Ghost Hunter Twilight 2: Clone Lores

by Keywii_Cookies55

7 Reasonable Doubt

Before the chapter begins, please read the blog post I left. https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/975719/hell-of-a-hiatus Thank you.

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The wind whistled in between the differently shaped laboratories flanking the street Twilight found herself walking down. By her understanding it was lunch time; Normally lunch was when ponies walked out and about, going from place to place to grab a meal from some sort of shop. Conversely, it was the time of day gangs roamed the Little Warehouse neighbourhood in Panhandlershot West for ‘food’, and Twilight made sextupley sure never to be seen under direct sunlight at such a time.

What she didn’t expect though was what Sideo Breach seemed to do for the second meal of the day. She looked at the different buildings, all unique in design; she saw the different giant numbers out front each address in what she assumed was a bid to stand out from all the other buildings. She saw towers of glass, concrete, metal and in some cases granite. Too many of them used specifically granite. She looked to her left and saw Lab 55 had two buildings, one tall and thin, the other no more than two floors but bigger than most Hoofgrab fields.

And the ‘55’ was flashing bright neon lights, which was stupid considering it was the dead of day and you almost couldn’t see it.

Most importantly though, what Twilight noticed was that the streets were empty, completely empty, which wasn’t something she’d ever seen before. Even at night there were usually some people out or carts moving around, but during the day? It was basically unheard of for there to be zero activity. It left Twilight feeling exactly as uncomfortable as what she’d dubbed the ‘Sideo Standard’.

From the instant she stepped foot in Sideo Breach she’d never wavered in how unnerving the place felt, from the creepy ponies to the bizarre pseudo suburban house layout, to the just unnecessary amount of coffee shops.

Twilight looked at the well kept hedges around Lab 57, it almost looked nice, but then she noticed that the builders of the place decided to take notes from every horror movie ever made. It was basically an abandoned mansion; she could even make out the hedge maze in the back.

Shaking her head and marching down the empty sidewalk Twilight finally came up to the building she was looking for. She looked it up and down and decided it’d probably seen better days. The entire building looked… weathered, she had to guess. While the rest of the buildings looked new, or at least well kept, this particular building was missing that upkeep.

Lab 62 was a pretty large building, a few storeys tall, and wide; there was a curve-top warehouse connected to the building that lessened Twilight’s glare somewhat. Not that she was about to compliment the place, but it felt like home to her.

The sign out front had seen significantly better days. The 6 was upside down and the 2 was nowhere around. The name of the place was… hard to tell based on the missing or damaged letters, but if she had to guess it was an art institute of some kind. The hell else could ‘Th_ _ut__ Re__a_k _art _’ even mean? Ignoring the clearly pointless mystery in favour of a relevant one, Twilight walked across the mostly empty parking lot of the facility towards the front door.

It was a two door affair: the front glass door, which was unlocked and meant the building was open, and a second locked glass door that lead into the building proper. The small room she found herself in upon first entering had a wooden bench, plastic plant, and a large window that lead to an empty reception area.

“Oh good,” She thought, looking at the abandoned suite of desks and office chairs, “The expert moved somewhere new and now I have to go find it.” Twilight sighed, she had absolutely no interest in playing cat and mouse with some deranged scientist clone expert. Not that she even wanted to be in Sideo Breach, but there’s really only so much bullshit you can stand in a single afternoon.

Twilight grabbed the interior door with her magic, confirming that it was indeed locked, “Great…” she muttered. Without a second thought she picked up the potted plant in her magic and tossed it at the door to break the glass. In response to this egregious act of criminality, the potted plant bounced off the glass without cracking it.

“Ah!” Twilight sputtered, she was pretty sure she had enough strength to break a glass door; It was GLASS! She picked the plant back up and started slamming it against the door. It wobbled, but not a scratch ever formed. Her left eyelid twitch and she grabbed the plant in her hooves, wielding it like a bat. Rearing it back, she took a heavy swing.

