> SCP: Equestrian Protocol > by P0nies > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Cost > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sleeping Twilight Sparkle rolled in her bed, the spring noticeably stiffer than they usually were. A groan escaped the pony's mouth as she ran a hoof across her body which had succumb to a sensation of itchiness. The feeling of her body as she ran the hoof across did not feel like the blankets Twilight had fallen asleep with. She tossed in bed again throwing the blanket off of her and onto the frigid cement floor. Even with the blanket off of Twilight, her skin still crawled under a skintight orange jumpsuit. The jumpsuit was somewhat loose around her body, but it began to slowly tighten and contour to her body structure. As it tightened more, the purple mare started to become more aware of what was happening. Her eyes slowly cracked open, a hoof coming up to rub the drowsiness out of her eyes. Before it could even reach head level, she froze in place studying the neon orange sleeve that covered her leg. The surroundings became more vivid as her time awake passed on. Twilight sprang up in the cot, standing at the ready to defend herself if need be. She scanned the room for any immediate threats, the walls a pure white and both the floor and the ceiling a slab of concrete. An object that was located in the upper corner of the room grabbed her attention as it panned slowly to the left and right at a steady pace. Eye contact was not broken at any time with this strange object, there was no telling what it could do or what it was. By general observation, all she knew was that it had a small cord of some kind protruding from the back of the object and up into the ceiling to disappear beyond. It had a small glass lens on the front of the device along with a small blinking red light. The object became engulfed in a violet aura as Twilight ripped it from its mount, a small spark emitting as the cord was severed. The lights in her room flickered for a brief moment, most likely due to a short during the removal of the object. She brought the object slowly closer to her, carefully scrutinizing it. On the back of the odd object was enscribed writing that read: RayCor Class-F Surveillance Device Twilight dropped the device and quickly turned her head as she heard a small clicking sound from behind her. The door located on the far end of the room was a large iron door, rivets protruding from every edge. The door had a small slot near the center with a small platform attached to it. The slot quickly slid open and a single piece of paper was slid onto the platform. The slider quickly slammed shut with a loud clanking sound. Twilight walked cautiously over to where the paper was, and after determining it was harmless she took it in her telekinesis and read it. Class-D ID#1894-18 You are now under control of the Foundation through Protocol 12; stating that any foreign object brought about through testing of any SCP-XXX is to be detained and imprisoned under the facilities OS-X operator. Below the written portion of the letter was a logo that consisted of 3 arrows pointing in towards the center and circle intersecting with each end of the arrows. Below, in large bold letters read: SCP Secure. Contain. Protect. “Class-D test subject EQ-9083, please step forward,” a stern male voice called out over the intercom. As directed, a single man from the line of humans took a step forward. His face was dripping with sweat and his eyes darted around, not knowing of what he would be sent to do. “Enter Testing Room-2B3,” The voice called out to the man who had been singled out. A door slid open to the far right of the man, the metal screeching as it slid across the floor. He proceeded to walk towards the testing room, his boots making a small squeaking noise with every step that he took. Once he arrived at his predetermined destination, the man took a turn to the left and entered the room that he had been directed to enter. Moments after walking in, the door slammed shut behind him; slightly startling him. There was a single camera on the far corner of the room locked on the test subject. In the center of the room was a metal table, a laptop sitting in the middle of it. EQ-9083 walked with a slow pace, stopping behind the chair that was located in front of him. “Sit down, and open the Laptop-PC,” commanded the overbearing voice. The subject did just as he was directed once again. “To your right, there is a manilla folder containing all of the files required to complete the test. Follow as they instruct.” He gave glances around the room thinking that this was some sort of joke. A laptop, of all things, couldn't be this highly classified, he told himself. Its most likely just a Safe Class object, so no worries. The folder was labeled: SCP-1243. The man reached his quivering hand over to the file and opened the folder. The laptop in front of him displayed a page that had a black background and an image of a box with “Relocation Services” written upon it. Below that, there was a text-input labeled 'Name', text below that which stated 'Cost' and a button labeled 'Place Order'. He directed his attention back to the file, which directed him to type the name 'Twilight Sparkle' into the 'Name' box. Well, strange name for them to want put in he thought to himself as he carefully typed it. As he finished typing, another name appeared next to 'Cost'. The name was EQ-9083. His palms began to sweat and his face turned pale. His eyes were glued to the screen, unsure of what would happen to him. He peeled his eyes away from the screen, looking to the file and then to the camera that was still locked onto him. The cursor on the screen moved and hovered over button. He looked back to the camera and clicked. At first, he noticed nothing strange happening to him or anything around him. He sighed a breath