In one of the many studies in Princess Celestia's castle, lied a pony. In this study laid books and shelves that towered, and multiple floors along with it. It's strange to think that a Princess such as Celestia would allow that much to a simple pony. In this study the floor was littered with books and boxes of books, making the bottom floor a labyrinth. The shelves were dusty and tall, making it impossible to clean. The wood was all polished though, as it was every year, though it was still aged and had multiple holes that made them not as sturdy as when they were first placed. In the study held a whole cabinet full of ink holders, multiple pens of different weight and nibs to go along, but most of all, were the piles upon piles of notebooks that laid next to the fancy cabinet.
It resembled a wine cabinet, just with a lot of modification. It was more like a tall wardrobe made from the initial build that was a wine cabinet, making it reach far back. There was also a door on it, a glass one that shined in the sunlight. It was the only nice thing in the whole study! Always kept clean and wiped clean of dust, nothing in the wood it was made from and surely nothing dangerous around it. Yet the pile of notebooks that laid open with dry ink and bent pages, showed what the mare that lived there wasn't proud of. She kept the utensils in the nicest condition, yet when it was used, it was despised.
Deep within the messy labyrinth the mare called a study, laid just that, a mare. She sat in the silence of a room that seemed surrounded by towers of books that surrounded her in a circle. A dim lamp sat on a end table near the edge, lighting the walls and the pony in a dim yellow. Nothing about this was satisfactory. There was a buzzing and humming that came from a box that sat next to the mare. It ran like a loud motor. The mares tired expression didn't help. Neither did the dim light casting what seemed to be a sacrifice at deaths door.
The mare was light purple with a basic, bookworm look to her. All she was missing was the glasses. She was a unicorn, unusual, but still quiet common. She had a dark blue mane with a pink and purple streak in it. The mane that laid down her body was uneven, it seemed charred at one end and swayed with the wind that lightly blew on it. Her tail and mane was flat with stress and days of not bathing -something this mare often did, as she got wrapped up in her studies to forget time until she passed out and repeated. Then again, she couldn't simply bathe like every pony else, no she couldn't. That was because she was different than many ponies. This pony had a unicorn horn and metal wings that protruded from her back. An alicorn, a robot one, but still a alicorn.
Her back was a shell of metal, underneath it was nothing but a mangled and dead part of her body, she assumed her fur there had died out and fell off. Her large wings sat open as cords, wires, and thick, black tubes ran from her back into the box next to her. The box hummed louder as she tried to fold her wings against her back and she slouched. She sat up straight and stretched them out, the humming quieted. She sighed.
The shell on her back was a dark gray, her wings were a lighter color, rather ugly if you asked her. The shell covered her upper back, her cutie mark, and her lower back. The box next to her was the same color as her shell, though inside it was a lot more complex than the insides of her.
Near her charred, cut short hair sat vents that blew out at her neck, which is why she constantly had it cut so that she didn't over heat. On her middle back was a indent of the metal where her wings stretched from. Her lower back, right above her cutie mark, sat a rectangle that held a green color at the very bottom -with white tick marks as measurement-, since it wasn't being used. Next to it was a bright red button and three smaller ones next to that. She found no point in them, but they did serve a purpose... ones she had forgotten.
Her cutie mark was misaligned on her shell, but she didn't care, she kept it covered up whenever she was in public.
On her wings were large metal fan blades that were made to resemble feathers, they worked well as she could fly. On the base of the wing where the bone usually was underneath the feathers was a triangular piece, again with a dormant green color at the bottom, white ticks to mark measurement of 'fuel'. Above that was a bright blue circle and a long rounded rectangle beside it. One end held a dormant, light blue color, near the other end was a red tick mark that told her when she should stop flying and let her wings breathe.
What others almost failed to notice was the right metal ear and dysfunctional eye. Well, they were usually noticed, but they guessed it was better than using a hearing aid, and they guessed she was just blind. Though the metal ear was just better than a hearing aid, as it enhanced how much her ear canal picked up and made it easier for her to hear. But it was necessary as many pieces inside her ear were damaged. Her eye, right eye, wasn't blind, she could see the world through a red hue. So, if you want you could say she was color blind in one eye, if you wanted.
