//------------------------------//
// For Those That Dream of Electric Sheep 
// Story: Of Robots and Those Who Make Them 
// by Valtyra 
//------------------------------//

Celestia had made sure to keep herself in control while cooking Twilight her dinner. She moved around the kitchen as gracefully as possible, but even she could see herself start to slip, despite her body knowing the mechanical calculations needed. A dash of pepper and a sprinkle of salt and Twilight's dinner would be done, though, as soon as Celestia went to take hold of the plate, she hesitated as her idea ran through her mind again.

Problem: Create more time.
Solution: Initiate plan after Twilight Sleeps.

Slowly, a line was drawn through the solution as a new line appeared underneath.

Solution: Sleeping pills. Top right cupboard.

Celestia brought her hand up and opened the cupboard to see the sleeping pills right there, sitting among long-abandoned medications for various problems Twilight faced. Looking over the bottle, she popped the cap and out tumbled two spherical, white pills.

She placed the bottle back and held the pills in the palm of her hand, staring down at them while the steaming food sat on the counter beside her. While there was no body to feel guilt or anxiety, there was a hesitation which lasted forever, until her other hand pressed down and crushed the pills into a fine powder.

Celestia sprinkled the powder into the beans, making sure that it wasn't visible, before adding it to the mash as well. She quickly covered up the taste with some added salt and pepper.

"I really hope you enjoy it," Celestia said, placing the plate down at the table, then standing behind the mare who looked over a small datapad beside her.

"Hm? Oh, thank you, Celestia," Twilight mumbled, scrolling through some information as she idly lifted the fork to begin eating.

Celestia kept silent while she brushed her fingers slowly through Twilight's mane, braiding it over her shoulder while she watched the mare scoop her dinner up.

It only took a few minutes for the pills to affect the hungry mare and Celestia gazed down as Twilight inched further and further asleep. Eventually her face fell into her dinner and she let out a soft snore.

Celestia gazed down for the longest time, unable to do anything else, before reaching for Twilight and picking her up. She levitated a washcloth over and cleaned the messy mare up, then walked out of the kitchen and into Twilight's bedroom.

She placed Twilight down on the bed and knelt next to her, brushing her fingers through her mane as the guilt grew.

"I'm sorry, Twilight. You'll see that it's for your own good," she whispered, leaning in to press her cold lips against Twilight's cheek, causing the mare to whimper softly.

Leaving the bedroom, she returned to Twilight's workshop and booted up the terminal once again. Quickly finding the tools needed, she set to work removing her chest plate and after several minutes of painfully slow unscrewing, she finally placed her chest-plate down, gently, on the concrete.

Quickly, Celestia laid herself down and slotted the terminal's plug into her connection port, before pinging the machine. For a few seconds, she received nothing, then beep.

Once again, her world crumbled away, leaving a dark abyss around her. Yet, she found warmth returning to her body and wrapped her arms tight around herself in an attempt to prolong the feeling.

Suddenly, the world around her shifted and she found herself surrounded by various screens, each showing multiple ponies going about their business. Ponies walking their pets outside, parents taking care of their foals and in the centre, Sunset Shimmer in her home.

Waving the other ponies away, Celestia pulls the screen towards herself and gently taps it, filling the world around her with a warm glow that quickly overwhelms her. Once the brightness faded, the mare looked around and found herself in Sunset's apartment, with the mare herself sitting at a desk in front of her.

The room she was placed in was rather spartan, not unlike Twilight’s. The floor was covered in a plush carpet, upon which in the center of the room sat a small grey couch. In front of that was a Television bolted to the wall, out of which played some soft jazz. Celestia turned around again and found Sunset sitting at a sturdy oak desk which was piled high with research and paperwork.

The mare herself could barely hold her head up as she scribbled down note after note, muttering quietly. Kneeling down next to her, Celestia could see that while the majority of Sunset could be seen, not all of her was and the parts she couldn’t see were substituted for a suitable wiremesh.

"Must be a camera set up,” Celestia wondered, turning towards where the camera must have been to see a glint coming from a small drilled hole on the top of the ceiling. “She must not know about it,” she continued, looking down to Sunset then back at the camera. “Why would they install a camera in her home?”

Just then, Sunset let out a groan and let her face fall against the desk with a hard thump. “Stupid Twilight,” she huffed.

With a modulated hum, Celestia pushed herself up and closed her eyes. She sent out a ping to try and connect with any other devices within the home and found several, but only one caught her attention: The bedroom terminal.

With barely a fraction of force, she found herself standing in the mare’s bedroom. Unlike the main room, Sunset’s bedroom was filled with posters of sports teams, scientific formulas and entertainment groups. Walking over to the terminal, Celestia ran her fingers over the keys and forced herself to open a connection with the machine.

She tensed up once the terminal started to ping her various ports, probing her for any malware that might otherwise damage it. Letting the machine probe, she felt the connection ping green and accepted the handshake.

Within nanoseconds she was accessing and sifting through Sunset’s emails. While the majority of them were work related, she began reading a few to friends and family so she could build up a dictionary of how the mare worked on an emotional level.

It only took her a minute or so to collate and store the emails for later, then she began to form a new email of which she’d send on a return trip from Twilight’s terminal to Sunset’s.




Sunset,

I have, as you might have expected, sifted through the required data and have opened this Saturday up. As such, I might enjoy socializing with our colleagues down at the Prancing Pony. Please send me the location so I do not show up late.

Twilight.