My Little Clony

by therealfeedback

Act V, Chapter VIII

The creature jumped on top of Caesar, an unnatural amount of strength in it for something not fully developed.

“Help! I…I can’t get it off me!” He shouted. It licked its fangs, before lunging its head at his throat. Caesar closed his eyes, turning away as he prepared for the worst.

Then three loud, ear-shattering bangs rang out.

He opened his eyes, only to see the creature slumped, dead on top of him, green blood coming from four circular wounds in its back. Across from him stood Vinyl, a smoking handgun floating in front of her, surrounded by an aura that matched the one around her horn.

“That’s what you signed me on for, right? She asked. “Firearms expert?”

“That thing…it was a second away from killing me.” As he spoke, he was gasping, still sweating from terror.

“And it’s dead now. Whatever you did to its pod, do not do it to the other 2.3 billion minus one. I only have 21 more bullets.”

“Right, I won’t…” He shoved the dead monstrosity off of himself, wincing as he saw that some of its blood had gotten into his coat. “I’m going to need a long, long shower after all this…” He walked back over to the pod control panel, tapping a few buttons onscreen before a small device popped out of it.

“Vinyl, this thing’s a genetic sampler. They have to make sure every one of their clones matches the original after all, can’t have a clone of somepony have a different DNA test than he did ten years ago. Do me a favour and get some blood and fur samples off of that thing. I may be recording all this, but others are going to want proof of something this crazy, and DNA samples of it will help.” She nodded, taking the small device with a glow from her horn. Even if she shot it, she didn’t want to touch the thing either.

“It might take a little time to alter the commands I put in to get a combination that shuts the pods down…Vinyl, save some bullets, we’re going to have a few more to go through.”

“You won’t get the chance.”

Every single hair on my body stood on end when I heard the voice speak. It was one I had known all too well, and one that I had heard on the most terrifying night of my life.

It was the Game Master.

“I would’ve killed Discord instead of freezing him all those centuries ago if I had known he’d do something like this…” She said, a disturbing tone in her voice. It was angry, but it wasn’t furious. It was clearly annoyed, but it sounded like someone who knew they couldn’t lose. “Shame my student was too soft to do that herself.”

“Now, step away from the controls, little Caesar.”

“Why?” I asked simply. I turned my head from the control panel as I did. I wanted to see her face one last time before I died. The face of evil. The face I was going to die fighting.

“Because I’ll kill you all on the spot if you don’t.” Celestia said, a wicked, confident grin on her face.

“Aren’t you going to anyway?” I asked.

“Oh, of course I am. But I’ll do it more painfully then. Remember who you’re talking to – I’ve been alive for millennia, you learn a lot about the way the body and the universe work. I could tear you all apart atom by atom if I wanted, and I’d barely break a sweat. That’s what I’d do; there’s a fun little point right before you can’t feel it where it’ll hurt like nothing you’d imagine.” As she spoke, she stepped closer to me. “Of course it’d overload your brain and nervous system with so much sensation that you’d die there and then, but fortunately, I’ve managed to perfect controlling all that. I could keep you alive down to the last two atoms, then let you fade into the wind.”

“You’ve put up a valiant fight, and unlike all the others before you, thanks to Discord, you managed to actually learn how it all works. You even managed to win when luck favored me; those guards happened to run across this door, and you managed to take care of them. But it ends here.” She stood only a foot from my face, learning her neck down to look me eye-to-eye. “Now I’ll ask you one more time. Step away and save yourself a little misery.”

“No.” I said flatly. “We have one moment of defiance against you. Everyone, you can listen if you want, but I don’t care how much it hurts. I’m making my stand. Pry me away from this panel, if you dare.” Celestia chuckled, stepping back.

“As you wish.” At that, her horn began glowing a radiant pink. My legs seized up, moving against my will to move me away from the panel. “You’re first.” She said in an almost demonic hiss. “Lets save the vital parts for last. This little foreleg of yours?” The glow from her horn increased, holding the others in-place and raising my right foreleg. “You don’t really need this, do you?” As she spoke, I watched as my foreleg began dematerializing right before my eyes.

Then the pain set in.

I bit my lip until it bled trying to hold it in, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of my scream. I was only able to hold it for a second or two. I howled in pain, feeling the most excruciating sensation I’ve ever felt. I thought I would die there, even though no blood was spilled, even though no vital organs were being harmed. I probably would’ve if she weren’t keeping me alive to experience every single second of agony.

In a matter of seconds that felt like centuries, my right foreleg was almost completely gone, down to a stump protruding inches from my chest.

“There, that feel good?” She asked rhetorically, grinning all the while. “Now, lets have some fun with that other foreleg.” She began raising my other foreleg up to destroy it, before it, along with the rest of my body, was released. I slumped to the ground, writhing in pain. As I did, I heard a scream that sounded ten times more horrific than my own.

“You…you…b-bastard…” Celestia managed, gasping in pain. A horn no longer protruded from her head, a jagged stump in its place. The horn was instead in the mouth of another pony; Promontory. He had survived the fight with the guards, albeit he was bloodied, limping, and with one bruised eyelid swollen shut. All the beating in the world though had left him still strong enough to pull a train on his own, and strong enough to tear a horn from a unicorn’s head. He spat it into the air, catching it on his hat.

“Ah’ don’t die easily.” He said with a grin. “Can’t cast any spells now, can ya’? Yer’ just an oversized pegasus.”

“It…It’ll grow back. I’m only…stuck like…stuck like this…a few months.”

“You’re not living a few months.” Vinyl replied. “If you’re without your magic, we’re not that easy prey for you anymore.”

“You’ll…die killing me. I guarantee you that.” She shot back.

“It’s…a deal." Caesar panted, trying to pull himself onto his three remaining hooves. He fell over, still shaky and sweating from the pain, before managing to get onto a footing with his three legs, albeit a wobbly one.

“We’ve…we’ve won…haven’t we? It doesn’t matter what happens to us. We’ve…won. As long as your reign ends…we’ve freed Equestria.”

“No, not quite.” A new voice chimed in.

The seven in the room turned their gaze towards the doorway. Standing in it now were two stallions and a mare, all three unicorns. The first stallion had a powder blue coat, and a white mane and tail, a golden wreath adorning his flank. The mare had a light tan coat and a brown mane, with a red apple as her cutie mark. The third of the three, also the tallest and the one in the center, was a similar shade of grey to Caesar, with jet black hair. They had eyes of gold, blue, and purple, respectively, and all three were wearing suits. The admissions examiners for the school, another group of possible Game Masters on Caesar’s list.