//------------------------------// // 6. Sunrise, Sunset // Story: Twilight Sparkle Makes a Coltfriend... Literally // by Georg //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle Makes a Coltfriend… Literally Sunrise, Sunset Morning broke over Equestria as the sun slowly rose in the sky.  In the Castle of Friendship, it was about the only thing up.  Spike had the good fortune to have fallen asleep early, and in the natural cycle of things, was the first one to wake up when a beam of sunlight coming through one of the crystal library windows hit him squarely in the eyes. He sat up and looked around, taking in the scene of devastation, the mountains of crumpled papers, the empty cups of coffee, and the piles of resulting research.  It was about par for the course when Twilight was in full research mode, but instead of a passed-out alicorn under the papers somewhere, there were a number of unicorns scattered around the room.  Starlight was face-down on the table with a small puddle of drool growing under the corner of her mouth, while Rarity had claimed the empty coffee pot and was curled up around it dragon-style in a corner. Sunburst had obviously arrived while Spike was sleeping, and most likely had been plucked from his bed in the Crystal Empire by Rainbow Dash judging by the fact he was still dressed in polka dot hoofie pajamas.  He was likewise sound asleep with a book tented over his horn and Trixie draped over his side, surrounded by a number of paper teacups. He wisely decided not to disturb their quiet time, at least until he could go get a camera. Instead, Spike slipped upstairs to the roof where Twilight and Nimbus had been stargazing.  There, the scene was much the same, with Her Royal Highness of Friendship using Nimbus as a pillow, and the doll unresponsive to a number of pokes and whispers. “Uglmump.”  Twilight Sparkle stirred, moving her nose back and forth with a low grunt, although her eyes remained closed against the sunlight.  “Spike?” “Yes,” answered Spike, sticking the camera behind his back.  “Do you want me to get you some coffee, Twilight?” “Please.”  She nuzzled deeper into her pillow, then paused.  “Spike, is this Nimbus?” “Yes.”  Spike watched hesitantly when Twilight’s horn lit up, and after a few moments, the doll began to stir.  With a similar grunt, he shifted positions and dragged one fabric wing over Twilight’s face to block the intrusive sunshine. “Better,” she grunted.  “Spike.  Coffee.  Black.  Six sugars.” A short time later once Twilight dragged herself back into the world of the conscious with the assistance of a dragon-brewed cup of inky coffee, she managed to pry one eye open.  “Spike, were we out here all last night?” “Maybe.”  Spike eyed the doll, who had struggled to a seated position when Twilight Sparkle had rolled off of him.  “Did you take Nimbus for a little flight among the stars last night?” “No!”  Twilight hesitated and took another deep drink out of her coffee cup.  “I mean… we may have been flying some last night, but not like that.  My friends are a bad influence on you.”  She stopped after another drink that drained her cup.  “Oh.  You meant if we literally had been flying.  Yeah.” Nimbus patted Spike on the head.  “Thanks, Spike.  Just give her a few minutes to get woke up and we’ll take you with us for breakfast.  Sugarcube Corner?” “As long as you don’t have anything nefarious planned,” admitted Spike grudgingly. “I won’t even joke about turning into some terrible robot monster,” said Nimbus.  “I know that’s gotten all of Twilight’s friends all worked up, so I should be on my best behavior.  Particularly with her number one assistant.  You know, she talked about you most of the night.” “Really?”  Spike perked up and passed Twilight the second cup of coffee he had brought up to the roof, since the second pony there was of the non-drinking variety.  “I thought I was being replaced.” “Not in a million years,” said Nimbus.  “You’re her closest friend, and whenever she finds a real stallion to spend her life with, he had better give you the respect you deserve, or you have my permission to dig me out of the closet and charge me back up so I can give him a talking to.  Agreed?” “Agreed!”  Spike took a running leap and jumped on Nimbus’ back.  “To Sugarcube Corner!” “Once Twilight is done with her coffee.”  Nimbus looked over at his creator, who had the cup tipped back nearly all the way.  “And we should pick up some breakfast for her friends downstairs, too.  Are you set to jet, Twilight?” “Ready to roll,” she declared, setting the empty coffee cup down with the rest of their stargazing equipment. And the three of them flew away for an epic adventure.  Or breakfast.   - - Ω - - Once breakfast was over and enough food had been obtained to fuel even the most studious study group, Twilight Sparkle vanished into the library, leaving Spike and Nimbus outside.  