//------------------------------// // Act II, Chapter II // Story: My Little Clony // by therealfeedback //------------------------------// MY LITTLE CLONY Chapter II, Act II Breakdown “I already told you, eet iz not me!” She shouted back. “What more can I do zan tell you zhat?!” “You can be patient.” I said. “We have…ways of knowing if what you’re saying is correct.” “Let me see ‘im.” Photo Finish said. “…Who?” I asked. “Caezar.” She replied. “You said you were done with ‘im, und I’m just sitting here, I want to see ‘im.” In a feeling getting all too familiar, I felt the sweat running down my neck when she asked to see me. Or at least without the guise. “W-we can’t do that, I’m afraid.” I said back, fighting to keep the nervousness out of my voice. “You’ll see him again, worry not.” “Don’t hurt ‘im.” She whispered. Once more this raised a certain uneasiness within me – I didn’t like playing this act on somepony who was actually concerned about how I was, and I felt like that was coming back. Unfortunately, I was right. “…What?” I asked cautiously. ----------------------------------------------- “I said don’t hurt ‘im.” The photographer answered. “You said you know eet isn’t ‘im. If I’m de only one you need to get answers from, zen do it, but don’t hurt my friend. Please, don’t hurt Caezar.” At the last four words, the colt standing disguised in front of her, shuddered. A tense silence followed, before he let out a scream, then ran behind and beneath his desk, shaking, curled up into a ball, whimpering. “W-what did you do to him?!” The unicorn from before demanded, grabbing Photo Finish at her shoulders. “I-I-I don’t know! I just…” She stammered, not entirely sure what was going on anymore herself. “What’s wrong with him?” “Oh, for…” She sighed, turning to the other of the masked captors still standing, the brown-coated colt. “Big Man, I think we have what we need. Finish the situation.” He nodded, walking over to the desk and pressing a button on it. “W-wait, finish what?” The prisoner yelled. “What are you doi—“ Before she could finish though, her vision began fading, as did her sight. In a few short moments, her world was black. “Alright, she should be under for at at least twenty minutes.” The Doctor said, removing his mask. “We got the sample, we’ll run it over and see what we get.” Vinyl nodded across from him, stepping away from the unconscious Photo Finish and removing her own mask. “I think we have our own problems right now though.” As she spoke, she gestured to the desk, beneath which there was still a whimpering pony. “What got into him?” “I’m not really sure.” He replied. “I just know we don’t want it happening again. Ever.” At that, he walked over to the desk, leaning down to see the businesscolt petrified beneath it. “Caesar, you alright?” There was no reply, just more whimpering. “Right, I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere right now.” He said. “We don’t exactly have the luxury of time though, let Trixie and Derpy know they can let down the ‘building’ and the tape player, respectively. I’ll see what I can do about our friend in the meantime.” Vinyl nodded, removing the clamp around the photographer’s wrist, and dragging her as she left the room, and in doing so, leaving The Doctor and Caesar alone. “Caesar, can you hear me?” He asked. Again, no response. “Caesar?” Still nothing. “Caesar!” He asked again, accompanying the question with a slap to the face. ----------------------------------------------- Two times in a row now a hoof to my face knocked me back into coherence. I was starting to get a dislike for it. I didn’t have long to think about it though, a shortly after, my ears got a wake-up, as well. “Caesar!” The Doctor shouted. My head spun to face him, still disoriented. “Finally.” He said in a relieved tone. “W…what happened?” I asked, my voice trembling. For some reason, I had an ungodly feeling of fear. Fear, and helplessness. “You snapped, and hid down here.” Upon ‘down here’, I looked around, confused. It turned out I was under my desk. “Any idea why?” I thought for a moment. To do that sounded very much unlike me, but given there wasn’t much reasonable explanation as to why I was hiding under a desk, as well as my mindstate I wasn’t exactly in a position to question it too heavily. “I’m…not really sure.” I said, calm yet to return to my voice. A sudden concern hit my head as I recalled what had been going on, and I shot up to look out from behind the desk. Unfortunately, I was under, not behind, and as a result received a blow on my head that would’ve crushed my hat if I were wearing it. I walked out from beneath it slowly, looking at where Photo Finish had been sitting. “What happened with the interrogation?” I asked. “Well, after you freaked out, Vinyl got at Photo Finish, then we knocked her out.” I nodded. “Did you get the sample?” “We did.” The Doctor replied. “We’ll check it along with the test, but for now, judging by what I could tell, things look good. I don’t get