The Spy Who Hugged Me

by GaPJaxie

Urban Development

A request by Murcushio:

"It's simple, Twilight. Manehattan would like you solve a friendship problem it's having with Canterlot."

"I haven't gotten any kind of request from either the Mayor or the Lord Seneschal about civic conflict that requires mediation, Rarity..."

"No, dear. You wouldn't have. I didn't mention the government. Or anypony, really. Manehattan would like you to solve a friendship problem it's having with Canterlot."

"... you're going to have to walk me through this one slowly.".

Special Containment Procedures: Due to SCP-4757’s scale and area of influence, containment is impossible without causing significant disruption to Equestria society. As of writing, SCP-4757 has been determined to not present a sufficient threat to normal reality as to justify such extreme measures. Foundation Research Sites 344 and 822 have been established to monitor SCP-4747 and appraise the Foundation if there is any change in their properties or behavior which may indicate a need for more aggressive containment procedures.

Description: SCP-4757 is an ongoing friendship problem between two Equestrian cities: Canterlot (SCP-4757-A) and Manehatten (SCP-4757-B). Within the context of SCP-4757, both cities demonstrate sapience, emotion, and other properties required to experience both friendship and friendship problems, however, they have not demonstrated these properties, or other anomalous behaviors, in other contexts.

SCP-4757 first came to the Foundation’s attention when Foundation Agent ██████████ (Codename: “Apple Hat”) reported unusual behavior in Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Cutie Map (See SCP-9233). SCP-9233 displayed the Foundation seal, as well as Princess Sparkle’s own cutie mark, over the cities of Manehatten and Canterlot respectively. To protect Foundation security, Apple Hat applied Class 0 amnestics to Princess Sparkle, in the form of a blow to the back of the head.

Examination of the cities by MTF Neigh-14 (“Quarter Horses”) revealed nothing of interest, however, statistical and cryptographic analysis by researchers at Site 277 revealed unusual artifacts in routine activity occurring in both cities. Examples include:

• The first letter from every section of Section 34 (Intercity Rail and Other Shared Infrastructure) of the 1024 Manehattan City Budget forms the sentence: “IT MUST BE NICE TO HAVE THE MONARCHY PAY FOR EVERYTHING”
• A routine test of the Catenterlot Emergency Communications System, intended transmit random characters, instead transmitted the following messages, as though encoded by a 1938 model German Enigma machine: “AT LEAST THE PRINCESSES DO HONEST WORK NOT LIKE STOCKBROKERS YOURE THE PARASITE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD”
• A list of names of Manehatten to Canterlot travelers, recorded by the ticket-sellers for the primary connecting railway, contains the sentence: “I HAVE MILLIONS OF HARDWORKING CITIZENS IN FIVE BOROUGHS”
• In the middle of an otherwise unremarkable speech on urban redistricting, delivered from the palace at Canterlot, Princess Twilight Sparkle said: “And, while we’re on the subject, ‘five boroughs’ is a cute way to say ‘urban sprawl,’ fatass. Try losing some weight.” Nopony in the audience considered the remark unusual or worthy of note, and it only came to the foundation’s attention due to the presence of a mechanical recording device.

For a complete list of other examples, see Appendix A.

Requests by Foundation Researcher ██████████ to resolve the friendship problem through mediation or trust-fall exercises have been unanimously denied by the M6 Council. As SCP-4757 does not appear to constitute a threat to normal reality, it’s destruction falls outside the Foundation’s purpose. To quote M6 Council Member  ██████████. “Foundation exist to contain artifacts, not smash!  ██████████ smash!”