Chapter 1: She's Alive!
“I really don’t think this is a good idea, man.” Kevin paced back and forth on the stainless florescent-white floor of the university’s genetics lab. Richard on the other hand was busy punching in information on the brand new Biological Nano-Level 3D printer. The machine was the first of its kind, a machine capable of printing living tissue, and even fully living creatures. Richard had secretly been using said machine to biologically engineer from the ground up a real living pony from his favorite show.
“I know you’ve been working on this shit for like a month, or something. But this is just insane. I love the show as much as the next dude, but you can’t use this thing to make your own real living ponies. It can’t be possible!” complained Kevin while excessively throwing his hands up into the air.
“Nonsense! I’ve thought it all out. All the necessary material is here. The machine is fully capable of printing living tissue. And, like I’ve said before, I’ve thought of everything.” He cockily winked at his friend before entering the last bits of information for his half-a-year long project. “And finished! Let the magic begin.”
The machine instantly got to work. It buzzed, whooshed, and crackled as it began the long complicated process of putting together the very first, my little pony, and then bring it to life. It was obvious to anyone familiar with the show that the pony being assembled was none other than Twilight Sparkle, due to the lavender hue of her coat. Though, as much as Richard had gotten right with his process, he had gotten a few things wrong as well. Twilight was shaped almost like an American football. Her legs were teeny tiny. The face was featureless, with big eyes where the irises took up almost all of them, and finally just a tiny little mouth.
The Twilight Sparkle imitation glanced back and forth between the big creatures in front of her with an empty looking stare. Just listening to them talk, thinking, planning…
“I can’t believe it. It actually worked! All my work has finally paid off!” Richard threw his hands up in euphoric excitement as he spun around in his chair.
“Dude… that barely looks like a pony,” said Kevin as he approached the small creature.
“What are you talking about? It totally looks like one from the show. It’s purple and everything.” Richard walked over to stand beside his friend so they could both observe the newly made pony.
“It looks like a football with stubby legs!” groaned Kevin as he turned towards Richard. “Just look at her! Sure, you got the mane, tail, and even the horn kinda right. But she’s still long and fat like a football, and the legs are shorter than my thumbs!”
“Those are just details my friend. Just look at her for Pete’s sake. It’s a tiny Twilight Sparkle Football pony, TM.” Richard pointed accusingly at his friend as he called trademark.
“Are you seriously calling TM on this… thing?” asked Kevin with a raised eyebrow.
“Damn skippy I am. She’s adorable, and she’s mine. ALL MINE!” Richard laughed maniacally as he held up the squishy little pony high above his head.
Twilight kicked her legs back and forth in a feeble and futile endeavor, and from her tiny little mouth came squeaks which had a remarkable similarity to a muffled chew toy for dogs. The comically adorable squeaks caused both Richard and Kevin to stop in place and just observe Twilight as she struggled in Richard’s hands.
“I can’t say I remember them squeaking from the show,” said Kevin while trying to hold back a laugh.
“Shut up! I did my best, okay. She’s as close to perfect as she could be,” grumbled Richard while placing the miniature Twilight onto a nearby desk. The curious little pony immediately started to wander around on the desk with her stubby little legs. She gently poked and pushed the different objects near her with her face, such as a coffee mug holding a myriad of writing utensils.
“Yeah yeah, you did your best and for what it’s worth, you did a pretty good job.” Kevin patted his friend’s back reassuringly. “I just have three questions, can she do magic with her horn? What are you going to do with her? And how much did it cost our university to make this thing?”
Richard stared at Kevin with a blank expression. “I shall answer your first question with, are you a moron? Of course she can’t do magic. It’s just a horn. And I’m of course going to take her with me home and do fun things with her. No way I’m leaving her here in the lab. Someone could steal her and infringe on my trademark! And for your final question.” He quickly slapped the back of Kevin’s head. “How about it’s none of your damn business?”
“Ow!” Kevin slowly rubbed the area Richard had struck. “Okay okay. Geez, I had to be sure she wasn’t magical and stuff like that. Also… by fun you don’t mean…”
Richard didn’t even dignify that with an answer and instead just struck the same spot on the back of Kevin’s head as a proper reply.
“Ow! Okay, okay, I get it. You are just going to do dumb shit with her. Enough with the hitting already.” He once again rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head, slowly shaking it as he walked away.
“Do you wanna come over to my place and see how smart Twilight actually is?” Richard grinned as widely as he could, positively filled with excitement for having his very own pony.
“I really wish I could, but I got an exam tomorrow. I enjoy the show and all, but I’m not a big enough fan to skip cramming info tonight, but I’ll totally come over once my exam is done tomorrow morning.” He picked up his backpack and swung it over his shoulder. “I hope you can keep her safe and sound till then. Or at least keep her alive…” said Kevin mockingly while leaving the lab.