Inside her was more complicated though, inside her she had a functioning 'heart/circulatory system' and a functioning 'respiratory system'. Her 'lungs' inflated and deflated as normal, with in taking oxygen and letting out carbon. Though as it would usually be a normal material found in bodies that transported this, it was light, metal wires molded with the tubes that transported her air. Most of the ways were blocked as she didn't need air for blood, it was mainly one that simply went to her brain. Though she knew it wouldn't function the same, the box next to her monitored and distributed how much air was given to her brain.
Her 'heart' was a canister of oil that oiled the hinges inside her, her other tracks were obsolete after her change, so she simply didn't have them anymore.
Her spine and many of her bones were made of metal though, to hold up the huge metal shell that sat on her back at all times. When she woke up from being this way, she didn't believe she could function, found it impossible. So when she asked the pony who made her, The Doctor, he said it was the binding of her soul to a battery. She didn't believe it until she saw it.
The battery box -as she called it- sat next to her, humming and buzzing as it usually did when she 'charged'. It had her cutie mark on the two largest sides, and on top sat three rectangles that measured specific things about her character. A big, red button sat next to those near the edge of the top, a self destruct button -"Because all things have them," was The Doctors only explanation. A light blue tablet with a moving screen sat next to the rectangles, measuring specific levels of the things on her and inside her. On the right side of the tablet screen was a white box, an arrow pointing to the half way mark.
How much time she had left.
She sighed and turned away from the measurement of her life span and how much longer she would function. It usually varied, especially when she hadn't 'charged' in a few days. It could go from years to mere days. But she found that whenever she charged it had a specific pattern.
Only a year left to live.
She looked around for a way to distract herself from it. That's when she saw a book open on the ground, it was her own and she knew all the content inside, she activated her magic and levitated it over to herself, only to earn a loud beep from the box. She instantly dropped in and stretched to reach it and slide it over to herself so she could read through her own research and past conclusions based from inferences.
She hadn't meant for it to be published, but her mentor -the princess herself- insisted on it. Only to get mixed reviews from scholars or students sitting in college. They either hated it with a passion or admired it with a passion, never in the middle. The book was of myths and her research over them, pretty boring or interesting. As many took the logical side of an old mares tales, it became a pretty interesting read for scholars and ponies who simply liked the tales.
She opened to the title page, then flipped to the table of contents. Reading over some of the names, she could pick out her favorites to research, the ones that usually didn't involve talking to ponies.
The mare in the moon.... pg. 26. An all time favorite, as she loved to use her telescope and read on what other ponies thought. A mare who was banished to the moon, many ponies called her crazy, but she loved the idea of it. Even if she never had any visual proof, she still believed it.
A mistress from the future.... pg. 58. A favorite of hers as well, even if she had to talk to ponies who had way too much time on their hooves. She was rumored to be a crazy mare, wild and crazy. She was a fortune teller before she was rumored of witchcraft before she went into hiding, only to have her fortunes come true to the ponies she told them to. Some said she was cotton candy, uneven and weird, but a tasty treat for a read and some nice, easy tales for Nightmare Night.
The fastest pony alive.... pg. 242. Not exactly one of her favorites. She just enjoyed studying Sonic Rainbooms along with the pony. Even though she had -and many others- imagined it male. She concluded it was either female, or a very femininely built male. She loved the possibility and the usage of physics she got behind this one.
The one worshipped by all.... pg. 300. Not a favorite of hers at all, but it was only because she only got weary theories and not more solid ideas from it. Even if it gave her freeway to sirens and enchantresses, she still disliked the tale. It was simply an enchantress, nothing more. Yet, as sirens entered her mind and the idea of a female having that much power, she couldn't help but be intrigued enough the research it. Still ending with failure, she admired the will to create something powerful from a simple tale.
The maiden of Discord... pg. 463. A tale she truly feared, as many maidens disappeared around the time real proof came around for it. It was rumored that a horrid creature that simply wanted women would lure them into the woods, only to corrupt them until he picked one he liked. The maidens that disappeared were nice years before the disappearance, then they started going into the woods, and coming out completely rude and selfish. They had no recollection of the behavior after, until one day... they just disappeared.
