The SCP Foundation: Field Agent Dash

With the mood in the library’s basement significantly lightened both ponies got comfortable. Twilight was now sitting on a pillow overlooking a wooden desk she normally had in her bedroom. She had levitated the desk down from her room to the basement so she could write down notes.

Twilight was looking at her desk with Disappointment. “I want Flash cards.” Twilight said dejectedly. On the desk was one of the many extra notebooks Twilight owned along with a inkwell and quill to write in said notebook

“No you only get one notebook“ Rainbow said half heartedly with a roll of her eyes. ”Besides Twilight you won’t get in trouble for not knowing this stuff right off the bat.” Dash added on as she stood in front of the alicorn. Rainbow was preparing to well… attempt to teach her friend about the SCP Foundation. There is just so much to cover.

There was some big stuff Rainbow had to make sure to go over today so Twilight had basic knowledge about the Foundation with the first one being how the Foundation was structured.

“You Ready Twilight?”

Twilight nodded

“Ok there are three..” Rainbow hesitated looking for the right word. “I guess you could call them ruling bodies or main branches of authority, either work, in the SCP Foundation. All of them are shrouded in some level of mystery. Just as a heads up Twilight.” Twilight looked up from her desk at Rainbow.

“In most cases getting an answer will lead to more questions and that is most likely by design. Remember that sometimes just knowing about something is dangerous.” Twilight let out a huff. “Fine”

“Ok first of the big names is the O5 Council. They are a council of 13 creatures. Their Identities are a mystery and are only referred to as O1, O2, O3 and so on till O13. From what I know they judge what is and is not safe. Obviously you’re going to be assigned to the research department.”

“So if you ever plan on doing an experiment that you think may be risky or unsafe. It is, and I can not stress this enough, your job to request permission from one or more of the O5. Let it be also their fault if something goes wrong not just yours. You're much less likely to get in trouble.” Twilight sighed “Does that mean I‘ll have to wait months to get one experiment approved?”

Rainbow shook her at Twilight’s question. “Nope, the Foundation is not Canterlot where it takes years to get anything done. No nobles too fight about everything. The Foundation moves fast, the longest I’ve heard is a month and that was for a big, complicated experiment.”

Rainbow then added on “They are also the first to know when shit hits the fan.”

Twilights quill finished writing in her notebook. “Next?”

Rainbow nodded “The Ethics Committee. Now most creatures start off thinking this idea of a Ethics Committee is a joke due to the amount of torture and murder that happens in the SCP Foundation.”

Twilight looked shocked, “Torture? Murder?”

Rainbow once again nodded. “Twilight, remember how I said you’d end up doing horrible, awful things while you work for the Foundation. It's one of the unavoidable consequences when working with SCPs.”

“You said that. But how you said it makes it sound like you're the bad guys, even evil.” Twilight replied sternly, understandably the alicorn didn’t like this idea of murder and torture being accepted.

Rainbow knew this would come up so she planned to quote a friend. “To quote a friend, Remember this: The Foundation is not evil. The Foundation does not torture creatures ‘just because’. The Foundation is against unnecessary cruelty. Which means some creature has to decide when cruelty is necessary. Those creatures are the Ethics Committee.”

Twilight nodded skeptically, quill still writing.

Rainbow continued “Now I know more than most about the Committee because a friend of mine is on the Ethics Committee as I said. And he put it like this, while the O5 judge what is and is not safe. The Ethics Committee judge what is and is not acceptable. And my friend told me that there is always some creature on the Committee on site.”

Twilight finished writing that down with a sour look on her muzzle. “Rainbow are you sure any murder and torture is necessary?”

Rainbow sighed looking at the library floor. “ Believe me Twi if there was a way to avoid killing I would, but I can’t when it’s me or them. Or sometimes the Anomaly requires a sacrifice of one creature once every three months so millions don’t die.”

Rainbow looked back up at Twilight. “I wish I was joking but I’m not.”

Rainbow moved on “Thirdly the Administrator, supposedly he created the Foundation and signed the pact. That's all that’s known about him.”

“Wait that's it? All you know about this ‘Administrator’ is that it's a he and he made the Foundation and signed some pact?” Twilight said incredulously.

Rainbow rubbed the back off her neck nervously “yea.”

Rainbow quickly got back on track. “Now the pact of Steel and Blood. The recommended way to explain the pact is to tell the story so that's what I will do.” Rainbow shot Twilight a look causing Twilight to lower her hoof.

“The story will also answer why I have metal plating on my wings, which I know you have been sneaking looks at my augmentation.” Rainbow said this as she spread out her wings highlighting her biggest physical difference.

