Containment Breach

Chapters

Prologue
Containment Breach
Crunch
Radical Larry
Technical Accomplishments
Show Yourself
Doctor, Doctor
Hard-to-Destroy Reptile

Prologue

Ponyville. At first glance, this quaint town seemed like any other. Many small, wooden houses with large roofs made of hay, laid alongside several rough gravel paths leading to and from the various cafes and vendors selling delicious treats, all finally converging into the town center, containing nothing more than a well, some benches, trees and a small, statue of an equine holding a book. And in truth, it wasn't particularly special in many regards.

However, when one is to truly investigate the town's every nook and cranny, one begins to discover it's hidden, vibrant interior, full of a friendly, perhaps too friendly populace, always ready to show you a good time. The whole town sort of smelled like flowers and peaches when you really focused on it.

One of the town's more noticeable features is a large, crystal castle towards the outskirts, towering above everything else by a huge margin. It vaguely resembles a tree, with several balconies extending out from its sides like branches, and with a large crystal star adorning the top, adding to the already incredible extravagance of the structure. The evening sun barely stayed above the rolling, flower-covered hills, dense forests and crystal-clear lakes that surrounded the town, illuminating the whole town in a dull, orange glow that glinted off the castle like a mirror.

Several, small fluffy clouds lay low in the sky, layered across the sky almost like a painting, as if somepony took a brush of orange and yellow and moved it across a canvas in one elegant stroke. Several foals and colts ran throughout the town, giggling and laughing to each other as they weaved in between the ponies going about their business, closing up shop for the coming night, or simply taking a stroll through the town. Everything considered it was a truly picturesque scene.

However, inside that castle, a single, purple pony was missing all of it. She was focused on something else entirely. Something much, much bigger...

Twilight dared not make a sound as a single bead of sweat dripped down her forehead, threatening to blur her vision. Her quill stopped moving across the paper for just a second as she grabbed a tissue with her magic from across the room. Bringing it towards her, she wiped her forehead, before dropping both the tissue and the quill onto the floor. She inhaled sharply, filling her starving lungs with clean air, having held her breath for over a minute without even realizing it.

She painfully sat back into her chair, away from her desk which she had been leaning over for the better part of an hour straight. A small groan escaped her lips as she straightened her back, stretching her limbs in an attempt to release some tension. Satisfied with the pops she received in response, she slumped into her chair in a heap.

She sighed deeply, staring at the paper she had been writing for over three months. She had blocked out contact with most of her friends and relatives for this, ever since the conception of the idea. Dimensional travel. The ultimate dream of any science fiction fan. Not just the ability to travel to other planets, but galaxies, universes, even through time and space in unparalleled ways, entering other planes of existence altogether.

She sat there for at least a minute, gathering her bearings. She had been sitting in this chair for three hours straight, and it certainly wasn't good for her. She needed a break, but she didn't know quite what to do. Working on this seemed to be her entire life, having invested so much time and energy into creating, developing, writing and hopefully executing this spell. She had received her meals from Spike, never leaving this room until it was time for her to sleep. Anything other than working on it seemed almost foreign.

Her stomach answered her question, growling in desperate need of sustenance. She sighed and slowly got up, climbing down from her chair and walking towards the kitchen. Spike had gone to sleep early tonight, so she needed to get her food herself. Her work could wait for a few minutes, after all.

Walking out of her laboratory and into the kitchen, she began preparing a small snack for herself. It wasn't anything luxurious or even all that large, just an apple, a hay sandwich and some water. Trotting back to her laboratory, a thought struck her. Something that nearly made her fall over right there and then, a revelation of sorts. Her pace quickening, she made her way into her laboratory, placed her plate of food on a nearby table, took one big bite of her sandwich and began writing again.

Of course. How could she be so blind? Her hypothetical dimensional transport spell could--- no, her theoretical dimensional transport spell, at its core, was a modified teleportation spell combined with a dimensional bending spell. Essentially, she bending space to the point where it 'breaks' so to speak, and forms an infinitesimally small rift through space and time. This, when combined with the teleportation spell, allows her to access everything beyond her plane of reality, allowing her to teleport to alternate dimensions entirely.

That was the easy part. The difficult part was getting the energy required to perform such a task. Vast teleportation was never a problem before, but at this scale? Neigh-impossible. It was a hinderance which irritated her for months. Not once could she get the energy requirement down far enough for it to be reasonable. But that, as she had just realized, was because she wasn't attacking the core issue.

Teleportation spells increase in energy requirement exponentially over distance, and the distance between planes of reality was, of course, great. But she already figured out how to bend space to allow her access in the first place, why not bend space to shorten the distance, too? She had been so focused on getting the teleportation spell to use less energy she hadn't simply thought of bringing her destination to HER.

Hours passed. Her food slowly disappeared until nothing was left. Pages upon pages of writing were made, being swiftly put to the side for the next. So much effort and time and money spent to develop her theory, and this was the final result. Slamming her quill to the side, she held her final, revised document in front of her. She didn't really know how to feel. Before now, she thought of just how excited, just how amazing this would be. Finally finishing it. Nobel Prizes, Awards of all kinds, and uncountable amounts of money would be coming her way, she thought. She was excited, don't get that wrong, just not... ecstatic, is all.

She had no time to lose. Setting the requirements of the world she would land on to be habitable for her, she started the spell. First, she opened the rift. It wasn't visible with the naked eye, being smaller than the width of an atom. Although, the temperature in the area immediately around the rift itself, about one inch cubed, rose to more than a thousand degrees Celsius.

Secondly, she began the teleportation spell. As magic coursed through her veins, all funneling into her horn, she began to have doubts. What if this didn't work? Was she being rash? She had spent so much time and was so excited to get this done she hadn't even considered any possible flaws in her design. But no matter. It was time.

Her vision went black as she entered the rift. Looking around, she didn't see anything spectacular. In fact, she saw nothing at all. She kind of expected something... profound. Something mind-bogglingly incomprehensible as she whizzed through time and space. A tunnel formed from the fabric of reality, every event that has happened, will happen, or has never happened occurring in an instant in front of her eyes, the screams of a thousand burning universes colliding... but to be honest, such beliefs were nonsensical. It made perfect sense that she saw nothing. What else would she see? Her eyes were three-dimensional. For all she knew, she was traveling through the seventh dimension.

She saw a flash of white, burning into her retinas like a thousand exploding stars.

And then she saw a different kind of black.

Unconscious black.

Author's Note

I wanted to write this for a while.

Containment Breach

Blackness.

That was all Twilight saw.

Slowly, she came to, beginning to regain her consciousness, stirring from a sleep that felt like it had lasted years. Almost instantly, she regretted that decision. A sharp pain coursed through her head as she moved her hoof across her back, attempting to rid herself of an unpleasant itchy sensation, a groan escaping her lips. She placed her hoof on her head and encountered a wet feeling on her hoof, as something dripped down her forehead through her fur. She inhaled sharply as another wave of pain blasted through her skull, a gallon of stale air entering her lungs.

She began to examine her senses more closely, disoriented and confused. She smacked her lips, attempting to rid her mouth of a faint metallic taste. Her tongue felt like a desert as if she hadn't drunk anything in weeks. She perked her ears in an attempt to get a more detailed idea of her surroundings.

She heard faint breathing as she inhaled more stale, stuffy air, and not much else. Vibrations, albeit weak ones from far away, moved through the floor and into her body. She heard the faintest hint of music somewhere, a kind of pop song. She was soaked in something sticky, the floor covered in a wet, viscous substance; not to mention the blood dripping down her forehead. Something long, thin and light lay across her back, rolling back and forth with her slight twitches.

Her bottom-left hoof was caught in something plastic, stuck in a large supply of that sticky substance from before. A heavy metal object lay across her body, pinning her to the ground. Slowly, she opened her eyes, looking around in both confusion and curiosity. It was dark, with little to no visible light illuminating the room she was in. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she began to take in her surroundings.

A small light shone from under a door, less than a foot in front of her. The room she was in was small, less than two-and-a-half meters wide and three meters long. The walls to her left and right were filled with shelves, filled with various bottles and janitorial supplies, several knocked over, their contents spilling out onto the concrete floor. Sniffing the floor, she discovered it smelled like soap and detergent, which was a greenish color.

Moving her head backward, she saw she was almost completely covered with various supplies from this closet. A metal ladder lay across her back and a mob sat across her rump, with an obscene amount of green liquid covering her. Her rear hoof was stuck in what appeared to be a yellow mop bucket, spilling out dirty soap water. She attempted to get up, but her legs didn't seem to agree.

A sharp pain coursed through her leg as she gasped and fell back towards the floor. It was injured, obviously. Something hard and metal had hit it when she appeared here. It was severely bruised, maybe broken. A wrench, perhaps? She started to notice a dull ache reigning throughout her body. She had several bruises from hitting the concrete floor, not to mention a small cut along her side.

Biting her lip, she kicked the mop bucket off and slowly got up, pushing the supplies off with her magic. She stood up-right for only a second before slipping on the liquid coating the floor and falling back down, crashing into the concrete floor with a thud, unfortunately landing on her bad leg. It wasn't broken, she noticed that immediately- but it sure as hell didn't feel great.

She let out a small yelp as her weight landed on it, a wave of pain coursing through her lower body. Quickly removing it from underneath herself, she panted heavily, trying to gather enough strength to stand up again. She waited for at least a minute, mentally berating herself for not checking the safety of the spell before she used it.

She attempted to stand once again. Every nerve in her body told her it was a horrible idea, but yet she pushed through and stood once more, bracing herself against the metal door to the janitorial closet. Damn it, Twilight. You should have double-checked that spell before using it. Tested it, even. And now she wound up in the middle of a closet, with bruises and cuts and all sorts. She was soaked and sticky, her mane and fur covered in dirt, and had a large cut across her forehead. She wondered where she ended up.

There was hardly any concrete in Ponyville, much less metal doors leading to janitorial closets. Where did she end up? Manehattan? Vanhoover? Fillydelphia? Los Pegasus? Whatever the case, that spell had depleted her magic reserves. It had used up so much, she wasn't going to be able to do anything that magic-intensive again for a while. Her spell hadn't worked and she was going to have to spend a lot of money to get back home. She growled through her teeth as she looked around for something to clean her head with. Some bandages, a napkin, whatever. As long as it wasn't soaked in detergent.

She found a piece of paper on the very top shelf, and she brought it back down to her level with telekinesis. She glared at it, blinking in surprise. It had a logo on it she had never seen before. It was a large circle, with three small bumps along the outside. Inside the circle itself sat a smaller circle, with three arrows pointing in towards the center along the sides. The logo itself covered the top 20% of the paper. There was writing on it, right under the logo, but no matter how hard she squinted, she couldn't make it out. She focused her magic to create a small light at the end of her horn, illuminating the room in a faint, eerie purple glow. She stared at the words adorning what she now saw was a flyer of sorts.

THE SCP FOUNDATION

SECURE. CONTAIN. PROTECT.

She blinked. 'The SCP Foundation'? In all her years of living, she hadn't heard of anything even remotely similar to that. She began to think more heavily about it, trying to figure things out. 'Secure, Contain, Protect'. Whatever this foundation was, it clearly was obsessive about security. What do they secure and contain? What do they protect? A small part of her didn't want to find out.

She examined the flyer more closely, trying to make out what it said. There was tons of text written underneath the logo. Several paragraphs, in fact. She tried to read what it said, but no matter how hard she squinted, she couldn't make it out. The words 'Classified' were just barely visible, written in red ink and all caps underneath the logo but above the actual text. Biting her lip, she began to wonder whether reading this truly was a good idea. What was this organization? Giving the fact she hadn't heard of it, and the whole 'classified' bit, she made the assumption she wasn't supposed to be here.

She looked around nervously, before perking her ears to try and listen for hoofsteps. Her faint breathing, barely audible music in the background, the sound of a ventilation duct behind her bringing in fresh air (albeit poorly), the faint humming of this building/facility's various electrical systems... but no hoofsteps anywhere. She gulped and funneled more energy into her horn, illuminating the room even more. Gazing at the newly visible text, she began to read.

On behalf of the SCP Foundation and our staff, we welcome you to an exciting one-month working period in one of our top-secret research facilities. Unfortunately, the exact details of your upcoming work assignments are highly classified, but please read this document carefully to make your stay as safe and pleasant as possible.

Each of the Class-D Personnel (you are one of them) has been given a numerical designation. Your personal designation is:

D-10482

Please memorize your designation, as the staff will use it to refer to you from now on.

During your stay, you will be taking part in various testing procedures. Some of them can be extremely dangerous if appropriate precautions are not taken. This is why we need your FULL COOPERATION at all times in all circumstances- out highly trained researchers and scientists know how to minimize risks and ensure the safety of the personnel involved in testing. If you fail to comply with the instructions you are given, you will be sent back to your term on death row or shot.

If everything goes as planned (meaning that we have your full cooperation), you will be released at the end of the month and you will be granted an absolute pardon for all your previous offenses.

Welcome, D-10482, to the SCP Foundation. We hope you enjoy your stay.

SECURE. CONTAIN. PROTECT.

Twilight blinked, her heart-rate rising. No wonder she hadn't heard of it- it was top secret, hidden from the public eye. She now knew for sure she shouldn't be here. 'D-Class Personnel'... clearly they weren't important. She shuddered as she thought about what the 'extremely dangerous' testing procedures they certainly went through were. And what did they mean by 'shot'?

She shuddered. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't good. She had to get out of here. Looking towards the metal door, she tried to find a doorknob or handle of some kind to open it. Now, escaping or at least finding help from somepony was her top priority.

Her hoof found it's target, and she pressed on the door. She was promptly greeted by a blinding light which burned right into her retinas. Covering her eyes with her free hoof, she walked out of the Janitorial closet. Blinking several times to adjust to the light, she looked around. She was standing in a large, rectangular room, a good thirty meters wide and twenty meters long, relative to herself. A set of stairs lay in the far-left corner of the room against the far wall, leading up to several steel platforms supported by large, concrete pillars. The platforms themselves stretched around the left and back walls entirely. Directly in front of Twilight, on the far wall, there sat a huge metal door of kinds.

The door itself was obviously heavy-duty, constructed entirely out of reinforced steel with a large 'X' pattern on the front and a slit down the middle, signaling it split in the center to open. Towards her right on the right wall, there sat another, regular-sized door with a red button next to it, and a sign above which read 'Chamber Exit'.

Twilight stopped in her tracks as she took in her new surroundings. She slowly approached the large, metal door, her hooves making a loud stomping noise against the concrete floor, dragging behind her a trail of detergent and dirt from the janitorial closet. As she arrived at the metal door, she looked behind her. The janitorial closet she had come from sat directly in front of her now, and she could now see where the metal walkways went. They lead directly into a small observation room of sorts high above the ground, inside of which many complicated electrical systems sat, as well as several monitors displaying the interior of some kind of room.

Twilight breathed in heavily as she turned back to the metal door. Suddenly, a wave of disgust washed over her. She reeled, her muzzle scrunched up as she stumbled away from the metal door, a horrible smell reeking from whatever was inside, assaulting her sense of smell. Suddenly, her ears perked up, a loud, scratching sound suddenly appearing. It was coming from beyond the door. Her heart dropped into her stomach as her eyes widened, the scratching quickly being joined by loud, concrete scrapping. The sound of concrete against metal against concrete.

Her ears folded against her skull as she walked back into the janitorial closet, away from the door. Whatever was in that room, she was glad it was locked up. Suddenly, a loud blaring sound came out of nowhere. It seemed to come from all directions, an omnipresent sound if you will. It was quickly followed by the deep voice of a middle-aged male. Maybe 20-35?

"Uh... attention, all personnel. There seems to be a problem with the SCIP Network. No Foundation computer at this site seems to be able to access the Control Systems remotely, and that includes the Door Control System. We fear we might have been hacked by a Splinter Group, or a massive system glitch has occurred. Whatever the case, we are initiating a site-wide Class A1 Lockdown out of precaution, until control can be remotely restored. All current tests involving Keter-Class Objects scheduled past 6:00 P.M are being postponed, and all tests scheduled past 12:00 A.M is as well. We will update everyone shortly."

The voice quickly faded back into nothing, the blaring stopping. Twilight bit her lip, trying to decipher what that man had said. First off, he clearly used some kind of announcement system, which explains the whole omnipresent voice thing. Second, 'SCIP Network'? 'Computer'? 'Access the Control Systems remotely'? All of those terms seemed to remind Twilight of something. Computers were relatively new devices to Equestria, only appearing as huge behemoths which take up entire rooms. They only ever appeared in large industrial centers like the Canterlot Royal University, the Manehattan Grand University and the San Franciscolt Central University. She had the luxury to mess around with the Canterlot University Computer back when she lived there, but it couldn't do much apart from simple calculations.

Third, a 'site-wide Class A1 Lockdown'? Whatever that was, it clearly wasn't good. She guessed that meant the 'site' was locked down, essentially meaning nobody can leave or enter. But that didn't really make much sense. Fourth, 'the door control system'? Apparently, they couldn't access them remotely. That implies they originally COULD do so using the computers they have here. She hoped that didn't mean that metal door would be opening any time soon. Speaking of which, the scratching seemed to have stopped. Now she could only hear concrete shuffling, even from all the way over here near the Janitorial closet.

Fifth, 'tests'? Must be those tests she had heard about in the flyer. Those 'extremely dangerous' test bit seemed to make a lot more sense now, after she had encountered... whatever was in that room. Sixth, 'Keter-Class Objects'? They clearly have a lot of objects to have their own classification system to identify... how dangerous the objects were? She wasn't entirely sure but presumed that 'Keter' isn't a good thing.

Just as she was putting the pieces together, her ears perked up. She focused entirely on her hearing, trying her hardest to pick up whatever she had sensed. Slowly, her eyes widened as she heard voices. Hoofsteps. Loud hoofsteps, from behind the door to the right. They were approaching fast, and she had to hide. Quickly diving back into the closet and shutting the door, she put her hoof across her mouth and tried not to make a sound as she gazed out a tiny crack in the door.

The door to the right opened, and several... creatures walked out. They weren't ponies, much to her shock. They were... bipeds, it seemed. Three of them were wearing clothing of some kind. A black, tough-looking vest, a helmet with a golden visor, and each carrying a black stick in their arms. Judging the way they were holding them, she determined they were a kind of weapon. They seemed to be escorting three other bipeds. Those three each were wearing orange jumpsuits, with a number printed on both the front and back. She could see their posture and faces more clearly now. They walked on two legs and only had hair on their heads, with some visible fur along the chest in one case. They seemed incredibly balanced, despite only having two legs to stand on. Finally, there was one other biped wearing what appeared to be a white lab coat. She listened in to their conversation.

"Damn it all to hell. Alright, listen up, idiots. We have very limited time to get this done, so listen to us and don't fuck this up. Alright?" The first biped said, waving his black stick around.. His voice sounded loud and powerful, with a tint of fear, anxiety, and anger to it. Clearly, he was worried about something. Quickly, he spoke again.

"You! Sergeant, uh-"

"Christopher, sir."

"Christopher! Go head towards Evacuation Shelter L-9 and open the doors for us. Ready your firearm just in case a breach occurs. You'll hear it over the intercom if it does, alright? Good. Now fuck off."

"Yes, sir."

Twilight flinched at their harsh language as 'Christopher' ran off somewhere else. Clearly, they didn't mess around.

"You! Private, uh... Liam, was it?"

"Yep. Private Liam, reporting for duty."

"Go stand out by the office space in case one of these fuckwits decides to escape, okay?

"Roger that."

"Alright. Now, you, Mr. Science Guy. I need-"

"James, sir."

"I don't give a fuck. Head up to the observation room immediately and open the doors, giving the damn Remote Door Control Systems seem to be offline."

"Yes, sir."

Twilight watched as the two bipeds, who clearly were lower rank, walk off to do their respective tasks. Then, the first biped, the one Twilight presumed to be the commander, stared at the three bipeds with the orange jumpsuits.

"You guys, head to the damn door and do as I say. I swear to god if any of you try to escape I'll shoot you without a second thought. We have very limited time as the intercom said so hurry the fuck up."

Twilight watched as the commander walked up the stairs to the metal walkway and stared at the orange-jumpsuit bipeds as they approached the metal door. The commander seemed to look towards the observation room and nod, and soon after the metal door started to open. Twilight's eyes widened as it revealed the interior of the room. The doors led to a large, steel room, completely cubical. On the floor, there seemed to be an odd reddish-brown substance and in the far-left corner of the room...

Twilight dry-heaved as the stench hit her, even over the smell of detergent she had spilled and the distance to the room. Regaining her composure, she looked back towards the room, staring at an odd, biped-ish statue in the corner. It was tall, pale, looked like one of those bipeds except without any clothes and no hands nor feet to speak of. Its head was abnormally large, but its face wasn't visible, as the statue was looking in the other direction, away from her. But that didn't make any sense. Where was the creature she had encountered?

"Alright, fuckfaces. D-9341 and D-9673, enter the chamber. D-10482, start- where is your fucking cleaning equipment? God damn it. Head back to the janitorial closet and grab some stuff IMMEDIATELY or I will personally schedule your execution for two seconds from now. Do this immediately, then we're heading to the evacuation shelter." The commander shouted, his voice echoing throughout the room.

Twilight's blood ran cold as who she presumed was 'D-10482' started walking towards her. Time seemed to slow down as Twilight could practically hear her heartbeat. Right as the biped approached the door and latched its hands around the door, a loud blaring noise was heard and the intercom was heard again.

"Attention, all personnel! The Door Control System is being accessed remotely from an unknown source. An immediate Class B3 Lockdown has been initiated per direct order of O5-7! We advise all personnel to seek out a safe space, or prepare for an evacuation. All testing and non-necessary procedures have been postponed. All SCP doors are to be shut and locked immediately."

Silence reigned for at least three seconds before the commander shouted.

"Oh, for fuck's sakes. Alright, scratch this. D-10482, head to the door and stay there. Science-guy, close the damn doors the second those guys leave the room. D-9341 and D-9673, back up and keep direct eye-contact with SCP-173 until the doors are closed and then join your friend near the door. DON'T BLINK."

Twilight gulped as the doors started to close and the two bipeds left the room slowly. 'Don't blink'? 'Keep direct-eye contact'? What, does that mean that statue can only move when... well, that would explain the... scratching... oh god. Twilight dry-heaved once more. But suddenly, the doors stopped closing. A horrible screeching noise ripped its way into her ears as the several tons of metal scratched to a halt against the concrete before the doors started to open instead. Twilight saw the commander open his mouth to speak, but then the lights went out.

"Wh- WHAT THE F-"

Crunch.

"I-"

Crunch.

And then the lights came back on.

Twilight nearly screamed in terror, just barely managing to keep it in with her hoof as she saw the statue, in that brief second the lights were out, somehow managed to move all the way out of its chamber. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the dead body on the ground and the dead body in the statue's hands.

"Oh my go- EVERYBODY HERE KEEP DIRECT EYE-CONTACT WITH THE STATUE, UNTIL-"

The lights went out again.

The sound of concrete against metal.

The lights went on, just long enough for Twilight to see the commander screaming at the top of the platform, aiming its black stick at the statue. A second later, the lights went out again.

Crunch.

Twilight couldn't hold back a scream this time. Even in pitch-black, she managed to slam the janitorial door shut, backing up deeper into the closet. All she saw was blackness. She slipped and fell right onto the janitorial equipment as she heard concrete scraping against metal and concrete, rapidly changing position, heading throughout the room, undoubtedly enjoying its newfound freedom without any light.

She screamed in pain as the janitorial equipment hit her bad leg. Several other sensitive spots on her body were hit hard, too. Biting her lips as she struggled to get up, slipping on the detergent once more. She flipped sides and fell face first into the equipment, her face winding up straight in a bucket of soap.

She quickly pulled herself out of the soap, rubbing her eyes and stumbling back out of the door. The door gave way as she slammed into it, causing her to fall directly onto the concrete floor outside the closet. This time, she couldn't get up immediately. Both her eyes and her leg burned. She just lay there, hyperventilating for a moment. Biting her lip to stifle another panicked scream, she perked her ears and waited five seconds. Nothing. The statue had left.

Twilight immediately stumbled up, slipping on the detergent trail she had left earlier and rushed in the direction she thought the door was. The commander had said the evacuation shelter was over this way before he... he... She picked up speed before smashing face-first into a concrete pillar, the sound of the statue being heard again not to far away.

Twilight let out a yelp, falling back down for only a second. She quickly got back up, ignoring the sudden urge to sneeze and the pain she now felt in her muzzle and instead leaned against the pillar, attempting to gather her bearings. The lights finally came back on. At least some of them did. Most of the lights were turned off, the only ones turned on were several red, flickering lights, which filled the room with an eerie red glow. Seconds later, an alarm started to sound.

Twilight looked around the room in terror, unsure of what to do. Four dead bodies lay around the room. One in the observation room, one on the walkway, and two near the containment chamber. The window to the observation room was broken, the scientist lay half-inside and half-outside of it, neck broken and twisted in unnatural ways. The railing was almost completely shattered, the statue having smashed through it. A ventilation pipe near the ceiling also lay in ruin. Twilight's ears perked as she listened.

Screams of agony rippled throughout the facility, from several floors above her to several floors beneath her, in an almost perfect match-up with the alarm blaring. The sound of growling echoed along with the sound of ripping flesh, the same loud bangs Twilight had heard the commander make with his weapon also accompanied it. Laughter from far away, an unnatural but almost equine scream of anger, small explosions, and one single scream, so full of pain, agony, and misery that it trumped all else. It was by far louder than any other, and lasted dramatically longer as well- Twilight hoped she never had to figure out who or what caused it.

Suddenly, the broken ventilation pipe above Twilight started to make loud sounds, as if something was moving through it. Fast. A huge stream of red liquid fell out of the pipe, smashing onto the ground and washing away the brown-red goo on the floor of the Containment Chamber, along with several pieces of flesh. The intercom came on again, the same male from before's voice echoing throughout the room.

"Attention, all personnel! Somebody is opening up the containment chambers remotely! This site is now experiencing multiple Keter and Euclid Class Containment Breaches, and we advise all remaining personnel of Class-C or higher to enter to your nearest evacuation shelter immediately! Both the Primary and Secondary Lighting Systems have been shut down remotely, only the Emergency lighting is still working. The Main Fusion Generator has also been shut down, we are operating on our Emergency Generator systems! Full-site lockdown initiated!"

As Twilight ran towards the door marked 'Chamber Exit', she reflected on how she winded up here.

Twilight wanted to visit another dimension.

Her spell had worked.

And as she opened the door, she wished it hadn't.

Author's Note

Yep! I'm doing this. I hope you all like it!

Crunch

"Oh, shi-"

"Keep your eyes on it!"

Twilight ran outside the room, her eyes darting left and right, taking in her new surroundings as that familiar alarm blared loudly across the facility. Several small, red lights placed sporadically across the ceiling illuminated the room she now found herself in within an eerie, red glow. Twilight could hear several screams and the violent sound of ripping flesh echoing down the halls. Along with the alarm, a monotone voice constantly repeated the phrase 'Warning: 184/A+/2381/91/37 Containment Breach' constantly, at regular ten-second intervals.

Twilight examined the room she now found herself in. It was large, obviously- she stood on a large, metal walkway, which bisected the room in two, standing several meters above the ground. Directly in front of her, at the other end of the walkway stood a large, metal door with a sign labeled 'D-Class Cell Block L-2'. Towards her right, there sat a set of stairs, which lead down to the ground floor.

Making a quick decision, Twilight ignored the pain racking her body and darted down the stairs, her heart beating a thousand times a minute like a drum. Gazing around the room from the floor, she made a quick note of the entities inhabiting it. One biped with an orange jumpsuit (she determined that those were called 'D-Class Personnel') running out of a nearby door towards the left of where she now was, one biped with a white lab coat coated in blood (She'll call these ones 'Scientists'), standing directly behind another biped that was wearing the same vest, uniform, and visor from before. (These ones were guards in her mind.)