why you have one of those though.” He gestured to the clamp that had been on Photo Finish, now lying on the ground. “I got a request from an anonymous buyer for something to tell them if someone’s lying or not. I have a company that makes machines. I try to keep one of everything I make. I didn’t get why they needed tissue samples at the time. Now, I get a feeling it’s for the same reason we did.” “You didn’t question who would want a skin-sampling lie detector that could inject knockout drugs?” He asked, disapproval in his voice. “They didn’t ask for the injector, I had that added to mine for this operation. I figured the specs as they requested matched the needs of a private detective, or something similar.” As I spoke, coherence coming back to me, I realized I was still speaking through the modulator and wearing the mask. I removed the mask and goggles, taking the modulator off once I could. “Anyway, lets get going. We probably can’t waste too much time if we want to finish things up.” Whoof nodded, just as Trixie’s illusion of a building disappeared around us. The building were actually just magic walls and doors put up in my basement. Across from us, Vinyl, now with her own mask removed and helping Derpy with hers, stood next to Trixie, who seemed very relieved to only have one illusion to focus on now. ----------------------------------------------- “Photo?” The word came through muffled, barely able to discern what it was. “Photo?” Clearer this time, but still muffled. “Photo, are you awake?” The voice was now clear, and the image slowly started fading into view. An image of Caesar’s face, tinted through pink sunglasses. “W…wha-?” Came the reply, a sigh moments later. “Please tell me you didn’t sleep through that.” The image was as clear as the sound now. The two were in Photo Finish’s trailer as before, Caesar looking at Photo Finish, who was lying on the ground. “I…wait…de kidnappers! Are you alright?!” She said, snapping back awake. “…Kidnappers?” He asked in a confused tone. “What are you talking about?” “But…but…dey took us, and tortured you, and interrogated—“ Caesar held up a hoof, cutting her off, a knowing look on his face. “It sounds like you dozed off, and had a particularly bad dream.” He said. “But…I…” She stammered. “Traveling life is a hard life to get enough sleep on.” Caesar said understandingly. “And dreams aren’t always fun.” At that, he pranced around in a circle. “I don’t look like I was tortured, do I?” She looked at the colt before her, confused. “I…I guess not…” Photo Finish said softly. “It was so vivid, but…” “Look, you need some rest.” He cut in. “Let me know next time you have some time to look at the Prototype, but for now, you should get some sleep. You know my number, let me know when you’re in town next.” “A…alright.” She replied, embarrassment in her tone. “Sorry to nod off like dat.” “No worries.” He said back. “We all catch a nap when we shouldn’t now and then. Just take care of yourself.” At that, he began walking out of the trailer. “Heh…just a dream…” She thought to herself. “I need happier entertainment, dis’ dark stuff iz starting to get to my head…” “Oh, and Photo?” Caesar said, now out of the trailer and standing on the ground. He didn’t face towards her though. “I’ve been thinking lately that maybe I’m not close enough with the ponies around me. If…you ever want to talk or anything, feel free to call me.” “Err…alright?” She replied. Caesar nodded, then continued walking off. Though it couldn’t be seen from behind, where she saw him from, Caesar’s monocle had begun fogging up, as a result of tears. Few in number, but there nonetheless. “Can we please just get your name?” One of the assistants asked. “We haven’t had any luck with anyone we’ve called for your parents so far.” The little foal nodded uneasily, staring at the ground as she did so. “M-my name…is…” As she was about to say though, another voice cut her off. “Sweetie!” A colt in a brown coat with an hourglass on his flank ran up to the foal and the two assistants. “Your mother and I have been looking all over for you!” He said. “Daddy!” At that, the little foal jumped into his arms. “Is she yours, sir?” The second assistant asked. “Yes, she is.” He replied. “Thank you two for finding her, we were looking for her for hours, I was terrified for my little girl.” “Glad to help.” The other assistant said. “Can we go home now, daddy?” She asked, to which he nodded, and began waking away, the foal riding on her back. “See?” The first assistant said. “I told you that it wouldn’t be a hassle. And didn’t it feel good, seeing the two of them together like that?” “You never said that.” The second replied. Away from their field of view, the brown-coated pony tapped his ear. “Alright, retrieved the puppet, we’re all clear.” As he spoke, the foal on his back slowly turned back from what seemed like a real foal, into a tiny, wooden puppet. With that, Trixie’s job was finished for that mission, as were those of the rest of the quintet.