Twilight looked apologetic. “Sorry Rainbow but it's just such a difference from your normal look. I can’t help but be interested in your wings. Like aren't they painful?”

Rainbow looked at her wings “No not at all.” Rainbow said honestly .“I don’t even think about them now. I’ve had this augmentation for seven years now.”

Twilight nearly jumped “Seven years! Rainbow how long have you been working for the Foundation?” Rainbow thought for a moment. “Five years in the field and five here in Ponyville, so ten years.”

Twilight was shocked by this information “Wait, you joined the Foundation at eighteen years old?” The alicorn questioned.

“Yeah after half a year of training but let's get back on track” Rainbow said knowing this would quickly lead to her past, something she’d rather avoid talking about if it can be helped.

Rainbow began “So the story may or may not be true or maybe just some bits of the story are true. Either way this is how it goes.

A long time ago there were two groups of creatures well… more like factions. One was the Mekhanites who worshipped Mekhane. He’s the god of metal, machines and is claimed to have given sapient creatures their intelligence at the time. The other was the Sarkics who worshipped Yaldabaoth the god flesh, blood and disease. She’s claimed to have given us our bodies.

These two groups didn’t like each other at all in fact they hated each other so much they went to war. The first war of the flesh it was called. The Mekhanites fought using machines of all sizes. With weapons that could rain fire from the sky or even bend reality itself. While the Sarkics would spread disease across the battlefield and beyond. They could turn themselves into flesh abominations at will.

The war destroyed towns and villages. Whole mountains were leveled, reduced to shallow pits. Land rendered uninhabitable. Rumors even say an entire continent was lost and the sky turned black with ash and spores.

It was so devastating that the planet started to freeze over. Both Mekhane and Yaldabaoth saw this devastation and demanded both groups to stop, lest they bring the end of the world with their war. Which would mean no creature wins.

This demand from the two gods split both sides. Some of the Mekhanites believed Yaldabaoth had broken Mekhane in some form. They went and made The Church of the Broken God with the purpose of fixing him. For the Sarkics they split into the many Sarkic cults with dozens of differences between them.

But regardless the main two sides stopped their war with each other and entered an uneasy peace for a hundred years. Supposedly both gods took a direct act in ruling their respective groups to ensure their peace would last. It's said a golden age occurred during these a hundred years.

Then something happened, both gods disappeared. Obviously each side first thought the other one did it, almost going to war again. But they quickly found out Discord had sealed both of them away using his chaos magic.

Both sides went to war with Discord immediately hoping to break the seal that had locked away their respective gods. They ended up working with Celestia and Luna to take down Discord. They were hoping that the princesses would use the elementals of harmony to free both Mekhane and Yaldabaoth.

This is where the story’s biggest unknown is, some accounts say the two sisters couldn’t. Others say they wouldn’t, because they were scared of the two. All that’s known is the gods were not freed.

This led to the decline of both groups fading into obscurity as Mekhanite technology was forgotten and Sarkic rituals were lost to time. The faraway dragon kingdoms being the only Mekhanites who remembered Mekhane due to a dragon's ability to live for centuries. Kingdom Dragons are different from dragons that come from the Dragon Lands. As they evolved in a winter climate and don’t get much bigger than Celestia in height or size.

For the Sarkics cults they fell apart into isolated groups across the world. Forming even more cults in the process with creatures of all kinds in these cults.

Things stayed this way till supposedly, two hundred and some years ago. When the Administrator somehow freed both Mekhane and Yaldabaoth. Working with the Administrator they created the SCP Foundation and signed the Pact Steel and Blood. Mekhane reunited some of Mekhanite Kingdoms while Yaldabaoth did the same with what Sarkic Cults she could find. This pact allowed the Foundation access to the knowledge and capabilities of Mekhanites and the Sarkics.

“For a direct example, my wings.” Rainbow flared her wings showing the metal augmentation.

“Do they make you fly faster?” Twilight guessed.

“Yes, enough that when I really push it I have been told I teleported, but pushing it really hurts.” Rainbow said with a smirk.

“What else do they do?” Twilight asked, incredibly curious about the pegasus’s wings.

“They also allow me to fly without my pegasus magic which is really useful when magic stops working, which will happen by the way. Actually write this down.” Rainbow got a serious look on her face.

“Do not rely on your magic at any point when dealing with the anomalous. Always have a backup plan or way to defend yourself. Your magic can and will just all of a sudden stop working.” Rainbow continued on somberly “I watched a pegasus lose his magic as…. something chased him. Obviously he died.”

