Author's Note

Welcome to the second chapter. I just want to thank you guys for reading and giving this story the favs and trackings so far. It blew up a little bit the day I posted chapter 1 and it even was on the popular list for about 2 days, so appreciate that guys. Any helpful comments, possible ideas, or anything you want to help contribute to the story is appreciated, and buckle up for one heck of a story.

''Replace judgment with curiosity.''

-Lynn Nottage.

Death Knell

The sound of screams filled the halls, accompanied by the harsh crack of a whip against the skin. PSSH! PSSH! PSSH!

''P-Please. . .'' a timid voice begged, the cracking of their voice making the individual holding the torture weapon stop for a moment. Did they dare to ask to stop? To stop the work of the world; of the greater good, as well as their own absolution? ''Spare me.~''

Sacrilege. Complete and utter sacrileige.

''I would laugh at that statement if I possessed that ability. Unfortunately for you, I do not. You may have been spared for the moment. But only just.'' the Unicorn trotted closer to the broken human on the ground, the drips of fresh blood and the dried splotches on the ground long staining the pure white tile of the room. By now, most others would have succumbed to the pain and revealed any pertinent information. This one, however. . .was different. More resilient, more free-thinking, and that would only make breaking his spirit all the sweeter. ''Come now, SCP-99 A. Where is the 'glorious' strength you possessed earlier when you took it upon yourself to lay your filthy hand on that poor filly?'' the glare from his glasses masked the mirth in his emerald green eyes. Another crack of the whip resulted in the human violently jerking back, clutching at an imaginary object to hopefully quell the pain.

''I-I saved. . .her. She was i-in trouble-OOOF!'' a cough of blood and spit exited his mouth on the floor next to the Unicorn, narrowly missing his hooves. The stinging pain from his front hooves slamming into his jaw made him wince and almost cry out. He was certain he had broken a few teeth with the force if suddenly feeling loose clattering around his closed mouth was any indication.

The Unicorn clicked his tongue and glared at SCP-99 A, who clutched the dirty blanket covering his body as some sort of protective shield. He would not be safe, not until he got away. Away from him, away from this place.

Anywhere where there was no pain was more desirable, even being in a waste canal seemed like heaven compared to this.

''Do you know why I am referred to as one of the greatest scientific minds of Equestria's history, my dear SCP-99 A? Why I, Dr. Mitchell Magnus is possibly considered to have the highest amount of power and influence that could even rival Princess Celestia and Luna?'' Dr. M turned around, walking towards his Pegasus assistant, Jerry as he watched from behind a wall of a reinforced concrete room with a one-way window as he nodded to the glass and stopped for a moment, using his scarlet magic to remove his white lab coat and swap it out for a rather thick, blue apron. A robotic control arm that appeared from a panel underneath the floor brought out a small metal device that was shaped like a pear. On its rusty exterior were curved pieces of metal that formed to form a mouth at the bottom.

''W-What are you doing?'' SCP-99 A scrambled back to the corner of the spacious white room, completely bare of anything aside from a lone metal toilet where he retreated to. ''I told you; I didn't hurt her! I saved her!''

Dr. M only scoffed as he ventured back towards the human who began to wince in pain from the many cuts on his body as he began clutching his brown hair as he screamed in anger once he made the very easy connection.

He was being framed.

''My dear boy, of course, you did save her, but that's not according to my own brand of logic,'' Dr. M waved the contraption around in his magic a few times before narrowing his eyes and smiling with the glee of a child on Christmas Day. He would enjoy this way more than it would hurt SCP-99 A. ''But, the way I see it, you did more harm than good by scarring that poor girl. So, I must render punishment where punishment is due. But fret not, I have an incentive for you as well.'' Dr. M said as he stared down at the human in front of him. ''I won't have you beaten to the point where you can no longer remember where you are, at least not for today.''

“AHHHHH-MMMMPH!” Dr. M shoved the object into SCP-99 A’s mouth, using his magic to turn the screw, which resulted in the metal strips to expand and open, painfully stretching his mouth and tearing the gentle skin inside.

“As per my previous question that you failed to produce the answer for; I am possibly the best at what I do because I get results, no matter the cost. And those who dare withhold anything that I wish to know will be eviscerated.” Dr. M heard the tearing of flesh as a pained whimper came from the human who began to have spasms.

“Uh, Dr?” Jerry asked over the intercom, a curious tone to his voice. Of course Jerry would be the one to ruin his monologue.

“Yes, Jerry? What is it?” Dr. M asked as he looked back at the window.

“The Enrichment Lab has just reported in with the new specimen discovered in The Everfree that we catalogued earlier.” Jerry said, as Dr. M’s perked. The new specimen? Has it. . .evolved? He must know. This took precedence. “It appears to be responding to outside stimulus.”

Wonderful, wonderful! This was just the news that he wanted to hear. The report stated the rather colorful depiction of the specimen appeared animalistic in nature, and devolved a bond of sorts to its temporary host before collapsing upon itself in a pile of black ooze.