Near the exit to her right, only a few meters in front of her, the statue sat, gazing towards the scientist and guard with its hands outstretched towards them. The two bipeds themselves were slowly walking backward, towards the door which the D-Class had left from. Finally, just out of the corner of her left eye, one last biped stood. From what Twilight saw, it was elderly and completely black. It was covered in a viscous substance from head-to-toe and seemed to be phasing through the floor. Only it's torso and head was visible for any amount of time before it vanished beneath the concrete floor.

Twilight looked towards the door in which the statue was standing directly in front of. Though difficult to read the sign above it from her point of view, she could make out what it said. It read 'Evacuation Shelter L-9'. A dead body with a neck twisted the wrong way around sat slumped against the door, at the foot of the statue. Twilight's eyes darted between the statue and the evacuation shelter to the two bipeds now leaving the room the same way the D-Class had left, trying to decide where to go and what to do.

Then the lights went out.

A concrete scrapping rang throughout the room, but only for a split second before the lights came back on. The statue had now moved several meters towards the guard and scientist, causing them both to jump.

"Oh, shit! Scientist, open the door for us, now! I'll keep an eye on it."

"Y-yes, sir!"

The scientist turned around to face the door they now were pinned between and the statue. Pressing a nearby red button, the door opened and the guard and the scientist backed out the door. Seconds later, the lights went out again, and the statue disappeared, the door closing behind all three of them. A single crunch echoed into Twilight's ears, the concrete scrapping quickly leaving and disappearing somewhere else before the lights blinked back on.

Twilight stood still, frozen in fear, unable to do much of anything as she took in the situation she now found herself in. She couldn't use her magic to teleport back home for a long while, which meant she had to wait. But to wait, she had to survive first. And that meant she had to move. She didn't know what other monsters had been released, but she sure as hell knew they weren't good.

Quickly making her way towards the Evacuation Shelter door and ignoring the dead body, she tried to find a way to open it. A handle, a doorknob... something. She discovered a small, red button to the left of the metal door, with a small piece of glass above it. The glass itself acted sort of like a screen, displaying the message 'Locked Down' on it. Twilight pressed the button several times, but to no avail. The door simply refused to open. Twilight slammed her hoof into the door several times, screaming for somebody to open. But yet, nobody came.

Looking around in terror as adrenaline coursed through her veins, she decided to look around the room. Perhaps she could find something of use. There were several desks, tables, and chairs around the room, all with odd boxes with black glass in the front laying on each one of them. Several lockers and drawers lay around as well. Several chairs were knocked over, obviously, somebody was in a hurry- and... huh. Odd.

Twilight turned to her left, gazing at several tables and chairs underneath the walkway she had come from. They were all sinking into a large, black puddle on the floor, right where the old, black biped from earlier had been located. She approached it slowly, every fiber of her being screaming at her not to. But yet she did and touched the odd, black goop. Immediately, her hoof started to burn and she jumped back in pain. Whatever that goop was, she should avoid it.

She quickly ran towards several other desks and lockers, opening up the drawers for each of them, trying to find something to let her through the Evacuation Shelter door. Cotton, lint, few pieces of paper, a single battery, and other junk. Twilight sighed as she took the battery out of the locker with her telekinesis, and teleported it to her storage area. Basically, it was a sort of pocket dimension that could be used to store small objects for future use. It took quite a bit of magic to open an artificial storage area, much more store anything large in it, but this battery may come in handy. Biting her lip, she turned towards the door where the statue had gone and marched forward.

She opened the door cautiously, looking around to make sure the statue wasn't there. The door went to another small room. A cross-section, it seemed. Twilight now had two paths, left or right. Twilight looked around both corners carefully, trying to investigate for any statue or creature that may want to kill her or worse. Judging the room to be safe, she tried to decide where to go.

Suddenly, a shrill shriek echoed throughout the facility, causing a chill to run up Twilight's spine. The shriek was almost pony, almost normal, but had something... odd about it. Distorted. It quickly dissolved into faint crying and babbling. Twilight stood for at least a half minute in fear before the faint crying and babbling once again turned into screaming. A scream of rage. Some creature ran throughout the facility, far above her, stomping across the floor loudly, before reaching its target. Another scream erupted from another creature entirely, this time one of agony. Of pure, horrific agony. A ripping, pounding and sloshing sound all came from above her, the two creatures almost in unison in their screams, before one finally dissolved into faint crying, the second voice of some poor soul dying out entirely, letting out one last choke of agony before fading into oblivion.

She had to get out of here.

Twilight went right. She trotted over towards the door, and stopped, her hoof hovering above the button. What if the statue was behind this door? She couldn't break eye-contact, and that included blinking. She blinked before the opened the door, in an attempt to lengthen the amount of time she could keep her eyes open. Opening the door, she encountered another hallway, barely illuminated by a dim red light, the same alarm still blaring throughout the facility.

She examined the room, making sure no statue was hiding behind any corner before closing the door behind her. That was a wise idea. Walking slowly, carefully and deliberately, she marched through the hallway. A small puddle of that same black goop from earlier lay on the ground, next to what appeared to be a splot of blood. Avoiding it, she reached the other side of the room, blinking once before opening the door. Another hallway.

She made it through that hallway without much consequence as well. Approaching the third door, she blinked and opened it. She froze in place almost instantly. On the left wall of the hallway, an open door sat, leading into what appeared to be an elevator. But that wasn't the part which made her freeze. Two dead bodies lay in the room. One lay on the floor, a white lab coat covering its body and face. Another lay inside the elevator. Or at least, Twilight presumed one did. Inside the elevator, a single arm lay outside of the door, the rest of the body hidden, a large stream of blood pooling out from inside the elevator, into a small indent in the concrete floor.

Twilight's heart dropped into her stomach as the stench of recently-dead corpses decomposing hit her nostrils, almost making her vomit right then and there. Putting her hoof across her mouth and closing the door behind her, she slowly approached the elevator. As she approached it and more of the body came into view, she scrunched up her muzzle to avoid the smell. Finally, she stood head-on between the scientist and the body in the elevator.

All at once, Twilight realized a few things.

First off, there was a body in the elevator, that was confirmed.

However, it wasn't connected to the arm. It was slumped in the corner, it's head bending sideways in an unnatural way.

Second off, the statue stood next to it, it's hands coated in blood.

Twilight screamed in terror at the sight.

Almost instinctively, she blinked.

That wasn't a good idea.

It was an extremely fast, unconscious kind of blink, just short enough to block out her view for only a split-second. But the statue was fast, and it was enough. It moved several meters towards her, and by the time Twilight regained her vision, its hands were already around her neck.

She couldn't breathe, that was something she noticed pretty early on. She also noticed its face for the first time, mere inches away from hers. A large indent lay directly in the middle of its face, surrounded by a coating of red paint that seemed to act as its nose. Two giant, green bulbs sat on either side of its nose, glaring off into infinity. Two smaller, black bulbs sat beneath the green ones. Twilight couldn't make out the fine details, as she was too busy choking to death to bother.

She screamed in terror. Or at least tried to. Her hinds legs were at least a foot above the ground, waving wildly, trying to find contact with something. Seconds passed, and she dared not take her eyes off the statue's hideous face. Unfortunately, it seemed she will soon have to. Her eyes started to burn, begging her to close them, just for a second. After all, what could possibly happen in that time frame? Right?

Her vision started to fade as her brain craved oxygen, the statue's arms pressed against her neck, blocking all airflow from entering. This wasn't a good thing. Suddenly, her legs found contact with the statue's concrete body, and Twilight immediately began pushing. She began to lose consciousness, but still, she pushed through, her neck moving mere inches at a time away from the statue. But yet, it was enough to allow some airflow in. That tiny hint of success emboldened her to go through with what she was doing, pushing against the statue in an attempt to free her head.

Low and behold, it worked. She fell to the ground, her eyes still unmoving, fixed against the statue's head. She bit her lip to stifle another scream, this time of pain and pushed herself away from that abomination. Her eyes at this point felt like they were going to simply burn up and fall out of her skull. She got up, focused on the statue, and moved towards the door.

She used her free hoof to feel around for the button. She was going to blink, and she couldn't help it. It was just too much. But that would mean death. There was no way the statue would spare her this time. She would wind up on the floor, dead, with her neck twisted the wrong way around. But then her hoof felt the button. Pressing it down, the door shuddered and opened, and Twilight just about fell through. She immediately pressed the button to close the door and watched as the statue disappeared from view.

She collapsed onto the floor, blinking wildly to try and rid her eyes of that horrible dryness as she heard concrete scrapping from the statue behind the door, shuffling around, seemingly mocking her. It didn't seem to know how to activate doors, thank Celestia. She sighed and turned around to investigate the room she now found herself in.

It was another hallway, illuminated with the same dim, red lights and the same, horrifying alarm blaring throughout. She heard a faint scream of a female somewhere, more than a hundred meters to her right. The walls here clearly weren't very thick. She paid it no mind and ventured through the hallway as she had done before, ignoring the shuffling of concrete from behind her. The first odd thing she noticed about this room was the two doors on either side of the hallway. Each had its own red button, ready to open. Twilight slowly approached them and, blinking before she entered, opened the one on the right in curiosity.

As the door slid open, she took note of the interior. It seemed to be a storage room of sorts, without any real importance to it. The room was small had another door directly in front of her as she stood in the doorframe, with a red button next to it only three meters away. The room extended to her left, with several shelves lining the walls that way. She entered the room and began searching the shelves. A cold cup of coffee, lint, some dust, a gas mask and two pieces of paper with writing on them. This peaked Twilight's interest, and she picked up the first piece of paper in curiosity, reading through it.

Item #: SCP-173

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Item SCP-173 is to be kept in a locked container at all times. When personnel must enter SCP-173's container, no fewer than 3 may enter at any time and the door is to be relocked behind them. At all times, two persons must maintain direct eye contact with SCP-173 until all personnel has vacated and relocked the container.

Description: Moved to Site-19 1993. Origin is as of yet unknown. It is constructed from concrete and rebar with traces of Krylon brand spray paint. SCP-173 is animate and extremely hostile. The object cannot move while within a direct line of sight. Line of sight must not be broken at any time with SCP-173. Personnel assigned to enter container are instructed to alert one another before blinking. The object is reported to attack by snapping the neck at the base of the skull, or by strangulation. In the event of an attack, personnel is to observe Class 4 hazardous object containment procedures.

Personnel report sounds of scraping stone originating from within the container when no one is present inside. This is considered normal, and any change in this behavior should be reported to the acting HMCL supervisor on duty.

The reddish-brown substance on the floor is a combination of feces and blood. Origin of these materials is unknown. The enclosure must be cleaned on a bi-weekly basis.

The document also contained a picture of the statue, standing in its cell. Twilight nearly barfed right then and there. So that's what caused that horrible smell... she shuddered as she thought about it. But at least she knew what the statue was called now. 'SCP-173'? How many do they have? Clearly, a lot of these 'SCPs' were stored here. She hated to know what they were.

Putting the document down, she turned to grab the other piece of paper, and quickly read through it, absorbing the information.

Safe

Safe-class SCPs are anomalies that are easily and safely contained. This is often due to the fact that the Foundation has researched the SCP well enough that containment does not require significant resources or that the anomalies require a specific and conscious activation or trigger. Classifying an SCP as Safe, however, does not mean that handling or activating it does not pose a threat.

Euclid

Euclid-class SCPs are anomalies that require more resources to contain completely or where containment isn't always reliable. Usually this is because the SCP is insufficiently understood or inherently unpredictable. Euclid is the Object Class with the greatest scope, and it's usually a safe bet that an SCP will be this class if it doesn't easily fall into any of the other standard Object Classes.

As a note, any SCP that's autonomous, sentient, and/or sapient is generally classified as Euclid, due to the inherent unpredictability of an object that can act or think on its own.

Keter

Keter-class SCPs are anomalies that are exceedingly difficult to contain consistently or reliably, with containment procedures often being extensive and complex. The Foundation often can't contain these SCPs well due to not having a solid understanding of the anomaly, or lacking the technology to properly contain or counter it. A Keter SCP does not mean the SCP is dangerous, just that it is simply very difficult or costly to contain. Not to say a Keter-class SCP shouldn't be approached with caution.

Twilight bit her lip and thought. So, SCP-173 was a Euclid-class... Insufficiently understood, autonomous, sentient and/or sapient. She supposed that made sense. It was clearly all of those things. Putting down the document, she looked towards the gas mask sitting on the shelf. She decided grabbing it was a wise idea. She took it with her telekinesis and examined it closely, looking over each and every detail. Obviously, it was designed to fit a bipedal face, but she could probably fit it on her without much difficulty if she scrunched up her muzzle.

Putting the gas mask into her storage dimension, she decided investigating the other door was a good idea. She entered it quickly and wound up... several meters behind where she had come from.. She paused, before heading backward. And, low and behold, she seemed to have been teleported back to where she started from. The rooms appeared to loop back upon each other.

At this point, Twilight was about to accept anything. She quickly gave up trying to find the way out and headed forward, leaving behind the recursive rooms and wandered down the hallway to advance further into the facility. Or out. She had no idea where she was going. The second before she opened the door, she stopped. The concrete shuffling had disappeared. SCP-173 was either trying to lure her or had somehow left that area. She decided the former. After all, SCP-173 couldn't open doors, she already established that. Right?

Twilight blinked and opened the door, finding herself in a new room style entirely. It was a small hallway, only three meters wide with one door on the left side of the room and a monitor of some sort above it. Entering the room and closing the door behind her, she looked into the monitor. It appeared to show a large, square chamber of sorts- filled with a type of black gas of some kind. Clearly, it was showing what was behind that door on the left side of the hall.

She decided the gas mask would protect her from the gas, and donned it. It fit snuggly if she scrunched up her muzzle. Right before she opened the door, she stopped. Looking into the monitor more closely, she could swear she saw a figure inside it. Flying up with her wings, she placed her face less than two inches from the monitor. SCP-173 was inside the room.

She dropped down and blinked wildly, trying to refresh her eyesight. Taking one large breath, she pressed the button and opened the door. Walking into the gas room carefully and deliberately, she scanned the room and found SCP-173 in the corner, facing away from her. She quickly walked sideways to make her way to the exit, focusing on the statue. Suddenly, she heard a loud, continuous beeping sound and saw a red light flash above the exit door. The exit door was about to close. She backed up fast, just barely managing to fall through the exit before the door closed, trapping SCP-173 inside. Again.

She removed the gas mask and stood up, chuckling to herself as she looked in the monitor, seeing SCP-173 near the exit door, apparently frustrated. It wasn't getting out of there. She jumped down from the monitor, and headed away from the lockroom, hearing concrete shuffling that eventually faded away, as if the source of the shuffling disappeared. She blinked in surprise and looked back at the monitor. Somehow, SCP-173 had managed to leave the lockroom, being nowhere to be seen. The ventilation grate was broke off and on the floor.

She bit her lip and turned back to leave. Clearly, it was rather agile for a statue. Blinking, she opened the door and entered yet another hallway. The next three rooms weren't eventful, with nothing but a few screams occasionally ringing out from far off. But as Twilight entered the fourth room, the scenery changed. She found herself in a large, open room. The left half, the half Twilight was in, was elevated off the floor. A single stairway lead from the left half to the lower right half, blocked by a door and glass walls. The very left side had a room of sorts, with two doorframes leading into a smaller storage area, with several shelves containing various supplies.

On the right, lower half, Twilight could see two bipeds talking. One was wearing what appeared to be a bright, blue janitorial uniform, and the other a white lab coat. Twilight listened in to their conversation.

"I... I think the shortest way out, is through the South-East Wing. Follow me." The scientist stated, pulling out a small, yellow rectangle and beginning to walk towards a nearby door. Suddenly, the lights flickered, and a loud concrete scrapping sound started echoing from a nearby ventilation shaft.

"...Did you hear that? I hope it wasn't-"

And then the lights went out. The concrete scrapping sound intensified, swiftly followed by two loud crunches. The lights came back on, and SCP-173 now stood over the two dead bodies. Twilight, startled, walked backwards fast, directly into the storage area. She bumped into something. Both she and somebody else let out a scream.

"Ah! What the fuck?! What the fuck are you?!" a voice from behind Twilight screamed. Twilight stumbled around, screaming and focusing her vision on the person she had just bumped into. He was a tall biped, wearing an orange jumpsuit. He had brownish hair on his head and a large, muscular body.

"I... You... I'm... what? Who are you?!" Twilight screamed. A short silence reigned.

"...You can talk? I- What's your designation? I haven't seen you around here before." The biped said, apparently startled.

"...My... designation?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, your designation! Your number! What SCP are you? And hurry up, Cap'n Crunch is over there and he doesn't seem too happy about that glass wall!" The biped yelled, gesturing to behind the glass wall Twilight was leaned against. Twilight knew what he was referring to. He clearly thought she was an 'SCP' of some kind. Twilight hesitated for a second. Should she tell him the truth or no? She doubted he'll believe her, but what would he do to her if she told him she was an SCP? After a second, Twilight responded.

"My... designation is SCP... uh... 47?" Twilight said hesitantly.

"SCP-047? Haven't seen you around here before. Are you new? Uh, nevermind. Listen, I just checked the storage area, it has fuck-all. We need a keycard to get out of here and if you intend to survive, you need me to help you get one." The biped shouted, gesturing towards SCP-173, who still stood next to the bodies, albeit in a slightly different position.

"Keycard?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, keycard! You know? A key in the shape of a card. Keycard. You know what a key is, right?" The biped shouted.

"Yes, of course! But- wait, you... 'Cap'n Crunch'?" Twilight asked. The biped hesitated.

"It's, uh... It's a nickname for SCP-173 over there. A favorite among us D-Class. But listen here. I'm going to open that door, and I need you to keep an eye on SCP-173 at all times. Don't blink without alerting me, alright? Good." The biped said, walking towards the door. Twilight tried to object, but no words came out. She had no choice but to trust him. Gulping and blinking several times, she walked towards the door.

"Ready?" The biped said, looking down at Twilight. Twilight merely nodded in response. "Good."

The door opened, and Twilight could now see the damage SCP-173 caused in full. The scientist and what Twilight presumed to be a janitor both sat dead on the floor, their necks twisted in unnatural ways. Two small colorful rectangles sat on the ground. One was light gray and sat in the Janitor's hand, the other was light yellow and sat underneath SCP-173's leg. It had a huge crack down the middle, basically split in two under the immense weight of the statue.

"Oh, fuck. Damn it, damn it, damn it! Alright, I'm gonna need you to go grab that gray card over there, alright? And keep a constant eye on the statue." The biped said, pushing Twilight forward.

"What?! You expect me to- You know what? I'll just use my magic." Twilight stated and promptly began funneling her magic into her horn, creating a small glow.

"Wh- magic? Are you for- whoa." The biped said, watching as Twilight's horn glowed purple. The keycard slowly began hovering, barely moving. Twilight funneled more magic in, beginning to strain herself as the keycard moved mere inches toward her. Finally, she gave up, the magic dissipating into the air and the keycard falling to the ground.

"I... I can't use my magic. Why can't I use my magic?! The... the air, it doesn't contain any ambient magic! I can't recharge it fast. Why doesn't the air contain any magic?!" Twilight screamed.

"Magic isn't real. Or at least, not in that way. I don't think. Obviously. Maybe. I honestly don't know, considering Cap'n Crunch over there is... I, uh..." The biped stated, going silent for a moment in thought. "You know what? You keep an eye on the statue. Don't blink. I'll go grab the keycard." The biped started to walk down the stairs, and Twilight bit her lip, focusing on the statue, her mind still racing from why she couldn't use her magic. The biped slowly approached SCP-173, keeping his eyes fixed on it. As he picked up the keycard, Twilight felt the urge to blink.

"Uh, I have to blink."

"Go for it."

Twilight blinked, and the biped approached, walking backwards up the stairs so not to break eye-contact with SCP-173. Entering the upper part of the room, he closed the door, blinking rapidly shortly afterward. SCP-173 shuffled around angrily downstairs.

"Honestly. I hate this guy so much." The biped said, rubbing his eyes. "Alright, we got a Janitor Keycard, at least. Let's go."

Twilight looked towards the biped walking away from her, back to SCP-173 through the glass wall, and finally back to the biped once more. Sucking in a breath of air, she followed him. They passed through the door into the next room, and as they did so, Twilight examined her surroundings. An open door leading into an elevator sat not too far from her, on the right side of the room. A small device, which she determined was a miniature computer, sat next to it.

"Alright, sweet. C'mon." The biped said, gesturing towards the computer. He walked up to it and pressed a small button implanted into the device. Immediately, the device turned on, the screen turns white for a few seconds before displaying the question 'Please Input Keycard'. The biped quickly took the keycard and slid it into a small slot, opening up several new messages, each one saying something along the lines of 'Click here to access blank'. The biped tapped on the option labeled 'Mail, Messages and Announcements' and began reading.

"Uh... it appears an SCP has taken over the facility. SCP... SCP-079, it seems. I think SCP-079 is a sentient computer or some shit like that. Nobody knows how yet, though." The biped said, before pulling out the keycard and turning the device off. "We should get out of here. Follow me."

Twilight followed the biped into the elevator, sighing as the biped pressed the 'down' button and the doors closed. The familiar rumble of an elevator in transit started to vibrate into her hooves. Twilight began to reflect on what has happened so far. She wound up in a facility of some kind, inhabited by monsters and odd bipedal creatures. All because she didn't just double-check her damn spell. Speaking of the bipedal creatures...

"Uh, excuse me?" Twilight said, looking up at the odd biped which was helping her.

"Yeah, 047?" The biped said.

"Oh, please call me Twilight, thank you. Um, what's your name?" Twilight asked. The biped hesitated, seemingly in thought for several seconds before responding right as the elevator doors opened.

"Call me... D-9341."

Author's Note

Oooh boy. The first chapter in which Twilight actually DOES stuff! She encountered SCP-173 quite a few times here, hence the chapter name. I have a lot of stuff planned. Can't wait to write it all.

Hope you enjoyed!

Radical Larry

The door to the elevator opens with a thud, the two sides of metal screeching against the floor and walls as they reveal Light Containment Floor #3. The room it opened up into wasn't very large, only five meters from the elevator to the wall directly in front of it. It was more of a hallway, with two doors on either side of the room. That familiar alarm still blared throughout the facility, and the room was only illuminated by several, sporadically-placed dim, red lights. Immediately after the doors finished opening, D-9341 left the elevator and turned right, walking in a hurry towards the door.

"Uh, mister? Where are we going?" Twilight asked, following D-9341 through the right door and into another hallway.

"The only way out of this damn facility is through the Heavy Containment Zone. In order to get there, we need some supplies." D-9341 responded, stomping through the hallway and entering the next.

"The... Heavy Containment Zone? I just got here! What even IS this facility?!" Twilight yelled, stopping in place. D-9341 paused, before turning around to face Twilight.

"047? Do you-"

"Twilight."

"Sorry. Twilight, do you know anything about this facility?"

Twilight paused, racking her brain for answers.

"It's... uh, a top-secret research facility, I got that. It's dedicated to... securing and containing monsters and other creatures from the general public. Right?" Twilight responded, looking up at D-9341 nervously.

"Kind of. But it's not just monsters. Any and all creatures, objects or... anything, really, that either poses a threat to normalcy or human civilization as a whole. Anomalous objects, basically." D-9341 responded, leaning against a metal door. "And it's not just one facility. It's an organization, with hundreds of different facilities all over the world. We're in... what was it, Site-37? I'm not actually allowed to know most of this, but I did some snooping and I figure we're underneath Lake Mackay, Australia. Middle of nowhere. Perfect spot."

"Uh, 'Human Civilization'? Australia? What are those things?" Twilight asked curiously. D-9341 hesitated before responding.

"Uh, my species. Humans. And Australia's an island-continent. Basically, we're underneath a lake in the middle of an empty desert in the middle of a mostly barren island-continent in the middle of an ocean in the middle of nowhere. Like I said, perfect spot." D-9341 said, turning around and opening the door to the next room. This time, the room was a T-Shape, with a door both forward and to the left. Twilight blinked.

"Interesting. So, uh, is this place the facility where all the dangerous ones are stored?" Twilight asked, following D-9341 as he went left.

"Not exactly. In fact, from my intelligence, this facility isn't even supposed to hold any more objects than ten or twenty Safe and Euclid Class Anomalies. It's more of a research facility than anything. Apparently, some other splinter group attacked a bunch of facilities at once and stole a few objects, so the higher-ups decided to send a whole bunch of anomalies who's containment chambers were compromised in the attack here. This facility just couldn't handle such a load of objects." D-9341 said, pausing as he entered the next room. "And here we are."

Twilight began to examine her surroundings. The room she was standing in wasn't special or unique, basically the same exact thing. The only thing which really stood out was a door to the right, which looked very out of place. It had a sign above it reading 'Archive Room L-2'. D-9341 immediately took out his Janitor Keycard and tried to open the door.

"What SCPs do you know of?" Twilight asked as D-9341 opened the door to the Storage Room.

"Uh, a few. You've met Cap'n Crunch, but I believe SCP-131, SCP-106, and SCP-529 are also... here..." D-9341 trailed off, looking into the storage room in mild disbelief. "Speak of the devil."

Twilight looked around D-9341 in shock. The Archive Room itself was quite large, although basic- essentially consisting of about ten tall shelves stacked in a row, almost like a library. Sitting not too far away down the row you arrive in upon entering the room sat a cat. But not just any cat- it was, well, split in half. The cat itself was grey, with white paws and was standing perpendicular to Twilight. It's entire lower body and everything below the ribcage was completely gone, and in place was a completely smooth, black surface.

"Here, Josie Josie Josie!" D-9341 cooed, kneeling down and snapping his fingers to try and lure the half-cat towards him. "Hey, Twilight. Close the Archive Door. Here, take the keycard."

D-9341 handed Twilight the Janitor Keycard, before continuing to try and attract the cat. Twilight merely stood in shock for several more seconds before turning around and closing the door. By the time she had turned around, D-9341 had already attracted the cat and was currently stroking it's head.

"Awww. Who's a good girl? Adorable. Alright, now go on, then. Hope you'll be fine." D-9341 said, shooing the half-cat. The half-cat immediately jumped up and walked off somewhere else, disappearing from view behind a shelf. Twilight merely stood there, slack-jawed as D-9341 noticed.

"Heh. Bit surprised, huh? Can't blame you. That little girl's called 'Josie', or SCP-529. The half-cat. Now c'mon, we have work to do." D-9341 said, getting up from his uncomfortable position and walking away while Twilight gathered her bearings and followed.

"...Wh... what was that? How's that even possible?!" Twilight said, wide-eyed.

"Who knows? Like I said, anomalous objects and entities." D-9341 said, smiling as he browsed the shelves. Twilight immediately clamped her mouth shut in response, still wide-eyed. D-9341 paused for a second shortly afterward, browsing the documents.

"096... 096... ah, here we are. And, uh... here's 939. Here, read these." D-9341 said, handing Twilight two papers. Twilight immediately attempted to levitate them with her magic, but realized too late that she had ran out as the papers dropped to the floor. "...Nice." D-9341 said, rolling his eyes and walking off.

Twilight sighed and sat down, reading through the documents slowly as D-9341 went off somewhere else, looking through the shelves of supplies. Twilight grabbed a document after some difficulty with her hoof, reading through it slowly and deliberately.

Item #: SCP-096

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-096 is to be contained in its cell, a 5 m x 5 m x 5 m airtight steel cube, at all times. Weekly checks for any cracks or holes are mandatory. There are to be absolutely no video surveillance or optical tools of any kind inside SCP-096's cell. Security personnel will use pre-installed pressure sensors and laser detectors to ensure SCP-096's presence inside the cell.

Any and all photos, video, or recordings of SCP-096's likeness are strictly forbidden without approval from Dr. ███ and O5-█.

Description: SCP-096 is a humanoid creature measuring approximately 2.38 meters in height. Subject shows very little muscle mass, with a preliminary analysis of body mass suggesting mild malnutrition. Arms are grossly out of proportion with the rest of the subject's body, with an approximate length of 1.5 meters each. Skin is mostly devoid of pigmentation, with no sign of any body hair.