It was not all that bad of a feeling for Spike, because all they were going to do in there was speak High Unicorn Theory to each other, and somebody had to watch the subject of their theorizing. It was worth a walk around the castle and parts of the town, which Spike determined had gotten used to seeing an ambulatory doll from the number of happy waves they got in return, and more than one mare giving Nimbus a contemplative look, as if she were deciding whether to order one for herself. For Spike, everything seemed backward.  Normally, Twilight Sparkle was inside getting all tense and panicked over a spell while everypony else was outside enjoying the day.  Instead, she had looked… happy.  Maybe there was something to this ‘dating’ thing after all, and as Nimbus had said, there was still a place for a dragon in Twilight’s heart even if a stallion… or mare claimed a portion of it.  Or maybe a doll, although that would be weird, even for Twilight. “Hey, Spike,” said Nimbus while they walked.  “Do you know what you call a half-dozen unicorns all furiously studying spells?” “No, what?” responded Spike out of reflex. “Friends.”  The doll heaved a false sigh that sounded far too real.  “It makes me wish I had some.” “Well, what about Twilight,” Spike responded.  “Isn’t she your friend?” Nimbus stopped and gave Spike a long look from his stitched golden eyes.  “You know I’m just a golem.  I don’t have any real emotions, so I can’t make friends.” “Who says you can’t learn?  That’s what one of the enchantments on you does.  Besides…”  Spike hesitated, then let out all of his words in a burst.  “I’m starting to think of you as a friend.” “And a trampoline,” added Nimbus. “Well, yeah,” admitted Spike.  “You are extra bouncy.  And friendly. So who says you can’t learn how to make friends with Twilight?  She is the Princess of Friendship, after all.” “I…”  Nimbus paused for a long while.  “Maybe you’re right, Spike.” “Right about what?”  Twilight Sparkle dropped out of the sky and lighted gently to their side, bending at the knees and avoiding knocking over Spike for a change. “Right about taking you out for another date,” said Nimbus quickly before Spike could open his mouth.  “Are you and the rest of the research group done?” “Not quite.  They want to get a few more readings from you until noon, and then I thought…” Nimbus grinned.  “Lunch, with hayburgers and waffle fries!” Twilight grinned right back.  “I’m glad I created your base stimulus-response programming.”   - - Ω - - After a few more poking and prodding tests for Nimbus in the castle, they had a delightful date at The Hayburger, followed by a quick trip back to the castle for cleanup.  The way that Twilight had learned how to wipe her muzzle in the middle of a burger feeding frenzy would have discouraged any real stallion, so after a series of mutual snickering, they each managed to find wet washcloths in the bathroom and checked for burger-splatter. “Oh, that was marvelous,” said Twilight, who had not stopped giggling since the first burger was served.  “Far better than any date I’ve had, ever.” Nimbus swabbed a bit of mustard off the tip of Twilight’s horn.  “Well, do you think that’s because you used to pay more attention to the date itself than to the pony you were dating?” “No!”  The giggles slowly died out until Twilight Sparkle’s face took on an expression of deep thought.  The smears of relish across her cheeks only emphasized her sincerity.  “Maybe.” After a little more thought and washcloth application, she added, “Yes.” Nimbus finished brushing the lettuce out of Twilight’s mane. “So the reason we haven’t had a date disaster today is because you care about—” “No, I don’t,” said Twilight rather quickly.  “You’re just a golem with a collection of really, really clever spells and book contents and what am I saying?”  She gave a long, drawn-out sigh. “It’s nice to be cared about,” said Nimbus.  “Gives me a warm glow in my computational matrices.”  He paused.  “That was a joke.” “It wasn’t very funny.” “You probably didn’t put any good joke books into the spell.”  Nimbus paused.  “That was a joke too.” Twilight sniffed despite herself, which made Nimbus look around for a tissue.  Failing to find one, he paused, then held a cloth foreleg up to her nose. She blew. “That was disgusting,” said Twilight with a giggle when she looked at the snot-covered leg, which made Nimbus giggle too, and hold his leg out to be washed. “I’m never making another one of you,” said Twilight with a laugh.  “I could never duplicate the experiment, and whatever I made, it wouldn’t be you.” Nimbus posed in front of the bathroom mirror.  “Of course not.  I’m unique.  Practically a collector's item.” Twilight Sparkle’s laugh turned into a giggle-snort, and she dampened her washcloth to clean her creation’s snotty foreleg.  “You know, you’re not in Near Mint condition anymore.” “Don’t sweat it,” scoffed Nimbus.  “The geese got me first.”   - - Ω - - That evening, there was a meeting with Starlight Glimmer and the rest of the researchers, including some interested bystanders just in case a party was to break out.  