Instead of the plastic of the pot meeting the door, Twilight got a short fern stalk at the end of her attack on the door. Immediately following that she heard a cracking glass sound as the secretary window was struck by the fake pot.

“UUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH...” She groaned in frustration as she dropped the fake plant on the floor before her. She looked at the window she actually succeeded in damaging and there was an impressive web of cracks expanding out from a central impact point. She gritted her teeth, anger building up inside her.

“Safety glass?! IT’S FUCKING SAFETY GLASS?! HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO GET IN?!!” She screamed before turning back to the door and throwing her hoof at it. She impacted the glass and reeled back in pain. “Why can’t anything ever work for me?!”

Ignoring the pain she punched again, “I hate Applebloom!” Another punch.

“I have ghosts!” Punch.

“I hate Orangeberg!” Punch.

“I hate being a Hunter!” Punch.

“And I. FUCKING. HATE.”

Accentuating every word with another impact with the glass door, Twilight stopped when she noticed someone watching her. It was a unicorn on the other side of the door, one with a look of concern on her face. Twilight looked away, feeling embarrassed, why the hell did she just do that?

“Do I need to call the cops?” The unicorn asked, Twilight thought about it, if she was arrested, that’d probably solve a lot of her problems. She’d still have to do whatever the Whisperer said, so it’d be entirely possible she’d have to break out of prison at some point, but right then and there, at Lab 62 Twilight would have a fleeting moment of happiness as she was taken away by her slavers to be given over to a warden.

But also just being arrested probably wasn’t a painless process, and how much could they really do to her, what did Twilight even do, break a window? Property damage didn’t tend to get you arrested, just charged. No, she wouldn’t actually end up breaking free of Applebloom’s grasp not in the long term anyway.

Twilight sighed, “No... probably not.” She weakly let out, defeated.

“Okay, good.” The unicorn stated sounding almost... happy? Which confused Twilight, wasn’t the unicorn afraid for her safety? She looked up to see the face staring back at her from the other side of the door.

The unicorn that met Twilight’s eyes was a faded purple colour, closer to pink, the look in her eyes was something akin to interest, which didn’t match being the recipient of an insane woman trying to break into her lab. Twilight resumed feeling uncomfortable when she realized the unicorn was studying her.

Twilight’s signature glare retook her face the more time went on. “What are you staring at?” The Hunter asked with venom.

“You,” The unicorn plainly stated, “You’re not from Sideo Breach. More than that, you don’t even want to be here.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Being observant doesn’t make you smart.”

A smirk rolled across the unicorn’s face, “No, it wouldn’t, but letting you in would.”

“I-” Twilight let out in confusion, her mouth working faster than her brain. She had no idea who this was, probably the clone expert, but what was her deal, “Why was... who did she... what?”

In response to the confusion, the unicorn chuckled, pulling a key off the wall beside the door and unlocking the door. “I’m Starlight,” She said, opening the door for Twilight, but her humour faded, “Why are you at my laboratory? And more to the point, why are you breaking my windows?”

Still trying to figure out who this unicorn even was, Twilight breathed in. ‘Starlight’ was straight forward in the way she spoke, but she was also friendly and that always meant trouble. That’s what Twilight thought, but then Starlight stopped smiling, stopped trying to be friendly, it was an act. She reinforced the door when the secretary window was easily breakable, even with safety glass and… not a lot of it made sense.

Twilight exhaled and took the invitation to walk in, she didn’t trust Starlight, but she was who Twilight was looking for, so it probably helped if they got along, at least while she was outside of Partyville. Twilight levelled her gaze at Starlight, “I’m looking for somebody.”

Starlight raised an eyebrow, “That’s apparent, but there’s easier ways to find people.”

“What do you know?”

“Plenty,” Starlight answered, her way of talking was… if Twilight had to assign a word to it, it’d be ‘crisp’, “I might not get out a lot, but I’ve learned quite a lot in my life.”