SCP-096's jaw can open to four (4) times the norm of an average human. Other facial features remain similar to an average human, with the exception of the eyes, which are also devoid of pigmentation. It is not yet known whether SCP-096 is blind or not. It shows no signs of any higher brain functions and is not considered to be sapient.

SCP-096 is normally extremely docile, with pressure sensors inside its cell indicating it spends most of the day pacing by the eastern wall. However, when someone views SCP-096's face, whether it be directly, via video recording, or even a photograph, it will enter a stage of considerable emotional distress. SCP-096 will cover its face with its hands and begin screaming, crying, and babbling incoherently. Approximately one (1) to two (2) minutes after the first viewing, SCP-096 will begin running to the person who viewed its face (who will from this point on be referred to as SCP-096-1).

Documented speeds have varied from thirty-five (35) km/h to ███ km/h, and seems to depend on distance from SCP-096-1. At this point, no known material or method can impede SCP-096's progress. The actual position of SCP-096-1 does not seem to affect SCP-096's response; it seems to have an innate sense of SCP-096-1's location. Note: This reaction does not occur when viewing artistic depictions (see Document 096-1).

Upon arriving at SCP-096-1's location, SCP-096 will proceed to kill and [DATA EXPUNGED] SCP-096-1. 100% of cases have left no traces of SCP-096-1. SCP-096 will then sit down for several minutes before regaining its composure and becoming docile once again. It will then attempt to make its way back to its natural habitat, [DATA REDACTED]

Due to the possibility of a mass chain reaction, including breach of Foundation secrecy and large civilian loss of life, retrieval of the subject should be considered an Alpha priority.

Dr. ███ has also petitioned for immediate termination of SCP-096 (see Interview 096-1). The order is awaiting approval. Termination order has been approved and is to be carried out by Dr. ███ on [DATA REDACTED]. See Incident-096-1-A.

Other Relevant Articles:

Interview 096-1

Document 096-1

Incident 096-1

Twilight gulped as she finished reading the document, putting it down in fear. Was this thing here, in this facility, waiting to kill her? She hoped it wasn't. She began to pick up the other document D-9341 had given her about 'SCP-939', when she heard D-9341 call out to her.

"Oh, shit. Hey, Twilight. Come and see this." D-9341 called out from a few meters away, in the corner of the room. Twilight quickly got up and gasped as her bad leg started to act up. She hadn't noticed it before due to the adrenaline rush of being unaware in an unsafe environment, but that sudden movement really showed her just how bad it was. As a matter of fact, it wasn't just her leg- her forehead really started to hurt as well. She didn't get any true sleep in hours, and she wasn't aware how long she was out in that Janitorial closet. Being knocked unconscious certainly didn't give as much rest as actually falling asleep.

Twilight grunted and put her hoof to her head, turning the corner and approaching D-9341. She stopped in shock at what she saw. Slumped against the wall, what was once a scientist with a white lab coat, was now a decomposed mess. The body was covered in a black, viscous goo, the same goo from back in the office. The body was entirely rotted and decomposed, several blackened tendons, muscles and bones showing through the skin and now black lab coat. The stench hit her like a brick wall as she approached, causing her to stumble back. The smell was somewhere between burnt chicken and rotten eggs. Whatever the case, it caused Twilight to dry heave for the seventeenth time since she arrived in this godforsaken facility.

"Wh- what happened to him?" Twilight asked, slowly approaching D-9341.

"He got grabbed by 106, I suspect. I overheard that Janitor and Scientist we stole the card from talking about him before you arrived. Apparently, he's an old man who can phase through walls, teleport people to pocket dimensions and corrode things with his sticky goo. This guy must have gotten jumped." D-9341 stated, turning towards Twilight. "But now that I look at you more clearly, what happened to you?"

Twilight looked at herself for a second. Sure enough, she had several visible bruises and cuts all over herself- not to mention matted and hard-sticky fur. Twilight bit her lip, racking her brain for an explanation that would satisfy D-9341. Something that wouldn't raise any suspicion.

"I fell."

Nice work, genius.

D-9341 raised one eyebrow in response, before rolling his eyes.

"Alrighty then. Okay, sit down now- you're only hurting yourself. We always keep medkits in these kinds of rooms... I'll see what I can find." D-9341 said, walking off to a nearby shelf. Twilight- albeit painfully- sat down, leaning against a shelf end and sighing. She really was a mess. She inhaled sharply as she tried to move her bad leg, causing a wave of pain to rack her body. She bit her lip to stifle a groan and started to rest as the pain subsided.

"Alright, I have a medkit here. Just hold on." D-9341 said, kneeling down at Twilight's side with a medkit. Quickly, he opened it up and scanned the supplies found there. He grabbed a small cloth and a small bottle of water from the medkit and soaked the cloth in water. He then took the cloth and pressed it against Twilight's forehead. Twilight inhaled sharply in response, gritting her teeth as the pain subsided.

"That feels better," Twilight said. "Thanks."

"No problem." D-9341 said, removing the cloth and wiping the cut free of blood. He then grabbed the gauze and quickly wrapped it around Twilight's head, effectively forming a bandage. He then turned towards her bad leg. Twilight bit her lips once more as D-9341 wrapped the gauze around her leg. He then quickly put a few bandages over any minor cuts Twilight had.

"Okay. I think that's about it... I can't do anything about the bruises, though. You feeling alright?" D-9341 said, standing up.

"...Uh, yeah. I think I'm alright." Twilight said, standing up with some minor difficulty. "Yeah, that feels much better. Thanks again."

Suddenly, something caught Twilight's eye. A small, yellow flash was seen, just for a second, in the coat pocket of the dead scientist. The very edge of what appeared to be a keycard stuck out from a mostly uncorroded part of his coat pocket.

"Uh, 9341? Look, I think there's a keycard over there." Twilight said, pointing towards the scientist. D-9341's eyes widened at the sight.

"Jackpot. Scientist Keycard."

D-9341 quickly approached the scientist, ignoring the horrible stench and kneeled down next to it. The pocket itself had very little corrosion, but a small stream was slowly making its way towards the keycard, not to mention just how close the corrosion already was to the keycard itself. If the corrosion hit the keycard, it would instantly be rendered useless. D-9341 made several rapid breaths, preparing to reach in and grab the card.

"Alright. Alright... Three, Two, One..." D-9341 said, before reaching into the pocket and grabbing the keycard in one, swift motion. He let out a cry as he stumbled back, his hand just barely nicking a drop of corrosion which quickly left a small burn mark on his hand. "G-got it! Ow..."

"Are you alright?!" Twilight asked, approaching D-9341 in worry.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. 'Tis but a scratch," D-9341 said with a chuckle, resulting in a questioning expression from Twilight. "Uh, nevermind. C'mon, let's go. This card will allow us to access the Low-Security Light Containment Euclid Testing Room. It's sure to have a better card in there."

"What's that?" Twilight asked as D-9341 grabbed another medkit from a shelf on the way.

"It's... well, there are multiple wings, zones, units and so on in an SCP Facility. We're in the Euclid Containment Wing. Basically, a whole bunch of Euclid SCPs are stored here. I believe we're in the low-security sector of that wing. The Testing Room is basically just the testing room for the section we're in." D-9341 said, leaving the Archive Room with a blink before scanning the environment for any threats, and deducing there aren't any, headed off.

"So, uh, is that a good thing?" Twilight asked.

"Well, half-yes, half-no. You see, the only way out of here is through the Heavy Containment Zone. The only entrances to the Heavy Containment Zone from the Light Containment Zone are on Floor 1. The Facility has been locked down, so we need to disable the-" D-9341 started. He stopped mid-way through his statement, interrupted by concrete shuffling from the other side of a wall. He listened intently as the sound of concrete against concrete slowly faded into oblivion.

"...Uh, sorry. Cap'n Crunch. But anyway- we need to disable the Light Containment Zone Lockdown, fast. It should be in the Electrical Room, or the Surveillance Room. They're the same things, anyway." D-9341 said, opening the door into a four-way intersection, with a dead body slumped over near the left door. They both ignored it as a small pool of blood formed underneat the body.D D-9341 thought for a moment before turning right.

"What's the rush? Uh, I mean, besides the obvious." Twilight asked curiously as D-9341 opened the next door.

"Didn't you hear? This is a Full-Site Lockdown. A Class B3, to be precise. Now, I'm not an expert on what that means, but I'm certain that-" D-9341 tried to say, before being interrupted once more, this time by the intercom.

"This is an automated message from the Site Director Office. As per the requirements of a Class B3 Lockdown, Light Containment Zone will undergo a complete decontamination procedure in T-180 Minutes. All organic materials in Light Containment will be purged from the facility. All Ventilation Shafts in Light Containment are now being locked down. The Air Conditioning Systems have been shut down to conserve energy, as we are currently operating on Emergency Generator power only. We advise all personnel currently in Light Containment to seek out your nearest Evacuation Shelter or enter Heavy Containment immediately. Thank you."

"...Fucking shit! See, THAT'S why! C'mon, hurry up. We need to find the testing room ASAP." D-9341 said, picking up his pace. Twilight followed him through the winding and turning tunnels, halls, paths and rooms that made up the maze that was Site-37. 'All organic materials will be purged'? Twilight wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but she had a few guesses. Also, all ventilation shafts were locked down? At least that meant that SCP-173 wouldn't be surprising her through there anytime soon. Thank Celestia for that. But it also meant the facility was getting quite stuffy and warm, especially taking into consideration the whole 'Air Conditioning' bit.

D-9341 opened another door, leading to another standard hallway. However, something stuck out about this one. It seemed to have something in the middle of it. Dead-center of the hallway there was a blue-ish gate, stretching from top to bottom to left to right of the hallway. On occasion, a small spark will fly out of it. A faint humming sound could be heard. D-9341 paused as he saw it.

"Uh, what's this?" Twilight asked, approaching the gate.

"Wait, wait! Don't go near it!" D-9341 said, pulling Twilight back. "It's, uh... a Tesla Coil, I believe. A very new addition. These things were placed sporadically throughout the facility, and in the event of a breach, they were supposed to turn on and zap anything that didn't walk exactly like a human being." Twilight's ears flattened against her head as she heard that.

"...So, basically, I can't head through it. Is there any way around?" Twilight asked.

"Not any way that I know of. And it's not just you, either. Nobody can pass through these things. They were faulty, and zap anything that moves even the slightest bit different than the person who created them. They were supposed to be removed, but then... you know, the whole breach thing happened." D-9341 stated, slowly approaching the Tesla Coil. "Fuck."

Suddenly, Twilight's ears perked. She heard something approaching, fast. Somebody was behind the door, running towards them, their footsteps heavy against the concrete floor. A human woman, wearing a white lab coat, burst through the door and towards them, panting heavily, before rushing through the Tesla Coil.

Instantly, the Coil went off, causing a huge wave of electricity to fly out from either side of the gate, connecting to the human woman's body. A flash of light burned its way into Twilight's retinas, but only for a second, and as the light faded, Twilight could see the now lifeless, smoldering and charred body of the woman standing up for a split second before her legs gave way. Her momentum kept her going, causing her to collapse and roll around on the floor. She finally came to a stop at the feet of D-9341, her hair, fingers and lab coat burned to a crisp, and a faint wisp of smoke rising from her body.

Twilight jumped back in terror, letting out a short scream at the sight before a monotone voice, originating from the Tesla Coil trumped hers.

"Tesla Coil Activated. Hostile eliminated. Rebooting Systems... Recharging Tesla... Tesla recharged."

Twilight stood in shock, gazing at the smoldering body that had once been a living, breathing person.

"Oh, fuck. See? Like I said, defective. But this gives me an idea..." D-9341 said before he slowly approached the Tesla Coil. As he approached, Twilight felt the electricity in the air rise, her fur standing on end.

"Wh- What the hell are you doing?! Stop!" Twilight screamed, rushing after D-9341.

"Wait, wait! Just hold on. I know what I'm doing." D-9341 said, holding out his hand to Twilight to prevent her from coming closer. "Just watch."

D-9341 approached extremely close to the Tesla Coil, mere inches further and the thing would undoubtedly go off. And then, he waved his hand outwards, moving it within the Tesla Coil for just a second before pulling it back out. The Tesla Coil activated, sending out a charge of electricity which blinded Twilight for just a second. When Twilight regained her vision, D-9341 was on the other side.

"Hurry, come across before it recharges!" D-9341 called out, urging Twilight to rush forward.

"Tesla Coil Activated. Hostile eliminated."

Twilight stood there, frozen for a second before rushing out towards the coil.

"Rebooting Systems..."

She reached the coil.

"Recharging Tesla..."

She passed the Tesla Coil, and as she did so, she could swear she felt the electricity in the air rise as it recharged.

"Tesla Recharged."

She just barely managed to cross the Coil when it activated once more, blasting her towards D-9341, barely singing her tail. She collided with D-9341, both of them rolling around on the floor before smashing into the far wall. Twilight immediately jumped up and started yelling.

"Wh- what kind of idea was that?! I nearly died!" Twilight screamed.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" D-9341 stated matter-of-factly, smiling before turning around and leaving the hallway. "Now, c'mon. We're almost at the testing room!"

Twilight just stood there, slack-jawed as the same Tesla recharged. Shaking her head in disapproval, she followed D-9341 towards the Low-Security Light Containment Euclid Testing Room.

"Here we are."

Twilight and D-9341 stood in front of the Testing Room door, located in the side of a long, albeit cramped, hallway. The door itself was constructed entirely out of metal, with a small slot for a keycard located to the right. A sign above the Door itself said 'Low-Security Light Containment Euclid Testing Room'.

Sighing, D-9341 slid the keycard into the slot, causing the doors to slide open with a bang. It lead to another, much smaller chamber, with two doors on either side. D-9341 quickly marched in and pressed a button, opening the second door. Immediately, D-9341 stumbled backwards in shock, eyes bulging.

"What is it?" Twilight asked, nervously looking back and forth.

"Come here right now!" D-9341 demanded, moving over slightly to give Twilight space to look into the room. As Twilight did, she too stumbled back, eyes widening.

The second door lead to a small chamber, with several desks and other items, including a shelf. The chamber was only about eight meters wide and five meters long, with a large glass plane in the far wall from Twilight's vantage point. The glass plane revealed a small testing room, layered with steel and containing none other than SCP-173.

"Don't break eye-contact." D-9341 said, slowly entering and searching the room.

"But- why not? I mean, he's behind the glass! He can't get-" Twilight said.

And then the lights went out with a blink, just for a second.

Concrete shuffling immediately preceded the sound of glass shattering.

The lights came back on.

SCP-173 had apparently heard Twilight's remark and broke through the glass plane, mere inches from D-9341. Glass shards covered the floor. Twilight screamed and stumbled back in fear. D-9341 reacted swiftly and fixed his eyes on SCP-173, not daring to move them. Slowly backing up, he searched a nearby shelf with his hand. His hand made contact with a thin piece of plastic. Quickly grabbing them, he backed out of the room, pressing the button and watched intently as the door closed with a small puff of dust before SCP-173 began scrambling around the room once more.

"D-damn it. That was close." D-9341 stated, heaving and breathing heavily, putting his hands on his knees while leaning against the door. "Didn't you hear what I said?!"

"The lights went out!" Twilight said, scrambling back up to stand up straight.

"...Uh, yeah. I suppose it wasn't your fault. Sorry about that. C'mon, we have to go. Remember? Three hours until this entire Zone gets flooded with anti-organic agents. Follow me, we got the Major Scientist Card." D-9341 said, rushing out of the testing chamber. Twilight took a moment to catch her breath before following.

"...Wow. That guy really isn't happy." Twilight said, perking her ears as she listened to SCP-173 scuffing up the room inside, scratching at the doors and knocking over the shelves. With the ventilation shafts down, he had no way out.

"No kidding. I would be angry, too. Now c'mon. We have to move." D-9341 said, sighing as he went towards the exit of the hallway, Twilight following. Entering the next room, Twilight looked around. It wasn't anything special, with two possible directions to take, one right and one forward. D-9341 spent a moment thinking before trying to head forward but hesitating, looking up. Twilight tried to ask what was wrong, but stopped herself and perked her ears. She heard a sort of sloshy sound, like something passing through wet sand coming from above her. Looking up, she stared in confusion.

A black corrosion spot was gradually getting bigger on the ceiling. Twilight just barely managed to see the tip of someone's hand peaking through it. Within seconds, the rest of the body came, too; what appeared to be a guard, with a completely corroded and blackened body, fell through the ceiling, coming down towards Twilight fast.

D-9341 and Twilight just barely managed to dive out of the way as the body hit the floor, causing a wave of that same black substance to wash over the floor near the impact site. Falling backwards, Twilight stared in shock at the body. The left arm was completely missing, and the black vest completely corroded into a pulp. The head was held on by a sliver of flesh, the normally golden visor cracked, blackened and corroded. A single, blue, lifeless eye stared at Twilight through the crack, causing Twilight to scream to horror.

And then the lights went out once more.

"H-hold on, Twilight! Don't move!" D-9341 called out to her, panic evident in his wavering voice. A deep, booming laughter of an old man echoed from somewhere mere meters away from Twilight. Twilight immediately put her hoof in her mouth to stifle a scream. An odd sloshing sound came from the direction of the body, and then vanished, leaving nothing but silence in its wake.

Seconds later, the lights came back on, revealing that the body had completely disappeared, and in its place was a huge puddle of black goop, corroding the floor underneath it. In the few seconds it had been there, it had transformed the middle of the room into a huge, gaping hole- or at least something that looked like one. Twilight immediately scooted back away from it, her ears flattening against her skull as she could swear she heard faint whispering and screaming coming from the puddle.

"...Holy shit. That was... Twilight, we have to move, now! Come to where I am!" D-9341 called out to Twilight, jumping up and gesturing for Twilight to come over. Twilight sighed and flexed her wings, taking to the sky to avoid contact with the puddle that now covered the intersection entirely, heading towards D-9341. D-9341 blinked in response.

"...You can fly?" D-9341 said as Twilight landed, giving her a look of awe and confusion.

"Uh, yes? I have wings." Twilight stated, flexing her wings once more. D-9341 simply gave a 'deer in the headlights' look, muttered a silent 'oh' and turned around to the door, opening it. Twilight giggled in response, following D-9341.

"What, did you seriously not notice?" Twilight said, smiling as D-9341 walked down the hallway.

"...Uh, I didn't, really... yeah. It just never crossed my mind." D-9341 stated, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Oh, really? Aren't you observant?" Twilight giggled as D-9341 entered the next room.

"Uh, okay. So... ah, here it is. SCP-914." D-9341 stated, gesturing towards a huge, metal door with a giant 'X' across it, just like SCP-173's Containment Chamber door. D-9341 took out his Major Scientist Card and slid it into a nearby slot, opening the doors to reveal an odd machine. It had two doors, both wide open on either side, with the words 'Input' and 'Output' written across each. In the center, a giant box of metal, gears and all sorts stood, with one single dial in the middle of it all.

"What- what's this thing?" Twilight asked, gesturing towards SCP-914. D-9341 merely rolled his eyes in response.

"There's a document on it over there, I believe." D-9341 said, pointing towards a shelf on the right side of the room. Twilight immediately walked over to it and began reading as D-9341 put his keycard into the machine.

Item #: SCP-914

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: Only personnel who submit a formal request and receive approval from site command may operate 914. SCP-914 is to be kept in research cell 109-B with two guard personnel on duty at all times. Any researchers entering 109-B are to be accompanied by at least one guard for the entirety of testing. A full list of tests to be carried out must be given to all guard personnel on duty; any deviation from this list will result in termination of testing, forcible removal of personnel from 109-B, and formal discipline at site command’s discretion.

WARNING: At this time, no testing of biological matter is allowed. Refer to document 109-B:117. Applying the “Rough” setting to explosive materials is not advised.

Description: SCP-914 is a large clockwork device weighing several tons and covering an area of eighteen square meters, consisting of screw drives, belts, pulleys, gears, springs and other clockwork. It is incredibly complex, consisting of over eight million moving parts comprised mostly of tin and copper, with some wooden and cloth items observed. Observation and probing have showed no electronic assemblies or any form of power other than the “Mainspring” under the “Selection Panel”. Two large booths 3mx2.1mx2.1m (10ftx7ftx7ft) are connected via copper tubes to the main body of SCP-914, labeled “Intake” and “Output”. Between them is a copper panel with a large knob with a small arrow attached. The words Rough, Coarse, 1:1, Fine, and Very Fine are positioned at points around the knob. Below the knob is a large “key” that winds the “mainspring”.

When an object is placed in the Intake Booth, a door slides shut, and a small bell sounds. If the knob is turned to any position and the key wound up, SCP-914 will “refine” the object in the booth. No energy is lost in the process, and the object appears to be in stasis until the Output Booth door is opened. Intense observation and testing have not shown how SCP-914 accomplishes this, and no test object has ever been observed inside SCP-914 during the “refining” process. The process takes between-

Suddenly, a bell started to ring, and the doors to SCP-914 closed, distracting Twilight Sparkle from her reading. D-9341 had his hands around the key and had just released it, activating SCP-914. The gears began to turn, and several pulleys and other devices began spinning, creating a sort of mechanical opera.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked.

"Upgrading our keycard," D-9341 said nonchalantly as SCP-914 whirred into action, a small vent letting out steam. "I figure we can make a better one by using the 'Fine' Setting."

Twilight Sparkle got up from her seat, and, putting the document down, walked up to D-9341, observing SCP-914's intricacies closely. It was mind-blowingly complex, she got that part down- and honestly, she couldn't even begin to fathom how this worked. Suddenly, D-9341 looked towards Twilight with concern.

"Uh, Twilight, did you read that document I gave you earlier?" D-9341 asked.

"...What, you mean 914, 096, or 939?"

"The latter. 096 and 939."

"Uh, I read SCP-096's Document, but not 939's. Why?"

"Oh, god damn it. I told you to read it!"

"You called me over! I was about to before that happened."

"Uh, right. Sorry."

The two stood there in silence for a minute as SCP-914 did its work.

"So. What IS SCP-939?" Asked Twilight, looking towards D-9341.

"SCP-939? I don't know much, really. I didn't read the document in full myself- but if I recall, it's not just one creature. Several creatures, I believe. More than a hundred. Only about- what, thirty of them were stored here after the attack and relocation. The rest of them probably went to some base in India or Indonesia." D-9341 stated, leaning against SCP-914. "Maybe Antarctica."

"What are all of those places?"

"What, SCP-93- oh. India's a large country, full of jungles and exotic culture. The land itself is a huge peninsula. If I recall, the second largest peninsula in the world. Indonesia is just a bunch of islands extremely close to here, and Antarctica? Just a huge, frozen wasteland down south."

"Huh. Interesting."

"But anyway. Back on the subject of SCP-939. They're large, red, endothermic reptiles- with huge teeth. The worst part is that they can mimic speech, and often times use the voices of their past victims. Completely blind, though, so they can only see you if you get too close or make too much noise."

"That's... horrifying. How do you know all this?"

"Like I said, I did some snooping."

"Gotcha."

The two stood there, waiting as SCP-914 whirred and buzzed, the machinery refining their keycard into a better one, hopefully. Silence reigned for at least another minute.

"What's your name?" Twilight asked.

"Pardon?"

"Your name. Like, your real name. It can't be D-9314, can it?"

D-9314 opened his mouth to speak but hesitated, racking his brain.

"I... I'm not sure." D-9314 said, scratching his head.

"Wh-what? How can you just 'not be sure'?!"

"...I don't know. They... they must have done something. I recall them being able to use amnesiacs, or something like that." D-9314 said, sighing. "I think... it was Benjamin. Benjamin... something. I don't know." Silence.

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, no. It's fine. I just... oh, nevermind."

Silence once more, except for the occasional whir of SCP-914, beginning to slow down.

"What's your full name?" D-9314 asked, looking at Twilight Sparkle.

"Uh, Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle." Twilight responded, looking in the opposite direction.

"Really? Heh, that's a bit... excessive, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's... It's just that- oh, nevermind. It's... it's a nice name, is all."

"Thank you."

Silence.

Finally, SCP-914 began to settle down, the gears whirring to a stop before the doors opened with a ding.

"Finally." D-9314 said, before moving over to the 'Output' slot of SCP-914. Looking inside, he gasped. "Yes! I was right! Look, it's a Zone Manager Card now!" D-9314 picked up the card in celebration.

"What, that's good?"

"Yeah, of course! Now we can access the, uh... the Electrical... room..." D-9314 trailed off, looking around nervously. Twilight was about to ask what he was so jittery about, but stopped herself and perked her ears. She could just barely hear a faint sloshing sound, quickly approaching from behind the right wall, where D-9314 was standing.

"Do you hear tha-" D-9314 began to say. But before he could finish, a man- an old man- seemingly phased into existence, simply walking through the right wall, appearing mere decameters away from D-9314, his harsh breathing echoing throughout the chamber. SCP-106, Twilight presumed. SCP-106 immediately phased through the floor behind D-9314, chuckling as he grabbed D-9314's calf with his thin, bony hands. D-9314 immediately screamed, flailing his arms around and dropping the keycard in a blind panic, attempting to find something to grab onto as the old man dragged him into the floor.

"Wh-OH MY CELES- WHAT DO I DO?!" Twilight screamed, reaching out with her hoof to try and allow D-9314 something to grab onto, trying to funnel all her magic into pulling D-9314 out of the floor. By this point, SCP-106 had completely disappeared beneath the floor and D-9314 was waist deep in a puddle of the corrosive liquid, which quickly made work of him.

"AHH! G-GRAB THE CARD! RUN! RUN! RU-AHHHHH!" D-9314 screamed in pain, but before he could finish his sentence, a single, wet, slimy hand reached out from the floor and grabbed D-9314's head, laughing as he pulled him under. The immense force pulling D-9314 into the puddle caused D-9314's grip to loosen just enough for him to slide into the puddle, which let out a small bubble before silence. Twilight stared in shock at where D-9314 had once been, the same person who she had come to know as her hero of sorts. Without him, undoubtedly she would either be a corroded puddle of flesh on the ground or simply dead, with a neck the wrong way around. Granted, the former was still a possibility.

Shortly after, the same old man popped his nasty, ugly face up from the ground, smiling with horrible yellow teeth, the only thing about him that wasn't dark and slimy. Twilight screamed in fear, stumbling backwards as SCP-106 slowly climbed out of the ground, his breaths both deep and shallow at the same time, an almost omnipresent sound that sent chills up her spine.

Twilight immediately began scrambling up, grabbing the keycard with her mouth and just ran. She just ran in a blind animal panic to escape, on pure instinct. She practically skidded out of SCP-914's Chamber, SCP-106 still in hot pursuit despite only walking to catch her. She turned back the way she came, screaming in terror the whole way. Her breaths were quick and shallow, each step she took burning both her legs and her lungs with what felt like hellfire. But she couldn't stop now.

Each door she came to, she had to press the button and then wait for the door to open. This easily allowed SCP-106 to catch up, despite her speed. His thin, bony hands, covered in sticky goo were practically touching her each and every time. Then she arrived at the Tesla Coil. Sucking in a breath, she ran towards it, the breathing of SCP-106 being left several meters behind her. She waved her hoof in front of it, activating the coil and blinding her, her retinas screaming as the light entered them. She didn't even wait to regain vision before she ran through the coil, tripping over the body of the woman from earlier and collapsing onto the floor, unable to move another inch.

"Tesla Coil Activated. Rebooting Systems... Recharging Tesla... Tesla Recharged."

Turning back the way she came, she looked in horror as SCP-106 stood at the end of the hallway, the way she had just come. It wasn't even moving; it knew it had her. And indeed it did. Twilight couldn't move another muscle without her bad leg practically screaming in agony. It took all her willpower just to keep her from doing so now, with her leg already coursing with unbearable pain. Her eyes wide-eyed and heart moving at a thousand miles an hour, SCP-106 slowly approached, smiling.

This was it.

She was going to die.

She thought back to all of her friends, all of those days she had taken them for granted. Months. She had been working on that damn spell for months, barely saying a word to them before she activated it. And now she was never going to see any of them again. Her last words to them? 'Could you please leave me alone? I need to finish this.'

She did finish it.