“What a douche. Why wouldn’t I be able to keep her alive? She’s a pony, not rocket surgery.” Richard rolled his eyes and finally turned his attention back to miniature Twilight. “Oh dear!” What he saw was the bottom half of Twilight sticking out of the coffee mug she had pushed onto its side. Her stubby hindlegs were kicking wildly as she was stuck.
“Easy now, easy, don’t panic!” He carefully grabbed the mug with one hand and Twilight with the other, gently pulling on both of them while twisting the mug a tiny bit. A small pop sounded as Twilight’s upper body was once again free. The expression on her face filled with fear and panic.
He held her wiggling body up to his eye level as he stared at her in as motherly a fashion as possible. “Calm down, Twilight. Everything is okay. I won’t let you choke to death or anything like that ever again.” He smiled awkwardly while she stopped squirming and began staring at him, still a bit blue from her lack of breathing.
“I really hope I didn’t screw things up already…” He whimpered slightly at the thought of already having caused harm to his Twilight, but seeing her face return to its normal color was just the right amount of reassurance needed for him to forget that it was his carelessness that caused her to almost suffocate on a coffee mug. “Phew, seems like you’re alright.”
Twilight was placed back onto the table where she eyed the mug with puffy cheeks and narrowed eyes, occasionally giving it a cautious poke. In the meantime, Richard rolled away from the desk on his chair to pick up his backpack. “I better get you home so we can give you some less dangerous surroundings. Though, I wonder how I can make it less dangerous than an empty coffee mug…”
He gently swept Twilight up into his backpack, closing it just enough to make her incapable of escaping it, but not enough to block out all light. The opening also allowed her to breathe some fresh air. “Okay, this will have to do for transport, Twilight.” He carefully put on his backpack, went about the lab to turn off all the machines, the lights, and then lock it all down.
Richard walked out on the campus grounds of his university. The streets were almost completely desolated this late at night, and it didn’t help that several feet of snow had fallen during the day. Richard didn’t mind the snow at all though. It was a beautiful blanket of peace that put a damper on the otherwise noisy world he lived in. However, as much as he enjoyed the serenity and calm of a snowy landscape, his scrawny physique was grateful for him having remembered to bring a long thick dark blue winter coat with matching scarf and gloves.
The walk back home to his small apartment was an uneventful one. He didn’t really notice anyone around him. He was deep in thought about what he had actually created, and more remembering to peek into his backpack every now and then to make sure Twilight was alright. She seemed fine in there. Her eyes were closed and her breathing slow. “I guess you’re sleeping,” he said quietly to himself. “No playing with you tonight. I’ll just have to wait with that for tomorrow.”
He opened the door to his apartment as quietly as possible, taking off his shoes before stepping inside. He quickly shook off the remaining snow stuck to the sides and bottom of his shoes before placing them near the door. Never had Richard been happier about the thick gray carpeting of his place, as it greatly muffled his walking.
Like a silent ninja he went through the living room, snaking around the sparse population of furniture till he got to the bedroom. It had what one would normally expect there to be. A queen-sized bed with its sheets lazily curled up in one corner, a large desk with a computer on it and some staff for miscellaneous tasks. A closet filled with clothes, some shelves with all sorts of things, such as books, small memorabilia from trips, gifts from friends, and a few MLP Funko dolls. There were posters of a dozen or more shows he enjoyed taking up most of the empty wall space, and finally a TV on top of a small commode.
He looked around his room for a suitable place to keep Twilight for the night. “Eerhh… I think it’s safest for you to be inside my closet for tonight. Yeah, it definitely is. I don’t have anything else to keep you in, and it’s definitely not safe to just let you wander around the apartment. You’ll end up hurting yourself, again...” Richard formed a sort of nest out of some T-shirts at the bottom of his closet, gently placing Twilight in it while she slept.
“She looks so peaceful snuggled up in my clothes,” said Richard quietly as he stroked Twilight’s mane a few times. “Better get her something to drink for when she wakes up. Don’t think I have anything for her to eat though.” He went out of his room to fetch a small bowl of water which he placed near Twilight’s nest.
“There we go. You’re all set for tomorrow. Good night, Twilight.” The door was closed slowly and with that, it concluded the rather eventful day and the beginning for an even more exciting day tomorrow. Despite it being late, and Richard being tired, it was very difficult for him to fall asleep when he couldn’t stop thinking about all the fun he was going to have tomorrow. Though little did he know Twilight had been experiencing a sort of brain daze since her creation, and it was slowly wearing off, revealing the true nature behind those cold, empty, eyes.