A shiver went down Twilight’s back. The idea of just losing her magic terrified her. “Got it” Twilight said as she wrote down what Rainbow told her to.

Rainbow noticed Twilight’s change in attitude and wanted to prevent everything from getting too serious as it wasn’t her preferred style. So she continued to talk about her wings in hopes of avoiding a super serious atmosphere. “Also another cool thing about my improvement is there not actually fully metal, there part biological metal.”

The words biological metal catch Twilights attention just like Rainbow hoped it would. “Biological metal?” Twilight questioned.

“Yes biological metal, if you were to place a piece of my wing improvement under a microscope you would see cells.” Rainbow explained, poking her wing with a hoof.

“So you grow your augment with your body?”

“Yes and no. Some parts of my augment are actual metal. Like the pins and gears in my humerus bone. But for the parts that are bio metal yes I do grow then. Thankfully they don’t just keep growing as biological metal acts just like metal and has all the properties of metal. So I would need a blow torch or something of that nature to trim or cut the metal off.” Rainbow finished by hitting her wing edge with her hoof making a clank sound.

“So because your body is growing the metal using cell division? I assume your genetic code is changed in some way to allow you to grow metal.” The alicorn guessed.

“Nope they have the same genetic code as the rest of my body. They are an anomalous augmentation. Having metal on the leading edge of my wings should not make me fly faster yet it does.”

“I thought the Foundation contained anomalous objects?” Twilight asked confused.

“They do, but we are not afraid of using anomalies to help contain other anomalies. Like in the case ….I don't know if I have the clearance to tell you that.” Rainbow thought for a second. “Not gonna risk it, sorry.”

Twilight nodded “It's ok I understand.”

“Yea it's some you're gonna have to get used to.” Rainbow said with a shrug.

“Now obviously I’m Mekhanite ...well kind of, you see the SCP Foundation has a system called ‘leaning’. After your first few years and you have proven yourself to be loyal, mostly competent and are in need of an augment. You can’t be a janitor or have Clearance level below two and get an Anomalous augment. “ Rainbow said with a roll of her eyes.

“Anyway” Rainbow said with the wave of a hoof “You can choose a side to lean into. I chose to get the Cogwork Orthodox wing improvement in order to get this improvement.The downside is I can no longer get Sarkic augments or other kinds of improvements.”

“So you can't have both?” Twilight asked.

“Yep.”

“Now that the groundwork has been laid. Let’s go over the really important Stuff. I would recommend Twilight you make an entire page of that notebook dedicated to what we are about to talk about. “

Twilight did as Rainbow said.

“This is something you’ll be quizzed on often and is something new must know instinctively. Objects Classes, each SCP is given a class based on how difficult they are to contain. There are as follows. Safe, Euclid, Keter and one more that I have special clearance to tell you about Thaumiel.”

A Safe Class classification does not mean the object Isn’t dangerous or its effects aren’t dangerous, it simply means that if you put it in a box it will stay in the box.

Euclid Class objects are anomalies that if put in a box, may leave the box. This is the most broad classification of SCPs. Objects or entities that show the ability to think for themselves are almost always classified as Euclid, due to the inherit unpredictably of an object with the capability to think and act for itself.

Keter Class objects are SCPs that if put in a box and left alone. It will leave the box or is incredibly complicated to contain and/or costs a ridiculous amount of money to keep locked away. This does not mean the SCP is super dangerous, just really difficult to contain.

Thaumiel class objects are SCPs that can be used to make a box to contain other SCPs. Do not confuse these with SCPs that have potential benefits. And under no circumstances are you to tell any creature about the classification of Thaumiel.

Got all of that.” Rainbow asked.

“Yea.” Twilight said as her quill stopped writing.

“Good now If am correct, didn't you plan on joining the CMC on their last camping trip before the running of leaves?” Rainbow asked as she stretched out.

“Yes I did, I plan on teaching them about-” Rainbow Interrupted the alicorn.

“You're supposed to meet the CMC, Rarity and Applejack at the entrance to the White Tailed woods in two hours. Going by the schedule that’s hanging in your kitchen.” Rainbow said with a grin.

Twilight proceeded to teleport most likely to check the kitchen.

A second later Twilight reappeared in a lavender flash of light looking panicked. Before the alicorn could speak Rainbow talked. “We’re done for today Twilight, go pack up. And hide that notebook well.” Twilight nodded and disappeared once again this time with the notebook in hoof.

“Rarity is going to lose her mind when she hears about this.” Rainbow said to herself as she headed home to grab civilian camping gear.