Twilight shifted nervously as she paced back and forth, waiting for Nefarious to arrive. It was Friday afternoon, almost sunset, and she knew he would arrive soon. She's settled on a rather fancy black sheath dress with matching shoes for the night, her wings folded over it as one of her Nightshadow blossoms she'd gotten back in the Dreadzone - one of the few happy memories of that place - was settled behind her ear, the black petals framing the moon-pale stamens as they shone against her coat. She once more glanced at the clock nervously. It was her first date, after all.
At her request, none of her family would be hovering around when Nefarious arrived. She figured things would be awkward enough without the cliche parental/sibling intimidation, and she actually wanted this to go well. Whether things went to a second date or not, she wanted to enjoy her first one.
A knock at the door startled her out of her reverie. "Coming!" she called out, racing to the door and pulling it open. Once she did, she did her best to hold in her laughter.
Nefarious stood there with a wide smile, wearing what looked to be a very badly fitted dress shirt and tuxedo jacket, both of which hanging loosely around his torso, with flaring sleeves that stopped before they even reached his elbows. He also wasn't wearing any pants. He smiled at her amusement. "You look very nice tonight, Twilight," he offered, a tinge of nervousness in his voice.
"And you look...um...interesting?" Twilight offered, doing her best to keep from laughing in his face. "New fashion statement?"
"Oh, this?" Nefarious asked, tugging at a sleeve. "Not quite. It's for something else. A surprise I wanted to show you face to face."
"Oh?" Twilight asked curiously.
Grinning widely, Nefarious reached up and pressed something on his torso through the clothes, double tapping.
The sound of gears shifting and circuitry altering sounded continuously as Nefarious extended his arms fully to his sides. His arms seemed to collapse in on themselves, bulking up until his wrists were at the edge of the sleeves, which no longer hung loosely but fit properly around the shortened arms. His hands clenched into fists, and metal slipped over them, shaping hooves. His legs shortened similarly as he fell forward, his feet reshaping into hooves as he landed on all fours. His torso bulked up slightly from compression, filling the shirt and jacket as metallic wings extended from his shoulders through cuts in the back of his clothes, extending what looked like living metal feathers before folding against his sides. A slot opened on his cranial dome, and a drill like horn suddenly extended out until it was about the same length beyond the dome as Twilight's was, before sealing itself over with a crystalline coating that resembled the composition of the cranial dome. As the sounds ended, Nefarious stood before her. His cranial structure was unchanged, as though he'd stuck his head...onto a robotic pony body.
"N...Nefarious?" Twilight gasped out in shock.
"Qwark mentioned that...one thing that's always bothered you is feeling as though...you were the only one of your kind," Nefarious explained. "So I thought...at least for tonight, I could be...your stallion?" His expression was nervous and hopeful, showing how much he wanted this to please her and also how terrified he was it would upset her.
Twilight blinked her eyes rapidly to hide her tears. She stepped forward, wanting to embrace the doctor for doing this for her, but found herself instead crossing her neck against his. It felt...natural, and right. "Thank you, Nefarious," she whispered warmly.
"...Mervin," Nefarious corrected.
Twilight stepped back, blinking. "Beg pardon?"
"My first name," Nefarious explained. "It's...why I go by Nefarious. But...I wanted you to know. ...don't tell anyone?"
Twilight giggled to herself. "My lips are sealed," she promised. "Just as long as you don't tease Qwark about his full name being Copernicus Leslie Qwark Sparkle Gyro."
Nefarious burst into shocked laughter. "S-seriously?" he gasped out.
"And I'll tell him your first name is Mervin if you ever tease him about it," she chided intently.
Nefarious sighed. "You drive a hard bargain...but alright."
Twilight took the time then to look over the modifications Nefarious had made to his own body. "I can't believe you did all this...just for me..."
"Oh, this is only the start!" Nefarious insisted. "This way!" Turning, he stood side on to her and extended a wing. He found himself surprised as Twilight readily stepped under it, letting him rest his over her back. It felt similar to putting an arm around shoulders, but the action seemed more like the offering of an arm. Carefully, he led her down the walk to where their transportation waited...and he heard Twilight gasp in amazement again.
