My Little Clony

by therealfeedback

Act V, Chapter XIII

MY LITTLE CLONY

Chapter XIII, Act V
Awaken

The black walls of a blank mind began fading, replaced with a sterile white room. I opened my eyes, still sensitive to the light of the room. I heard a voice I didn’t recognize speaking off to my right. It was muffled and unclear, especially next to an odd ringing in my ears. As I shook my head, the light seemed to dim, and I was more able to open my eyes.

“Caesar?” The voice slowly started to come more and more into focus. It was a stallion. I looked over to face him. He had a teal coat, with a similarly coloured mane. A mechanical-looking horn was in the center of his forehead, whether it was a replacement for one he had lost or one he had simply added, I wasn’t sure. If it was a replacement, it was far from his only one – all four of his legs were replaced with mechanical ones.

“Good, you’re awake now.” He said.

“Who…who are you? I passed out, and I woke up here…” I held a hoof to my forehead, still trying to piece together the last few hours. It had happened so bizarrely I wasn’t sure I didn’t simply dream the whole thing up.

I got an unpleasant reminder though when the hoof that rested on my skull didn’t feel right. Instead of the smooth, natural lukewarm of keratin, it was the cold feeling of titanium. I pulled it away from my head and glanced down. My entire right foreleg was now a mechanical replacement, much like the one on the teal pony.

I reared back in shock. It wasn’t a dream after all.

“It’s a little weird not having the real thing for the first few weeks.” He said. “You get used to it pretty quickly, though. I’m Coppercog by the way.”

“I...um…thanks, I’m…Caesar.” I was still very disoriented, barely speaking coherently through the anisthetics and the shock.

“It’s weird, I’ve never worked with a stump quite like yours.” He turned around, pulling up various X-rays and charts of what I assumed were the remains of my right foreleg. “The muscles look like they’ve been working with a full leg your entire life, but the stump’s as clean as if you were born without it.”

“I…it’s a long story. Did I…were there any other ponies with me?”

“Yes, actually.” Coppercog turned back to face me. “Five if I recall. One of them was pretty beat-up, did something happen to you on your way here?”

“You could say that. It’s not that important though.” It really was pretty important, but I didn’t feel like talking about it while I was still coming down from the anesthetics. That, and even if I did tell him what happened, he’d probably dismiss it as some wild mid-operation hallucination because of the anesthetics.

“Um…so…do I need to know anything about…” I trailed off, still staring at my new robotic appendage.

“Oh, right, yes. Ehm, not really. Just try and keep it clean. It’s titanium, so it’s not going to corrode in our lifetimes unless you’re trying to corrode it, and the joints are sealed pretty well, but there’s still no better way to keep them from gunking up than keeping it clean. Outside of that, try to use it fairly lightly for a few weeks. Normally you can use it right away, but like I said, your case was very unusual, so some minor surgery was required to make it so you can use it properly. It’ll be sore and a little swollen for a few weeks, but it should be pain free and normal size again within a month. Probably a good idea to take it off when you plan on sleeping or showering, ”

“That’s really all there is that needs worrying though. I use my prosthetic legs myself, so I have a personal interest in making them work seamlessly. It’s just like your real ones, but metal. Powered off body heat, and it reads nerve impulses in the stump to work. You control it with your brain, just like your old one. Yours is a new one that even gives the nerves sensations, so you can feel things with it. It’s nowhere near as accurate as the real thing at that yet – you’ll probably have as good an idea what something feels like as a 10-minute sketch would give you of what it looks like, but it’s a lot better than not feeling anything. I’m working on improving it, too. Come back to me in a few years and I may have it down as good as your other legs. It’s a little heavier, but all in all it’s a very faithful recreation.”

“Good, good…”

“Any other questions?”

“Um…where are we?”

“Baltimare, about a half hour out from the Inner Harbor.”

“Right…Where can I find the…the ponies I came here with?”

“Right through here.” Coppercog gestured to a door out of the room. “Take the first left, then just keep going. You’ll find the waiting room at the end of the hall.”

“Alright, thanks.” I got up, shifting awkwardly as I tried to place weight on the new limb. Even if it was a realistic recreation, it was still going to take getting used to. I walked out of the room, more limping on the new leg to save time than actually using it normally for now.

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“Princess?” Arpeggio asked. The three stood outside of the door to the observatory. “Can we come in?” The door creaked open wordlessly, the three unicorns walking into the dark room. A faint breeze was blowing through an opened door to the balcony, on which Luna sat.

“…Princess Luna, I’m Arpeggio Septimus. One of your sister’s advisors. These other two with me are Noble Laureate and Apple Polish, two other advisors. We…have some very bad news.”

“We art already aware.” She said simply.

“…What?”

“Alicorns art not like other ponies. We could…sense Sister’s pain. We…know that she is…” She trailed off, biting her lip.

