, and even if i'm stuck in a computer, I WANT OUT!” Discord hollered, the bars of his cage rattling with his voice.
“Wait, what are they going to do with this place!?” Kingsly demanded.
“Oh you really are clueless. Celestia knows your team isn't going to be successful. They have nukes all beneath this facility to wipe it off the face of this earth. She’s going to cut her losses to save face. We’re all going to die, but I can help you out of here. But you have to take me with you!” Discord begged. Kingsly sighed, weighing his options. He had to be honest with himself, the exits were sealed behind him. And facilities like this always have failsafes, no matter the cost. And the rest of his team was probably dead anyways.
“Alright, i’ll do it.”
. . .
“Dammit!” Sev kicked the large metal door, sealed tight.
“This is Nine tailed actually, from within the facility operating on all broadcast frequencies, we require emergency evacuation immediately. I repeat-”
“Forget it dude! Were locked in! Left for dead! Were just expendable assets to clean up their messes. Were going to die Trippy. Simple as that. Some freaky ass, nightmarish version of Pinkie Pie is going to come creeping down that corridor, and kill us both.”
“Shut up Sev.”
“No, we're going to die. Just like that. You know, I wanted to get married. Have a few kids. Settle down in some countryside cottage. But now? Trapped like rats, ready for the slaughter. Oh great! Now the lights off! At least when I'm dead i wont know its coming.” Sev complained as the lights flickered off. They quickly came back on with a sudden flash.
“See? All better. Now would you please be quiet? I'm trying to think.” Trippy said, hushing him.
“Alright, I’ve had an idea. Well just head to the extraction point of one of the other teams! Simple, but we might get in some trouble.”
“Screw trouble, I want out of here.” Sev complained.