The Imitation of Order

by MidnightMadness


Παραγγελία

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation"
- Herman Melville


I wake up to the alarm clock, being transmitted by the princess herself, and force myself out of bed to ensure that I stay to the schedule forced upon me.
The small clock, I had set up many years ago, starts ticking and I start going around my room in the same pattern that I had adopted to prepare myself for the upcoming day and made sure that I did not take a step out of line.
I managed to complete all of my chores and stood by the front door and heard the clock making its signature ringing before I open the door and face the day again.


When I open the front door, I see the bright white horizon peaking over the the pitch black ground stretching on for millions of miles in front of me and see the other ponies all take the step out of the door at the same time.
I draw my breath in and wait for the ever approaching wardens to inspect us in the whole.
I hear the warden approaching me but I force myself to stay still to ensure that I don't do anything chaotic enough to be imprisoned.


I hear a monotone voice say " Pony 12245, please step forward for the scanning procedure."
Like clockwork, I step forward into the scanning range of the wardens and allow my muscles to relax to give the impression that I wasn't worried by this obligatory scan like the good pony I should be.
I feel the tingling of the spell of the spell trying to worm its way into my brain then feel the scanning light up my whole head.
"Congratulations pony, you still fit into the acceptable bounds of order. Have a orderly day." I hear the warden say.
I breath a sigh of relief and start heading towards the factories to start my work.


I am sure that I will one day be caught by the wardens for the chaotic thoughts I have but I have gotten good at masking them.
It is not as though I do anything wrong I just want to paint but creativity is itself considered a form of chaos and therefore an executable act.


As I walk into the factory district, I spot the traitors podium standing in the center of the town. I look at the four figures imprisoned in pure stone with poses indicating fear with the three mares standing in front of a creature whom seemed to be created of many animals. I try to attempt to remember their original names but it has been too many centuries for my mind to comprehend.


"What are you doing?" I hear behind me.
I freeze in shock and turn around to see pony 12275 standing behind me and I breath a sigh. The pony and I used to be friends before chaos was banished and then friendship was considered to breed disorder.
I reply " I was inspecting the statue for cracks, Sir."
Pony 12275 looked at me suspiciously and then said " You have 7.35 minutes to get to your work position otherwise I will have to report this.
I thank my lucky stars that he wasn't as strict as the rest of the population and start running towards my factory, making sure that no wardens could spot me doing this.


I managed to get into the factory on time and got dressed into the standard uniform that I had been provided freshly on the day.
I stand perfectly in my allocated position and attempt to stand as though I was concentrating on my work but after all these years my gray hooves could do my job of construction without a moment's notice and I start daydreaming about the colors I so dearly missed and the concepts of art I had stored in my memory so that one day we can escape this nightmare and prevail.
I sneak in a look at my co workers working the assembly and see them all working without a flaw in their movements and their eyes were looking entirely dead.
I am curious just how many have managed to keep their individuality through the centuries that we have have been forced to live…


Something feels wrong…


The button felt different this time…


I look down and see my hoof laying on the dispose button instead of the continue button.
I suddenly come into thinking and remember the product we were making was the final explosives for the war against the other planets in Her Royal Majesty's conquest and I see the highly packed explosive falling from the conveyor belt and into the furnace.
I barely had time to scream.
The furnace exploded with an almighty force which shook the entire factory and was ripped into millions of pieces. The pieces of shrapnel were sent flying through the walls and a particularly large chunk of solid metal was sent into the support beam.


I panic and sprint towards the door and spare a moment to see that the rest of the factory workers didn't even have the will to move themselves and continued working.
I manage to make it out of the factory and feel the force of the entire building collapsing behind me. I only manage to make a few more steps and collapsed to watch the chaos that I had brewed and saw the magnificent colours of the fires, of which I had not seen for least 4 centuries.


"What have you done?"I see a warden asking me.
I try to answer his question but before I can he starts shouting at me "What the buck have you done!? There were over a hundred workers in there. Come here!"


I struggle against her grip but the wardens have been trained rigorously for this process and I feel myself being dragged towards the town center.


I start rapid fire thinking about where on Equestria this warden was bringing me and then it clicked.
The Execution stand.
I was going to be executed…
I start screaming my head off and try everything I can to get out of this ponies grip and away from my impending doom. I feel the blood seeping out of the cuts from the dragging on the floor and I start begging for some sort of mercy.


I feel myself being dragged up the steps of the granite execution stand and hear the warden say "We have caught the perpetrator, your majesty."
I hear an almost serene voice reply "Well done soldier, I had hoped that the last one was the last Chaos terrorist but I seem to have been wrong."
I hastily cry "Please, it was a accident, I didn't want to."
The alicorn looks down at me and says "you are one infused with chaos, I cannot ever trust your words. I will have to have a discussion upon how you managed to slip our net. Twilight Sparkle will you please come here."
I watch a second alicorn come onto the stage and she says in a monotone voice" Yes, Celestia."
" I want this chaos one to be executed by you. Right now." Celestia replies.
"As you wish princess."Twilight sparkle replies.

I start trying to scuttle backwards as the purple alicorn takes a blade the shade of the darkest night and start walking it towards me.


I don't want to die.
I want to see colours again.
I want to draw.
After all of these years of imitating order I am forced to crumble.
I should have fought against order.


I watch the fine blade of Twilight sparkle raise above my head and drop.