My Little Clony

by therealfeedback

Act V, Chapter IX

“About time you three showed up.” Celestia said, annoyance coming in through pain.

“Shut up.” The grey one said.

“H-how dare you?!”

“I said,” His horn began glowing, and the princess floated into the air, before being thrown to the side, a loud crack coming from one of her hindlegs as she hit the side of the platform, along with a scream. “Shut up.”

“Who…are you?” Caesar asked weakly.

“Caesar, leader of the resistance, right?” The blue stallion asked. “If it can be called that. I guess you all deserve to know the names of the ponies who’re going to kill you. I’m Noble Laureate, and the big grey fellow’s Arpeggio Septimo, though students like to call him Bastion Yorsets. The pretty filly’s—“

“Will you shut up too?” Arpeggio shouted at Laureate.

“Sheesh, have a flair for dramatics. Can’t we ham up the occasion and have a little fun with these rebels?”

“Having fun with these rebels is what got us into this mess in the first place, you idiot.”

“Didn’t you say to let them live though, Peggy?” The mare said to Arpeggio, playfully running her tail under his jaw. “I’m Apple Polish, by the way, since Peggy cut off Noble. No relation to that family of hick farmers in Ponyville, do not ask me that.”

“I did.” Septimo answered. “Because they allowed us to get rid of Celestia.”

“W…what are you…what did you do?” The princess demanded, trying to get up before crumpling back down on the broken leg.

“You think you’re the only one more intelligent, with more longevity than the rest of us. But you’re not.” Arpeggio started. “We may have been created in this little playlab of yours, but we’re every bit as smart as you. Considering we’ve controlled you the last seventy or so years, probably smarter.”

“You…were created? But…when? How?”

“I escaped.” He replied simply. “The nightly guard you assign to kill any clones that escape, then kill and replace because he knows too much? I got out on his shift. I killed him before he could kill me, then made a copy of him. You were too arrogant to believe one of your clones broke out and escaped, so you believed that drivel backstory I came up with.”

“And us, well, you were there to make us.” Laureate chirped. “But you made the mistake of letting Septy here program our heads. He made us loyal to him first.”

“You’ve been a pawn yourself since you let him in on your little secret.” Polish added.

“The arrogant are so very easy to control.” Arpeggio said flatly.

“You…you…I’ll kill…” She tried to get back up again, before crumpling down once more.

“And how will you do that without your horn?” Arpeggio asked. With a chuckle, he turned to the others. “I should thank you all. Without your little diversion, we never could’ve pulled this little coup of ours off. Not only did you distract our little princess, but you gave us a way to off her.”

“So then…what now?” Caesar asked.

“Now? We kill you lot, then start running things my way.” He cocked his head when the look of shock came onto Caesar’s face. “Oh, don’t act so surprised. Did you think we were somehow going to be in cahoots with you? We’re not. You’re a means to an end. Nothing more.”

“But…but why? Why would you want to continue this?” He asked.

“Why would you want to end it?” Arpeggio answered. “There’s no war. No famine. No suffering, nothing bad. We’ve created utopia in Equestria. Why would we destroy that?”

“Because it’s meaningless. It’s not like this because Ponies are capable of it, it’s because you forced them to it.”

“I forced them to a perfect world. How is that a bad thing?”

“Because to do it, you robbed them of their free will. You forced them to live their lives a certain way, made them nothing more than puppets!”

“And because of it, they’re all living happily.”

“Not all of them. Have you ever seen a starving artist? Or somepony who wanted to be a hoofball player, but broke a leg and couldn’t keep playing? Or somepony else who was denied their dream? Who was denied even a chance to try to achieve it all because of your ‘utopia’? I see them every day. They become employees in companies like mine. This may be utopia to you, but to them, it’s a life plagued with what-ifs and regrets. A life that’s not worth living.”

“And what about everyone you’ve killed? All the innocents that asked the wrong question or did the wrong thing, saw behind the curtain, and had to be replaced to keep ‘utopia’ alive?

“So I have to smash a few eggs to make an omelette. Isn’t it worth it? Isn’t it worth ending all the suffering?”

“Maybe you have done some good. Maybe you have fixed some of the world’s problems. But you’ve gone too far. Maybe it won’t be as perfect, but the world’s not going to collapse if you let us live our lives as we choose again. Giving us free will won’t end the world!”

“And what if it does? Celestia spent centuries before us making this harmony. We’ve maintained it for decades. What happens if it all comes crashing down and we have to recreate it?”

“Then so be it. But to keep us all acting how we’re supposed to according to you three, instead of giving us the ability to choose our own destiny…it’s the same as death, just prolonged. It’s something we can’t change, can’t control, can’t truly enjoy. We’re just acting how we have to in order to maintain your vision, never truly enjoying our lives, alive but never truly living…it’s worse than death.”

“So naïve. I remember when I was like that…well, it’s not that important, at any rate, you’re all still dying. ‘Tia would’ve preferred to keep you alive for some dramatic nonsense. Me, I’m much more utilitarian.”

“Say, Trixie?” Vinyl whispered to the magician.

“What is it?” Trixie asked.

“Remember the course we took the final for right before all this?” There was a moment of silence before Trixie whispered again.

“Are you suggesting that we--?”

“Yes I am.”

“It’s that or die. Lets do it.”