of relief, before the video stream of the room was cut-off, the screams of agony and pain emitting from inside for a few moments. The halls went quiet, and the screaming stopped as the video feed continued to show the inside of the fabled testing room. The man was now gone, and on the screen of the laptop was two words: Order Placed. Twilight paced slowly around the room, her mind swimming from the fact that she was now somewhere she had never been. The suit she was wearing also seemed to be impervious to her means of trying to pry it off with hooves or magic. She had just given up at one point when she started to be more worried about where she was and why she had been detained. What was Protocol-12 or anything else that that paper had mentioned? And what was this place for anyways, seeing as how its slogan was 'Secure. Contain. Protect.' Protect... from what? “State your name, and country of origin,” a masculine voice called out, startling Twilight. Whoever was on the other end of the voice, she didn't want to mess with him or anyone here since the voice itself was terrifying. “I'm... T-Twilight Sparkle, from uh... Equestria.” “Confirmed, please stand by,” it replied back to Twilight. Twilight continued to wander around the room, examining every crack and crevice in the room to attempt to get any more information where, or why she was here. She raised her head up from looking at the walls and the floor, her left ear twitching slightly. Twilight stood still, expecting to hear something. She knew that something was about to happen, she could feel it. Just as she had expected, the door emitted sounds of gears turning and the hinges creaking open. There was a large bipedal figure standing in the doorway, who was dressed in all black and carried various devices with a large, metal device strewn across his chest. He wore a black helmet, the gold visor reflecting Twilight's face. He lifted the metal object, making various clicking sounds as he brought it up to his torso. The thing was pointed at her and Twilight shrugged back, intimidated and scared by the strange weapon. Her ear twitched again, hearing something even though she wasn't exactly sure what it was. She looked down the hallway, but her vision was partially obstructed by the legs of the bipedal figure that stood in front of her. The lights suddenly began to flicker at random intervals. The guard left the room, switching on his flashlight as he left the room. Twilight watched as the door began to swing shut but before it could come to a complete close, the room went pitch black. Bright flashes and extremely loud banging noises in a rapid succession came from outside. She kept her eyes fixed on where the door should have been. Screams of agony echoed through the halls and the room, the violent ripping of flesh able to be heard. The lights came back on for a few moments, and out the door was a massive pool of blood flowing into the drainage pipes. There was a mask looking at her, the head still trapped inside with the visor partially broken. A lone, baby blue eye stared back at her as the lights flickered again, the head now gone. The lights went off, but this time an eerie red glow filled the hall and her confinement room. Various alarms echoed through the site speaking of "containment breaches". A voice came back up over the speaker. It tried to speak something, but whatever it had tried to tell her was made into a gargling mess from whatever had attacked her. Twilight was frozen by fear, unsure of what to do. She wanted to live. The speaker came back to life, the wet cough and dying breaths of a female pouring out of it, speaking a single word. Run. > Protocol-507: Houdini > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Run. Why was it always run? Twilight thought to herself, eyes still peering out of the door, expecting something to do the same to her as it did to that biped creature. A corner was the only thing that felt somewhat safe at this moment, seeing as how nothing could possibly come from behind her. Red was everywhere, the color of death and emergency. Blood stained and dripped from the walls outside of the door, and when her mind finally caught up with what had happened, she began to panic. Breathing became sporadic. Thoughts of a painful death raced across her mind. She began to dry heave, trying to hold back the contents of her stomach. A small flicker of light glimmered on the pool of blood, reflecting the light into Twilight's eyes. Something was coming for her, and no matter what it was, she didn't want to have anything to do with it. There was nowhere to hide for her, the room was void of any object, except for the bed that rested in the corner. Her eyes darted back out the door, the light that she had seen getting brighter with every given moment. It was now or never, and this may be the last thing that she could do in her existence in this strange place. Twilight dove for the bed, grabbing the rough wool blanket that rested upon the mattress. She fell short, landing just in front of it. There was a small space under the bed, big enough to fit a larger pony. The light outside grew brighter, and the muffled steps of a creature could be heard. Heavy panting also came from whatever was coming closer. Crawling under the bed, Twilight dragged the blanket over her body and attempted to stay out of sight. The blanket was rather small though, and it barely covered her body. She couldn't help but feel like some part of her body was sticking out from under it, and no matter how she adjusted herself, the feeling was still there. She attempted to control her breathing, but she only caused herself to begin hyper-ventilating. Through the porous fabric the blanket consisted of, it appeared that the light had stopped just outside of the door. Whatever it was, it had stopped and pointed the source of the light at the floor, where she had seen