And Celestia knows she wishes she hadn't.

She didn't hold back as she felt tears pour from her eyes. Why? Why hadn't she had spent more time with them? She... she was obsessed with the spell. But it wasn't like it was necessary... she could have had breaks. She could have and she would have if she knew it would be the last time they would ever meet... They would never know what happened to her. What if... what if they thought she had left? Had just run away, that she didn't care for them anymore? She couldn't bear that thought. And... Spike. Oh, Spike. How was he going to react when they told him she had just... vanished? Just left him? She hoped it would be quick. But judging from what the thing had done to her friend, she doubted it would be.

She cried.

And she closed her eyes.

"Tesla Coil Activated. Hostile Eliminated."

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, tears still streaming down her cheeks like a waterfall. Slowly directing her gaze towards the Tesla Coil, she found... nothing. A small corrosion spot near the Tesla Coil... and nothing else. SCP-106 was nowhere to be seen. Her mind was racing and her eyes slowly darted around the room, trying to figure out where he had gone. But yet, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find him. The only conclusion she could draw was that the Tesla Coil had either killed him or made him disappear into the floor.

She lay there, her leg on fire and tears streaming down her cheeks for what seemed like forever, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Her friend had... he... he was dead. He was gone.

She dropped the keycard from her mouth, watching as it clanked against the concrete floor. She stared at it for a minute before closing her eyes once more, trying to console herself. She slowly attempted to stand up, her heart still beating at a hundred miles an hour. She groaned in pain as every muscle in her body screamed at her to stop. But she kept going. Slowly pushing herself up, biting her lip to the point where it bled to stifle another scream, she straightened her legs out, before leaning against the wall for a second to catch her breath. She thought back to all her friends and Spike, who she had left behind in the dust to finish her project

And with that, she made a decision.

She was going to see her friends again.

She was going to get out of here.

And she was going to go home.

No matter what.

Author's Note

Man, this took a while to write. And believe me, we are nowhere near the end.

I hope you liked it!

Also; if you have any criticism, please provide it in the following format:

1)
(blank)? Are you (expletive) kidding me?! Why, that's completely (expletive)! Instead of THAT, you SHOULD have done (blank) you (expletive ending in -ing) (expletive)!

2)
(Quote of paragraph/sentence, if applicable). I didn't like this (story/chapter/paragraph/sentence) because (blank). Fix that now or I swear I'll track you down, buy a boat, and visit you on that tiny rock in the middle of the Atlantic you live on and (expletive) your teeth in!

3)
gr8 story m8, i r8 8/8. lol sarcastic go fuk urself dis story suks m8

Thank you all in advance.

Technical Accomplishments

"Warning: T-Minus 90 Minutes to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now."

Twilight sluggishly moved throughout the facility, biting her lip to help her deal with the pain. It had been a good fifteen minutes since her encounter with 106, and she certainly wasn't planning on sticking around for when he came back. Her leg still ached, hindering her movement to nothing more than a crawl as well as forcing her to lean against the wall whenever she moved. This wouldn't do.

The same alarm she was so used still blared throughout the facility, although she had gotten used to it by this point. The same dim, red glow illuminated the many twisting halls and chambers of Site-37, as it had been doing since Twilight got here. Twilight made her way forward, hoping to find something of use. Something, anything that could ease the pain in her leg or direct her to safety.

Twilight passed by hall after hall, with several dead bodies, either corroded beyond all recognition or with a snapped neck the wrong way around occasionally making their presence known. The Site-Wide Lockdown prevented access to most SCP Containment Chambers, it seemed. She had passed several containment chambers, including SCP-038 and SCP-1162, not to mention something called 'Anomalous Object Storage Area L-3', which also appeared to be locked down, much to her dismay.

Twilight blinked rapidly before opening the next door, grunting as she looked around, checking the perimeter for SCP-173 or other dangers and then pulling herself through. Fixing her leg was top priority right now. The hallway she entered had one door directly in front of her, and one towards her right, the label above read 'Storage Area L-4'. Twilight pulled herself towards the Storage Area, thankful that it wasn't locked down, and opened the door.

Twilight was hit by a wave of stale air and darkness, taking her by surprise. The Ventilation Systems were completely down, she remembered that- turning those back on might be a good idea. She was underground, and if she didn't hurry, she might suffocate. On occasion, the single, shining red light in the center of the small storage room flickered, illuminating the room for just a second before fading back into inky black.

Twilight used the flickering light to guide herself through the room, examining the shelves for anything of use. Some dust. Papers. A cup. Wait, a cup? Twilight came to the realization that she was incredibly thirsty, not to mention tired and hungry. In fact, she wasn't just thirsty- if she didn't get something to drink soon, she could die of dehydration.

A medkit sat on a shelf not too far away, and Twilight immediately started crawling once she saw it. Grunting as she moved her hoof up towards the medkit, she slapped it, knocking it down. The latch busted open on contact with the ground, opening the lid and revealing the various medical supplies inside. Twilight dropped down to the floor, trying to ignore the burning sensation in her leg.

She scanned the supplies for anything to help, before coming across a roll of medical wrap. Bingo. Grabbing it with her mouth, she unrolled it with her hooves and turned back to her bad leg. She painfully removed the already blood-soaked fabric D-9341 had placed earlier, throwing it to the side and replacing it with a fresh wrap to stop the new flow of blood, caused by her agitating her leg in her escape from SCP-106. Clearly, something was broken- but whatever it was, fixing it entirely was out of the question for her, especially without much magic. She had to get back home and find professional medical help to fix it. Although the new wrap helped stop the bleeding, it did nothing to stop the pain.

Looking back into the medkit, she discovered what appeared to be a small, orange container, filled with two, small red pills. Twilight examined the label closely, trying to make out what it said in the flickering light. With some difficulty, she found the word 'painkillers' was written on the side. That seemed good. Twilight opened the container and hesitantly popped one, before leaning against the shelves, waiting. It was fast-acting; that part was obvious. Within minutes, the pain had faded into a dull, hollow ache, allowing Twilight to continue on.

Twilight began racking her brain, trying to decide what to do. D-9341 had stated that she needed to turn off the 'Light Containment Zone Lockdown' located in the 'Electrical Room', so she could get to... the Heavy Containment Zone? An exit to this facility is supposed to be through there, she recalled. Twilight sluggishly pushed herself up, leaning against the shelves to take pressure off her bad leg. She didn't want to agitate it, after all. She started to walk towards the door to the storage room with a slight limp. She paused. Where WAS Heavy Containment, anyway? She couldn't just wander around this place without knowing where to go.

Twilight nervously glanced around the room as a single, lone scream echoed from somewhere above, probably from the other levels of Light Containment. Speaking of which, how was this facility laid out, anyway? Light Containment Zone had maybe, four levels? She was on Floor 3 and came from the above floor, she knew that. What, was Heavy Containment either beneath her or above her? If it was above her, was the entrance back up Light Containment or down here in the form of an elevator? Ugh, this facility clearly wasn't made very well. It was too pointlessly complex.

A small glint of light caught her attention, as she noticed a small piece of metal on a nearby shelf, next to a small, plastic bag. Limping towards it, she examined it. It was fairly large, with a screen in the middle, and a button next to a hole to insert a battery at the bottom. At the top, the words 'S-Nav Navigator 310' lay written across it. It was obviously much more advanced than anything Twilight had seen. 'Navigator'? Twilight's heart rate rose as she read that. This could be very useful, but she needed a battery. She had one in her storage dimension, but...

She needed magic.

Normally, her magic would recharge easily, allowing her to access her storage dimension easily. But now, she couldn't recharge using the magic in the air, as there WAS NO magic in the air. She could only regain magic using the stuff she emitted herself, which was incredibly inefficient. In order to get home, she needed magic. And a lot of it. This would take a while, presuming she didn't spend any magic prematurely. She needed to save it.

Checking her magic reserves, she had built up MAYBE enough to grab the battery out of the pocket dimension and put it into the slot. But that would bring her down to almost zero, and she needed to save it! But then again, the alternative was dying because she didn't know where to go. It was almost a no-brainer.

Twilight focused her magic, emitting a bright, purple light as she tried to open her storage dimension. She watched in fear as her magic reserves began depleting themselves rapidly, the magic being dispersed into the air. Seconds passed, and her magic approached zero as she began to strain herself, a sharp pain coursing through her skull. And then the battery appeared less than two inches in front of her.

Twilight smiled as she put her hoof to her head, trying to ignore the pain and using the last of her magic reserves to input the battery into the device. Twilight quickly took the plastic bag and wrapped it around her back. She could use this as a temporary saddle-bag to store things and thank Celestia for that. She couldn't keep using her storage dimension without ambient magic to recharge.

Twilight pressing the button. Nothing.

Twilight's smile wavered as she pressed the button again.

Nothing.

Twilight's smile disappeared, being quickly replaced by an expression of fear. She pressed the button again.

Nothing.

"Oh... no, no, no, no, no!" Twilight yelled, pressing the button again, and again, and again. Was the battery dead? Was the device broken? She hated to think that she had just wasted so much unreplenishable magic.

The device turned on.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief as the device began to show what appeared to be a map of the facility she was in, all perfectly mapped. A small piece of text in the middle said the phrase 'you are here'. Twilight looked through the map, dragging her hoof across the screen to examine the facility as she memorized the layout. Alright. The Heavy Containment Zone entrance was on Level 1 of Light Containment, two floors down. She frowned as she noticed something. There were only three ways to the Heavy Containment Zone Entrance, and all of them had a warning symbol on them. Either the pathway was compromised by physical damage, a pipe of extremely corrosive liquid had burst, or something called 'SCP-009' had leaked and hit a water pipeline, causing an explosion which had flooded the pathway with... ice?

Twilight began searching for an alternative way out, some way to get around the hazards and get to the Heavy Containment Zone, and soon, she found one. Storage Area 6. It was a basement level Storage Area and a large one at that. It was accessed by an elevator on Light Containment Zone Floor 2, one floor down. If she made her way through it, she could find another elevator which went up to a small hallway, past the hazards. Yes, that could work. Twilight let out another sigh of relief, before continuing to memorize the facility layout.

Then the screen went blank.

Twilight blinked.

The battery had died.

Twilight stood there, staring at the device for several seconds before letting out a scream of anger.

Clearly, the battery wasn't fully charged.

Twilight placed her hoof against her head, trying to calm her nerves. Calm down, Twilight. You got all the information you need. Everything's fine. Except, of course, your hunger and thirst. Twilight began to take notice of her lack of sustenance and sighed. Her leg was taken care of and she now knew where to go. Now, she needed something to eat. But where would she get that?

As the light flickered again, something else caught Twilight's eye. A small, styrofoam cup was sitting on the shelf, not more than two meters away and contained a liquid of sorts. Twilight practically jumped at the sight, and began to walk towards it eagerly. At this point, she would accept a cold, half-empty cup of coffee.

As Twilight leaned over the cup, looking into it, she discovered it didn't contain coffee. Or any sort of drink, for that matter.

It contained a viscous, green substance.

Twilight noticed a label was printed onto the side of the drink, and she read what it said.

'SCP-447'.

Twilight paused.

Best not drink that.

"Warning: T-Minus 80 Minutes to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now."

Twilight's pace quickened as she trudged through the facility, checking corners wherever she moved so not to become victim to SCP-173. Her stomach growled as she walked, her parched throat begging for water. Her quickened pace didn't help her thirst, either- with the ventilation systems down, the air was stuffy, no longer being recycled. Each breath dried out her throat even more. The heat was already at unbearable levels, her fur now sticky with sweat.

She approached another door, mentally visualizing the map of the facility to decide where to go. Blinking, she opened the door and gazed forward into the newly opened room. It was large, with three paths to the left, right, and in front of her. A large metal catwalk sat high up, between the walls of the path directly in front of her. Twilight froze. Focusing her vision on the catwalk, through the dim, red lights, she could barely make out a humanoid figure.

She closed the door behind her and hesitantly approached to get a better look. It was a human, of sorts- wearing a long, black coat, and black gloves over its hands. The most striking feature about the unusual human was, of course, it's mask. It was long and white, almost bird-like in nature, with two small eye-holes in the front. Inside, two blue eyes sat, gazing around the room ominously. The figure itself didn't seem to notice Twilight.

"Uh, h-hello?" Twilight spoke reluctantly, trying to get the figure's attention. The figure's head suddenly turned towards Twilight with a snap, it's gaze locking onto her, seemingly one of mild confusion or amusement. Twilight's pupils dilated as she retreated back several steps in shock. The figure didn't move its eyes off of Twilight, staring intently, not making a sound. A chill ran up Twilight's spine.

Silence.

Nothing more than that familiar alarm.

Twilight's mind raced as she tried to decide what to do. A moment passed, and she chose to ignore the figure. Whoever, or WHATEVER it was, it didn't matter. Nothing that ominous should be approached. She decided to turn left, and forcing herself to break eye-contact with the figure, she did just that. She only got a few meters before her curiosity got the better of her, and she moved her head around to stare at the figure again.

Low and behold, it was gone.

Twilight scanned the catwalk in confusion, wondering where that figure had gone. It couldn't have moved that fast without making a sound, she was only looking away for a second.

Could it?

Trying to push those thoughts out of her head, she looked back towards the door and went on. She needed to hurry. Twilight blinked and pressed the red button next to the door, and with a shudder, the door slid open with the sound of metal grinding against metal to reveal a small hallway. Two doors sat on either side of the hall, each with a keycard slot and a sign next to them. Twilight examined the area for dangers, and, finding none, closed the door behind her.

Approaching the doors, she read the signs next to them. One read 'Safe-Class Object Containment Room 2', the other 'Euclid-Class Object Containment Room 6'. She paused. What if there were dangerous SCPs stored here? As in, sentient and hostile ones, like 173? Deciding against her better judgment, she gulped, took out her keycard and opened the Safe-Class Object Room. Perhaps there was something of use in here.

The room itself was small, only three meters wide and eight meters long. On both the left and right of the walls sat six doors each, with one door at the far end as well, making the total number of doors seven. Next to each door sat what appeared to be a small plaque covered with plastic. Entering the room, Twilight began reading the plaques.

Item #: SCP-115

Alias: 'Miniature Dump Truck'

Object Class: Safe

Underneath the text, there were three distinct images. One appeared to be a picture of SCP-115 itself, which... was hard to describe. It was a small, yellow cart-like object with four wheels, with the caption 'SCP-115 in Containment'. The other two images were symbols of sorts, with the captions 'Nonstandard Spacetime' and 'Destructive'. Twilight hesitantly took out her card and inserted it into the slot. The door beeped, but nothing happened. The door was locked down.

Twilight moved onto the next door, reading the label, which said 'SCP-034'. She inserted the keycard into the slot, and although this SCP wasn't locked down, nothing happened. She tried again, and the phrase 'Keycard Invalid; Please Insert Higher-Level Keycard' flashed on the screen above the slot. Twilight gave up and moved on to the next one.

Item #: SCP-399

Alias: 'Atomic Manipulation Ring'

Object Class: Safe

Sliding the keycard into the slot, the door shuddered before opening with a click. A stench hit Twilight like a brick-wall, practically knocking her back for the third time since she entered the facility. The room itself was relatively small, only two meters wide and long with a single, open safe at the far end of the room on an elevated table. In the dead center of the room, laying on the floor, there was a small, metal ring. But none of that was the cause of the stench. In fact, the stench was caused by the walls, floor, and ceiling, which were completely coated in inches of blood and flesh.

Twilight reeled, putting her hoof to her mouth so not to barf at the sight. She reacted quickly, pulling the ring out of the room and inserting the keycard back into the slot so to close the door and block that horrid view. Twilight dry heaved for nearly thirty seconds, regaining her composure and trying to cleanse that image from her mind before putting the ring in her make-shift saddlebag. It didn't seem to be harmful. Whatever it was, it might come in use later. Twilight took a deep breath and went onto the next door.

The label read 'SCP-714'. Twilight inserted her keycard into the slot with her teeth, and the door opened with a thud, revealing a small wooden box containing a small, green ring on an elevated pedestal. Inside the room itself, Twilight found a piece of paper laying on the floor, which appeared to be a document. Picking it up, Twilight began to read it, absorbing the information written.

Item #: SCP-714

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: ~~SCP-714 is to be stored in a reinforced, high-security locker that is to be accessible only to Level 4+ personnel, due to several incidents of misuse.~~ Giving that SCP-714's original Containment Chamber was compromised in the ██/█/████ attack by the [REDACTED] and it's relocation to Site-37 to prevent theft in a possible secondary attack, SCP-714 is currently to be stored in a small, wooden box located in a Standard Anomalous Object Containment Room, accessible only to Level 3+ personnel.

Description: Seemingly nothing more than a green jade ring, SCP-714 has been shown to be able to expand and contract to perfectly fit the finger of anyone who touches it, though this is the least important of its properties. SCP-714 only changes size when touched by a 'new' subject.

SCP-714 has several major effects, detailed as follows;

1) Exhaustion, Compulsion to Rest/Sleep

Within minutes of putting on SCP-714, wearers report feeling worn out - physically and mentally exhausted. Due to this, they will feel driven to "sit down and rest for a bit" on the nearest available furniture, and will likely fall asleep within the space of a few hours. If someone falls asleep wearing SCP-714, the only known means of waking them is to remove SCP-714, at which point they may be roused by anything that would normally wake them up. Exhaustion effects pass within two or three hours of removing SCP-714 if removed from a conscious subject; those that fall asleep wearing SCP-714 report feeling well-rested if SCP-714 is removed, even if they slept for only a few minutes.

SCP-714 extends no 'considerations' towards the needs of its wearer during their forced sleep, though most bodily functions such as breathing continue. If SCP-714 is not removed and the wearer woken up, most will die of dehydration or starvation within a matter of days. SCP-714's impact (if any) on aging remains untested.

Wearers that are tired prior to putting SCP-714 are at serious risk of falling asleep on their feet, possibly falling over in the process. If no furniture or furniture-like object is available nearby, wearers either stand on the spot they donned SCP-714 or attempt to fashion a resting place out of any suitable materials (cushions, blankets, etc.) available.

The drive to sleep can be resisted, but requires formidable willpower and self-control on the part of the wearer. Even so, the following effect makes it impractical for field use.

2) Slowed Reactions, Sluggish Movement

Subjects suffer from severely impaired reaction times; a normally sharp, alert and physically fit subject can have a hard time catching a slow-moving object thrown to them, even if warned and given ample time to prepare. Anyone wearing SCP-714 should not be allowed to operate any heavy machinery or other vehicles under any circumstances.

Wearers of SCP-714 move much slower than normal, managing an average walking pace at best. Their movements are not physically slower, but they are incapable of exerting themselves.

3) Reduced Mental Capacity

Seemingly as part of the mental fatigue, anyone wearing SCP-714 claims that they 'think slowly', or may even have trouble finding the words to adequately communicate that they cannot think as clearly as normal. The wearer may take a long time to think of an answer to a trivial question (eg; "What colour is this red ball?"), never mind one that is vague or requires a more complicated response.

With removal of SCP-714, mental capacity is restored to normal within a few minutes.

4) Mental 'Shield'

As a dubious "benefit" of seemingly reduced mental capacity, wearers of SCP-714 show abnormally high resilience to memetic and mental influences, particularly commands or immediate effects. Weaker memetic influences may be totally nullified by this. In both cases, the wearer feels a strong and instinctive fear of the source of the influence; this fear drives them to immediately seek 'shelter' by any means available, potentially by attempting to destroy the source. This 'shielding' lasts only for as long as SCP-714 is worn.

They are still at significant risk if exposed to any memetic influences that do not take immediate effect. Exposure to such influences should be handled as normal for the source in question, as the degree of 'protection' afforded by SCP-714 has yet to be fully documented.

In addition, 'normal' images and sounds that would cause revulsion, nausea, etc. simply due to shocking or disturbing content have next to no effect on the wearer of SCP-714. The wearer will not even recall seeing them once SCP-714 is removed. Mundane persuasion (such as motivational speeches) has no effect, regardless of the speaker's skill and charisma.

5) Chemical Tolerance

Just as their minds block memetic influences, the bodies of SCP-714 wearers slows and nullifies the effects of various chemicals on the body. Fully poisonous or toxic substances are generally not hindered, but those that specifically impede or enhance neural and/or nervous functions in some way (such as stimulants or sedatives) have very diminished effects. With the removal of SCP-714, this nullification effect expires instantly. Wearers may still suffer from standard overdose effects whilst wearing SCP-714.

The manner (or manners) in which SCP-714 causes its various effects have yet to be discovered, and no unusual emissions of any kind have been detected despite extensive monitoring. If SCP-714 is significantly damaged in any way, such as being broken into two or more pieces, its effects will cease immediat-

Twilight jumped out of her skin as a loud, piercing shriek of a female came no more than twenty meters away from her, two rooms down. It was quickly joined by the deep, hollow laughter of SCP-106. A disgusting slurping sound came from them both, followed swiftly by silence. Twilight put down the document and took the ring without thinking. She had to move.

"Warning: T-Minus 70 Minutes to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now."

She REALLY had to move.

Twilight closed the door to SCP-714's room and moved on to the next. The plaque read 'SCP-860'. Opening the door, Twilight found a small blue key lay in an open, wooden box. Not bothering to read the document present, Twilight took it and put it in her makeshift saddlebag. It could be very important later to open a locked door, or something. Twilight swiftly moved on to the next door, the plaque above reading 'SCP-109'.

Twilight entered the Containment Chamber and stopped, staring at what she found. What appeared to be a canteen, with the letters 'U.S' written on it sat on a small pedestal less than two meters in front of her. She paused. Canteen. Water. Drink. Thirst. She was parched. Now that was all she could think of. She immediately approached the canteen, before grabbing it in her hooves and holding it to her lips. She stopped. What if the water was harmful? What if it was poisonous? What if it was corrosive? Looking around the room, she couldn't find a single document or paper in sight. But her thirst was horrible- if she didn't drink something soon, she could very well die before she even got out of the facility. Examining the two options, she decided the risk was worth it. And hesitantly took a sip of the cold, fresh fluid and waited a minute. Nothing.

She practically poured the water into her mouth, the cold, fresh water making her throat feel like new, washing away the desert that had occupied her mouth for as long as she could remember. She stood there for at least ten seconds, inhaling the clean, beautiful liquid, before coming to a realization. The water didn't stop. No matter how much she drank or much she spilled, it didn't stop coming. After no more than fifteen seconds, she pulled the canteen away from her lips and plugged it, sighing with content before depositing the item into her makeshift saddle bag. This could come in handy.

Wiping her lips with her hoof, she left the Containment Chamber and closed the door behind her, moving onto the last Containment Chamber. Twilight read the plaque in curiosity.

Item #: SCP-348

Alias: A Gift From Dad; Healing Soup

Object Class: Safe

After Twilight read the plaque, she began examining the pictures. The first thing she saw was a bowl of what appeared to be noodle soup. her stomach growled in pain, craving something to eat as she saw it. She didn't need to be told twice. Twilight slid her keycard into its slot, opening the door with a loud creaking noise. Inside, a small bowl of soup sat on a pedestal, a small sliver of steam rising up from it with a small silver spoon sitting to the right. Twilight's mouth watered at the smell alone, the delicious aroma of carrots, potatoes, cabbage, and noodles filling her nostrils.

Twilight approached the bowl, hesitantly examining it. Sure enough, it appeared to just be a bowl of soup. But what if it was in limited supply? What if it was dangerous? The other one hadn't been, but she had to be careful. Twilight looked backwards nervously and spotted a small document laying on the floor, tucked in the corner. Twilight quickly approached the document and began to read it.

Item #: SCP-348

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: ~~SCP-348 is to be kept in a standard locker at Site-19. Personnel wishing to conduct tests involving SCP-348 are to obtain Level 3 or higher authorization and present a detailed list of intended test subjects.~~ Giving that SCP-348's original Containment Chamber was compromised by

Description: SCP-348 is a white ceramic bowl patterned with light blue flowers, measuring approximately 20 cm in diameter and 9 cm high. While no maker’s marks are present, the Chinese characters for “thinking of you” (想着你, “xiǎng zhe nǐ”) are etched into the side of the bowl.

When in the presence of an individual afflicted with a minor ailment or injury (i.e., mild cough, runny nose, scrapes), SCP-348 will fill with soup. While the ingredients present within the soups produced by SCP-348 vary, young subjects (individuals between the ages of 4 and 18) have consistently stated that they enjoyed the meal, sometimes stating that it reminds them of their parents’ cooking. Subjects will finish the soup found in SCP-348 if allowed.

Twilight stopped reading right there and then. From this alone, she deduced that the soup was neither harmful nor in limited supply. And that was all she needed to know. Twilight immediately took the spoon in her hooves, and with some difficulty, managed to shovel the delicious food into her mouth, the mouthwatering, succulent, savory taste of carrots, potatoes, noodles, and cabbage all mixed with fresh soup broth overwhelming all other senses. It took her less than a minute to finish.

Twilight put down the spoon, sighing as her hunger faded. She simply stood there for several seconds before looking back down into the soup bowl. She paused, her smile fading as she noticed text written on the bottom of the bowl.

Everything will be alright. I believe in you, honey.

Twilight stared at the message for a moment before turning around, leaving the room and closing the door behind her with a clank. She had completely examined everything she could in the Safe-Class Object section. After her success there, she decided that she should investigate the Euclid-Class Object section as well. Who knows what useful or life-saving objects could be there?

Leaving the Safe-Class Object section, Twilight took a deep breath of the increasingly stuffy air and entered the Euclid-Class Object section. It was identical to the Safe-Class Section, with the exception of there being different plaques. Twilight immediately went for the nearest door, the SCP contained within being designated as 'SCP-178' according to the plaque. Twilight inserted her keycard into the keycard slot, but nothing happened. The message 'Keycard Invalid; Please Insert Higher-Level Keycard' flashed on the screen above the slot.

Twilight tried the chambers for SCP-037, SCP-018, and SCP-093, but they were either locked down or simply required a higher-level keycard. Getting frustrated, Twilight tried SCP-198's door, too, this time opening it successfully. But as she entered the chamber, she noticed that there didn't seem to be anything inside. Twilight presumed it was either invisible, taken by somepony else, or, more horrifyingly, had escaped. Twilight sighed and moved onto the next door, labeled 'SCP-2925'.

Twilight entered the Containment Chamber and took note of her surroundings. On the floor of the chamber lay a small, glass sphere and a heavily blood-stained document. What appeared to be a large, steel cube sat on a pedestal towards the back of the room, with the door to the cube open. Several blood stains, as well as a corrosion mark, also lay on the floor. Trying to avoid the corrosion mark, Twilight picked up the document and began reading.

Item #: SCP-2925

Object Class: Safe Euclid (Revision first proposed 11/30/12, confirmed on 2/4/13; see Incident Log 2925-A and Related Documents, and Formal Request for Upgrade)

Special Containment Procedures: ~~SCP-2925 is currently contained at a dedicated facility for its containment in an airtight, reinforced, blast-resistant chamber, appropriate for Epsilon-4 Class “Highly Valuable Objects” protection. The chamber is temperature-controlled and completely dark to ensure no changes in energy within the system of the room. All interactions with SCP-2925 must be undertaken with extreme care to ensure no unnecessary changes in energy present within the object.~~

~~The facility itself is isolated from other containment sites, due to the high-value nature of the object, and a prior intelligence leak that resulted in the object’s acquisition by hostile agents. Onsite guard patrols consist of 6 rotating shifts of guards along with mobile security forces on standby in the event of a breach of the facility containing SCP-2925.~~

Giving that SCP-2925's original Containment Chamber was compromised in the ██/█/████ attack by the [REDACTED] and it's relocation to Site-37 to prevent theft in a possible secondary attack, SCP-2925 is to be contained in an airtight, reinforced, blast-resistant safe, located within a Standard Anomalous Object Containment Room. The safe is to be temperature-controlled and completely devoid of light to ensure no changes in energy. No interactions with SCP-2925 are to be made while SCP-2925 is in Site-37.