“Has it breached containment?”

“No, sir. It’s just moving as if it’s alive. It’s attempting to change shape from what we were told.” Jerry pressed a button and the speakers linked to the connection that was incoming.

“Specimen appears to respond to sounds, more specifically, the sound of a voice and directs its attention in that direction before remaining stationary.”

Galloping towards the door, a look of pure joy and sadistic realization hit his face as he came inside the room with his assistant. SCP-99 A could wait. He would have Jerry conduct follow up examinations later. “Tell them I am on my way, and nopony is do anything else until I get there, is that understood?”

“Yes, Dr. I will inform them immediately.” Jerry saluted and watched Dr. M go off and exit the room after changing back into a fresh lab coat. Another day of just being the assistant. He never was able to partake in the more riveting bits of research and experiments. Always the clean up pony for Dr. M’s. . .messes. “I wish I could only get the respect I deserve. I have been there since the beginning, and this is how I’m treated?” Jerry mumbled to himself, stomping his hoof on the tiled floor before he spied SCP-99 A, which was often too much for him to recite, so he opted to give him another name.

Only he had no idea of what. And granted, interacting with them in the same capacity as a regular pony could be seen as treason. Humans. . .were the enemy, at least that’s what Jerry had been fed for years, but he never saw any flaw in them; nothing to the degree in which the majority stated, at least.

He wanted to understand them better, but no book in any classroom of any school actually held any concrete knowledge beside the tried and true expression of them having less worth than a pig. He wouldn’t admit it openly. But he hated doing this. The experiments. The torture. It borderline committing the gravest of sins. “I may never receive mercy for what I have done, but what other way is there to get any closer to the truth?” Jerry asked himself as he heard the whimpers of the human in the room by himself.

His heart aches for him. To see him on the brink of losing his mind. The blood, tears and foul stench of oppression. But what could he really do? He was merely a cog in the machine.

But for how much longer?

“Mmm? W-What are you-“ SCP-99 A asked, crawling back further as he spied the grey Pegasus come over to him with a vial of purple liquid. “P-Pleash don’t hurt me!” Dr. M’s tool had torn a bit of his mouth open and cut his tongue a bit, which made speaking difficult.

“Hey, hey hey! Ssssh! Sssh!” Jerry hushed the broken human who had wiped the stinging blood
and tears out of his eyes so he could see better. Would they strike him again? “I’m not the Dr. I won’t hurt you.”

“Liesh!” SCP-99 A spat, cowering in fear. Sigh. Dr.M’a tactics were sometimes too good. He wouldn’t be so easily swayed. But Jerry would not back so easily either.

“Fine, fine. At least take this,” Jerry set down the vial he watched the human flinch. “It’s medicine. It should heal your mouth and help your cuts to clot faster. See? I’m backing away,” Jerry went back about 15 meters and watched as the human in front of him were swallowed with uncertainty. This would take longer than he thought. “At least tell me your name? I know it must be hard to be called just letters and numbers.” Jerry laughed a bit, but received no such thing in return from the human.

. . .

“I’m Jerry, by the way,” Jerry introduced himself as he cracked an awkward smile. His orange eyes darted in between the vial and the human on the ground. Had he come on too strong?

“E-Edward Brock. . .” Jerry heard the human whisper.

“Can you say that again, please?” Jerry asked. There was a moment of hesitation before he spoke again.

“E-Edward. . .Brock. But my f-friendsh call me Eddie.” Eddie said in a pained voice as he never took his eyes off Jerry.

A thought came to Jerry. “Does that mean we’re friends, then?”

Eddie laughed as much as he could without hurting himself anymore than he already was. He pointed a weak finger to the vial and then to himself. “If thish stuff works, maybe. Justsh maybe.”

Enrichment Labs

.

Sound came to him, thought distorted. There were voices talking about some kind of breakthrough. Of what, Vincent has not the slightest idea. His head pounded, and his entire body felt like jelly. If he could open his eyes, maybe he could see what they were talking about.

Only he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything. Where he tried to speak, no sound came. Where he attempted to move, no muscle response. And where he attempted to think, only muddy and discombobulated fragments came to him. From wherever he was, he felt no temperature, only pressure.

“I think you’re going to need a smaller scalpel there, Dr.” a female voice called to his right. Or was it behind him? “And you sure about testing it so soon without further observation?”

“Nonsense!” Vincent recognizes that voice from earlier, it was that doctor figure, only he sounded very excited. And that scared Vincent a little. What in the world was going on? “The future waits for none, my dear Starlight. It is only a small enough sample to test whether it can bond like it did prior with SCP-99 A.”

Bonded? And who was-

“-Processing of subject SCP-99 is now in the preliminary stage, commence extraction. For the record, the time is 13:47 on the day of the 6th in the 8th month of the year. Note any prior knowledge to be withheld from conclusion until further evidence is gathered,” Vincent heard the hiss of air being released as the pressure on him was lifted some. While he couldn’t exactly describe what was happening, he knew something was being taken from him.