the creature walk out just moments before. “God dammit...” could be heard as a faintly Russian accented male spoke from outside the door, sorrow heavily dripping from his voice. “It fucking killed him. I actually liked him too...” Light glimmered off of the walls as the light reflected of of letters painted onto the concrete walls. A small click echoed into the room as he jumped around the corner. The way that he came around the corner showed little knowledge of any training at all. He quickly scanned the room with a flashlight he carried in one hand, and pointed another metal object around the room as he quickly scanned it. The light that was emitted from the flashlight drowned out the dreary red the emergency lights filled the room with. The metal object he carried seemed to be similar to that the other creature carried, but in a smaller form. It was a larger creature, and they began to seem more familiar as Twilight gazed upon them longer. A human? She thought to herself, I thought that they were just old mare-tales... The human looked to be twice the size of her, at least six feet tall. His blonde hair shone in the light, and his green eyes glowed in the aura of his flashlight. The belly of the human slightly jutted out from the rest of his figure, implying that he was slightly over-weight. Skin a pigment of sand covered most of his body, except for the hair on the top of his head. She observed his actions as he closed the door to where it was only cracked open. The light he carried with him began to be pointed around the room, examining what he had to work with. The light fell upon the object that Twilight had ripped from the ceiling, and he slowly walked over to it. He shoved the metal object in the back of his pants right at the belt-line and picked up the camera. Looking up, he saw the mount from which it had come. It was an interesting cut on it, he noted, mainly because of the fact that it had a clean cut with no signs of anything used to remove it. He stood, the camera still in hand. A faint violet glow came from behind him as the feel of cold metal against his lower back dissipated. He turned around to see his gun floating in mid air, a purple aura surrounding it. All he did was just stand there, mainly because of the fact that his weapon was hovering in front of him due to some unknown force. “What in the hell...” he exclaimed, his mind pooling over the situation that was playing out in front of him. Twilight's heart began to beat rapidly as the nervous tension in her muscles began to increase. She peeked an eye out from under the blanket, her violet eye staring right into the humans. They both froze, and Twilight's magical field disappeared. The weapon dropped to the ground, firing off a single round. A small rubber ball bounced around the room, colliding with each wall before colliding with Twilight's flank. “GAH!” she screamed in agony as the rubber bullet impacted her rear, making her jump and hit her head on the metal frame of the bed. The man looked upon the bed, pulling out his flashlight and taking a step back, illuminating the area where he saw the eye. He slowly bent over and picked up his gun, pointing it at the bed. His hand shook, the adrenaline pumping through his body enhancing the nervous feeling in his body. “Who are you?” He asked, pausing a moment. The room filled with silence, and he spoke again. “You don't say anything I'll shoot you...” “Twilight...” she replied in a quiet voice. “Come out of there, uh, Twilight,” he said with a nervous tension ringing in his voice. Twilight crawled out from under the bed, the blanket slowly falling away from her body. She continued to come out from under the bed, not wanting to feel the pain in her flank again. Twilight expected to have something happen to her, so she clenched her eyes closed. When nothing happened for a few moments, she began to crack her eyes open. The man standing in front of her no longer had the weapon pointed at her, but now it was held at his side. “Son of a bitch...” he muttered. “They brought you into this. They would find a way to make it so that even fictional characters are real.” “You know who... who I am?” Twilight asked him, both eyes now completely open and trying to anticipate any attack from the human. “Sadly, I do. I know about you and all of your friends, and so does half of our world. But, here, you aren't real. You are just a cartoon. But now... these assholes here have found some way to bring you to life. And for you, that is pretty bad. There are things here... that give way to normal fear and induce a new level in your mind. You need to go home, no matter what it costs. This is not where you belong.” Twilight looked upon the human, who now sat with his back against the wall and his hands over his head. “How do I know I can trust you? I mean, I don't even know your name. And if all of this is true... why would they want me of all ponies?” “To be honest, you can't trust me. Yeah, yeah, really cliché, but still. And for now, you can just call me Houdini.” Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, both of them heard a strange sound coming from the other side of the concrete wall. It sounded like something was trying to dig its way through, the sound of claws scratching at layers of concrete and steel rebar getting closer with every moment. Twilight backed away from the wall, fear building up inside of her heart. The scratching got closer, but finally ceased to exist for a few brief moments. Twilight and Houdini sighed in relief that nothing was actually breaking through. They took their time of gratitude too early, and right after thinking that they were safe, a large scaly claw busted into the room, showering it with dust and blocks of concrete. The event startled Houdini, who had jumped to his feet and began unloading what was left of his rubber bullets into the claw of the creature. The claw retreated back into the hole from which it came, but a head broke through in its place. A large reptilian head filled the gaping hole, both Twilight and Houdini now pressed against the wall. The creature began to rasp, its voice harsh and barely comprehensible. “You... disgusting...” “Son of a bitch...” Houdini said, carefully opening the door he had closed on his way in. “Twilight, trust me. Just run.” Twilight bolted out of the room, nearly tripping over the corpse that lay in the hallway and almost slipping in the pool of crimson blood. She turned her head back to see Houdini following close behind, his flashlight illuminating the hallway in front of them. The tearing of metal from concrete could be heard from behind them as they bolted down the partially lit hallway, running from the creature that was in pursuit of them. “What is that thing?!” Twilight asked, running as fast as her small pony legs could take her. “I'm not sure, but I think that that thing is 682... which means that we are fucked.” Running down the hallway, Twilight tried to keep her stomach steady as she came across pool after pool of blood on the concrete path. The walls were nearly destroyed, most were riddled with small holes or large scratches.They came to a bend, and nearly tripped rushing around the corner. A guard stood at the end of the hallway, pointing a weapon in their general direction. “Stop! Don't move!” he called to them, slowly advancing to where they stood. The crashing and clawing echoing in the hallways behind them was getting louder, and the raspy breathing of the creature was close. Houdini looked around to see if there was any possible way out of their predicament, and to his luck and dismay, there was a door located behind the guard. The faint sound of scraping against concrete could be heard behind the sound of the creature rushing behind them. He looked down at Twilight and whispered, “There – we need to teleport to that room.” “I don't know if I can,” Twilight said, “I've never gone somewhere I haven't been, and I haven't ever teleported a human!” “Both of you, quiet now!” the guard shouted at them. “Just try...” Houdini mumbled. Twilight's horn began to glow as she prepared herself for the teleportation spell, and just as they were engulfed in a violet flash, the reptile tore around the corner and charged for the guard. Luckily for them, they were safe inside a room for the moment being. Twilight looked up after the teleport, the screams of the guard outside ringing through her ears as he was torn into pieces. Even with everything that was going on, she smiled at successfully saving herself and Houdini. But there was something strange about this room that they had made it into, mainly the fact that the floor was covered in a redish-brown substance. And in the corner, facing the wall, stood a tan stone figure. Houdini looked up and noticed the creature inhabiting the other side of the cell. “Well, our fucking luck. Just whatever you do, don't blink.” Just as he said that, the lights in the cell went dim, nothing in farther than a foot away visible. > The Essence of 666 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The dark was almost calming to their minds, because for once they may not actually be able to see their imminent death coming at them. And if it would be a fast passing, then that would be all the better. The room held a faint glow of light from a light hanging on a single cord. It was either there wasn't much left in the main generators, or the backups had already kicked on in the facility. Seeing as how the lights had just gotten dimmer, it was most likely the backups kicking on as the main generators failed. They wouldn't have much time before it was complete darkness engulfed everything around them. Twilight wanted to ask why Houdini had told her not to blink, but since he had helped her escape death before, she didn't necessarily want to go against what he said. The dark was never really her forte, and without much thought she lit her horn with a small orb of intensely bright light that filled the entire room. Her eyes had already adjusted to the lighting within the room, and the intense light that flowed into their eyes blinded them for a split second and caused them to close their eyes instinctively. The sudden realization of their actions flashed through both Twilight and Houdini's mind. He knew of what could come from such a mistake of a single blink, and he quickly looked over at Twilight to see if she was alright. Luckily she was alright, but something was happening. Twilight gave a glance to him and her eyes went wide with fear as she saw him slowly fading away. She had no idea what was happening to him, but she didn't want him to go. He was the only thing keeping her safe, and she put a hoof on his arm to try and keep Houdini close. “Twilight, you HAVE to let go!” Houdini yelled at Twilight, ripping her hoof from his arm and walking back against the wall. He rushed towards the strange stone creature that had once been in the far corner of the room, but now stood in the middle lifelessly. “I'm sorry I couldn't help you more Twilight...” He told her with sadness coming from his voice. He was becoming more transparent with every passing second. During the last of his time being visible, Houdini has his arms wrapped around the statue... or whatever it was that stood in the middle of the room. Twilight closed her eyes as he rushed at it, afraid that there was going to be copious amounts of blood, or even the thing tearing him apart. That was the last thing that she wanted to see of the person who she had come to think of as her hero. “No... Not the spiders... Agh!” his voice echoed one last time. A vicious snapping and crack echoed throughout the concrete chamber, the orb of light at the tip of Twilight's horn ceasing to exist as her mind raced through the possible outcomes