In the event of a site-wide breach, lockdown, or attack, and due to the potential threat of SCP-2925 being stolen by the [REDACTED] due to its high value and danger, an automated system is to automatically downgrade the security clearance to be accessible by Level 3+ personnel in the event of any of the aforementioned disasters. The nearest Level 3+ personnel is to retrieve the object in the event of any of the aforementioned disasters.

As of 11/30/12, no further testing with SCP-2925 is to take place.

Description: SCP-2925 is a glass sphere, roughly 10 cm in diameter and 1 kilogram in mass, that is capable of anomalous energy creation and storage.

SCP-2925 violates the first law of thermod-

A scream echoed throughout the facility, this time a male's voice, startling Twilight into dropping the document. Realizing how much time she has been wasting, Twilight quickly grabbed the glass sphere with her hooves (albeit after some difficulty) and put it gently in her makeshift saddlebag.

She had to move.

Nervously glancing around, Twilight left the Euclid-Class Object Containment Room and, securing her makeshift saddlebag, marched onwards. Blinking before she left the hallway altogether, she entered the next room. Almost immediately, she stopped. There, standing less than three meters away, sat what appeared to be a teddy-bear. But it wasn't just any teddy-bear. Twilight, after some hesitation, cautiously approached it. On closer inspection, the teddy-bear appeared to be made out of flesh. And not just flesh, but disgusting mounds of flesh, consisting of what appeared to be human ears, fingers, and noses. Twilight's eyes dilated as she stared at the abomination in front of her.

She needed to get past it.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight walked closer and closer to the creature, presuming it was even ALIVE- much less sentient, or Celestia forbid SAPIENT. Twilight got within around a meter of the flesh-bear, when a shrill, high-pitched shriek arose from the flesh-bear. Immediately, Twilight's ears practically slammed against her skull, trying to block out the horrible, piercing screeching. A horrible feeling erupted in both her ears and eyes- and it wasn't just regular pain, either. Her eyes felt like somepony had jammed red-hot needles into them, and then poured acid in after the fact. Screaming, Twilight stumbled forward, running blindly away from the bear. Within seconds, she smashed muzzle-first into the far-wall, another burning sensation of agony erupting in her muzzle. Her eyes refused to open to see what was happening, and she collapsed onto the floor, begging for it to stop, but the earsplitting sound continued on, only intensifying with time.

And then it stopped.

Twilight lay on the concrete floor, the horrible agony subsiding as time went on, being quickly replaced by a dull ache. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around. The bear was nowhere to be seen. Pushing herself up off the cold ground, Twilight put a hoof to her muzzle. Another hit like that, and it might just break. She didn't know what that flesh-bear was, but she sure as hell wasn't going to stick around to find out. Turning around, she opened the door that exited the hallway and left, examining the room she now found herself in.

It appeared to be yet another hallway, with what appeared to be an open elevator located to the left. Perfect. Examining the room for dangers, Twilight gulped and walked forward, entering the brightly lit elevator. It took her a second for her vision to adjust to the brightness, as she was used to the near complete darkness of the facility, illuminated only by small, red lights. The elevator, on the other hoof, had four large flush light panels embedded in the ceiling, illuminating the elevator brightly. The control panel for the elevator had only two buttons, up and down. Sighing, Twilight pressed the 'down' button, and the elevator doors shuddered before closing, the familiar hum and rumble of an elevator descending echoing into Twilight's ears as she breathed heavily, trying to regain her composure.

A minute passed, a minute which Twilight had used to gather her thoughts. And, honestly, that minute was exactly what she needed to begin to realize just how absurd this entire situation was. As the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, she took a deep breath and stepped out into Light Containment Zone Floor 2.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long to write. It's been more than 10 days! I simply didn't have much motivation to finish this story, but recently, I finally decided to just get it finished. And so I did.

But I have to go watch YouTube Videos/Have Dinner/Fail to go to sleep at a time earlier than three in the god-damn morning for the third time this week. Hope you enjoyed.

Cheers!

Show Yourself

"Warning: T-Minus 60 Minutes to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now."

Twilight sighed as the doors opened, yet another wave of stale, burning air hitting her like a brick wall. An ever-increasing feeling of dread started to creep up on her as she listened to the intercom. The news wasn't good. Sweat dripped down her fur, each step she took seemingly getting more difficult due to the heat.

Twilight stepped out of the elevator, examining the room. It was nothing particularly special, barely illuminated by blinking red lights, an alarm she had gotten so used to, and two doors to either side. No dangers seemed to present themselves, and Twilight racked her brain for directions. Alright, according to the map, she should head... lllleeeffff- right.

Turning right, Twilight blinked before opening the door. She stopped. She hadn't seen this before. Inside the room, there appeared to be two doors on the wall directly in front of her. One was to the left and seemed to require a keypad. The other sat to the right, leading into a small, cramp hallway no more than five meters long, and one and a half meters wide. The doors on both ends of the hallway were wide open, and a single pipe, broken and stuck at an odd angle, spewing a black gas- intersected the room.

Twilight cautiously moved forward, heading towards the hallway. As she entered it, the concrete floor turning to metal, the air around her growing in temperature tenfold. Twilight could the wall to the left of the hallway now. It was a large window, and from it, she could see where the door to the left went. It appeared to enter a small room with various shelves, desks, and computer monitors sat. On the floor, Twilight could make out the dead body of a guard, died by an unknown means.

Ignoring the sight, Twilight went on through the hallway. As she approached the middle of the hallway, a loud beeping sound blasted into her ears, and the doors on each end of the hallway closed with a bang, several sparks flying out from one. Jumping back, Twilight hastily looked around, trying to figure out what to do. She was trapped in the hallway. Several seconds passed, and three vents on the ceiling began spewing out a cold, white gas.

To Twilight, the prospect was both exciting and frightening. She had no idea what the gas in question was, but it was cold- freezing, even- which was a godsend in all of this heat. She really needed to turn the Ventilation Systems back on. The gas lets up after about five seconds, and the doors opened shortly afterward. Twilight blinked in confusion. What was even the purpose of that hallway? Maybe decontamination? But... decontamination from what? Radiation? A part of Twilight didn't want to find out.

Entering the next room, Twilight once again examined the perimeter for dangers, occasionally bumping into a crossroad, to which she would rack her memory for information, and make a decision as to where to go. This went on for some time, about three minutes or so without anything particularly interesting happening.

Sighing, Twilight opened the next door, blinking as she did so, before stopping in her tracks. This was new. The hallway she now found herself in was about ten meters long, three meters high, and two meters wide. Unlike the other rooms, this one was completely bathed in red light, the door at the end seemingly not having a button to open it. The floor was completely metal instead of concrete. An opening, leading to what Twilight presumed to be another hallway, sat in the middle of the right wall.

Twilight carefully moved forward, turning right to see down the second hallway. She froze. At the end of the second hallway, about five meters down, there was a button, which Twilight presumed to open the door to leave this area. But that wasn't all. At the end of the hallway, almost completely blocking the button from view and staring directly at her, was SCP-173. Above the statue, there was what was once a ventilation shaft, the ventilation grill snapped off and on the floor, beneath SCP-173.

Twilight froze, every fiber in her body urging her to leave, but she couldn't. She stared at the statue, her eyes wider than ever as her mind raced, trying to decide what to do. She came to a decision. Gulping, she walked towards the statue, her eyes already beginning to dehydrate.

As she approached the statue and the button, she got a closer look at it. Sure, she had gotten close before, exceptionally close- but she was panicking then, adrenaline was rushing through her veins and blurring her perception skills. Not to say that none of those things were the case NOW- just that they aren't as noticeable.

The statue itself looked completely solid, as it should. Obviously inanimate. It couldn't be anything but, right? But she knew better, and not once did her eyes stray away from the statue's visage. Soon, she got to within a few inches of it, her eyes already craving oxygen. She should have moved faster. Twilight reached out a quaking hoof, feeling as it slid across the cold, metal wall until finally making contact with an object jutting out from the side. As Twilight pressed it down, she heard a familiar shudder, click and thud as her way out of this room opened.

Twilight began to back away from the statue as soon as she heard it, practically falling away from it. But the room was enclosed. With the ventilation systems down, not to mention the air-conditioning, the temperature was scorching, like a hot, summer sun beating down on you, except from every direction. An oven would be a better analogy. The result of it all was a single bead of sweat that dripped down her forehead, towards her left eye, threatening to blur her vision. Almost instinctively, Twilight blinked her left eye rapidly out of fear it would blur her vision.

Now, one might know that the eyes of an individual are almost always connected. As in, when one is blinked, the other tends to follow. The same thing occurred here, as Twilight's right eye followed suit after the left. A nanosecond of darkness and intense concrete scrapping against metal, and Twilight found herself face to face with the statue once again, it having moved over five meters towards her. Stifling a scream, Twilight stumbled to the left door in an attempt to escape, this time refusing to take her eyes off the statue, even as the salt burned against her eye.

Leaving the room entirely, she pressed a nearby button on the wall and watched in relief as the doors closed, slamming with a satisfying thud and putting a barrier between herself and that horrifying statue. Seconds of intense concrete scrapping followed, fading away, and soon disappearing into the sunset. Somehow, despite the Ventilation Systems being down, closed and locked- it had found a way to the lockroom, and out.

Twilight sighed, not bothering to check to see where the statue had gone and turned around. She passed through several hallways and rooms, again, without much incident spare the occasional concrete scrapping coming from a nearby duct, scream of anguish from somewhere far away, splot of blood staining the ground, corrosion from SCP-106, dead body of some poor soul or some other relatively minor event.

Heh.

It had only been an hour or two and she was already classifying things that normally would give her panic attacks as 'minor events'.

Fun.

Blinking, Twilight opened the next door, taking a single step forward before stopping at the new sight for what seemed like the fifth time today. The room she had entered was small, as most important things seemed to be. It was completely plain, with no furniture or interesting bits at all. A single, large metal door with the same familiar 'X' shape covered the entire front wall. Normally, this in and of itself could make Twilight retreat. That meant a Containment Cell for another horror, another anomalous object, and clearly one that was not to be messed with. Of course, that wasn't what made a shiver run up Twilight's spine. Nor was the three, corroding dead bodies of two D-Class and a Guard. Nor was the holes in the two D-Class's chest, or the gaping hole in the guard's back, revealing black and rotting organs and bones. Nor was the plethora of tissue, spinal cord and other materials Twilight wished she never had to see strewn about the room, ripped out by an unknown source. In fact, the most worrying part was probably the gaping corrosion hole dead center of the Containment Door.

Seconds passed before the oh-so-familiar stench of rotting, corroding, and decomposing bodies hit her yet again. But this time she didn't gag, at least not as much. She was more focused on the fact that, whatever was in there, had gotten out- and more so on the possibility that thing that had gotten out was SCP-106.

Gulping down her fear and going against the warning signs in her head, she slowly trudged forward through the soup coating the floor. It was a sort of squishy feeling, with the occasional hard chunk of either bone or... something else occasionally making its presence known. She couldn't really tell. Slippery, too. A wave of nausea hit her, making her dry-heave in place as she approached the label.

Item #: SCP-372

Alias: 'Perhipheral Jumper'

Object Class: Euclid

So, not SCP-106, then. Well, that was a relief.

Wait.

That meant SCP-106 hadn't COME from here, it had GONE here. It had entered the way she came and phased through the door.

...

What if it was still in there?

Twilight held her breath as she turned around slowly, examining the show of death in front of her before turning back to the door. Gradually and deliberately, she gazed into the corroded hole in the door, trying to see inside. She paid no mind to the actual contents of the Containment Chamber, for now, more focusing on the corrosion trail SCP-106 had left behind on the floor. It appeared to loop back on itself. He had left.

Thank Celestia.

Twilight hated that thing.

...

D-9341 probably did, too.

...Yeah, definitely.

Twilight sighed at the thought, but only for a second before she pushed the thoughts towards the back of her mind. Stepping through the hole and careful not to make contact with the corrosion, she entered the Containment Chamber. Quickly, she took note of her environments. Large room, with a smaller, glass room in the middle. A single, double-locked door sat in the right side, shut tightly. Of course, whatever was stored in the glass room had managed to leave despite the locked door- SCP-106 had apparently phased through the glass, basically melting most of the glass wall facing Twilight into a sludge before leaving.

No SCPs here.

After deducing her safety, Twilight's eyes began to dart around the room, scanning it for any helpful items or supplies. A shelf sat near the far-right corner of the room, containing nothing more than a few boxes of miscellaneous documents. Nothing of apparent value. She was mainly looking for weapons at this point. Finding none, she sighed and turned around in an attempt to leave.

Something in her peripheral vision jumped out of sight the second she caught eye of it, that same feeling you get when a bug buzzes past your face appearing ten-fold. She jumped around, her heart dropping into her chest as she prepared to run from any foe or danger she saw.

Twilight examined the room for the second time.

Nothing.

Sighing, she turned around to leave. It must have just been her imagination. And then, the same thing happened again, just a blur of green motion, this time to the opposite side of her face. Twilight whizzed around again, positive that she wasn't alone anymore. She examined the room once more, and in much detail, refusing to miss a thing.

Nothing at all.

She stood there for a moment in confusion, thinking. Was she going crazy? Granted, she probably already was, but- wait. Her mind practically stopped for a second as she had an epiphany.

'Peripheral Jumper'.

Twilight's blood ran cold, a shiver overtaking her senses. She stood in fear, unable and unwanting to make any sudden movements as something skittered around from behind her. A whole minute passed before she got the courage to move again. Whatever the creature was, it was out of Containment and couldn't be seen, she got that part. Gulping, she turned around, swearing she saw another blur of motion to her right. But this time she ignored it, refusing to try and see the creature. It would only end badly. She practically ran out of the Containment Chamber, slipping on the viscous liquid covering the ground on her way out, the sound of skittering disappearing behind her.

She hated this place.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Straight.

Left.

SCP-1123.

Locked.

Straight.

Left.

SCP-205.

Locked.

Right.

Twilight sighed as she opened door after door, and entered room after room. In truth, the facility wasn't as empty and full of pointless hallways as it seemed at first glance- there were plenty of other doors, rooms, and entire sections placed in between. It's just that they were almost all locked down, like SCP-1123 and SCP-205. It was straining her mind just to remember where to go to reach the elevator that leads to Storage Area 6. It was the only way through, after all.

She blinked and opened yet another door. A wave of relief came over her as she entered the next room. An open elevator sat directly in front of her, the words above reading 'Storage Area 6'. Perfect. It had taken her what seemed like forever just to reach here, and through it, her way out sat.

She sped into the elevator in excitement, blinking furiously as she entered to get her eyes adjusted to the bright light of the elevator. The elevator was rather small, actually- it was more of a maintenance elevator, with a cage around it. Through the cage, she could see the heavy concrete walls of the elevator shaft, wires and pipes and cables visible through it. It was a very old-fashioned, mining elevator style, not the type you'd expect from a facility this modern. She pressed the button labeled 'down' and leaned against the back wall as the elevator doors shut, squeaking as they did so. The elevator began to descend as the cables pulled her down towards Storage Area 6.

As she approached the floor, the lights in the elevator started to get dimmer and the heat started to rise. There were several red lights dotted every ten meters outside the elevator itself, which barely illuminated anything. The lights built into the elevator itself flickered as she got further down. Suddenly, they gave out altogether with an ear-piercing beep. Twilight let out a small scream in response. But that wasn't the end of it. The elevator got closer to the ground, and with it, Twilight noticed a smell. A terrible smell, a mix of blood, smoke, and acid. She tried not to gag as the smell intensified the closer she got to Storage Area 6, powerless to stop the overwhelming stench.

Soon, the air started to get thick with some kind of gas, hot and singeing Twilight's fur. Twilight's breathing became as she approached the floor. She started coughing as the gas entered her lungs with every breath, threatening to choke her and burning her lungs. Finally, the elevator reached the bottom, and the doors opened to reveal Storage Area 6, completely full of scorching gas. It burned Twilight's eyes now. Her only explanation was that without the Ventilation Systems going, Storage Area 6 had filled with gas from... somewhere below her. She hated to think what machine or... thing... could cause all of it.

She pressed the up button on the elevator and tried to cover her mouth as the elevator ascended, struggling to breathe. It took a whole minute before the elevator reached the top and she stumbled out back onto Light Containment Zone Floor 2. She collapsed onto the floor, rubbing her eyes to rid them of that retched itchiness. Her mind raced again, trying to decide on a new plan of action.

The heat down there was horrible, not that it was much better up here. The ventilation systems were down. If she wanted to escape through Storage Area 6, she needed to turn them back on. Alright. Think, Twilight. Think. You scanned the map of this facility. You're a smart pony. Now, where is it? Twilight looked up at the dark room she now stood in. Okay, let's think. It was... uh, straight ahead from her. Twilight gulped down her fears and marched onwards towards the Ventilation System Control Room.

She moved quickly through the darkness that enveloped the repetitive, maze-like facility deep underground, checking every corner, nook, and cranny along the way of any hostile creatures. Not that she wanted to find one. Just the thought made a chill run up her spine, a stark contrast to the hot, stuffy and increasingly carbon-dioxide ridden chambers of Site-37.

Twilight encountered a deviance from the repetitive rooms and halls within short order. She opened the door with a blink, taking only a quick examination of the room before stepping inside. A closed door in front of her, an open door to her right. She quickly examined the room she was in again, this time more thorough. No dangers? At least, none that she could see. Turning back to the open door, Twilight read the label next to the right door. 'Anomalous Object Storage Room L-2'.

Twilight blinked before turning away. There was no way in hell she was entering another one of those. The first one was risky enough, even if it did give her something useful in the end. Twilight immediately made her way to the other door and pressed the button.

Beep.

Nothing.

Twilight bit her bottom lip as she pressed the button again. Once more, nothing happened. The door didn't open.

Letting out a cry of frustration, Twilight turned back around to the Storage Area. Perhaps there was something in there she could use. After all, she had nothing that could open the door in her makeshift saddle bag. An infinite canteen, a ring that blocks mental compulsion and effects or whatever, a blue key that does... something, a... ring, of sorts found in a room of blood and... a glass sphere. Actually, she didn't know anything about the properties of three of those things. Huh.

Entering the Storage Area, Twilight examined the labels. Now, Twilight was under a lot of stress recently. Obviously. Often times, when she was in a lot of stress, she would pace or mutter things under her breath. Almost subconsciously, Twilight began reading the labels out loud.

"...SCP-1068... 'Harmless Nuke'? What's a nuke?" Twilight muttered as she went over the label. "Whatever. Doesn't seem all that important if it's called 'harmless'. A weapon of sorts would be nice."

"SCP-1079... 'Dr. Wondertainment's Bubblebath Bonbons'. That's... odd. Maybe it can be of use." Twilight said, pressing the button to open the door. The door beeped in response, refusing to open. It was locked down.

"Damn. Oh, well. Anything with... THAT sort of name isn't PROBABLY important either, anyway. Let's see now... SCP-165." Twilight muttered, gazing at a photo of an odd-looking parasite. Judging from the pictures, she didn't want to open that one.

"Next. Uh, okay. SCP-426. Um, that's... literally just a picture of me, a toaster! What- what can be so dangerous about me that they would have to lock me up in such a way? Oh, well. I'm probably not very useful." Twilight said, moving onto the next SCP.

"SCP-1079... uh, I doubt it has much use. It's a painting. I couldn't carry that, anyway. Let's see. SCP-133?" Twilight muttered, staring at the label. "'Instant Holes'. Now, that sounds interesting."

Twilight slid her keycard into the slot, and the door shuddered in response, opening to reveal what appeared to be... a lot of small, circular, black pieces of paper, like stickers on several sticker sheets, all stacked together on a pedestal, held in place with a small, black strap. On the floor, there lay a small document. Picking it up, Twilight began to read.

Item #: SCP-133

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: ~~All instances of SCP-133 are stored in their original shipping crates, which are to be stored within a standard Safe-class storage container at Site 19. Experimentation with SCP-133 may only be performed with prior written permission from at least two (2) Level 4 Personnel.~~ All instances of SCP-133 are to be stored on several sheets of sticker paper, stacked and held in place with a leather strap in a Standard Anomalous Object Containment Room. Due to its obvious value and the recent attack/relocation, only Level 4+ Personnel are authorized to access SCP-133, with the exception of a breach, in which case an automated system will cause the doors to allow access by only Level 3+ Personnel. The nearest guard of Level 3+ is to find and obtain SCP-133 in the event of a breach and then report to the nearest evacuation shelter immediately. Failure to do so renders the guard eligible for demotion to D-Class.

Description: SCP-133 are a set of six hundred and thirteen (613) black, circular pieces of a waxy, paper-like material 5 cm in diameter. When placed against a solid surface and rubbed, SCP-133 will instantaneously "transfer" to the surface and create a circular hole. Testing has shown that SCP-133 is capable of penetrating up to 61 cm of structural grade steel, though the exact degree of penetration is reduced by extremely smooth or highly dense materials. Examination of holes created by SCP-133 show that they are superficially smooth, but exhibit tool marks consistent with that of extremely fine boring implements at a microscopic level. The exact mechanism by which SCP-133 operates is still under investigation.

Twilight smiled as she put the paper down to the ground. Perfect. She undid the strap with her hooves (after some difficulty) and took the sheets, depositing them into her saddlebag. Leaving the room, she approached the locked door she couldn't get past. Careful to use as little magic as possible so not to set her back too far, she removed a single black piece of paper from a sheet and placed it onto the door, rubbing it against it with her hoof. Suddenly, she felt like the paper has disappeared, and when she removed her hoof, a small, circular hole lay in the middle of the door.

A wave of relief crashed over Twilight as she removed another small piece of paper, rubbing it against the door. A few minutes passed, Twilight hastily creating a larger and larger hole out of the pieces of paper. Soon, the hole was large enough for her head to fit through, and after a minute more, she could fit her entire body in. Twilight crawled through the small hole she had made out of several hundred pieces of paper, collapsing in a pile on the other side of the door. Twilight quickly got to her hooves and examined how many pieces of paper she had left. A quick count showed she had used up 80% of the 'Instant Holes'. Gulping down her fears, she silently hoped that they could be duplicated somehow.

Twilight continued on through the facility, passing through hall after hall and room after room, all drenched in red light. She paused on two occasions, her ears perking and eyes dilating due to the faint sound of concrete scraping passing by, or a scream echoing throughout the halls from some poor soul being killed by some unknown means that, to Twilight, would be better off unknown.

It took her only a minute or two before she reached the Ventilation Room, barely visible in the dim light of the Foundation halls. Twilight read the sign laden above the door before inserting her keycard, the door opening with a thud. Stepping inside, the stuffy air hit her like a wall for what seemed the seventh time today. A small console of sorts lay directly in front of her, several levers and buttons lay around it, each one determining temperature, water flow, and so on.

Twilight began examining the console, on more than one occasion splashing water on her face from SCP-109 to cool herself off. It took less than thirty seconds for her to find what she was looking for. Two small levers sat on the console, with the words 'Ventilation' and 'Air Conditioning' respectively lay beside them. Twilight flipped each one upwards. A blast of cool air sent a shiver down her spine as the Ventilation shafts opened up, the hot air quickly rising up through them and out of the facility, with cool, air-conditioned air taking its spot. In less than ten seconds the heat had left the facility.

Twilight took a deep breath of fresh-feeling air, reveling in her success. Only then did she truly realize just how hot the facility had been. The gradual change in temperature and stuffiness meant she hadn't really noticed it's full magnitude. Twilight left the Ventilation Room in a hurry, racing back towards Storage Area 6 through the now-cool halls and rooms of Site-37. Crawling back through the hole she had made in the locked door, she reached the elevator in short-order.

Twilight entered the rickety elevator that leads back down towards Storage Area 6, pressing the down button. The elevator descended, and as Twilight noted, the temperature started to feel remarkably cool the further down she went, a stark contrast to the suffocatingly hot gas from earlier. As the doors to the Storage Area opened, Twilight quickly took note of its appearance. The room she found herself in was very large and square-shaped, but with a rather low ceiling. The floor was made out of a metal grating of sorts, which made a loud noise on contact with her hoof. The walls were concrete, and the room itself was filled with many large boxes with yellow stripes and various labels on them. A large pipe bent at an odd angle sat in the middle of the room, spewing a grey gas. Perhaps this was the source of the suffocating gas from earlier.

Twilight stepped out of the elevator, the metal floor vibrating with each step as her hoof made contact with the floor. It was rather dark, the lights seemed to be out. She walked forward, peering into the darkness as she passed through the boxes, before she suddenly stopped, her ears perking as she listened. She could have sworn she-

Clack.

Something... something with claws was walking somewhere close, somewhere to her left.

Twilight squeaked in alarm, stumbling backward as she tried not to fall. She bumped into a box by accident and fell over, hitting the ground with a deafening crash. A low, raspy voice echoed through the room, being hastily replaced by the voice of a middle-aged stallion- or male human. Twilight's eyes widened as she heard it.

"Who's there?!"

The voice came from no more than five meters to her northwest, her view of whatever caused it blocked by the boxes. It was at that moment that Twilight noticed the low, heavy, raspy breathing coming from the same location. She nearly said something, opened her mouth to ask for help, but she stopped herself, her mind trailing to her mental list of possible SCPs that could have caused it. She couldn't be too careful. Even if it did sound human, it very well could be something els- wait.

Hold on a moment.

Can mimic speech.

Use the voices of their past vic-

The sound of walking continued, jarring Twilight out of her thoughts. She inhaled sharply, but quietly, trying not to make a sound as the sound of walking, of heavy, raspy breathing, of what could very well be her imminent death approached. It got closer. And closer. She tensed up, unlucky enough to have her bad leg bearing her entire weight, but she dared not move a muscle. The slightest twitch could mean her horrible, painful death.

The creature finally came into vision. A scream rose halfway up Twilight's throat. Its head was long, with no eyes in sight- it's red, cold skin being a stark contrast to the black and gray that surrounded Twilight in all other directions. She could see its teeth through its mouth, open in what could be described as a grin. Yellow-white and stained with blood, lining its mouth in the hundreds, so dense it almost formed a net of sorts. In the darkness, she couldn't really tell what she saw, but she sworn a hand, a piece of flesh, SOMETHING was dangling outside its mouth, pierced by its long teeth.

"Show yourself!"

As the creature advanced, less than two meters in front of her, the rest of its body showed itself. It was very muscular, its legs being easily as thick as her head. Its ribs poked through the skin, the blood covering its body barely visible as it blended with its skin. Its long legs ended in even longer, blood-red claws, which clicked against the metallic ground. Large red spikes were placed sporadically along its spine, extending all the way down its tail, which swished side to side along the ground.

"I know you're here..."

Twilight's silent terror was... indescribable. She felt like she was paralyzed, unable to move as the creature showed every inch of it's horrific visage to her, less than two meters in front of her, before disappearing just as fast as it came, leaving her vision. Seconds passed, but her terror didn't. Her heart felt like it had burst out of her chest by the time the clacking of its nails, probably able to rip her to pieces had finally gone far enough away to no longer be audible.

"...Come on, guys. Stop joking around. I'm freaked out enough with this Containment Breach going on..."

The voice was a ways away now. Twilight finally opened her mouth, releasing the carbon dioxide which had built up in her lungs for the last minute. She took in several deep breaths, trying to steady her nerves before she continued.

She supposed that was SCP-939.

Or at least one instance of SCP-939.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight began to move, releasing the pressure off of her bad leg. She clenched her jaw hard as the sudden change of position sent a wave of pain coursing through her leg. The last minute had all but reversed the medical care she had used on it. She could walk at a decent pace, certainly- but it wouldn't be fun. She would just have to muster through it.

Slowly moving forward, she tried to navigate the maze-like storage area, SCP-939 occasionally making an appearance. Whenever the sound of a creature approached, she would duck behind the boxes and hold her breath until it passed. It took some time, but she managed to convince herself they really couldn't see her. She just needed to be quiet.

Time passed. She passed through tube-like concrete hallways and walked through mazes of boxes. SCP-939's heavy, raspy breathing and the sound of its claws against metal always giving its location away. The fear was still extremely high, of course. The darkness meant she could barely see them if they were more than three meters away. She was only able to hear their location. Granted, that was exactly what they could do. It took her very little time to realize there was more than one- as she entered a new area, there always seemed to be an instance of SCP-939 patrolling around, boxes conveniently located for her to dive behind, albeit painfully at times.