She shivered at the thought of the tale and closed the book. After hearing a few beeps from the battery box, she unplugged herself and stretched, folding her wings against her back. She shook her head and rid her thoughts of her old myths. Such a foolish thing to do, she always decreed. She walked out of the hole of books she always hid herself in when she charged.
As the mare charged, her faithful assistant cleaned her cabinet and took a peek through her failed notebooks that were only pages filled. As he flipped through some, he found one based simply on art, he assumed it was old and looked to the front to confirm it. He flipped through it, claws always scratching at the paper once he turned the page.
Pictures of sloppy ink drawings that looked like the mare he worked with actually cared to try. The drawings were far from beautiful, but there was something about the messiness and order of things written around that he admired. He flipped to a random page and saw a name at the top. The mare of the moon.
There was a drawing of a alicorn with long flowing hair, a lunar cutie mark, and a royal collar. Notes beside it told him her coat was dark blue, her hair was an even darker blue, her colors were blues, blacks, and whites. As color fled from his mind and onto the page, he only stared in awe. He quickly turned the page.
The fastest alive. Of course, she was a mare, as his co-worker enjoyed seeing females have a point other than continuing the race and stopping extinction. She had a spiky mane with a puffed out chest and a smirk. Her wings were huge and gracious, making her seem dominating and overpowering. He looked at the notes and saw that her hair was dark pink, as were her eyes, her coat a light blue.
He turned the page again, letting color soak into the messy drawings and come to life. His mind ran with excitement as he visualized the fastest alive flying around his head and the room, leaving havoc in her path. He turned his attention back to the book. He paused and stared in glory.
The one worshipped by all. A unicorn with a long horn and a slender, curved body. Her mane was a party of curls that fell graciously over her shoulder and surrounded her sitting body. Her seductive eyes were pinned in his head as a light blue, he saw the notes to confirm that they indeed were. She wore a red dress that he could only imagine sparkled and complimented her curves. Her hair was wrote to be pink, with her body a dashing dark grey. In his mind, he saw a milk white coat and a deep purple in her mane. He couldn't peel his eyes away, he just couldn't. His breath was taken away and his heart stopped in his chest. He fell in love with her.
A voice broke him away from his longing stare to see her in the flesh. "What are you doing?" He turned to see Twilight Sparkle, his 'boss', though he wasn't paid and she sure didn't act like a boss. So he liked to call her a 'co-worker' if they were being professional. Unprofessional, and she was his best friend.
"Oh, um," he nervously stammered as she levitated the book out of his hands. "Wait!" He clawed at the air, missing the book.
She studied it for a second, then with a bored expression, threw it back to the pile. "Come on, Spike. I told you I'm done with myths. Physics, electricity, and science are my main focus." She started through the labyrinth of books. He clawed to his feet and chased after her, careful not to knock anything over.
"I just... why?" He asked, nervous she would snap, even if she never did. "You seemed to enjoy it a lot more than you do electricity."
She froze in her place and turned to look at him, they were standing in a corridor of books or boxes filled with books. The air was suffocating, even if only one of them could suffocate. Well, if you consider suffocation as a the blockage of the need to breathe, that is. Her brain could function about an hour without oxegyn.
She turned away, "I still enjoy physics." She muttered and continued to a different part of the study. She had made hallways, corridors, and rooms from simply books. She guessed it felt more like home than work at that point.
"But look how much time and dediction you put into those!" Spike exclaimed with a happy cheer. "You haven't been that happy since you stopped learning those myths."
The corridor was coming to an end and they turned to a huge room enclosed by book cases rather than just towers of books. At one end of the room was a blue stair case that Twilight climbed up, Spike rushing after her.
At the top of the steps looked more like a nice, small bookworm café than anything. A few round tables sat near the edge of the floor where railings were built up, to the other side of the room behind those tables was an endless cavern of untouched books that most likely won't get touched. Ever. Twilight sat down at one of the tables and looked down at the messy, book-box labyrinth that was the first floor of the study. Spike sat down next to her, determined to continue his talk and determined to get an answer.