Starlight was the first one to step forward and address Twilight Sparkle, with several charts and a few pages of scribbled notes for support. “Well, we have some good news for you Twilight, and some bad news.  Which do you want to hear first?” Nimbus stuck up one cloth leg.  “Can we hear the good news and stop?” “Sounds good to me,” said Trixie. “No.”  Starlight fixed them both with stern glances.  “First, it appears that Nimbus is just like you said, Twilight.  He’s a successful Type Six cloth golem, with a few extra features.” Trixie slowly bent over and snuck a peek under the doll.  Starlight Glimmer ignored her while continuing. “As you said, the spell matrix you created ‘borrows’ Nimbus’ skills from other ponies who are not using them at the moment, but we did some measuring and checked our numbers twice.  His base spell matrix would change whenever he shifts primary borrowed skills, and for the last few days, it hasn’t changed at all.” “That’s impossible!”  Twilight Sparkle fumed and pointed a hoof out the window.  “If there were ponies around town who he permanently stole a skill from, they would have noticed it by now.  Nimbus knows all kinds of things.  Except that,” she added with a fierce blush. “Oh, I know about it,” said Nimbus.  “I just can’t do anything about it.” “Anyway,” said Sunburst, who stepped up to give Starlight Glimmer some well-needed support.  “The spell that you used for that combined with a few others to eliminate any distance penalty to that spell mote.  Nimbus could have borrowed skills from the other side of the world.  A few dozen skills missing inside of Ponyville would be noticed, but spread that out across the world and it would vanish into the background noise.” “Or the spell could have stolen all of the skills from a single poor pony somewhere,” said Starlight Glimmer.  “It’s impossible to tell without the matching subject.” Twilight Sparkle shook her head.  “All of his actions and reactions over the last few days have been too smooth to be the result of random skill borrowing from multiple ponies.” “Yeahhh,” said Starlight rather reluctantly.  “So some poor stallion somewhere has been worthless for the last few days every time Nimbus is active.” “He would have to be a pegasus,” said Rainbow Dash, then brightened up.  “Hey, I got one!  Does that mean I’m turning into an egghead?” There was a very long silence, broken when Trixie stood up and announced, “Trixie has decided she no longer wants to create a golem for a romantic companion.”  She then resumed her seat and eyed Sunburst speculatively. Starlight Glimmer rapidly picked up the discussion.  “Now for the bad news.” “That was good news?” said Nimbus.  “That my existence is robbing some pony somewhere of his talents?” Sunburst nodded.  “Actually, yes.  You see…” When the talking stopped and the nervous fidgeting began, Starlight Glimmer pressed forward. “It’s taking more magic to keep Nimbus charged up for less time, isn’t it Twilight?” “Yes,” said Twilight Sparkle cautiously.  “I had to charge him right before we came in here.” “And really soon, you won’t be able to charge him enough to keep him active at all.  It could take as little as a day to reach that point.” Now it was Twilight’s turn to squirm in discomfort.  “Well, I was hoping to see if the spell could be altered to allow for a longer charge.”  She stopped when Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst began to slowly shake their heads.  “Or maybe if he could carry a power source like a necklace, or… anything, really.” The doll stood up and regarded the solemn unicorns with an unusually serious expression.  “So, you mean I’m going to die soon?” “Not die,” said Starlight Glimmer.  “Just… turn off.  And not be able to be turned back on again.” The doll cocked his head to one side, waggled an embroidered eyebrow, and ran the tip of his fabric wing up Twilight’s side which made her jump with a startled ‘Eep!’ “Then I will have done what I was made to do, and that should be sufficient.” “But…”  Twilight Sparkle stammered, caught between emotions.  “I thought—” With one swift motion, Nimbus ‘kissed’ her on the nose. “Hey, that’s what you made me for.  You think too much.  I’m here to help you feel.” “But not in that way,” said Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie!” protested Twilight Sparkle.  “We’re having a moment!” “No you’re not,” said Pinkie Pie.  “You’re feeling bad about yourself because you created this wonderful fuzzy creature, and now he’s going to go away forever, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.” Nimbus shrugged his shoulders. “Besides, you’ll always have your memories of our dates.  And sometime, when you meet your special somepony and get to know him—” “Or her,” said Pinkie Pie. “—it will be our lessons together that help keep you from setting him on fire, or drowning him, or—”  Nimbus was cut off by a cautionary hoof held across his stitched lips. “I get the message,” said Twilight. “Then understand this message too,” said Nimbus, pulling her closer and looking into her eyes before giving her a long, gentle kiss.  “I’ve had the most wonderful life a Type Six cloth golem could possibly have, all compressed into a few days.” Rarity sniffled quietly in the background with the rest of her friends, but Twilight protested, “There’s got to be something I can do to fix—” “Now, hold on there, Twi,” interrupted Applejack.  “Remember what you told us to say about that word.” “We certainly do,” said Starlight Glimmer, adopting a sing-song voice.  “Not everything can be fixed with magic.” “Yeah!” declared Trixie, then hesitated as everypony looked at her.  “Oh.  Yeah,” she added in a much less Great and Powerful voice. “So, what are we doing for our next date?” asked Nimbus, which caused a shocked silence for a few breaths, until Twilight got a look of inspiration, complete with smile, and spoke up. “How about a picnic out at the lake tomorrow?” “Sounds good,” said Nimbus with his own growing smile.  “Hayburgers and waffle fries for you, a few linen napkins for me?” “And maybe some flying afterward?” asked Twilight “But…” said Starlight before she ran out of words. “No butts!” said Pinkie Pie. “And no regrets,” added Applejack. “You never know how long you have with your friends, no matter who… or what they are.” Nimbus nodded.  “I cannot think of another way I would prefer to spend that limited time.”   - - Ω - - The next day started off bright and early with the two of them watching the sun rise, an early trip out to Fluttershy’s house to play with the baby chickens, then ice cream and cake for breakfast at Sugar Cube Corner.  The day promised to be a wonderful time for both of them, and they pressed as much into the scarce hours as possible with all kinds of dating practice and even a game of Pin The Tail on the Pony, which was a lot more fun when the tail and the pony moved around on their own.  Even Rainbow Dash got into the act, and admitted that gliding all the way across town in formation with Twilight and her cloth companion was a fun challenge.  Between laughter and fun, the whole day practically flew by… … until night found the two of them on the roof of the castle, watching the stars and moon proceed slowly across the sky. “Heck of a day.”  Nimbus nudged the star diary that the two of them had been ignoring.  “Pretty nice night for stargazing, too.  If my date wasn’t so distracted.” “I’m not distracted,” protested Twilight.  “Much.” Nimbus left the statement stand for the moment and kept his stitched eyes turned to the darkened sky.  Only after enough time had passed for the cool night air to give Twilight Sparkle’s coat a little bit of a shiver did he move closer and put a fabric wing over her chilly back. “You’ve used that spell three times in the last few minutes,” he said in almost a whisper. “Yes, I know.”  Twilight Sparkle snuggled a little closer to him.  “It’s fading faster than ever.  I don’t want you to go.” Nimbus kissed her gently on the cheek.  “I’m not going anywhere. I wasn’t actually here, remember?” “Yes, you are!” she protested.  “The skills, the… you that you are is all borrowed from some other pony somewhere.  I’ll find him somehow, and I’ll have you back.” “No, you won’t.”  Nimbus brushed down a section of Twilight’s mane that had begun to spring up.  “Starlight Glimmer said the pony I’m borrowing characteristics from could be anywhere in Equestria or beyond.  They wouldn’t even know, and besides, that pony is not me.  I’m a mix of your magic, the library you used in the spell, and his characteristics.  He probably snores and has stinky wingpits, anyway.” The dismissive way that Nimbus wrinkled his lips around his sewn-on smile while tossing his mane in the breeze made Twilight laugh despite herself, and a little fraction of the terrible tension tying her guts into knots eased. But only a little. Nimbus leaned up against her and shuffled until they were both pointed in the direction of the dawn, still several hours away.  He continued in a lower voice, “Even if I don’t see another sunrise with you, our time together just shows that you’ll find somepony who you won’t burn or drown or submit to some horrible indignity.  That you can be yourself, and that somepony else can love you for it.” Although she was still focused on keeping magic flowing into the spell, Twilight paused with her heart in her throat.  “You said love.” Nimbus nodded.  “Yes, I did.” Twilight poured more magic into the spell while she tried to form words, but the spell was decaying too fast, and the more magic she put into it, the faster it faded.  Nimbus began to glow with the amount of magic he was absorbing until she could not keep up with the spell and— —he burst into tiny sparkles, drifting up into the sky until Twilight could not tell where the stars began and the glittering motes of magic stopped. Her friends found her there in the morning, still crying.