Sitting at the edge of the walk was what looked like a carriage straight out of an old fairy tale. Lawrence sat in the drivers seat, and two robotic pegasi colored like Lawrence' chassis were hooked to the front of the carriage, which was sized to creatures Twilight's size. "This is...?" Twilight asked, tears beading her eyes for reasons beyond her comprehension.
"I wanted to give you a piece of your world, as much as I could figure out," Nefarious explained. "Given just how powerful you are, I figured your entire race can't be at that level, or they'd rule the entire universe already. And given just how potent your magical abilities are, if even a small fraction of the population can do that, it would make more sense for your world to develop magical solutions to things rather than technological...which made it sound like a fairy tale medieval setting, with castles...and carriages. So this carriage has the anti-grav generators to let it fly concealed inside...and pulled by LAWR-D robotic pegasi. Given that you seem to be a fusion of mythical pegasi and unicorns, I figured your world would have both and had made contact with ancient Earth and other worlds as the explanations for the myths."
Twilight smiled softly, trying to find something to focus on to stop the inexplicable surge of nostalgia and homesickness overwhelming her. "...LAWR-D?" she asked curiously.
"Oh, that's the best part!" Nefarious called out happily.
"Must you, sir?" Lawrence groaned out sorrowfully.
"I originally planned to convert Lawrence into a pegasus to pull the carriage," Nefarious explained quickly, "but his structure couldn't accept modifications as easily as I could. So instead I built pegasus drones he could remote control. I even let him name them!"
Twilight stifled a giggle. "And he buried his face in his hands and said, 'Oh lordy'?"
"Why yes, yes he did!" Nefarious confirmed. "Great name, isn't it?"
Laughing, Twilight patted Lawrence consolingly on the shoulder before letting Nefarious help her into the carriage. "So, where to first?" she asked curiously as the carriage took to the sky, the LAWR-Ds' wings flapping as they entered the hover-traffic, making its way towards the outside of town.
"I thought we'd go dancing," Nefarious suggested casually.
"Like...club dancing?" Twilight asked nervously. "I'm...not so good without a pattern to follow..."
"Ballroom, actually," Nefarious replied as they reached the edge of the settlement. Twilight gasped as a castle rose into view. "As I said, I thought fantasy medieval, so I wanted tonight to give you a piece of home...with dancing in a castle ballroom."
"Oh...Mervin..." Twilight found the feeling of nostalgic homesickness flooding into her yet again. "But...why is the castle jutting out the side of the mountain?"
"It was supposed to be on top, but I didn't want to flatten the peak," Nefarious explained. "Took a bit of technological know how to make it work like that, but it was worth it. Besides, world of magic. Screw physics." He watched her nervously, but the huge grin told him it was the right idea.
As the carriage landed, Nefarious stepped out and guided Twilight into the castle. "Most of it isn't finished yet," Nefarious explained as he led her down a straight path. "I can work on more another time, but I only had a few days to finish this much...and I focused on what would be important for tonight." He led her into the ballroom, with high vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, and wide staircases leading down to the main floor. In one corner, more robot ponies were dressed in finery around ancient musical instruments: a cello, a harp, and a grand piano. As the pair entered, the robots began to play the music. "I...even managed to transpose a few classic dances to four-legged and midair dancing," Nefarious explained, stepping up to in front of her. "Just...follow my lead?"
Smiling widely, Twilight stepped up, letting Nefarious lead her through dances that felt more and more right with each steps, their necks crossed as they swayed back and forth. The midair dances that followed as they held their forehooves to each other and flapped their wings felt more unfamiliar, but still seemed so right. As the music went on and on, she found that warmth in her chest growing more and more.
I still don't know if it's going to be me, she thought to herself as they swayed together, but if this is the effort he puts to romance regularly...he's going to make someone very, very happy someday.
Later that night, Twilight and Nefarious sat across from each other at their table at Château de délices surnaturelles, idly chatting about their inventions, the parts of their lives that weren't matters of public record, and various aspects of the function of reality that anyone overhearing wouldn't even begin to understand. The dinner had been everything the restaurant promised, and Nefarious had managed to select a table where they could people watch if they so chose, but weren't easily seen from other tables so they could avoid stares. All in all, Twilight could say that it had been a most wonderful night so far.
