//------------------------------//
// The Friendship Ritual 
// Story: Twilight Meets Companion Cube 
// by Prince Solstice 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight Sparkle was deep into her studies. She had been reading a new book about ritual spells, but the rituals were vague in description. She stopped on one called the friendship ritual. She wanted to test it out to maybe proceed in her studies about friendship. The ritual called for four cups of water positioned in a square and to draw out the lines connecting the cups. The ritual also needed a heart in the middle, and one birthday candle.
After collecting and setting all the necessary items up, she stood to the side and her horn expelled a beam of purple. It was old magic, but simple enough. She was struggling to make this work, and the four cups of the square shot a beam of light into a ball about four feet above candle and heart. The ball descended into the candle and suddenly there was a deafening shriek that shattered the cups. Twilight had to close her eyes, and then all of it stopped. She opened her eyes and there was just a cube sitting there. The chalk had erased, the cups of water had disappeared, and the candle was extinguished. The cube sat there, and the high pitched shriek must have messed with Twilight's hearing. Everything was dead silent, and she could hear her heart beating. That terrified her a little, but sometimes old spells had unpredictable results.
The cube was no normal cube. It was grey and had extended corners, and a circle in the middle. There was a heart in the middle of it, with pink lines leading to it. Twilight was breathing heavily trying to catch her breath. The silence was pretty eerie, and it was weird that this cube had been produced. 'Wan't this supposed to be a friendship ritual?' Twilight thought.
She went back to the book, and read the ritual again to make sure she didn't mess anything up. She flipped through the book, and reached the back cover. On the back there was a picture of a lemon. 
"Why a lemon?" She turned around to face the cube, and the silence began to give her a slight headache. There was a small whisper barely audible, except the room was dead silent so any little sound could be heard.
“What the?” She went over to inspect the cube. She went all around it, and touched it. It moved slightly, and was made of some weird metal. It sat motionless unresponsive to Twilight and her actions. It seemed inanimate to Twilight. She levitated it and shook it around. It made no noise, it was completely silent. She flipped it over and noticed every side. She then noticed on the bottom there was something etched into it. She read it out loud.
“I…” she paused “heart companion cube?” She was really confused, where and who would this have come from? She assumed its name was companion cube, and that someone really loved it, that was obvious, but why? Did she accidently teleport an idol to Equestria? She kept inspecting it, shaking it, and she even tasted it. It tasted like a generic metal item. She noticed that it had some burn marks on the edges and soot in some of the grooves. She set it aside, and went back to her books.
Twilight was nose deep into her book, and noticed something odd. The silence had not subsided. She wanted to make shure she wasn’t deaf so she dropped a book. The book made a lud thunk on her wodden floor, and she hadn’t gone deaf. It was just dead silent. She could hear the crinkling in her ears as they tried to adjust to hear something. She could hear her heart beat and her stomach. In fact she could hear everything about herself. It was very unnerving for her. Then she thought she heard whispering.
“Hello?” Twilight was alone, yet something felt like it was calling to her. She then looked back at the cube. She felt its nonexistent eyes staring at her. ‘Was it alive?’ Twilight thought to herself. She went over to it, and tapped it one more time. It sat motionless and silent.
“Twilight, it’s okay, it’s just dead weight… From somewhere… or someone…” She gave a little gulp, it was staring her down. She then kicked it across the room. It clanked into a book shelf and a few books fell off. She picked them up to replace them, and then she noticed their titles. ‘Help’ for dummies, Me, Myself, and Self-Confidence, Please! Read Me! Twilight wasn’t very superstitious, but this bothered her a little. How was this supposed to be pure accident?
“Help me please” she said out loud to herself, convinced that maybe this was purposefully done by the cube. ‘No Twilight, it’s just a silly inanimate cube, and books aren’t alive unless you imagine their stories.’ She then set the books back down, and the room was still as silent as ever. She then heard a buzzing noise. ‘Wait that wasn’t happening a second ago…’ She looked down at the cube.
“Help me… please” the cube hissed out. Twilight jumped back, and smashed into another bookshelf. Her books fell on top of her, and she removed herself from the pile, the cube just sat there still as ever.
“But, wha-?” Twilight shook her head violently. “The cube, it just talked…” She ran back up to it and knocked it around a few times, she even picked it up and shook it again. The cube replied with nothing in Twilights efforts. It was just as inanimate as it had ever been. She just set it down and sat next to it.
“H-Hello?” Twilight tapped the cube again
“Hello” The cube replied with a girl’s voice. It was a ghostly voice, and it made Twilight jump.
“Did… Did you just say something?” She looked at the cube.
“Yea, I was talking to you Twilight.” Twilights eyes were wide open, and her jaw dropped.
“Y-you know my name?”
“Of course silly, I know a lot about you. I am your companion cube after all. You love me.” The cube sat still, and the voice seemed to emit from nowhere from the box. In fact it seemed like it was whispering in Twilights ear. Twilight sat there for a second, she was absolutely dumbfounded. 
“I never said that…” Twilight was sure she didin’t.
“Yes you did, you said ‘I… heart companion cube?’” Twilight was a little frightened because it mimicked her voice exactly. 
“I, I did… But you have that etched into you.” Twilight pointed to the cube’s bottom.
“I know, someone else did that, and I love him too, but I am no longer with that failed test subject. I am with you now!” The cube sounded excited. Twilight rubbed the back of her head as she tried to make sense of this situation.
“Wait, where are you from?” the cube was in the same position, and still appeared to be inanimate, besides it talking to Twilight.
“I am from Aperture Laboratories. We expand science in ways you never thought possible. We are abstract yet constructive. We love testing, and beating Black Mesa!” The voice had begun to lose it’s ghostly sound, and sounded more like Pinkie’s voice.
“Wait, are you changing your voice?” Twilight gave the cube a confused look. ‘I am crazy to think that this cube is really talking.’ Twilight thought.
“Well duh, I wanted to be more comfortable with you. By the way, that’s not very nice to say about yourself. You aren’t crazy, you’re absolutely fantabulous.” The Cube giggled just like Pinkie. It made Twilight’s eye cringe. ‘I am going crazy. This cube isn’t real.’
“Hey, I heard that!” The cube still didn’t move. Twilight then levitated it with magic.
“Hehe, that tickles!” Twilight took the cube over to the desk. It took up most of the desk space, but Twilight then took out some paper and a quill. She had to write this experience down. She felt obligated to observe, like it was in her nature.
“What are you writing?!” The cube said excitedly, like Pinkie would. 
“I’m writing down my observations.” Twilight replied in a monotone voice.
“Oh goodie goodie! I love experiments! Especially one’s where I get to push buttons!” The companion cube was still motionless. 
“Sorry Pink… I mean… What am I supposed to call you?” Twilight stopped writing and became a little confused. There was a long pause in silence.  The cube had gone silent again, and the room was still silent.
“Um, Companion Cube?” Twilight guessed that was its name. It still didn’t respond. She set her quill down and tapped the cube. The normal solid sound emitted from the cube. She then picked it up and shook it.
“Hello?” Somehow Twilight suddenly felt alone and abandoned. She then took the Cube and set it beside her desk. Maybe one day it would talk to her again. Then she could make observations on it, and maybe become its friend like the spell said it was supposed to be. She sighed and looked outside. It was a bright sunny day, so she felt like maybe she needed fresh air. She went over to her door and opened it up. She gave the cube one last look, and then she shut the door behind her.
“Twilight, there are many things to observe…” There was an echoed laughter that went through her house and the normal sounds filled the library again.