Gulping down her fears, she began to feel like she was making progress. Passing through the halls with increasingly quicker speed, she turned a corner. And, low and behold, at the end of the hallway that now lay before her, sat an open elevator door, this one much less rickety and more modern than the one she had entered the Storage Area in. It was incredibly bright, illuminating the entire hallway, tantalizing her. But the brightness revealed something else- something which made Twilight's blood run cold.

SCP-939, or at least an instance of SCP-939, sat right in the middle of the narrow hallway, facing her. It's silhouette illuminated by the elevator lights, it's face blanketed in shadow. And it was walking towards her.

Twilight figured that it had probably wandered down the hallway, and finding it a seemingly dead end, turned around. Twilight did the same thing; turned around, trying to find something to hide behind, only to find ANOTHER SCP-939 instance right behind her. Less than five meters, in fact- blocking her way out. And it was coming closer.

At that moment, all that existed was that hallway, that elevator, the SCP-939 instance behind her, growling viciously, and the SCP-939 instance in her path, silhouetted against the light.

Twilight gulped down her fears, turned back to the elevator, and ran. Ran down the hallway, no longer caring for how loud she was. All she cared about was passing SCP-939 before it knew what had happened. The second her hoof made contact with the ground as she burst into a sprint, a horrible, shrill screech ripped through the air from behind her. As Twilight took note, she wasn't the only one who began to run.

She approached the SCP-939 instance in her path with speed that would only ever come from somepony who had everything to lose and no other option to save it all. The hallway barely had enough room for SCP-939 to fit inside. She was hoping, hoping against all hope that she could pass it by jumping over its legs to the left. Flying was not an option giving the low ceiling of the hallway, but that didn't stop her from using her wings to speed herself up. It took only a second for her to reach SCP-939. It finally realized what was happening when she veered to the left, trying to pass it. The elevator was only a few meters behind SCP-939... if she could just get past it, she would press the button and-

A sharp, burning pain erupted in her bad leg as several thin, sharp, cold objects pierced it. SCP-939 had evidently managed to take a bite out of her as she passed it by. Twilight's momentum kept her going, the teeth ripping through her flesh as she went, blood spewing over the wall. Twilight screamed as she tumbled past SCP-939, smashing into the hard metal floor and rolled into the elevator. Immediately, Twilight tapped into her, as of then, decent magic reserves to smash the up button on the elevator. The doors closed within a second, SCP-939 barely managing to make it to the door as it slammed shut. Horrible, unearthly, raspy screaming came from the other side of the door, slowly disappearing as the elevator moved up. At least the screaming from SCP-939. Twilight's screaming, however, didn't stop for another few seconds.

She gazed at her leg, already bruised, cut and sore from her other 'adventures' within Site-37, now with a large gash arching across it, blood soaking the floor at a rather alarming rate. She laid her head down onto the elevator floor, biting her lip as she tried to ignore the pain. The elevator rose, and what to Twilight felt like an eternity, reached the top. The elevator doors opened, and Twilight gazed out into the dimly lit hallway, soaked in red that she was so used to at this point.

She was through.

Author's Note

I'm sorry that it took so long to make this one. I had several vacations and a teally bad writer's block. I think I know what's making it so hard to write now, and I'll rectify that in the next chapter. Spoiler alert: it's a lack of people for Twilight to talk to. But it might be a while before I get the next chapter up. Or it might be soon, too. I intend to start watching 'Death Note' soon, so that may throw a wrench into things. I always wanted to. Can't wait!

Oh, well. It's 2:30 AM now, and I have to go to bed. I'll upload this and get some sleep. Until then, hope you enjoyed, sorry for the many grammar, spelling and word choice errors that were probably present in this chapter (I'm tired and can't afford to proofread), and cheers!

Doctor, Doctor

"Warning: T-Minus 20 Minutes to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now."

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

...Well, okay. Maybe something. A wall, to be precise. A concrete wall.

It was silent, anyway.

At least for a minute.

"...Uh, Reid? What... why's there a wall there?" Twilight asked, gesturing to the open elevator door. Sure enough, instead of an entrance to Light Containment Zone Level 1, there was a concrete wall. This was odd for a number of reasons. Firstly, elevators are supposed to bring you to your destination, and a concrete wall wasn't exactly where Twilight wanted to end up right now. Secondly, see above.

"...Uh, I don't... maybe the elevator has broken down."

A million thoughts raced through Twilight's head. Visions of SCP-682 being insane enough to crash through the elevator door and damage some vital component to the elevator's lifting mechanism flashed in her mind. Several more of SCP-106 deciding to pay them a nice visit, maybe chat with them a bit, get them some tea, and grab onto them with his corrosive, bony fingers and drag them into a torturous pocket dimension. A couple more of simply being trapped here until she died of starvation. Honestly, the last one seemed worse. Better to die with a ka-boom in this place. She'd at least get some respect in the afterlife.

Suddenly, a loud bang emanated from the top of the elevator car, followed by a familiar scraping noise. More bangs ensued, the scraping intensified, the car started to shake, the lights started to flicker, and both Reid and Twilight started to scream. Or maybe just Reid. Twilight couldn't tell. It was high-pitched enough to be her, anyway. As the elevator bobbed up and down, something very large and very heavy scratching at the elevator car, Twilight began to realize what might be happening. Could it... could it be...?

Her question was answered as a large tile on the ceiling of the elevator car collapsed, several small pieces of metal, a few medium-sized pieces of foam and electrical components, and one large piece of concrete and rebar, with traces of Krylon brand spray paint falling to the floor. The large piece of concrete and rebar with traces of Krylon brand spray paint was, of course, SCP-173. Somehow, it had managed to get to the top of the elevator car and had damaged something up there, stopping the elevator's descent.

The screaming intensified.

Reid's brain eventually started to process what had happened, and he instinctually snapped his eyes wide open, staring directly at the abomination in front of him. Twilight's instincts kicked in, too. But these ones mainly consisted of extending her wings and flying directly into the ceiling.

That was the interesting thing about having wings: the phrase 'flight or fight' is much less symbolic and much more literal.

"T-twilight! Stop, look at it!" Reid shouted, still looking at SCP-173, even as the elevator car started to tilt to the side, causing SCP-173 to start to slide to the side of the elevator car.

Twilight's flight or fight response finally decided that in this particular case, staring at the danger was a perfectly valid choice to make. Dropping back to the ground, Twilight focused her vision on the statue. For what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds, nothing happened. Reid stared at SCP-173. Twilight stared at SCP-173. SCP-173 stared into the distance, looking at nothing in particular. Presuming, of course, it couldn't move its line of vision without moving its body. What if it could...? Was it looking directly at her right now?

Oh Celestia, that was a scary thought.

So was the thought of having her neck snapped, actually.

Then, much to everyone's dismay, something happened. The elevator's lights flickered. It was probably only a fraction of a fraction of a second, so short that she barely noticed it, but it was enough for SCP-173 to move a whole half a foot in her direction. In response, both her, Reid and the elevator's cables screamed.

The ripping of metal cables echoed through the cramped elevator car, giving a ghostly almost supernatural feel to the situation. Well, not really 'almost'. It WAS supernatural. Either way, the elevator car began to tilt farther and faster to the side. A sudden jolt caused the elevator to drop a foot down before another cable caught it, but the sound it made showed it wouldn't last long under the strain of the statue, especially after it was damaged by whatever SCP-173 did to it.

Twilight's mind raced to come to a conclusion, to discover a way out of this unfortunate predicament. She had done it so many times before, surely she could do it again, right? Or maybe the same logic can be used to argue the other side- that she had done it so many times before, her luck had surely run out.

Suddenly, as the second elevator cable snapped, causing the car to tilt ever further and putting even more strain onto the remaining cables, Twilight had an idea. Her wings. Of course! Her wings shot open on instinct and she flew across the room, her eyes still on the statue as she grabbed Reid by his waist. He yelped in protest before Twilight began flapping hard, trying to lift both her and him to the open hole in the elevator roof, right above SCP-173.

"AH! Wh- what are you-" Reid started, but Twilight barely paid his complaints and questions any mind. Damn it, he was heavy. She hoped her wings were strong enough to hold both their weight.

They soon found themselves hovering above SCP-173, the hole directly above them and the statue directly below. The hole that lead out of the elevator and into the elevator shaft was inky black, nothing apart from the faintest bit of light from a red bulb attached to the wall to illuminate her surroundings. As Twilight began to attempt to climb out of it with Reid in hooves, she heard a third snap. This one was followed by a fourth and a fifth snap in quick succession. Twilight's heart jumped as she realized what was about to happen.

She had barely managed to clear her wings from the roof when the elevator car suddenly plummeted, the emergency brakes shattering under the strain of SCP-173's weight, the entire thing disappearing into the murky blackness below. Twilight flapped her wings furiously, determined to keep both her and Reid flying. Reid was screaming again, of course. She couldn't blame him, the whole thing was a rather alarming experience overall. A second of hovering later, the sound of several tons of metal and, if Twilight was fortunate, concrete shattering into pieces echoed up through the elevator shaft.

Twilight continued to hover, trying to comprehend what had just happened through the gradually less loud screaming from Reid. Soon enough, the screams and sounds vanished entirely, replaced with the faint flapping of wings, and the even fainter red glow from the bulb.

What was that even there for?

"Guh- wha- Twilight? AH! Oh god, get me down!" Reid yelled, struggling in Twilight's grasp. She couldn't hold him for much longer- his equipment, her saddlebag, and Reid himself were all too much for her wings to handle. Trying to ignore the pain in her wings, Twilight started to lower. She didn't really have a good reference of distance and therefore speed as she descended. She only hoped she wasn't traveling too fast, that she was quickly approaching a vertical metal pipe or shard, or the more immediate threat of SCP-173 still being alive and vicious as ever. She hoped it wasn't sentient- she would be pretty angry right now if she was SCP-173.

Before long, Twilight started to make out a light from the bottom of the shaft. A faint, red light, to be specific.

What a surprise.

What WAS a surprise was that the light was coming from a door in the side of the elevator shaft. She figured that was where she was supposed to exit the elevator had she gone down the conventional way. Oddly enough, the door was busted down by something. Considering she couldn't see any large concrete and rebar statues with traces of Krylon brand spray paint, nor any small chunks of concrete and rebar in the debris of the elevator car at the bottom of the shaft, she figured it was either SCP-173 or some other unknown horror.

Twilight carefully flew through the busted down door out of the elevator shaft, landing safely much to everyone's relief in yet another goddamned hallway illuminated by some more goddamned faint red lights.

This was starting to get repetitive.

Collapsing into a ball of exhaustion and fur, Twilight breathed heavily, trying to get through the pain in her wings. She wasn't used to carrying things that heavy, and her leg wasn't used to being abused like this, either. Speaking of heavy things...

"U... uh... ah... ugh... th-thanks, Twilight. You... you really saved us back there." Reid said, struggling to catch his breath from all the adrenalin and panicking and fear of imminent destruction.

"Y-yeah... no... no problem. I... I guess it's just my way of saying... thank you, right?" Twilight chuckled. The moment was interrupted by the sudden realization that SCP-173 could, and probably was, literally anywhere.

Jumping to her hooves, Twilight began examining the area intensively. While standing in one place, of course. The hallway she was in was relatively normal. A left way and a right way, both with normal doors, neither open. Wait, where had SCP-173 gone, then? It wasn't in the debris at the bottom of the elevator shaft, so...? Could it open and close doors? It... it had to be able to. But she knew that already. But it was scary to get confirmation nonetheless. Helping Reid to his feet, Twilight dusted herself off.

"S-so, uh, which way do we go, then?" Twilight asked, glancing up to Reid. Twilight heard Reid go to say something, shut his mouth quickly, decide he should respond, decided against it moments later, and then finally conceded and decided to answer the incredibly simple question.

"...Uh, right, I think."

"Right is right, after all. Come on, then!" Twilight said, trotting off in the right direction like she hadn't nearly died for the twenty-eighth time that day.

Twilight slid the keycard into the slot. The machine whirred for a second, processing what card had been entered before beeping. Satisfied with the keycard level she had, the door promptly opened with a hiss and the buzzing of a chain pulling it.

"You sure we should go in here?" Twilight asked nervously, looking around the small room that was now revealed to her. The room was no more than three meters across and two meters down, a small desk and computer sitting to the left. A single locked door sat straight ahead, on the opposite end of the room to Twilight.

"Yes, of course! SCP-500 is one of the most valuable SCPs we have. It can cure any disease or ailment, you know?" Reid said excitedly, before moving to step inside the small room. But something caught Twilight's eye, and her leg shot out in a protective reflex, stopping Reid from entering the room.

"STOP! Wait, look at the floor!" Twilight said, gesturing to the ground. Sure enough, a rather large spot of corrosion sat dead-center, taking up nearly a third of the room's floor space. It bubbled and fizzed, depressed slightly farther down than the surrounding solid ground in the middle.

"Wh- oh, Jesus. Okay, uh... SCP-106's clearly been here. You know who that is?" Reid asked, stepping back in surprise. Satisfied at Twilight's nod, he stepped forward again, examining the corrosion spot. A small piece of plastic caught his eye, reflecting the light perfectly. A small card sat right next to the corrosion spot, just barely out of its grasp. Which really had a new meaning when the corrosion appeared to be moving.

Quickly grabbing the piece of plastic away from the corrosion and pulling it close, Reid examined it.

"What is it?"

"Uh, an Identification Card. It appeared to belong to a... Alisha Redshirt?" Reid said, reading carefully. "She worked in this section of the facility as a guard, like me. Apparently, she was supposed to bring various SCPs to the surface in case of a massive breach like this one, too."

Silence.

"I bet the SCP-500 pills are in the pocket dimension."

More silence.

"FUCK!" Reid screamed. Slamming the card onto the ground in a huff, he rose to his full height and turned around to pace. "Damn it!"

"Uh, Reid?" Twilight asked.

"Damn it damn it damn it damn it damn it... oh, I'm totally getting fired if those things are gone... fuck! FUCK!"

"Reid."

"Oh, my fucking- this is stupid. This is... is... is SCP-106 intelligent? Oh, if he is, then I'm sure as hell he's laughing at us right now. Oh my god. This is just-"

"REID!"

Reid stopped his ramblings for a second, turning to look at Twilight, still through his golden visor. They stared at each other for an uncomfortably long time until finally, Reid broke the awkwardness by sighing in annoyance.

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I'm just..."

"No, no. No need to apologize. I get that. From what you've told me, they're pretty important. It's a reasonable reaction. But still, don't you think we should check the Containment Room first?"

Silence.

"You know what? Fair point."

"Nope. They're gone alright." Reid sighed again and turned back around, being careful to step over the large corrosion spot so not to fall into SCP-106's pocket dimension, or just be turned into a liquid. "Damn it."

"Oh, well. Nothing we can do about that now. Come on, we need to escape. Remember?" Twilight said, sliding her keycard into the slot and closing the door.

"...Yeah, alright. Come on. We have very little time until Light Containment Zone decontaminates." Reid said, urging Twilight to hurry. As they passed through some more featureless, bland, identical hallways, absolutely nothing happened.

Funny thing about the Foundation. It's either absolute calm or absolute chaos. There is no in between.

...It's usually chaos, though.

But not this time, Twilight thought to herself as she followed Reid into a super-ultra mind-bogglingly incredibly unexpected and wild room. Guess what it was? Another identical hallway. What a surprise. But at least this one had multiple options as to where to go, rather than just being a hallway directing her in the only direction she should be heading in: forward.

Turning left at the intersection this time, Reid directed Twilight through a bland, meaningless door with absolutely no value or importance to her in the slightest number seventy-two-thousand. Much to Twilight's absolute amazement, the room she entered was, in fact, not an identical hallway.

...They really could spruce up this facility with a few paintings here and there. Maybe some potted plants, some color... Rarity would have an absolute field day with this facility if she could ever get over the whole 'potential to be violently ripped into pieces by literal death if death was a physical creature' bit.

But anyway, back on the subject of the new room. The white tiled floor that Twilight was so used to was still there, but the whole area seemed to have a much darker, industrial tone to it. Several doors separated by dark bricked pillars stood directly in front of her. On each pillar, a monitor stood, displaying a message to her and Reid, but what it was she couldn't tell just yet.

The most exciting thing about it was the words 'Heavy Containment Zone Checkpoint Entrance'.

The least exciting thing was what the monitors said underneath the most exciting thing. As Twilight got closer, she read it in dismay. Apparently, the entire thing was locked down. Something about a Lockdown Switch needing to be pressed. She never bothered to read the entire thing, though. Evidently, Reid had done that for her and was kind enough to express her own feelings for her as well.

"Son of a bitch."

Yeah, that sounded about right.

"Alright, so, uh... apparently Heavy Containment Zone is locked down. Some bastard must have pressed the Lockdown Switch. Can't say I blame him, most important Foundation employees are supposed to be in the Evacuation Shelters. The guards are supposed to, well, guard. So, I guess it makes some sense... the SCPs are crafty, after all. But still." Reid said, sighing as he turned around to leave the room.

"...Uh, what about the D-Class?" Twilight asked, thinking back to D-9341. She rightfully earned a confused glare, or at least what she assumed was a confused glare from beneath that golden visor as a result.

"The D-Class?" Reid said, raising his eyebrow to the unknowledge of everyone but himself.

"Yeah. What about them? What... happens to them?" Twilight asked, biting her lip and glancing to the floor nervously.

"Oh, they just die."

...

"...Oh." Twilight's mind came to a momentary halt as she processed the information. For some reason, it had never really... clicked with her. The D-Class were disposable, she got that. The leaflet she had read all the way back when she first came here had mentioned how they would be sent back to death row if they didn't cooperate, and it was pretty obvious what that- wait.

...

'Sent BACK to death row?'

"...Uh, what... they... you just KILL them?" Twilight asked, her voice rising steadily.

"...Well, in this context, the SCPs and the decontamination kill them, but yeah. If I found one, I would definitely shoot it. It's standard procedure." Reid said calmly, still walking away from Twilight as Twilight followed close behind.

"...What?! Wh-why?! What's the point? What did they do other than not cooperate with you? Isn't it... isn't... isn't it pretty reasonable to not want to cooperate with you on-"

"Twilight, they're criminals."

"...What?"

"They're convicted criminals. Murderers, serial killers, terrorists... anyone who made a crime bad enough to be sent to death row for execution. We only bring in those who would otherwise be killed for their crimes. Well, usually, anyway... general rule of thumb, if you see a D-Class, sympathy isn't necessary. Unless it's on fire or something. Then you can put it out of its misery."

...

Well, Twilight's heart and soul just died for the third time that day.

"...Oh."

Fourth, actually.

The awkward silence continued for two and a half more seconds, which is how long it took until Twilight walked face-first into a wall, much to Reid's amusement.

"You should really pay attention to where you're walking. Now, come on! We need to hurry- the switch to unlock Heavy Containment is this way, in the electrical room!"

"AAAAAAHHH!"

"Oh, ignore that. It's harmless."

"Wh... WHAT?! It's... I... how do you know?!"

"I work here! You aren't exactly in a position to argue."

"...Alright, fair enough. But still... what is it?!"

Twilight lay on her back, gazing up at the large, humanoid statue which stood before her. It was a mannequin, obviously. Completely black, without any hands, and utterly faceless. Its form was tall and menacing, casting a large shadow against her. It wasn't moving, merely positioned in an aggressive position, arms outstretched as if it was about to attack her.

"SCP-650. It's a large mannequin which teleports behind you and stands in a threatening manner. Ignore it, it's harmless. I guess SCP-079 let it out."

"...SCP-079?" Twilight asked, clambering to her hooves. She could have sworn she heard that somewhere... ah, yes. D-9341 had mentioned it when he used the computer terminal a while back. Apparently, it had taken over the facility. Whatever that means. "What's that?"

Reid paused.

"You know, I'm not really supposed to be telling you most of this?"

Silence.

"...Uh, yeah. I figured. Top-notch security, right?"

Silence.

"...You know, Twilight, I don't really see a reason why I shouldn't."

"Huh? Shouldn't what?"

"Tell you this. It's rather important to our survival, and we're most likely going to need to do something about it to get out of here, anyway. Besides, I trust you."

"...Really?"

"Yeah. So far, you haven't tried to murder me, so I guess we're on fairly good terms."

They both shared a good chuckle at that. Ah, humor based on their own imminent danger. Hilarious.

"...But seriously. SCP-079 is a sentient computer... an artificial intelligence. He's a bit of a dick and has taken over the facility. I'm not really sure how, though. All I know is that he's releasing SCPs from their Containment Cells all over the facility." Reid said, gesturing to Twilight to hurry up.

"...Well, that's interesting." Twilight said, walking towards Reid.

"Kind of like what's currently right behind you?"

Twilight stopped, turning around on a dime. She was only fortunate that the quarter of an inch distance from SCP-650's face to hers wasn't less than zero. One panicked scream and hysterical fit of laughter later, they continued on with their quest to escape the facility and not be violently maimed along the way. Preferably.

Twilight and Reid passed through another bland door, and remarkably, found a room that wasn't an equally bland hallway. It was a hallway, don't get that wrong- it just wasn't quite as bland. Mainly because it had a door in one side of it.

"Ah, here we are." Reid said, walking towards the door.

"What, the Electrical Room?" Twilight asked, walking closely behind.

"No, an SCP Storage Room. It's the last one I'm responsible for. I need to see if I can get any SCPs from it." said Reid, putting his own keycard through the slot. With a beep, the door slid open, revealing another small room with many more doors and many more labels.

"Alright. Twilight, you have a keycard. See what you can get." said Reid, before moving into the room and beginning to test the doors. Twilight listened, taking out her keycard and trying out the doors on the opposite end of the small room.

Item #: SCP-458

Alias: 'The Never-Ending Pizza Box'

Object Class: Safe

Beep.

Nothing- it was locked down.

DAMN IT. She was feeling rather peckish right now. Pizza would have been incredible. Presuming it didn't kill her, of course. Or poison her. Or generally cause her to cease all normal, optimal organic functions. Twilight quickly moved onto the next door.

Item #: SCP-1499

Alias: 'The Gas Mask'

Object Class: Safe

The door slid open with a click, revealing a relatively innocuous small room, with a pedestal at the far end. On top of the pedestal sat a wooden box, containing what Twilight presumed to be SCP-1499. A gray gas-mask, with no apparent abnormal qualities that she could see just by looking at it. She took it nonetheless, placing it in her saddlebag before moving onto the next room.

Item #: SCP-1025

Alias: 'Encyclopedia of Diseases'

Object Class: ~~Keter~~ Safe

It wasn't very special. Just a standard hardcover book entitled 'Encyclopedia of Diseases'. As far as Twilight was concerned, she didn't need to go any farther. Putting the book into her bag, she left the room to move on to the next SCP when she bumped into Reid, who was walking in the opposite direction.

"Alright. I'm done. Let's go." said Reid, dropping two things into Twilight's bag as he went. Specifically, a green, hardcover book of some sort, and three... were those pinwheels? Blinking in confusion, Twilight asked Reid how he was done already.

"How are you done already?" Twilight asked Reid. Reid shrugged in response, muttering something about there being ten minutes until they would both die in the decontamination process. Oh, well.

"Come on, we have to hurry! Unless you want to die, of course." said Reid, his fast walk breaking out into a small sprint. Twilight struggled to keep up with him with all the stuff she was carrying, but she tried nonetheless. Speaking of stuff...

"Uh, Reid?"

"Yeah?"

"What was all of that stuff? What does it do? In fact, what does most of the stuff I have do, anyway?"

Reid slowed down for a minute, hesitating before answering.

"Uh, what SCPs do you have again?"

Now, it was Twilight's time to hesitate.

"...Uh, SCP-109, I think."

"Endless canteen."

"Yeah, I figured that. I have a small blue key, too."

"Oh, yeah. SCP-860? Blue key? If you open a door with it, it'll lead to an alternate dimension. Basically, it's a long forest path that eventually leads to another door at the end. The door at the end leads back to reality."

"...Interesting."

"Oh, and there's a monster there wanting to murder you, too. So, good luck. But it can open basically any door, so there's that."

Silence.

"Ah. I mean, of course, there is."

They both chuckled at that, even as they sprinted throughout the facility, trying not to run into any walls and statues of death.

"Uh, I have a green ring?"

"714? Not really important. Good thing you have that, though. It blocks memetic effects."

"...Alright? Um... I have this glass sphere and other weird ring, too."

"SCP-399 and SCP-2925? Yeah, be careful. The sphere absorbs ambient energy and stores it. Considering how we've been running around for a while, it definitely has a lot of energy built up. We don't know the exact amount, though. If the sphere breaks, all the energy is released. Basically, we die. Violently. And the ring is something that allows you to do... basically anything, presuming you have... enough... energy..." Reid trailed off, his sprint slowing to a slow walk slowing to a complete stop. He turned around to face Twilight, whose facial expressions told everyone exactly what she was thinking.

"Don't you dare."

"What? Why not?! I mean, it allows you to do anything as long as you have the energy? We... we have all sorts of energy in this sphere right now! We could get out of here in a-"

"No, no, no! If you run out of energy, it'll absorb YOU and use YOU as energy. The sphere has a lot, but who knows how much exactly? You could die if you use the ring and the sphere turns out to have a lot less than we think!"

Silence reigned for the fifteenth time that day.

"...Alright." Twilight sighed, continuing to head towards her destination. They both continued their sprint at Reid's request, charging through bland doors into more bland hallways as was a tradition at that point.

"But... huff... what about the gas mask?" Twilight asked as she ran.

"SCP-1499? If you put it on, it sends you to a pocket dimension. Take it off, you're back here." Reid replied.

"Uh, okay. Um... huff... the Encyclopedia of Diseases?"

"Gives you any disease you read about in the book. Be careful with that."

"...Odd. Uh... puff... the hardcover green book?"

"If you open the book, you'll find the words 'a hero is born' written. If you read those words, then fall asleep, you'll dream you're part of an amazing fantasy land, basically."

"Oh, that seems... huff... nice. What about the... puff... pinwheels?"

"They can be used to destroy things. Don't ask."

"...Uh... huff... okay." Twilight wheezed, stumbling forward. This heavy load was really taking a toll on both her leg and her back, not to mention the running.

The door slid open with a click, the bright light inside the newly open room contrasting the dim hallway Twilight and Reid had come from. Twilight briefly examined the area before stepping inside in a hurry. It was nothing more than a small flight of stairs in a narrow hallway leading up to an intermediate landing, which then turned back into a second stairwell heading left, out of vision. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary all things considered but was slightly jarring to Twilight after she had gotten so used to plain, featureless hallways.

Reid obviously found nothing jarring about it, however, as he bolted past Twilight and up the stairs. Well, 'bolted' relative to Twilight's current perception of speed, of course. After all the running for her life she had been doing in the past few hours, his brisk jog was like lightning. How did he manage to keep running for so long, especially with all that heavy equipment he was wearing? She kept up her pace nonetheless.

The stairwell finally ended in a medium-sized room, four large support pillars in a square formation around the center of the room, with what appears to be computers stacked up next to each of them. Straight ahead, there was a small door, which appeared to be locked. To the left, there was another small door, this one leading into another room, this one small enough to fit in the first room, and was, in fact, located inside the first room.

Room-ception.

Twilight followed Reid into the aforementioned small room inside the previous larger but still not very large room she was currently occupying, examining her new surroundings. The small room was a rectangle, with two control stations on either side and one control station in the very center, with two movable chairs strewn about the room, as if their previous occupants had left in a hurry. On the wall directly in front of her, there was a plethora of monitors, all showing different parts of the facility. Obviously, the electrical room doubled as a surveillance room.

"Ah, here we are." Reid said, walking towards the control station on the right. Twilight could see two large levers on the aforementioned control station, the words written above each one not visible at the distance Twilight was from it. Twilight watched intently as Reid pulled the first lever all the way down with a satisfying click. He briefly glanced towards the monitors before turning toward the second lever. Before he could pull it down, he stopped, turning back towards the monitors in a double-take. He stared at the monitors intently, apparently either confused or frightened by something. He maintained his posture for several seconds, long enough for Twilight to start to get curious.