“Close capsule. Quickly, the dish. Easy, easy. Keep it steady. . .lower, lower. There we go. Extraction complete,” Vincent heard this Starlight character sigh in relief. “Prepare test subject. What did you have in mind today, Dr?”

A curious hmm came from Dr.M’s mouth before he shouted eureka. “One specimen from the Latrodectus Hasselti genus.”

“You want to use a Redback Spider?” Starlight asked. Was he being serious? What was it about him and using spiders for almost every experiment he conducted first? Why not a rat? Or a monkey?

“Indeed, unless you think you have a better idea that could trump my genius?” Dr. M challenged Starlight, who coughed and chuckled. Seems he won that argument.

“Very well, introducing Test Subject RS to SCP-99 to gauge reaction. . .both are in the containment area. Monitoring reaction at 13:54.”

. . .

Vincent felt nothing happen. Did the experiment fail?

“Hmmm,” Starlight said, writing something down on a clipboard. “No initial response from SCP-99, however the RS subject is attempting to eat SCP-99, to avail. It doesn’t look like it’s working, Dr. M.”

“What?! You must have taken too small a sample. Try again.” Dr. M sounded off very angrily. What happened to the report from earlier? It should be doing something. “How long could it possibly take?”

Vincent would have laughed if he could. The sound of the scientific minds having a breakdown was indeed something to behold. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but he figured it was well enough to make the good doctor lose his cool. What he wouldn’t give to see the look in his face.

If he had eyes.

“How is this happening?!” Dr.M groaned and cursed in a language Vincent was unsure he known. Possibly Russian? “We have went over 52 different species and nothing has happened! What could you be doing wrong?” Starlight gasped and pointed a hoof to her superior. How dare he blame her? She was still new this particular field.

“My fault? How? The only thing we probably could do different would be to do a full induction of SCP-99. That could make the difference.”

Full induction? Was this crazy mare serious? Did she not know the first thing about being a scientist?

“That could destroy SCP-99, you silly girl. We only have the one sample, and you know it.” Dr. M said, Starlight rolled her eyes and looked over the small notes she was able to take.

Wait.

Starlight smirked. She had him now. “Oh, but we’ll never get any conclusion if we keep doing it in this fashion,” Starlight responded sarcastically, causing Dr. M to grind his teeth and eat up the snarky look she gave him. “I mean, it is your call, Dr. your genius versus mine.”

Snatching the current arachnid out of her magic, Dr. M stared down look of smug victory with his own of anger. This mare would not be given the satisfaction of being right. He knew exactly what to do. “Very well, Starlight. But if anything goes wrong, you shall be personally held responsible for any issues that arise, since you wish to be smarter than me.” Dr. M stared at the mare who stumbled on her words and tried to think of a good way to turn the situation around. She had nothing. “Remember; you are only as strong as your weakest thought, which I have seen plenty of.”

Vincent would have hissed at that burn if not for feeling the pressure that he soon grew accustomed to release him and for him to be dropped onto something flat. It failed to hurt him, but he still could not make heads or tails of what was going on.

“Very well, this shall be the last test for the day, if this fails, Dr. Starlight will resign immediately. Introducing Sparassidae to Petri dish along with SCP-99. The time is noted as 15:32. Observations have begun.”

Vincent waited to see if anything happened as he heard the small pitter patter of the spider’s legs. It stopped, possibly looking at him. He was sure it should have tried to bite him by now. He was bigger than a spider. For them longest time, nothing happened until a ringing began to sound. Vincent heard it as clear as day; it resembled a gong being hit or a light dinner bell being shaken.

“What is-HISS!” Vincent heard the spider fight against something as he was pulled around and around. The change in direction did not affect him; he didn’t feel dizzy but something was holding onto him, trying to bite him? Quick rocking motions and the sound of webbing being weaved made him think the spider tried making him a meal. Until he felt the movements slowly die and stop.

“Oh, my. . .” Dr. M sounded amazed. A light thump sounded from the floor as Starlight dropped her clipboard.

Had something happened?

Opening his eyes, he looked to see-wait. He could see? And in almost all the way around him. A few angles was blurry, and it actually felt strange to more than one thing at a time. His brain must be having a field day. He could make out a room, laden with. . .glass? Wait, those were tubes. Big ones too. And why did everything appear bigger?

He turned around, only to stumble on his eight legs.

Eight?

And why did mouth feel smaller, but teeth bigger?

“Am I still fired?” Starlight asked fearfully.

“No. . .far from it, my dear. Far from it. We may have just witnessed the birth of something great.” Dr. M said. “Let me see something; Sparassidae!” Vincent managed to turn at the voice as he spied. . .a horse? “It worked! Cancel cancelling the experiments for today! We have even more to go over before the day is done.” Vincent saw the scientists scramble and pull out all manner of dissection tools. Something told him that this would hurt.

A lot.