“We’re very sorry. We’ve known and served her well for years, we’re all heartbroken as well.”

“Not as much as her sister though, I imagine.” Apple Polish added.

“Unfortunately, I must ask for you to perform royal duties in spite of your loss.”

“What is it thou wishes of Us?” Luna asked.

“We…have an idea who killed your sister.” A faint glow emanated from Arpeggio’s horn, stealing the specks of moonlight that were shining in. They contorted, forming the faces of six ponies.

“Caesar, Derpy Hooves, Doctor Whooves, Promontory, Vinyl Scratch, and a performer known as Trixie. They formed a group a while back convinced your sister was some sort of tyrant. We were monitoring them, but didn’t think they would actually try and assassinate her.”

“We were…gravely wrong. A mistake we cannot repay.”

“We can try to bring some closure to this all though. With your sister’s passing, you are the grand ruler of Equestria. If you order it as such, we can make them public enemies. It’ll be a witchunt, and we’ll find them within days.”

“They match Discord’s descriptions exactly…” Luna thought silently. “Why should I believe him? He just got done turning Equestria into his playground! But…the only time I’d ever seen him serious in thousands of years was when he and ‘Tia were arguing about…that project of hers all those years ago…and he was serious tonight…can I trust him?”

“Princess? Is something wrong?”

“I…We…We still do not feel clear-minded enough to act upon…Sister’s stead.”

“Respectfully, milady, this is to bring her killers to justice.”

“I...We shall sign it. But…nay shall we do it immediately.”

“But…but they could escape to Saddle Arabia or Maredrid or—“

“Enough.” Luna said flatly. “Your princess has spoken. We shall sign, but…not tonight. Please, not tonight.” A tear ran down her face, and Arpeggio nodded.

“Very well, I understand. We will come see you in the morning then.” At that, the three of them saw themselves out. Luna turned from the doorway to the starry night sky, a small smile on her face.

“Stallions always fall for the waterworks…You were right, ‘Tia…right as always…” The fake tears were soon replaced by very real ones as the thoughts about her sister returned.

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I glanced around. Most of them were too nervous to even notice I had come back into the room. I shifted awkwardly, still getting used to the new leg.

“…Hi guys.” I started nervously. I had no idea what had happened since I had blacked out, and felt very uncomfortable at the moment. Vinyl was the first to jump up, running over to me.

“Caesar!” She said, a mix of concern and joy in her voice. “You’re alright!”

“Marginally, anyway.” I said with a chuckle.

“Right, the leg…Well, the new one…um…it looks real…except, you know…it’s covered in metal, not fur…how does it feel?”

“Weird. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but it’s this weird gap between feeling like my real leg, and just being completely alien. I’m…not sure how to describe it. Like I said, it’s weird…”

“Trixie hates to break up the pleasantries, but we have matters that need attending.” Trixie chimed in, walking up behind Vinyl. “We ran into Discord while you were under.”

“He’s free? I thought Celestia said one of her students defeated him?”

“That’s what we said. Apparently he was freed when she died. …On that note, she’s dead.” An uncomfortable silence hung in the air before I broke it.

“I’m…aware. She…contacted me while I was under the anesthetics. …Or at least I think she did. It might have just been a hallucination. What did Discord say?”

“That Celestia wanted us to go to Russire, and that he got Derpy’s family already down here with our stuff packed. Even gave us tickets.”

“That…matches what Celestia told me.” As I spoke, I was wondering if she had split her focus in three and told Discord all this while she was telling me it.

“Also, he’s going to comfort Luna.” Trixie finished.

“So…what now?” Vinyl asked. After a moment of thought, I nodded.

“We go to Russire.” I said matter-of-factly. “Not many other options on our table. We’ll probably be wanted criminals by tomorrow – it’s hard not to notice Celestia being gone, and we’re too convenient a scapegoat for Arpeggio not to use – but I managed to record a lot of what happened. The recording lens was broken when that…thing attacked me, but I have everything up until that. Which, mixed with the DNA sample, should be enough to get us some headway there. There’s probably not much we can do staying in Amareica though.”

Author's Note:

Once again, thank you to Dr. Javi(drjavi.deviantart.com/drjavi.tumblr.com), mod/owner of the Tumblr askblog "Ask Coppercog(askcoppercog.tumblr.com) for giving me permission to use Coppercog here. Fingers crossed I managed to make his lines fit his character!

Comments

[whoofian]

As always, this is a great story, and I can't wait to see more!

[Super_Big_Mac]

Welcome welcome welcome~! Welcome to my group~! Adventuring's fun in the canon lands, but here's an Alter-U~! The idea sounds intriguing, and you've been featured on EqD? While I may not like the website, I'll give this a like, trial free~!

[therealfeedback]

2692584 Let me know what you think. :D

[Super_Big_Mac]

2696206 I shall, don't you fret! I've read only a few stories in my group, but I've not read a bad one yet!