of what had just happened. Her eyes burst open, and the dark reigned supreme once again. Twilight came to think of ways to save him and darted to her feet and charged with her horn forward across the room, expecting to meet with a creature and her friend lying on the ground. But there was one last thing that she saw that baffled her, especially when she should have seen that strange, tan creature and Houdini... Wall. Twilight started to come back to her senses, a pleasant smell that induced a sense of euphoria flowing through her nostrils. She took a deep breath in, the sweet smell of a freshly made daisy sandwich making her hungry and wishing that she was back at home. But the only place that they had daisy sandwiches was in Equestria... unless she was just dreaming. But the smell continued to linger in her nose, the joy in her body continuing to grow. There was no way she was dreaming by now, so she had to have been home. That was her logic, but here that did not apply. Most logic did not apply within many SCP facilities, but she had not been around long enough to know anything of this. She bounced up from the cold floor, her head launching up and looking around hoping that there was a fresh daisy sandwich resting just in front of her. Rather than seeing what she had wanted to, Twilight's face was met with the a translucent orange glob that molded to her face as if it was peanut butter. Falling back down to the floor more surprised than scared, she looked over the orange blob that was starting to climb on top of her. The sense of euphoria was still present in her body, and with the continual contact with this strange orange creature it continued to increase. She wanted to just laugh right now, all sense of fear and sadness from the events of the day flowing away from her as it was replaced with unadulterated happiness. Twilight hadn't felt so alive and happy in months... the world just seemed to shine that much brighter, and everything seemed to be happier. The faint dripping noises from outside the door reminded her of the leaky faucet back at home, even though she knew exactly what the dripping was. She knew, but put a new meaning to it to be happier. It was strange to be feeling this way, amidst the terror, destruction, and death. But she couldn't help any of it. The feelings just came to her, and placed themselves in her mind. Coming back to reality with what little sense of it she had left, Twilight watched as the creature played all over her body. It ran hopped up and down on her as if she was a trampoline, ran around like it wanted to play, and it even made cooing noises, as if it was trying to bark like a dog. It continued to run around the room, hoping that Twilight would engage in some sort of activity with it. But she didn't. Twilight just lay on her back, eyes moving in their sockets and a smile on her lips as she watched the little orange ball of slime hop and roll around the room. It seemed awfully friendly for being in such a cruel place, but then again it wasn't the only nice thing that she had met so far. It hopped over to her, taking a leap over her head and landing directly on her gut. Even though it didn't weigh that much, it still knocked the wind clean out of her. Twilight took a few deep breaths in to regain what had been knocked out of her lungs, and decided that this thing may just want to play and be talked to. If it did, she could only hope for the best. “Well, hi there little orange guy...” She told it with a nervous grin on her face. The orange slime ball continued to roll on her body and bounce every which way, gargling and cooing when she began to talk to it. It seemed to like being talked to, it liked the attention it was getting. It was acting like a dog, even kind of like Winona when she wanted to play. Maybe if I treat it like Winona... it will act the same way... Twilight thought to herself. She slowly reached a hoof up to the blob, placing it on what seemed to be the head, and moving it side to side. The orange blob material bunched up whenever she moved her hoof in any direction across it, the slime that encased it giving her hoof resistance any time she tried to move it. It began to jiggle on top of her, and Twilight became a bit scared as to what it might be trying to do. It could be getting ready to gobble her up in a single bite, or it could be getting ready to crush her body... but it was tickling her? Twilight was starting to chuckle a bit, the tickling that the creature was unleashing on her only mild. The intensity of the tickling got greater as time moved on, and her laughs got louder and louder until she broke into a full out laughing fit. She tried rolling around to stop the tickling, but it was to no avail as the creature seemed to have a solid grip on her. Twilight's sides began to ache after a few minuted of intense laughter, something that she wasn't generally used to even with Pinkie Pie as her friend. She was having a great time with this little dog like blob, and she didn't even know its name. It did have a small piece of paper stuck to it, but she couldn't tell which way that it was supposed to be. From one way, it read 666 and the other read 999, but she couldn't be exactly sure on to what it really was, because it looked right both ways. Twilight continued to laugh even as her sides ached, but she became quiet when she noticed the loud thumping and scraping on concrete getting closer. It became louder and clearer, a rasping voice starting to become slightly audible. “...Purple... so ugly...” it said with a heavily rasped voice. The only thing going through Twilight's mind was the happiness that the little orange slime ball had bestowed in her, and she had faith that it would somehow get her out. At least she hoped it did, as the door on the other side of the room burst open and came flying directly at Twilight, a large hole where it used to be.