Twilight studied her expression; Starlight was level and calm, which was dangerous. She just saw what amounted to a crazy homeless person breaking her window and screaming loudly, but she not only let Twilight in, she also was relaxed? Starlight was either powerful or used to dealing with psychopaths.

…Also wait, Twilight wasn’t homeless anymore, she kept forgetting.

Starlight started walking down the hall, leaving an open invitation for Twilight to join, which the purple mare did. “Why is a Hunter looking for me anyway?”

Twilight almost choked on her own throat, “W-what?”

Starlight audibly sighed, “You yelled you’re a Hunter when you were punching my door, and you’re looking for somebody in a place that’s only had me living here for over five years.” She turned back to look at Twilight, raising her eyebrow, “Going to stand there all day, or do you want to answer my question?”

“Sor-“ Twilight caught herself before she openly apologized. “Right, I’m not used to talking to people that have two brain cells between them. Not one that isn’t in control over me in some way.” She started walking along with Starlight down the dimly lit hallway. Taking a moment to observe her surroundings, Twilight noticed that it was only slightly better kept inside than out. “I’m looking for a clone expert to come take care of a recent outbreak.”

“Ah, well I’m certainly that. I studied effingology in college.”

“How does that make you an expert?” Twilight glared.

Turning a corner, Starlight stopped in front of a short hallway before another door. “It wouldn’t, but the doctorate and sixteen years of practical experience do.”

For the first time in a long time, Twilight let herself smile. Starlight had a few… oddities, but she was smart, even if she was lying about being the expert, she could hold a conversation; there was intelligence behind her eyes. And it was a rare type that didn’t immediately threaten her. Pinkie was the only one that came close, and she was more of a hobbyist than an actual professional.

Also Pinkie wasn’t somebody Twilight was ever alone with, not really. Spike or Applebloom were always close by, or Applejack, or Rainbow Dash, or any of them. Not that there was anything wrong with Spike or Applejack, but sometimes Twilight wanted some time completely devoid of other people. Just one-on-one time, it was good to just have a conversation without there being eyes on her or danger looming over her.

She was probably overthinking it, but Twilight felt that Starlight was a little too good to be true. Smart, not a bitch and not surrounded by problems? No one was ever all three. Ever. Twilight removed her smile in favour of a neutral expression, Starlight smirked in response.

Starlight turned to the metal door several metres down the hall and walked over to it, “I’d like to get more details about your outbreak, but right now I need to check on my latest experiment. Follow me.”

Why would Twilight follow somebody that just talking about experimentation of any kind? She cautiously walked after Starlight, prepared to get strapped into some kind of chair, as the expert dexterously used her right hoof to type in a code on a number lock above the door latch. After an admittedly long sequence, the door unlocked and twilight felt the pull of some powerful winds.

Surprise, first and foremost, enveloped Twilight’s curiosity, with a shit tonne of wind, why wasn’t there noise? But Starlight walked through the now opened door and hit a switch. Immediately the pull of wind lessened, getting weaker by the second. Twilight walked into the silo part of the building, and the first thing that struck her was how bright it was. Compared to the hallway it was well kept. Starlight walked further in, heading towards the centre, which is when Twilight saw the red flag she was looking for.

Strapped to a slowly rotating stretcher was… well, Starlight. “Oh good, you’re still alive.” The Starlight that Twilight met at the door said. “I was wondering how you’d fare against setting seven. Please though, relax, I have business to discuss.”

Twilight wanted to assume that it was a clone strapped to the centre of the wind silo, but the… Starlight B had a look of exhausted rage. There was life in her eyes, the spark of Sight was present. Even if this was a clone professional, even if this was somebody directly mentioned by the Whisperer themselves, it still didn’t make any sense.

“Well Hunter, say hello to my latest experiment,” Starlight made a small show of displaying her double. The stretcher had stopped rotating and so now it was just a panting, exhausted looking, weaker version of the scientist. “Myself.”