"Uh, Reid? What are you-"

"SHIT!"

"W-what? What's wrong? Reid?!"

"ShitshitshitshitSHIT! Uh, okay, Twilight, I need you to remain calm, whatever happens. Don't panic. Uh, I... oh, god."

"W-what's happening? Reid?! I-"

Their ramblings were cut short suddenly by the faint stomps of boots against the floor, coming from the stairwell, getting louder with each step. Something was coming. Reid froze in place as the creature rounded the corner, it's full visage finally becoming visible to Twilight.

A tall, humanoid entity rounded the corner. It wore long, black robes that draped to the floor, a white bird-mask sat upon its face. It was carrying what appeared to Twilight to be a small, black doctor's bag, and- wait a minute. It looked very familiar. It... wait, didn't she see this thing before? Wh- yes, she did! It was the same thing she saw on the catwalk a little while ago!

Reid very audibly sucked his breath in as he saw the creature, which made Twilight only assume it was dangerous, perhaps hostile. Although, it didn't seem to want to attack her when it was on the catwalk. Only stare in curiosity. She saw a glimmer of herself in the creature, judging simply by its mannerisms. Intelligent, curious, analytical- the outfit one wears can speak bounds about them. The creature turned it's head towards Reid and Twilight at the sound, gazing towards them before speaking.

"Ah! Finally, civilization. I had thought the entire facility had simply vanished. Greetings. May I ask a few questions?"

Twilight jumped at the speech. She had been under the impression the SCPs didn't usually talk. She supposed this was an exception to the rule. The tone of voice of the creature had been kind of a surprise. It was male, obviously. It had a kind of echo to it, perhaps because of the mask the individual wore, deflecting the sounds. The voice was deliberate, each word laced with age. The individual was clearly very old and knowledgeable, only strengthening her previous assessment.

"U-uh... I... h-hel... hello, 049. How... d-do you kn-" Reid's voice audibly hitched as he spoke before he took a second to breathe in heavily, his breath pace hastening as he took several steps back, bumping into the console that was in the middle of the room.

"My, are you quite alright? You sound a tad bit under the weather. Shall I-" SCP-049 spoke, approaching Reid.

"N-NO!" Reid shouted, raising his hands out in a defensive position, causing SCP-049 to stop in his tracks. "N- I m-mean... n-no, I'm f-fine. J... uh, jus... just a little bit e-exhausted, to be honest. N-nothing serious."

SCP-049 paused before speaking, his voice slightly cautious.

"Are you quite sure?" SCP-049 said, cocking his head slightly to the side. Seeing no response, he continued. "Alright. Now, as I previously stated, may I ask a few questions? I'm the slightest bit confused about this whole ordeal."

"U-uh, a-alright. Shoot." Reid said, gulping as he stood back up, trying to slow his breathing down to a normal pace.

"So, first thing is first. Do you have any knowledge of why this facility seems, rather... deserted? Abandoned? I've hardly been able to find anybody apart from you and one other." SCP-049 said inquisitively.

"U-uh... t-there's been a, uh, site-wide containment breach. Somehow, SCP-079 managed to take over the facility systems and opened up most of the SCPs containment rooms. We've mostly evacuated the premises. Nobody left but the D-Class, the SCPs, and a few guards, like me." Reid stated matter of factly, starting to warm up to the conversation. Suddenly, something seemed to hit him, his voice hitching in his throat as he hesitated before continuing. "U-uh, w-who was the, uh, 'one other' person you met, by chance?"

SCP-049 seemed to ponder the question for a second before continuing.

"I... believe he was one of what you call the 'D-Class'. Male, mid-thirties. Orange jumpsuit."

Now it was time for Twilight's voice to hitch.

"U-uh, alright. Did... did he have 'the Pestilence', perchance?"

"Ah- yes! Yes, indeed he did. Rather unfortunate to catch it while so young. Either way, I've done all I can to try and help the poor soul. I did use the opportunity to test a theory of mine, of course. Might I say, it yielded rather unexpected, but yet interesting results nonetheless."

Reid paused before continuing.

"U-uh... yes. Okay. U-uh, a-anything else you wanted to a-ask me?" Reid said, notably taking a single step back.

"Ah... yes, a few things. Do you have any idea of where I am supposed to go? For the evacuation procedures, I mean."

Reid paused again.

"U-uh... the... E-Entrance Zone. Through the Heavy Containment Zone. Y-you need a keycard to access it, though." Reid said.

"Ah, yes! Of course. It only makes sense. And no matter, I have my ways to get through the security gates. Trust me." SCP-049 said, chuckling darkly as he gestured towards his doctor's bag. Twilight struggled to figure out what that meant. A part of her didn't want to know.

"...u-uh, alright. And... uh, anything else?" Reid said.

"Indeed. Perchance, what is this... ah, creature, here? I've never seen something quite like, ah... her, before. IS it a her? Pardon me, I'm simply not quite sure."

Twilight visibly jumped back at the sudden acknowledgment. Up until this point, she had just been standing awkwardly in between the two as they conversed. She smiled nervously as she responded before Reid could say anything.

"U-uh, yes. It's she, thank you." Twilight said, stepping back as she gazed up at the creature. If it didn't look slightly menacing from the catwalk, it sure did now. She never really noticed how short she was in comparison to the humans.

SCP-049 looked down in mild surprise (or, at least the best Twilight could glean from SCP-049's eyes and posture. She couldn't see his facial expression directly).

"Ah, yes. I forgot that you could talk. An SCP like me, I presume?" SCP-049 chuckled. "Interesting."

Silence reigned for two awkward seconds before the intercom beeped with an announcement.

"Warning: T-Minus 5 Minutes to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now. This is your final warning before the final countdown. Any biological substances will be purged. Thank you."

"Ah, yes. I suppose that's our cue to leave, now is it? I better be off. I'd hate to see what they mean by 'purge'. Farewell." SCP-049 said, turning in place and walking off, disappearing behind the corner and leaving Reid and Twilight standing in mild confusion.

"U-uh, yeah. I... you met him before?" Reid asked inquisitively.

"Uh, technically? We gazed at each other awkwardly once." Twilight asked, stepping out of the side-room.

"Huh. I, uh... wai- holy SHIT! Did you HEAR that?! FIVE MINUTES! HURRY!" Reid suddenly shouted, startling Twilight as he bolted to the stairwell. Twilight followed suit. Evidently, they had gotten so used to a computer telling them how long it would be until they died they forgot that it actually meant something.

Bolting down the stairwell, they charged towards Heavy Containment. Hallway after hallway, they approached rapidly. This was much faster than Twilight had run when she first came, certainly. However, this time she truly had the benefit of being in imminent danger, so that was nice.

...

...Wait.

Seemingly out of pure spite and a desire to spit upon the notion that imminent danger was, in fact, a good thing, reality decided to throw a seventeenth wrench into Twilight's day as if the first sixteen weren't damn-well good enough.

"AH! WHA- AHH!" Reid shouted as he skidded to the left, purposely avoiding whatever he saw towards the right just as he passed through another plane door and into another plane T-shaped hallway. Of course, such a reaction was undesirable to have in this particular facility in this particular organization. As a matter of fact, that reaction usually spelled doom. And this time, doom was spelled in corrosive mucus on the wall. As Reid charged towards the door on the left, Twilight took note of what was on the right.

...

Oh Celestia, not that.

Sure enough, SCP-106- yes, THAT one- was standing in front of the door to the right. No wonder Reid avoided that door. Except... wasn't that the way to the Heavy Containment Zone?

...

Well, shit.

SCP-106 wasn't large. It was standing towards the side of the hall, not really in FRONT of the door. The main issue was the giant puddle of liquid death that was. The door seemed to be corroded inwards, the metallic remains dripping onto the floor. It was a large gap- her body could theorietically fit through. If she spread her wings, she could manage to glide over the large puddle.

Her biggest fears were, A, that SCP-106 would grab her as she flew by, B, her wings would connect with the corroded parts of the door at high-velocity. Celestia, that would hurt. And C, that Reid, who was currently GTFO-ing it the other direction, wouldn't be able to get past it himself, either running away in fear until he realized that he just ran away from the direction to the Heavy Containment Zone, dying (most likely awfully painfully) as Light Containment Zone decontaminated, or realizing his mistake in a few seconds, try to jump over the puddle, fail and die (most likely awfully painfully) as he was either dragged to SCP-106's torture-dungeon-dimension or simply dissolve. At this rate, most likely the former.

...

...Celestia, these weren't good options. But reality didn't seem to like to give her those, giving her recent predicaments.

She made her decision to try for her own life, and charged right, away from Reid but (hopefully) towards her own survival. Even if it was painful.

...

It probably would be. It always was.

She leaped into the air, spreading her wings out as she angled herself towards the hole in the door, hoping against hope she would make it. Several things happened at once: first, SCP-106 clearly hadn't anticipated that move. He was fast, though- he reached out his hand in an attempt to grab her, only managing to graze her...

...

Was that her bad leg?

It totally was, wasn't it? Fuck. That was going to hurt when the adrenaline wore off. Actually, it would probably hurt when she hit the ground.

Second, she passed through the hole in the door, her torso, legs and head managing to pass through with barely a sliver of corrosive liquid getting onto her fur. She couldn't say the same about her wings, which slammed against the corroded metal wall. The impact alone would be enough to seriously injure, perhaps even break her wings (which was, shall we put it, not known as a very painless experience.) Fortunately, the corroded wall gave way under the strain of her wings slamming into them, lessening the kinetic energy exerted on her fragile wings and preventing them from breaking. Unfortunately, they were now covered with corrosive goop.

Third, her face met a hard, flat surface for the... what was it, the third time? There was the time she fell down in the closet, smashed her muzzle into the pole, traveled face-first into the wall when she teleported to avoid that giant reptile... no, fourth time. She also smashed her face in when she skidded across the floor into the elevator, also to avoid that giant reptile. Either way, she gave the floor a kiss.

Agony flared up all over her body as she skidded across the floor, her momentum carrying her across the hallway she now found herself in. Her leg was again on fire again, her muzzle felt like someone had bashed it in with a hammer again, there was still the general, omnipresent ache she found her entire body in from the moment she spazzed out in the storage closet when she first arrived here... oh, yeah. Her wings.

Oh Celestia, her wings.

The floor had fortunately leeched a lot of the corrosive substance off of her wings, distributing it into a nice streak. Unfortunately, her wings still had a lot of the substance on it, not to mention the brute force of smashing through a metal wall. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she rapidly flapped her wings, trying to eject the remaining material from them. It worked, for the most part. The few remaining bits of corrosive sludge simply got rid of themselves by melting through her flesh and into her damaged and very, VERY sensitive wing-nerves.

...

You know, she hadn't even started her snack she made back in Ponyville before she tried traveling inter-dimensionally. That sandwich and apple were starting to sound REALLY appealing right now.

She jumped to her hooves in a blind panic, stumbling on her injured leg, only managing to keep going by the adrenaline, the pain, and the fear. When she got back to Ponyville, she should write an essay on why those particular attributes were more valuable than she thought they were.

She kept up her pace, not bothering to check to see if SCP-106 was close behind her or still in confusion at what she had done. Skidding around a corner, she lunged through the hallways of the facility. She was extremely close to the Heavy Containment Zone now- safety. Temporary safety, anyway. She could almost taste it. Or was that blood?

Either way, she bashed her way through the last door in her way as she collapsed to the floor at the checkpoint entrance. In her head, this would be where she would immediately jump to her hooves, grab the keycard from her bag (which had miraculously managed to stay intact and on her back, along with the SCPs she had picked up along the way), slide it in and leave Light Containment. In reality, of course, things didn't go to plan. The second she tried to do so, she immediately collapsed, her muscles giving way and all strength she had left being replaced by omnipresent pain.

She let out a half-restrained scream as she flopped around, trying to find her strength. Celestia, she was so close. She couldn't let her fail now.

"Warning: T-Minus 30 Seconds to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now. At the 0 Second mark, all checkpoints will be permanently locked and decontamination will begin."

FUCK. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.

She tried desperately to move her makeshift saddlebag in front of her, so she could reach in and grab the keycard. It took a full five seconds and a lot of screaming to get it around. She reflexively extended her wings down to try and grab the keycard, only for a pain... so much worse than anything she had ever experienced before to flare up. For a fleeting second, she thought she was going to pass out. The feeling passed as she moved her wing back to its natural position, and the pain became... somewhat manageable, in the sense, she wasn't screaming at the top of her lungs anymore. Just partly.

"T-Minus 25 Seconds. 24, 23, 22..."

Oh, Celestia. She would have to use her magic, then. Er, no. Still very low. Teeth, then. Damn it.

Thrusting her face into the bag, she began searching for the keycard to the best of her abilities with her muzzle. She hoped she didn't accidentally destroy the crystal ball with her teeth and blow herself and the rest, uh... 'Australia' up. That was the continent they were in? She thought so.

Ignoring the pain, she finally found the keycard at the bottom of the bag and began trying to grab it. It was sharp, of course. It laid flat against the floor, so picking it up with her teeth proved to be both quite painful and a little bit bloody, especially with that damn blue key poking the side of her face. She would need to see her dentist after this. Also her doctor. And surgeon. And therapist, probably.

"19, 18, 17..."

Twilight finally managed to get the keycard in her mouth after much difficulty, frustration and mild fear. Okay, intense fear. But still, she had the keycard. Now, she just needed to get it in the slot.

The slot...

Which was far above her head.

She hated the size difference between humans and ponies now. In fact, she now had a thing out for the humans for having the audacity to be so damn tall. What's the problem with being short, anyway?

Biting down on the keycard to stifle a scream, she thrust her hind legs onto the ground in order to force her up, hoping to be able to lean against the gate as she put the keycard in, using it as some leverage. It worked, fortunately- of course, it hurt. Everything always hurts in this facility. So did her heart and mind as she realized that SCP-106 was at the most 10 meters behind her. It's sloshing sounds couldn't be mistaken. It had followed her here.

Not bothering to look behind her as the sound rapidly approached (that thing was fast, she never noticed), she tried to slide the keycard into the slot.

Missed.

She tried again.

"11, 10, 9..."

Missed again.

SCP-106 was coming closer.

"8, 7, 6..."

God damn it, just go in, won't you?!

SCP-106 was probably just meters behind her now.

"5, 4, 3, 2..."

Click.

The keycard slid into the slot, the door opening quickly. She collapsed forward deliberately, trying to throw herself through the gateway, hauling her bag and keycard with her as she went. As she thrusted her hind legs and flew through the gateway, she could have sworn the very nip of her hoof brushing something wet and slimy.

"1..."

Twilight collapsed against the floor, turning onto her back as a reflex. Although Heavy Containment was notably dimmer than Light Containment, Twilight could still see a few things as she looked back through the gate.

Specifically, the large, slimy, hulking humanoid shape, it's silhouette looming mere feet away from her, contrasting against the brighter Light Containment Zone, it's lanky arm reaching out towards her, seemingly occupying a third of her total vision.

She screamed.

"...0. Locking all checkpoints."

The door slammed shut. SCP-106 suddenly disappeared from view. Despite the fact that SCP-106 could walk through walls, it either was too confused by the door suddenly slamming shut, or simply was frightened by it, but it did not phase through the door to kill Twilight. Even if this confusion would only last a fraction of a second, that was all that was needed.

"Decontaminating."

Suddenly, the sound of a thousand high-pressure jets ejecting an unfamiliar and unmistakeably lethal gas drowned Twilight's eardrums, the only other sounds she could hear being that of her own screaming, and the horrible, shrieking screech of SCP-106. Up until now, it was only deep laughter. But THIS...? This was just horrific- like the sound a cat makes if you were to throw it in a blender.

...

Very colorful, Twilight.

It took less than ten seconds before the screaming faded away on both sides. One due to a realization that she was not dead, the other due to a (hopeful) death. Twilight wasn't sure if SCP-106 died by that, or if it even COULD die, but she held out hope. Whatever the case, the gas made it go away and not maim her any more than she already was, so that was a bonus.

"Decontaminated. All biological signatures have been removed from the Light Containment Zone. Thank you."

She was alive.

She made it to the Heavy Containment Zone.

She wasn't currently being chased by any horrible creatures.

She wasn't in immediate threat of being decontaminated.

She wasn't mortally wounded.

She WAS alive.

...For now. A small victory, all things considered, but a victory nonetheless.

...

...And the adrenaline was starting to wear off.

...

...This was going to hurt a LOT, wasn't it...?

Author's Note

Sorry it takes me so damn long to write these chapters. Once I get going, I REALLY get going, but the issue is getting truly motivated to write for you guys and figuring out what those first few sentences will be. Those first few sentences are DEVASTATING.

Either way, I figured 'hey, it's Christmas. It would be fitting for you guys to awake on Christmas Day with a new chapter.' It's... simple, but I suppose it'll be my Christmas gift to you guys. Hope you enjoy. Sorry, I can't wrap it.

...But anyway. The next chapter I will upload will be in 2019, probably. Maybe I'll somehow manage to write one before New Years. Probably not, but who knows? You know, I first uploaded this story in July. Now it's December. Heh, it's been a while, hasn't it? I guess it's fitting. The first Act of this story is done- she's made it to the Heavy Containment Zone. And just as the first part of this story ends, the year turns. I found it cool, anyway.

Probably won't be writing too much in the near future, but I'll try. 2019 is going to be a very busy year for me. I have a lot of stuff planned.

...

Does anyone actually read these Authors Notes? Eh. Maybe not, maybe so. I don't really care. Either way, to anyone who actually reads these mini emotional dumps, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! I know I will.

(Also, sorry, it's really late, so I didn't have time to properly proofread. I wanted to get this chapter out before Christmas, so it's 1:30 A.M where I am right now. I need to go to bed. I'll try to edit this tomorrow, maybe. I would appreciate it if anyone points out any grammar, spelling, word choice, or sentence structure errors. It'll help me quite a bit. Thank you.)

Cheers!

Hard-to-Destroy Reptile

"Warning: T-Minus 40 Minutes to Total Decontamination of the Light Containment Zone. Please evacuate now."

Twilight hated that automated announcement every time it came on.

She arguably hated more the horrible, burning pain that was racking her leg.

Twilight crawled out of the elevator, dragging her leg along. She gritted her teeth hard as she did so. Looking up, she examined her surroundings. Standard left-to-right hallway, with a door to her left and a door to her right. The door to her right appeared to be pretty standard, with a large red button next to it. The door to her left was different, however. A small keycard slot sat next to it, and Twilight could see a large label next to the door.

'Storage Area L-5.'

Fantastic.

Twilight crawled herself toward it, dragging her leg. Her encounter with SCP-939 really did a number on it... she only hoped that there was a medical kit or something in there. Something to ease the pain and stop the bleeding, that was all she needed right now.

...Celestia, that hurts. It's like somepony dragged a razor sharp, thousand degrees knife across her leg.

Ugh.

She hated this facility with a passion.

Twilight approached the door, albeit slowly, blood trickling out of-

Wait a minute.

Twilight stopped, her eyes darting towards the door. It was open. Half-way open, in fact- which was odd enough as it was, she rarely came across open doors. Why didn't she notice this before? But what really caught her intrigue wasn't the open door, but the noises coming from inside the room. It was very dark inside, and Twilight couldn't see inside very well. The corner of a metal shelf was just barely visible in the shadows, near the door. The shadows seemingly crept outside, intruding in places that would normally be bright. Granted, nothing about this facility was bright- it was still very dim, the only source of illumination the red emergency lights.

The noise was a sort of shuffling, as if somepony, or something was inside, trying to find something. Searching the shelves, perhaps. Twilight gulped and lifted herself up, careful not to make a sound. Bracing against the wall, she slowly moved inside, her vision being swamped with darkness, as if somepony had thrown a tarp over her eyes as she entered.

Whatever was making the sound, it was in the far right corner of the room, looking through the shelves. Twilight went left instead, trying to make it to the opposite end of the storage room by leaning against the wall. The thing hadn't heard or seen her enter, she knew that much.

Or at least, wouldn't have.

As was almost tradition at this point, Twilight tripped. As she walked, her hoof banged into what felt like a metal bucket. Her body tumbled down in total darkness, smashing into several other janitorial supplies. Fortunately, her bad leg was mostly saved of any more injury. Unfortunately, metal objects made loud noises when they came in contact with a pony's falling body, as does the pony itself, typically.

Twilight now found herself on the floor of the Storage Room, several pans and metal objects spinning out of control on the ground. Her eyes dilated as she realized what had happened, her pupils becoming pinpoints as sweat began to pour. Her heart beat out of control, seemingly about to burst out of its chest for the seventh time today as she listened carefully, trying to make out any noise.

The shuffling had stopped.

Twilight, although in full knowledge that the thing was now VERY aware of her existence now, held her breath and her stiff posture nonetheless. She dared not move. She wouldn't be able to outrun it, anyway- not with her bad leg. For what seemed like an eternity, nothing happened. Not a sound. Not a movement. Nothing. But as Twilight's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she began to make out more of the room. Several metal shelves, various supplies and other things around. But as time passed, Twilight finally began to make out the other end of the room. More specifically, the tall, dark, bulky figure situated there.

Twilight felt like they had made eye contact, despite it only being a silhouette of a figure too large to be a normal human so far. Then, Twilight's eyes twitched. She swore she saw-

The figure's arm started to move. Very slowly at first, almost unnoticeable to most. But Twilight saw it, and it finally managed to convince her it was real. For the last short while she had been hoping that, somehow, the figure was just a statue- a non-threat. Actually, no. With her experience, statues were very bad in this place. That she was just hallucinating, that the figure wasn't real. That it was just a shadow of nothing. But those last thoughts were crushed into little nubbins as the creature's torso leaned forward, it's long leg stepping outwards in her direction. Its pace was slow, almost cautious. It was either toying with her, or was just as scared of her as she was of it. Both options seemed sub-optimal to her at this point.

It approached, and Twilight began to make out more detail. First off, most of its unnatural bulk came from a vest of some kind. Second off, it appeared to be wearing a helmet, a gold visor layered across its face. A large black stick sat in its hands, pointed in her direction. Twilight's heart sank as she realized what it was.

"W-what... who, uh... wh-what ARE you?" the figure said, stopping less than two meters away from Twilight.

Twilight tried to speak, to say something back, and her lips even moved, but no sound came out. She was frozen with fear, unable to move as the figure stood right in front of her, blocking the light steaming in from the door.

"What are you?!" The figure yelled, aiming the black stick at Twilight. "Tell me now! Can you... can you even talk?!"

Twilight squeaked in response, shuffling away from her aggressor. As she did, her bad leg must have hit something. What it was specifically didn't matter. What did matter was that it was hard. It scraped Twilight's leg, which normally wouldn't be so bad, but her nerves flared up as it crossed over the SCP-939 bite mark, agitating the wound. She let out a small scream and toppled over, trying to pull her leg away from the object. She collapsed onto the floor, unable and unwanting to move another inch. The figure's face was obscured by the gold visor, but as Twilight looked up to meet it's gaze, fear and pain in her eyes, it's weapon's muzzle dropped to face the floor. The figure leaned down, weapon still in hand to meet Twilight's gaze.

"...WHO are you?"

The guard's tone had shifted dramatically, Twilight noted. It obviously felt sympathy for her, which was good, even if it's voice was shaky, clearly nervous. Nervous sympathy was better than death, after all. She needed some help to get out of this hellhole, anyway. Twilight's eyes focused on the gold visor for a good five seconds before she moved her mouth to speak again.

"T-twi... Twilight." Twilight said, her lips quivering as she spoke. Another good five seconds passed before she received a response.

"...Alright... You can talk."

For the longest time, nothing but the faint beeping of the alarms was audible. That, and Twilight's heavy breathing.

"Uh... Twilight, was it? I... haven't seen you around here." Said the guard, looking down towards Twilight's leg, blood still leaking at a rapid rate. "I... uh, what... WHAT are you?"

The guard obviously was starting to feel more comfortable with her presence, satisfied that Twilight wasn't going to lunge at him and rip his head off.

The feeling was mutual.

"...I'm... I'm a pony. U-unicorn, sir."

Silence.

"Unicorn. Interesting..." The guard said, sighing deeply. "Of course you are."

More silence.

"You... your leg is awfully, uh... injured. You need some help. Stay here, I'll be right back."

Twilight watched as the guard left towards the shelves at the other end of the room. It took him only a second to find what he was looking for. A medical kit. The guard then came back to Twilight, before sitting down next to Twilight's leg before opening the medical kit.

"...Don't move... I'll bandage this up."

Twilight didn't dare object. This was the first creature since D-9341 that didn't want to either violently rip her to shreds, snap her neck, send her to a pocket dimension or generally murder her. Well, besides those scientists and guards she saw at the beginning, near SCP-173's room, of course. After all, they-

"AHH!" Twilight screamed, a jolt of pain rushing up her leg. "What are you-"

"Shhh, shhh!" The guard shushed her. "Calm down. This may sting a little..."

Twilight bit her lip in response, trying to ignore the pain as the guard worked on her leg. He wasn't an amateur at this, she could tell that. He actually seemed like a professional. His hands were steady as he worked. It took only a minute for him to patch up her leg... good thing, too. She was running out of time before Light Containment Zone shut down and decontaminated... whatever that meant. She knew it was most likely a bad thing, anyway.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked back at her leg. Bandages and wrapped. There was no more bleeding and the pain was certainly dulled, but that was probably placebo. Twilight looked back at the guard, and then back at her leg. Slowly, she tried to get up. Bracing against the metal shelf she eventually got herself standing up, and then turned back to face the guard.

"T-thanks."

"No problem. Uh, by chance, what's your designation?"

"...My... designation?"

"...Yeah. Your SCP designation?"

"Uh, oh! It's, uh, SC- SCP-047."

The guard paused.

"Really? I could have sworn that was- oh, well. Guess they changed the designations... come along, I'm supposed to bring some important SCPs from their containment rooms to the surface just in case they have to nuke the place. Hurry."

The guard stood up quickly, walking out of the room as Twilight followed. Her leg still hurt a lot, but she could walk at least. They passed through halls and rooms, the guard still holding his black stick as he escorted her around. He didn't seem very scared, or even worried as time went by.

"...So, uh... what's your name?" Twilight asked as they passed by a janitorial closet.

"My name? Uh, Reid. Reid Leyton. Security officer." The guard responded.

"Noted."

They walked for a few more seconds, passing through a door before Reid suddenly stopped, looking at something on the ground.

"What- what is-"

"Don't touch it!"

Twilight looked past Reid in confusion. On the ground, a large chunk of red ice was layered out, almost like waves. If Twilight didn't know better, she would be sure that it was once a liquid, which burst out of the broken pipe on the wall and fell all over the floor before it suddenly froze. Reid backed up to the left wall, trying to scoot past it without making contact with the ice. It took him very little time to get past it.

"Okay, now- come over here, but don't touch the ice at any cost. You hear me?" Reid yelled. Twilight nodded before splaying out her wings and taking to the air, flying over the ice easily. Reid looked at her, even through his visor, his mildly shocked expression apparent.

"You- you can fly?" Reid said in confusion.

"Yeah." Twilight giggled.

The guard stared at Twilight for a good few seconds before coughing and turning around, continuing on with Twilight close behind. They had barely passed through a single short hallway before Twilight saw something which piked her interest. On the left side of the hallway, a very large steel door, similiar to the one which had protected SCP-914 and SCP-173 sat. Next to it there was another label, the words SCP-009 in plain sight. Suppressing the urge to ask about it, she ignored it and continued following Reid through the facility. Or at least for a few seconds before Reid stopped again.

"Oh, what is it-" Twilight started.

"Shh! Listen." Reid interrupted. Twilight paused as she tried to hear what Reid had obviously heard. Her ears perked, scanning the nearby surroundings. The faint dripping of water, the beeping of the breach alarm, and... what was that? The very faint of stomping. Heavy stomping. Somewhere several hallways down, something very large and heavy was walking towards them. Several long hallways and a few doors sat between Twilight and whatever was making the sounds, Twilight could tell that. But still, it did nothing less than frighten her half to... wait. The stomping had stopped. Whatever was making the sounds had...