"Mervin," she spoke up softly finally, "this has been...amazing. Wonderful. I...I just don't know what to say." She smiled warmly. "You've made my first date ever...everything I've could have possibly hoped for."
Nefarious smiled hesitantly. "I'm...sensing a but..."
"No buts," Twilight corrected. "It's been absolutely wonderful. I...admit I wasn't sure this was a good idea, even before you came to the door. There were logical reasons as to why it was a good idea and a bad idea...and I didn't know where my heart stood on the matter." She sighed softly. "I admit...I still don't know if this is really emotional attraction, or just desperation on both our parts to make our one chance at a real romance work out."
Nefarious lowered his gaze, twirling his wine glass in one hoof. "I...didn't really want to think about that aspect myself either," he admitted softly. "But...I have to admit it's a possibility."
"Well...the only way to find out is keep going," Twilight explained. "This is...our ultimate experiment. Two hypotheses, only one can be accurate. We'll just have to find out...is it love, or just loneliness?"
"Well..." Nefarious pondered that for a time. "As long as we find out together, I think it's time well spent." He raised his glass. "To the maddest science of all...romance."
Smiling, Twilight clinked her glass to his before taking a sip. "How'd you manage to duplicate my hoofgrip, anyway?" she asked curiously, hoping it might actually give her some insight into how her own body worked.
Nefarious glanced down, shame in his expression. "Umm...there I had to cheat a little..." he admitted, turning his hoof so she could see how it had reshaped around the glass and extended tiny manipulator claws to grip it.
Twilight giggled happily. "Clever," she praised. A thought struck her, and she grinned wickedly. "Say...have you heard what's said about crazy people in the bedroom?"
Nefarious swallowed nervously. "Uh...yeah?" he asked nervously.
"What say we go back to your place...and find out which of us learns if it's true?" she asked teasingly, lowering her eyelashes suggestively.
A loud clank echoed around the restaurant as Nefarious' lower jaw dropped off his face to land on the table. Twilight burst into uncontrollable giggles.
Bow Chicka wow wow!
Wait…he built Canterlot? I… what… but… is this another temporal loop? Please tell me it's not, Can't Spell Slaughter nearly broke my brain already.
... Yes!
...Twilight, you never enter a bedroom on your first date. You need to wait until at least the third, which means you need to go on at least one more date if you count your adventure with Mervin as the first.
I started giggling as well, nicely done.
Nefarious's new alicorn form is awesome, I can't wait to see Equestria's reaction to him using it. I can just see Luna and Celestia pouting that the first male Alicorn around is already taken.
Well... that conversation kinda slowed down the romance train, but excellent recovery!
I predict that Twilight and Nefarious will not stay together, and will in fact find love from other people, but will retain a sort of bond similar to the one between Twilight and Qwark. As for who they fall in love with... well, you've already proven you're not against homosexual relationships, so Qwark and Nefarious is a possibility... Ratchet's working on a his own harem, and I highly doubt that will include a robot that identifies itself as male. Heh, maybe Pinkie and Nefarious? Oh, but to imagine how many circuits he'd fry a day because his mind kept trying to figure her out.
Huh, I can't actually think of a possible character from the R&C universe that Twilight would mesh well with initially. Granted, I would have said the same regarding her and Nefarious, but you just have this way of making people root for things they normally wouldn't.
I suppose she could get involved with Sunset or Starlight, but something tells me that's not what you'll do.
Oh! I Know! Sci-Twi! I don't know how, but I'm predicting Twilight hooking up with Sci-Twi. Or... maybe Nefarious getting together with Sci-Twi? I mean, it would look kinda like pining, but still.
7601121
BLASPHEMY! TWIFARIOUS FOREVA!
7601132 I dunno. Turnabout Storm was probably my first real exposure to fan fiction of any kind, and I still support Twi-Wright as my favorite bizarre crossover ship.
7601070
Of course not, he came to a Logical conclusion about Twilight's homeworld, and beat the hell out of Physics to make it possiable on a different non-magical world.
I have an unsettling feeling that Twilight will be the creator of all ponykind.