Twilight fought the urge to act as disinterested as possible, “I’ve never seen a clone so aware before.”

“Reasonable,” Starlight walked back over to Twilight, “Most have a level of mentality more closely related to barn animals. Domesticated, but able to have some personality given their environment. No, what’s here before you is a young AutoOmega Primum!”

Starlight’s excitement plummeted when she she a lack of understanding in Twilight’s face. “A what?”

“An AutoOmega Primum! An original clone! One taken from a living specimen.” At the recognition coming back to Twilight’s expression, Starlight smiled again and continued, “Several hundred years ago the fabled scientist Dr. Mythos created the first successful clone of a living pony. It moved like it’s original, it talked like it’s original, it even thought it was the original.

“The simple act of recreating life made significant waves in all other fields of science: biology, astronomy, physics, everything! After all, if ponies could do what we all thought was the expertise of the gods, we could be unstoppable, we could cure diseases, solve aging, fix every problem in the city. Clementine Plains was to be the next great megacity because of this discovery.”

As Starlight explained the history of cloning, Twilight looked at the clone. It looked alive, like a thinking, breathing person. She was… a bit offput by how casually Starlight was subjecting wind torture on what amounted to herself. On others there were loopholes, different subconscious tricks to fool yourself into thinking it’s the right thing. But Twilight doubted she knew a single person who could torture themselves. Starlight was likely a sociopath.

“But after Dr. Mythos was killed by his own clone, nopony was having any luck replicating his work. No matter what they did, they couldn’t bring life to the physical replicas they were creating. They eventually caught the original clone and were able to clone it. And that seemed to do the trick. They didn’t have intelligence, but they weren’t mindless, they grazed, they interacted with each other in a primitive form of socializing.”

“Where does Splitting come in?”

Starlight walked over to her clone and lifted it’s head up by the back of the neck, “That’s something of an evolutionary mutation in the field. Originally they couldn't multiply. That was the result of chaining replications for several weeks. The puddle of mass that was once a functioning pony was able to take in energy and multiply it’s cell count, dividing like the common cell.

“The original scientist that conducted the experiment burned it, fearing it’s spread, but little did he know that AutoOmega vapour also multiplies like cells. It got into the atmosphere and is now in every trace of gas on the planet. It’s harmless to us, but the clones, it’s highly infectious, reconfiguring their chemical makeup.”

Twilight was officially tired of hearing expositing. “So about my problem?”

Starlight excitedly trotted through the room. “We can get to that later, for now I need to check my research, I’ve never met somebody so capable of listening, so I’m in no hurry.”

“Perfect.”

Author's Note:

So this is me finally posting the chapters. it's been an interesting two and a half years. A lot happened, but I turn 30 this summer and I want to tie up some loose ends.

Every chapter had a song title as a chapter title, but that was something I decided after editing, for most of them, this chapter was one of them. If I had to pick I'd likely go with Weird Science by Oingo Boingo. But that reference feels too on the nose to me, so it'd require some work-shopping. Instead have the working title I used during editing.

Comments

[My name is R]

The name of the place was… hard to tell based on the missing or damaged letters, but if she had to guess it was an art institute of some kind. The hell else could ‘Th_ _ut__ Re__a_k _art _’ even mean? Ignoring the clearly pointless mystery in favour of a relevant one, Twilight walked across the mostly empty parking lot of the facility towards the front door.

No no Twilight, I feel like that is information you will soon wish you had in advance.

So the clones are a problem because Dr. Frankenpony cloned himself and them his clone was subjected to testing of a probably unethical nature.
Things just refuse to look on the bright side here.

[Keywii_Cookies55]

11334076

There's a lot of evidence that St Orangeberg was once or perhaps still is thriving, and that what we see in this story is simply the result of thousands of different actions having consequences all affecting each other and leading to what we see before us.

Which is, admittedly, why GHT is my favourite world building I've ever done.