Crash.

A muffled crunching and smashing noise came from a few hallways down, muffled by the doors and long hallways in the way. The thing was apparently attempting to break something... it sounded like a wall. Something large and heavy was bashing down a wall, not too far away. It was no secret that this was an absolutely horrifying prospect for Twilight- anyone with half a brain could see it on her face.

"...Twilight. Be quiet... follow me." Reid whispered, taking out his weapon before continuing to advance through the halls. Twilight knew three things for certain at that moment: one, that stick was an incredibly imtimidating weapon, and almost certaintly lethal. Two, that creature that was bashing down a wall not too far away was probably a huge, bulking abomination, and almost certaintly lethal. Three, Reid was obviously trying to act badass, attempting to offer some form of comfort to her by pretending like he had everything in check, although the wavering of his voice told otherwise.

This was also probably lethal.

They had passed through two long hallways before finally entering a third, extremely long one- Twilight noted it's rather unusual length. So long she couldn't see the end through the darkness of the facility, and could just barely make out a large door on the side of the hallway, at the end of her vision, almost invisible by the darkness... Huh. That's odd. The door didn't seem to be very large, now that Twilight looked at it longer... it seemed to have previously been quite small, actually. But... the wall around it had been busted in by something. Whatever had done it was most likely inside that gaping hole. Probably the behemoth she heard earlier. Twilight opened her mouth to question what SCP had done it so she knew just how boned she was, but was interrupted by a loud, ear-piercing screech. Twilight let out a small scream and pushed her ears against her head in response.

The screech was almost omnipresent; like it was coming from all directions. It quickly dissolved into a faint static. Removing the ears from her head, Twilight again tried to open her mouth to ask questions, and again was interrupted, this time by a familiar male voice coming from the intercom.

"...Cough... uh, hello, everybody. In wake of the recent Containment Breach that I'm sure you know about, we dispatched several MTF Task Forces, including Epsilon-11, to this facility a few minutes ago for immediate re-containment purposes. We advise all personnel to remain in your evacuation shelter and to ignore any and all personnel attempting entry unless verified to be both human and at least Class-C. We can't take any risks in a breach of this magnitude."

Twilight paid close attention to the broadcast. But as she did, her ears perked. She heard something else, something... faint. A loud thumping sound from inside the hole in the wall. The thing was moving further inside the hole it had made at an alarming rate, the creature still not visible to Twilight and Reid.

"...Alright. The following SCPs are confirmed out of containment, or otherwise have had their cells opened or removed from lockdown: SCP-002, SCP-005, SCP-008, SCP-009, SCP-016, SCP-017, SCP-019, SCP- wait, what is- OH MY GOD!"

Twilight's pupils dilated as she listened. As the announcer screamed, so did something else- the raspy voice of something screaming alongside the announcer. That one wasn't of terror, though. That voice was screaming in a battle-cry of sorts. The screams of the announcer quickly turned from terror to agony, the ferocious, ravenous ripping of flesh accompanying his cries. Bones snapping, tendons ripping- flesh and ligaments squishing and twisting in ways it was never supposed to, blood most likely flooding around his by now mangled body. His pained chokes were suddenly silenced by a large crunch, putting an end to his torment.

Twilight had gone pale by this point, and although she couldn't see Reid's face through his golden visor, she guessed he had, too. She tried to ask where the intercom room was, just to see how far away that creature and its teeth were, but she couldn't muster it up. Silence reigned for several seconds before the same raspy voice from earlier was heard over the intercom, hatred and rage practically dripping off of each syllable, the voice breathy and gritty.

"...You... disgusting... RETCHED creatures..." The voice began slowly and deliberately, with each word its anger increasing tenfold, bitterness lacing every syllable. Twilight couldn't tell whether he had difficulty speaking or simply spoke extremely slowly"You... HUMANS... you think I am secured here... you think... I can be contained. That... you... are... protected. That you... are in control. That any of these... ABOMINATIONS... can be... locked away. That you can win."

The voice stopped for a minute, seemingly trying to calm its rage. Loud, heavy breathing could be heard as it did this. During this time Twilight managed to let out a faint whisper, her voice laced with fear.

"...Wh... where... is the i-intercom room, e-exactly?" Twilight asked, gulping silently. As much as Twilight didn't want to admit it, she already knew the answer. Reid's arm slowly raised up, weapon in hand, as he pointed towards the hole in the wall not too far away. Reid was terrified judging by how much his arm shook as he did so, that was for sure. Another thing Twilight noticed was his grip. It was rather weak, a consequence of fear, she supposed. Of course, Reid was also mightily distracted by the unseen creature in the intercom room, having just finished its dinner, blocked only by a wall. All of this combined meant that Reid hardly had time to react as the heavy weapon slipped out of his grasp.

"You... are gravely mistaken..."

Crash.

The weapon's head smashed into the concrete floor of the hallway, vibrations shooting all the way up its length and into the trigger. Twilight wasn't exactly sure of how it worked or how dangerous it was at first, but she got a faint clue when it activated.

BLAM.

A loud bang echoed throughout the facility, the weapon activating on impact with the ground. A metal shell shot out of the barrel and into the concrete, sparks and pieces of both metal and rock flying across the hallway, a bright light blinding Twilight for half a second. The noise itself wasn't the thing that made Twilight scream, though. Nor was it the bits of concrete colliding with her hooves, nor was it the bright light.

It was the fact that she heard the sound of the weapon firing over the intercom that frightened her.

Time came to a stop, each second lasting an eternity.

She couldn't move an inch. She froze.

Silence.

A roar echoed over both the intercom and through the halls as the creature took flight, it's heavy steps a clear sign of movement. It burst out of the intercom room, ripping parts of the wall off as it left the restructured door it had created. Skidding across the concrete floor and smashing into the opposite wall, Twilight finally got her first view of the creature.

It was large. Huge, even. It barely fit inside the long, tight, dark corridor that separated Twilight from it. It was... reptilian, almost. Like an alligator, or a crocodile, but... revolting. What appeared to be slightly yellow rib bones stuck out from the creature's chest at unnatural angles, dried blood stuck on to the dark gray scales on every part of its body. Large and small wounds dotted its body sporadically, adding to the mess covering the creatures body. Some of the blood probably didn't belong to the creature. The number of eyes the creature had was only outmatched by the length of its claws and its amount of teeth, all of the aforementioned body parts large and yellow, protruding from the creature's body in horrible ways. A large, scaled tail was barely visible from behind the creature.

Twilight would have gone over its visage in more detail, had her instincts not kicked in and dialed her legs up to 11. Reid had already jumped back at the sight of the creature and was already several meters away by the time Twilight realized what was happening, and Twilight was not one to be left behind in the dust. Literally. Putting a wing up in front of her face to shield her from the spray of concrete as the creature's body thrashed about, trying to get up and chase them through the narrow corridor, she ran down the hallway in wordless terror.

Twilight could barely see where she was going as she backtracked, passing through hallway after hallway she had already passed not a few minutes ago in a blur of fear. She could hear the sounds of the creature finally getting up and giving chase from behind her, the roars of anger getting much louder much faster than she would have liked.

Not that she would have liked it at all if the pace had been much different.

Time seemed to extend into hours once more as the adrenalin kicked in, lengthening Twilight's reaction time. Alright, now THINK. Think. Thinkthinkthink- what are you going to do? Come on, THINK! You didn't get to this planet by being stupid- uh, well... alright, fine. But still. You aren't one of the four princesses of Equestria for nothing. How in the hell are you going to get out of this one? Blast the creature with your magic? No, who knows what that'll do? Have Reid attack it with his weapon? She wasn't alone in her escape, after all. Reid was right next to her, running for his life just like herself. No- he dropped it back there, didn't he?. Yeah, that was caused the creature to attack in the first place. She doubted he still had it. Ugh. THINK.

As Twilight passed through yet another door into yet another hallway, the roars of the creature smashing through wall after wall on its way to violently maim her getting exponentially louder, Twilight's mind shifted to what she now saw in front of her. The large metal door she had seen earlier- the Containment Chamber for SCP-009, she remembered. Everything up to that point had shown to her that large metal doors with large 'X's on it were typically a bad thing to avoid, but as the creature neared within five meters, she made a split second decision.

Calling up the magic reserves she had been slowly building for hours now, she desperately tried to muster up enough energy to cast her spell. Normally she would have immense difficulty casting such a complex spell in such an unfocused state, but fear of being ripped in half by an abomination from another dimension was an excellent motivator. But she needed to be looking at the door first, didn't she? Yeah. She needed to see what she was teleporting into before she could do it. Acting upon years of performing teleportation magic, she instinctually slammed her back-left leg into the ground and used her momentum to whirl around on the spot, drawing up her magic.

Immediately, she was presented with the open maw of a creature ten times her size and a hundred times her weight. The creature had plenty more teeth than she originally thought, she noted. All of them rather large, but packed together tightly to form more of a crushing device rather than a ripping mechanism. At least towards the back- towards the front of the lower and upper inner jaw, the teeth grew larger, sharper and more dispersed, allowing for easy ripping ability in the front. If she would have guessed, judging from the muscles on its jaw, it could bite through the leg of an elephant with ease. Hell, it could eat an elephant in one bite if it wanted to. Clearly, the creature was an omnivore. Twilight wondered the specifics of its diet for a moment. It would be easier to know that specific bit of knowledge if only she could see its neck muscles. She wondered for another moment why she could not. It was at that point that the fridge horror kicked in and she realized the creature she was studying was very much alive and not just some picture from a book, and was currently hurtling towards her at 30 mph with its mouth wide open. Ironically, the thought of how she could think all of this while also trying to perform a complex teleportation spell with limited magic barely crossed her mind.

Ah, the wonders of pure terror induced adrenaline.

Maybe she could fabricate some to help her with her studies.

The next thing she knew, space-time had warped itself around her and Reid and teleported them into SCP-009's Containment Chamber, just inside the door. Of course, momentum was still a thing, despite how unlikely it was that the fundamental laws of physics still applied in this physics-defying hellhole of a facility, and Twilight's head quickly met the wrong end of a solid steel wall. She wasn't the only one to meet that fate, as Reid smashed into it shortly thereafter. Not one to be outdone, the creature from earlier swiftly followed both of their moves and smashed its head into the concrete wall outside the chamber. But Twilight couldn't see that occur, not that it was really a mystery to her, judging by the roars of anger that had come from outside.

Twilight barely got a chance to contemplate the aforementioned information, as the very second it all occurred to her, her vision was replaced by a field of stars dancing against a black background, dancing around wildly. Pleasantly accompanying the spectacle was a violent stab of pain in her brain. With it, she finally conceded that she would most likely become very acquainted with pain within the next several hours.

Presuming she lived that long.

Presuming she lived more than one minute longer.

As she slid down to the ground with a thud, a half-happy half-sad half-pained half-confused mostly terrified cry escaping her lips, she blinked away the stars and took note of her new surroundings.

Small room, metal floors, and walls. The door she had teleported past was to her right and a locked keypad next to a door was to her left. Ugh- what was the point of having such a massive steel door when you are then just going to follow it up with a keypad and locked door? It's not like the door can keep out any of the SCPs the facility had here. Or at least not the one she had nearly become dinner for, which had evidently caught her scent and as a result was currently trying to bash down the door.

A small- alright, rather large scream escaped her lips, which immediately joined the sympathy of sounds straight out of a horror movie that surrounded Twilight, echoing through, across and around the room, reverberating straight into her brain from the very floor and walls she was now pressed against in fear. The sound of the creature bashing its disgusting face into the steel door, the only thing that stood between her and living long enough to see her home again.

She hoped the engineers of this facility were smart.

Scooting towards the far end of the room Twilight now found herself in, Twilight tried to put as much distance between her and the creature as possible. She bumped into another living being on her two-second journey to the far wall- Reid. Of course. She had been smart enough to use her magic to teleport him into the room as well. Good thing, too. Well, for him, anyway. She didn't consciously make the decision to do so- it was more of a reflex. He seemed to have the same idea as her, though. The more distance between them and this creature, the better. Which, unfortunately, seemed to be about five meters, soon to be none.

Pressing her back against the cool metal, memories and thoughts began to flood her mind. Memories she never thought she would see again- is this what a 'near-death experience' was? She hoped not. Hoped that she was just insane. To imply a near death experience is to imply she was near death. She wanted to believe that wasn't true, but as the dent in the metal door became larger, those thoughts might as well have been figuratively and literally crushed into a small ball and thrown into the mouth of a volcano.

The creature roared.

It reered back once more.

BLAM.

The metal bent and tore inwards, threatening to give way.

Twilight screamed for the nineteenth time that day.

...

Hey, that rhymed.

...Man, she did not want that to be her last thought.

BLAM.

She supposed her last thought would probably be something along the lines of 'OHGODWHYNOAHHHCELESIAMAKEITSTOPITHURTSPLEASEAAAAAAAGHH' or something equally terrifying, accompanying the sound and feel of her face being forcibly removed by her body unconsensually.

BLAM.

Presuming the thing chose to kill her painfully, of course.

BLAM.

This seemed likely.

BLAM.

...What if it wasn't, though? ...What should her last thought be? If she could choose, of course.

BLAM.

...Perhaps a thought of her friends. Her home. Her family. Sappy? Yeah, she supposed. But it's not like there would be anyone to judge her for her sappy thoughts, anyway.

BLAM.

Maybe she should include D-9341... he helped her through a significant portion of this facility. She would most likely be a corroded mess of organs and flesh if it had not been for his help. Heh... that name was kind of tedious. She never really noticed, as much of a surprise that was to her.

BLAM.

...Reid, too, she supposed. He had helped her quite a bit, and now he was going to die by her side. It only made sense.

BLAM.

...It's taking quite a while for the creature to break down the door. How many 'blam's' have we gotten through, anyway? It's quite a sturdy door.

BLAM.

But anyway. How... how should she imagine it? Should she at all? Maybe she should just close her eyes and wait for the door to break. No, of course she had to have a symbolic last thought. Obviously. But back to the original question. What about positioning? Their expressions? Should they all be sad about her imminent death at the teeth of an omnivorous abomination? Or should they have a happy expression, as you would see on a wedding postcard or something?

BLAM.

...Perhaps the latter. Make it nice. But where, though? Maybe in a field, Canterlot in the distance. Or Manhattan. Nah, that has no meaning. She never cared for the place emotionally. Maybe Ponyville. Yeah, that seemed good... wait, with Canterlot in the distance! Fantastic. But where in Ponyville? In front of the Town Square, maybe? Maybe in... front of... her...

BLAM.

...home...

BLAM.

...

BLAM.

...This was never supposed to happen.

BLAM.

Why? Why did she have to do this? She- she was curious, fascinated with it. The ability to travel dimensions. So enamored with the possibilities she didn't even begin to consider the potential dangers. And now look where she was.

BLAM.

Stuck. In a room, with a horrifying abomination, something so terrifying she couldn't even begin to comprehend had she not seen it first hoof, outside the door, ready to devour her. Smashing it's huge body into the door in an attempt to break it down. Snarling. Growling. Waiting for it to give way.

BLAM.

And now she was going to die.

BLAM.

And now they were all going to die.

BLAM.

And it was all her fault.

BLAM.

The metal gave way, shattering with ferocious force. Razor-sharp shards of metal ripped through the air and pelted Twilight's body, despite her attempts to block it with her wing. The door busted open, the feet-thick metal somehow being pushed to the side as a large gash opened up dead-center of the door. The creature's hideous face became visible, its many pupils pinpoints, staring deep into Twilight's soul as it clambered, trying to get inside the room. The gash was large enough for Twilight to slip through, undoubtedly- but the creature's width was too much for it.

Gasping in pain as a small bit of metal clipped her bad leg, she stumbled forward. Maybe Reid was screaming. She couldn't blame him- but she wouldn't know. Her mind was dead-set on the ferocious set of jaws mere meters away from her. Maybe SHE was screaming, too. In fact, she probably was.

Right then, when the door was pushed to the side far enough that it seemed like it was less than a second away from completely busting down, something... orange appeared. It moved fast. Twilight barely had time to figure out what had happened before the thing had slammed into the side of the creature and pushed it to the side, both the new orange thing and the horrifying creature leaving her view.

Twilight stared at the open hole in the metal door, where what she believed to be her imminent doom once stood. She could hear the sounds of battle mere meters away, but too far to the side for her to see. The sounds of the creature roaring and of the strange orange thing... squelching forced her to press her ears to her head to try and block out the noise. She barely had enough time to breathe before Reid ran past her in a hurry, grabbing her by the head and urging her along.

"Hurry! While it's distracted!"

Twilight stumbled forward, following Reid out of the hole in the door and into the hallway. Reid dashed to the left, the same path that originally lead them to the intercom room, with Twilight in quick pursuit, not wanting to be left behind with the creature that was currently battling the strange orange blob. Twilight glanced back as she left, trying to catch a glimpse of what that orange thing was.

Looking behind her, she saw the creature that had nearly killed her up against the wall, struggling to move as the strange orange blob kept it in place with its tendrils. It appeared to be gelatinous, like a large mass of sentient orange jelly. She barely got a second to look at the odd situation before they faded into the distance, the darkness of the facility absorbing them as she ran.

Twilight tore across the facility hallway back in the direction of the Intercom room, wheezing heavily. She wasn't used to running this much, that's for sure. She made a mental note to exercise more when she got back home. Oh, well. With the amount of running she was currently doing, and doubtlessly would be doing in the next couple of hours, would probably make up for most of her life so far.

As they approached the Intercom room, the sounds of battle still close behind them, Twilight started to make out a small metal object on the ground. Well, several, really. The weapon that had alerted the monster to their presence lay in pieces on the ground, presumably smashed into oblivion by the monster as it chased them back to SCP-009's chamber. Reid barely gave it a second thought, hesitating only for a second as they passed it.

Trying not to trip on any pieces of concrete debris on the floor, Twilight followed Reid closely. Soon, they passed the Intercom room, entering into another long hallway. The floor was scuffed up, the walls had scrapes and small holes all over them, occasionally boring deep enough to reveal small pieces of iron rebar. The monster had obviously come from this way originally. Speaking of the monster...

"...R-reid..." Twilight started, breathing heavily as the ran through the hall, "wh... what was that thing?"

Reid didn't stop running, only looking back to her through his golden visor for a second before answering. "...Ugh... uh, y-you mean the lizard thing? That was... ugh... SCP-682, I think... the orange blob was... ugh... SCP-999." Reid's response was raspy and labored, wheezing as he spoke, still refusing to stop running until they got far away from the creature that had nearly murdered them. Weaving left and right as they passed through intersection after intersection, Reid led Twilight away from the creatures.

"...Whu... Six-eight... two? What is it? What... do you know about it?" Twilight said through her gasps for air. By this point her legs had started to burn. They had traveled through no less than four long halls and several intersections by this point.

"I... it's... a large lizard-like creature, I think... it can't be killed. Trust me, we've tried everything. It... it's very intelligent... and it wants to murder everything." Reid said, slowing down as he realized the sounds of the battle of the two creatures had long since disappeared.

"...And nine-nine-nine?" Twilight asked, dropping to her knees to catch her breath.

"Uh, a large blob of goop. Very friendly. It's like a dog and quite smart. It loves 'tickle wrestling', believe it or not. Never... never seen it attack something like that before." Reid said, joining Twilight as he tried to catch his breath, leaning against a wall. "...Man, I'm not used to running that much."

"...Sounds... ugh... adorable." Twilight said, standing back up to her full height. "Hurry up, we can't stop moving... not now, now that I know that thing exists. It can't keep six-eight-two occupied for long."

"...You'd be surprised." Reid muttered under his breath, prompting a curious glance from Twilight, which Reid noticed and quickly corrected. "Uh, it's nothing. You're right. Come on, I think the elevator that leads to Level 1 is just a few halls ahead."

Following Reid through the facility, Twilight let out a sigh. She still wanted to run. They had passed through a lot of hallways, so many that she couldn't hear 682 and 999 at all, but she still didn't feel safe. But that was the case even before she knew those things existed. She would never feel safe in this facility, regardless of what she knew, who she was with, where she was, why she was there and how she got there. It practically emitted an aura of unpleasantness.

...Now there's a unique phrase.

As Twilight mulled over the perpetual feeling of imminent obliteration that the facility gave her, she found herself subconsciously increase her walking speed. She didn't notice she had passed Reid by several meters until he called out to her, bringing her back into reality.

"...Uh, Twilight?"

"Yeah?"

"...You, um... what's with that bag, anyway?"

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, every muscle in her body freezing up. She had practically forgotten about her make-shift saddle bag. Particularly the bag's contents. If she knew one thing about this organization, it's that they were obsessive about security, even if it didn't always work out in the end. How would Reid, a trained guard of a facility owned by that organization react to her, who as far as he was concerned, was a dangerous anomaly that violated the laws of physics carrying a bag full of potentially valuable and/or dangerous anomalies?

"...I... my bag?"

"Yeah. I just... didn't notice until now. What's in it?"

She could hear Reid approach her from behind as her mind raced, trying desperately to formulate a clever, brilliant sentence to get her out of this potentially life-threatening situation.

"...I, uh... I just found these things... interesting and wanted to keep them."

Fantastic.

"...What? Hold on, let me see this for a second..." Reid said, taking the bag off of Twilight from behind. She didn't move an inch as he did so, still frozen in place, her body refusing to move. He wouldn't kill her, of course. She was just as valuable as any of the other things in this facility. So that was at least somewhat comforting.

Right?

"...Are... these... where'd you get these? How... some of these things take at LEAST a Zone Manager to access! How did... you... what..." Reid trailed off as he looked farther into Twilight's bag. Although she wasn't looking, it was pretty obvious he had just found her Zone Manager card in the bag.

"Heh... uh, yeah... you know SCP-914?" Twilight asked, slowly turning around to face Reid. She still couldn't see him through the visor, but she could only imagine what his expression was as he sorted through the objects she had in her bag. Reid didn't respond, continuing to look through the bag.

"...Yeah. Uh, I just kind of... found a keycard lying around. Just... on the floor, yeah? Uh, I used it to access SCP-914... and I... uh... put the keycard in the machine on 'fine', and it, uh, came out like that." Twilight finished, smiling nervously as Reid stopped looking through the bag and looked directly at her, causing Twilight to flinch. He didn't respond, and Twilight, unable to see his expression through the visor, braced herself for a negative reaction. One that never came.

"...Oh. And you just kind of... uh, used the Zone Manager to access some of these SCPs? And then took them? Just because?" Reid asked, his voice more questioning than cold. Twilight hesitated before answering.

"...Yes."

"Ah."

The two stared at them for long past what's considered an uncomfortable length of time. A minute of absolute silence reigned, Twilight nervously fidgeting in pace while Reid stayed motionless. If it wasn't for the fact she knew he was alive, Twilight would think he was dead. Reid suddenly interrupted the moment by handing Twilight back her bag.

"Here. Hold onto it. And, please, be careful. That glass sphere could have enough energy inside it to wipe out the entire continent of Europe for all we know." Reid said, strapping the bag back onto Twilight, before walking past her as nothing had happened. Twilight blinked in surprise for a moment before turning back to Reid, opening her mouth to say something, but deciding against it, opting instead to simply follow Reid and be grateful he didn't kill her.

They barely got five meters away before Twilight said something.

"...You... you're just going to trust me? Just like that?" Twilight said, her voice a little above normal volume. "Just like that? Why... you... for all you know, I could be one of the most dangerous creatures in the multiverse! And you're just going to trust me with... all of this?" Reid didn't even hesitate before he responded.

"Only those with genuinely good intentions would be confused, and perhaps slightly angry by being trusted."

Twilight stopped for a moment before following, not pressing the conversation any farther. The statement didn't make any sense, of course. Well, it made some sense. A little. A bit. Perhaps. She didn't really understand what it meant, but she at least appreciated the attempt.

Twilight finally got a true breather, a moment of calm in this facility she so desperately craved as she walked with Reid towards the elevator to Level 1, supposedly just a minute away. She took the opportunity to breathe in, and breathe out a few breaths that weren't induced by either terror or running for her life.

It lasted all of twenty seconds.

As she passed another identical door and found herself and Reid in yet another identical hallway, the only visual difference being an open elevator about ten meters away in the side of the hall, her ears picked up something rather peculiar. Specifically, the faint sound of stomping from something large and heavy rapidly approaching from the other side of the hall, opposite of them.

Evidently, Reid picked up on it too, judging by his reaction.

"Oh, shi- Twilight, come on! Run, NOW!" Reid yelled, immediately charging towards the open elevator door. It took Twilight an embarrassingly long one and a half seconds to figure out what was happening. First off, SCP-682's fight with SCP-999 had ended a bit ago. Second off, SCP-682 had managed to track them down, somehow coming towards them from the opposite direction. Third, it had just bust down the wall on the opposite side of the hallway to them.

Twilight let out a perfectly justified scream as she ran across the hallway, in the direction of both SCP-682 and the open elevator door, which Reid had just passed through. She dashed across the floor in pure fear induced panic, a previously rare now extremely common feeling for Twilight. SCP-682 did the same, roaring in anger as it saw Twilight charging towards the elevator door. Soon, Twilight found herself in a race between herself and what could very well be her imminent demise.

Twilight practically skidded into the elevator, not caring enough to slow herself down so her momentum wouldn't carry her face into the elevator wall. Which it did. Rather violently, in fact. Her poor muzzle was getting quite a beating today, the wall now bearing a perfect picture of her muzzle, painted in her own blood by the wonderful artist known as 'the First Law of Motion.'

She pondered for a second how many other paintings and works of art that particular artist has created since its inception, but she never got the chance to continue the thought. Reid pressed the close button on the elevator the second she had passed into it, but elevator doors were notorious for closing too slowly. Typically, the reason they closed slowly was so that if another person wanted to get into the elevator even if the button was pressed and the door was closing, all hope was not lost. Of course, sometimes it would be greatly beneficial for all if that person, or in this case, horrifying abomination of the lord of the underworld himself didn't make it in time.

The doors had barely managed to close by the point SCP-682 had made it to the elevator, its face trying to replicate Twilight's own recent activities, in that it smashed straight into a solid wall because of a lack of caring for the First Law of Motion. The door was strong, fortunately enough. Strong enough to hold off a several-ton behemoth for a few seconds, before the elevator began to descend. Twilight only hoped SCP-682 wouldn't try to bash down the door anyway and immediately fall down the elevator shaft and right onto the elevator carriage, obliterating Twilight from existence. But it was supposed to be smart, so she presumed it wouldn't do something as dumb as that.

Hopefully.

Reid and Twilight both leaned against the far wall of the elevator as it descended, the sounds of SCP-682 angrily snarling as disappearing quickly, the familiar hum of the elevator calming Twilight's nerves, the adrenaline numbing the burning pain in her muzzle. They didn't speak to each other at first, barely able to think straight after the twenty-seventh close encounter with death they both experienced since entering this facility for the first time.

Eventually, Twilight got the nerve to look back at Reid, who still seemed focused on the spot SCP-682 had been mere seconds ago. She still couldn't see through his visor, but his body language told her everything she needed to know. He, much like her, just nearly died violently, at the hands of a creature whose only purpose in life seemed to be to maim and murder everything that breathes and then some.

Twilight presumed this would be a rather common experience for her in the immediate future.

After all, it already was.

The door opened.

Author's Note

Sorry this one took so long. A water pipe burst, floor got ruined, I had to get it replaced. While it was being replaced I went on a vacation to Bumfuck Nowhere-Town where I got absolutely no sleep because the person I was sharing a trailer with snores like a truck, then I spilled water on my computer and fried it. Fortunately it still works.

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God. I wrote the first part of this chapter THAT long ago? Wow. I wrote this author's note and the first few thousand words of this chapter directly following that vacation. I'm only recently coming back and it's a shock realizing how long ago it was I wrote this. That was MONTHS ago, and I'm only now getting back to writing this chapter.

Oh, well. Shit happens. Again, sorry for the wait and I hope you enjoyed.
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...Happy ~~Halloween~~ November!