"You enjoyed it! I've never seen you finish a notebook since the myths, and you made a book out of those!" Spike exclaimed happily, determined to see her bust through her barrier of unreasonable actions and realize she should do what makes her happy. He sat on the edge of his seat and his tail flicked in anticipation.
"No," Twilight said coldly and started down the cavern of towering book cases that was the second floor. The first was the labyrinth and the second was the tower, Spike named them that, as he found more fun saying 'the tower' or 'the labyrinth' over 'floor one and two'. It simply caught on to Twilights tongue and won't let go.
"Why not?" He asked in a disappointed and begging tone to know the answer. He chased after her, this time being more reckless as he knew she was simply going to the fourth floor he had yet to name. He called any floor after the fourth 'Twilights floors', she didn't have ladders reaching up to them, and his wings had yet to grow in yet.
"Because I said so," Twilight stated and climbed another flight of stairs, these a lot smaller. They revealed a small replica of the kingdom they lived in, hence the floor being named 'The Kingdom'. It was Spikes floor to mess with, so whenever he had free time, he built up the kingdom's capital, Canterlot. Another floor of books Twilight would never touch.
"That's not a good enough reason! Why wouldn't you want to do the things that make you happy?" At this point, Spike was trying to break her and make her snap, flooding the air with her answer that would just lead to a comforting talk. Of course, she knew of this method and even recognized it, yet she always fell for it. For being a robot, she found it funny how much her emotions get in the way.
"Fine," she sighed, admitting defeat rather than snapping. She leaned on the rails of the floor and gulped at how high up she was. Her wings strapped to her back and she looked away. Spike sat next to her, leaning against the railings, she decided to do the same. "I don't do it because ..." she couldn't answer. How could she tell her best friend that she would be dead in a year? He already cried his eyes out and couldn't breathe fire for a month the first time she told him she was dying.
"You have little time left?" He finished her sentence, slightly cowering away from her, wrapping his tail around his leg and sealing his eyes shut as his arms readied to cover his face. She shook her head with a motherly smile as she wrapped her wing around him and pulled him closer to her. He stared at the metal wing next to him. "It's not usually that warm."
"It is after this shell gets charged," Twilight mumbled but soon nodded to his guess. She sighed. "Yes, I have just a year left, all I've done is invent a telescope and publish a worthless research notebook. I want to do something big, researching old mares tales isn't 'big'."
"But you were so happy and you put so much time into them," Spike said. "I've never seen you really try to do something, and yet you tried to draw those tales because you wanted to really see how your mind saw them. That's dedication." He put his cold, scaly claws on her shoulder and held a face of sympathy. He hated to admit it, and he clearly couldn't. But she knew what he was saying.
Don't go out trying. Go out doing something you love.
She shook her head and stood up. "I'll be on my floors if you need me," as she trotted away he tugged on her tail and she looked back to see his big, reptilian eyes staring at her. For once, her metal heart shattered and she felt a real heart in its place. She could hear the heartbeat in her head, even if it wasn't real. The simple idea she had crushed her, she turned away and galloped off so he couldn't see her cry.
The idea of seeing her child hood friend, the one she raised from a simple egg, grow up and turn into a handsome, fearful dragon, crushed her. She wanted to see him grow his wings, she wanted to see his fangs sharpen, she wanted to help him through his growing years as he grew greedy and vicious. But she couldn't, and she didn't have anyone understanding enough to take her place.
She sighed and trotted up the last flight of stairs to the fourth floor -the nameless one. It was made up of clear space, bookshelves and ladders lined on side of the wall and the floors ending with rails lined the other. She flew up to the fifth floor and beyond, finding her little cave she had made in her bookshelves and a huge hole in the thick walls. Books lined the walls while wood lined the floor and ceiling. The cave took place of four whole shelves and gave her enough room to stretch out her wings if she needed to. She cried and let the date set in.
One year.
That's it.
The words of her dragon friend rang in her head. The words from a long time ago when she was told she would be dead in a month years before.
"We'll make it count."