And this is all a time Casual Loop.
7601153 So my options are "beat the hell out of both physics and causality with actual Canterlot getting built now and then getting shot across time and space," or "beat the hell out of physics and probability with the uncanny resemblance between Mervin's magic pony date night castle and a real place from Twi's homeworld being purely coincidental."
EDIT: 7601155 This. This is what scares me. This is what's keeping me awake at night.
7601155
You are incorrect.
7601165
Nefarious just happened to have very good logic and guessed very accurately what Twilight's world was like. And Orvus may have slipped in a few details here or there.
7601155
7601165
...And now I can't see anything but Twilight being Celestia's and Luna's mother... And them being some weird cross between pony and machine with syntho-skin.
I also wonder if Agent Clank will get a new series... Maybe with "Sparks" trying to rescue him from a new big bad.
7601111 I think that Twi was just messing with him.
People watch? Is that a sport like bird watching? Or maybe those words should switch places?
7601280
'People Watching' refers to spending time observing how people interact with each other. More a pastime than a sport, but similar to bird watching, yes.
The effort Nefarious went to for their date once more brings something to mind.
Just how many 's there will be when Ratchet finally realizes that that 'My Little Pony' cartoon he considered all those years ago could have been a big help. That's assuming that it is at all accurate; knowing Tats, it could go either way.
I feel like Orvus had more to do with this than Nefarious.
Sounds like the start of some fun, if nothing else. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Well this was sweet.
Actually, Qwark's first name is Copernicus. Leslie is his middle name.
I have a feeling that there will be some drama in the future between Twilight and Courteney Gears concerning Nefarious at least as far as the relationship goes
7601254 Either that, or Luna.
Chapter 180. Half a circle.
Well well~! Twily taking initiative. Nefarious really went all out with his romantic planning; kudos to his ingenuity.
7601378 Oh shit, you're right.
7601151 I like TwiWright as much as anyone else who read Turnabout Storm, but TwiFarious trumps it for me.
....
IF I COULD LIKE 10 TIMES I WOULD JUST FOR THIS CHAPTER
SQUEEEEEEEEEE
TWIFARIOUS IS LIFE!
And now I'm envisioning Twilight laughing hysterically at seeing Canterlot, then having to explain herself to Celestia.
Are you alright Twilight?
Y-y-es-s-s, It's just. *snerk* fck physics, this city is built off the side of a mountain with minimal supports.
While I was scrolling down the comments section I was thinking: Nefarious's jaw didn't fall to the floor. No. It went to Hell, found and destroyed the portal to Heaven, visited the golden gates, and fell back to the restaurant floor.
Brief trumpets graced its return.
7605761 Sora no Otoshimono.
So far I have yet to see "Sora no Otoshimono: Forte" but I doubt I am missing anything. Besides, the amazing action scenes. Like dang these angels have so much power and yet one of them is stuck with an idiot that's so full of himself that you rarely see him out of his chibi state.
EDIT: Heck, I have yet to see what this girl does! ...besides, forcing marriage.
i.ytimg.com/vi/k5-2LuMhUao/hqdefault.jpg
Why oh why can't I favorite or thumbs up this twice?!
7608589 Ah.
Excellent point.
7607467 because then we would all break the algorithm for the numbers because they went so high!
Damn, Twi!
That's some dirty thoughts i didn't think to find here!
Edit: Never mind.
7605802 Second Generation Angeloid: type Epsilon, Chaos. She's complicated: scary and sad. there's not much in the way of Fanfictions for this series, MLP or otherwise...
7603546 The great thing about all AUs existing somewhere... is that you don't have to choose!
7611495
Yeah,third date twilight.lol
He did become a robopony!
Damn good job arranging this date, Mervin.
ME: OOOO I'LL GET THE CAMERA I WANNA GET MY ADORKABLE TWILY HER FIRST BEDROOM EXPERIENCE!
random dude: SOMEONE STOP THAT BRONY WE CAN'T LET HIM RUIN THE MOMENT GET THE DUCT TAPE AND ROPE AND CHAINS!!!
8991972
Sad to say, that'd be my reaction too. Not the brony bondege but the jaw drop.