"Hey, Twi, working late again tonight?" Spike asked the librarian. She brushed past him rather hurriedly, but not before nodding her head in his direction before making her way down the stairway to the basement. "Don't even have time to talk?" he asked her retreating form as the door slammed and locked behind her.
"Don't wait up for me, Spike, I'm putting the finishing touches on it! It'll be done soon!" she almost shouted through the door. She trotted down the stairs, almost eagerly awaiting the culmination of her efforts. For the past several weeks, she had been working on her latest experiment -- an android pony which bore a very strong resemblance to the lavender unicorn herself. The purpose of the experiment was to have this android pony serve the librarian as an additional assistant and was programmed to be respectful of all ponies. Twilight had dubbed her "Experiment 187" owing to the number she was up to at this point.
As far as this robotic version of Twilight was concerned, it wouldn't be until the final touches giving her mobility and speech were added that the experiment could be judged as a success or failure. Twilight trotted around the table the machine was laying on, inspecting everything and double-checking to make sure everything had been put in proper order. She lit her horn and imbued the robot with magic, enveloping it in her aura. Her horn glowed with a second aura and then a third as she gave life to the anthropoid, and upon finishing her spells, the pony lifted its head to look around.
"Hello? Twilight?" the robot asked.
"YES! YES! YES! I've done it!" the librarian exclaimed jubilantly, jumping excitedly with her success.
The robot rose to its hooves and looked around again, noticing it was standing on a table and took a moment to process the visual information. "What is my name?" the pony-bot inquired, a flat tone to its voice.
"I shall call you TS One Thousand," Twilight replied cheerfully.
"TS -- one -- thousand. Thank you, Twilight, for giving me a good name," came the monotone response. "What is my primary purpose?"
"You are to serve me in any capacity I desire," Twilight offered warmly. Her expression was one of mild surprise, though, as she wasn't quite expecting such quick results. The robot was able to process information very swiftly.
"As you wish, master," the pony-bot replied mechanically. It clicked and whirred a little as it continued to process information from all the sources available to it, including hearing what was going on above and outside. It was able to use infrared and ultraviolet vision to see quite well in the dimly-lit basement. It was also able to wield magic, to a small extent. "What do you want me to do?"
"I can hardly wait to show you to everypony! They'll be amazed!" the lavender unicorm beamed. "Oh, I will need for you to tidy up the basement for me, please."
"Very well then. Consider it done," the pony-bot replied and set about the task of cleaning everything and organizing it as Twilight made her way back to the main level. The thought of shutting the robot down eluded her as the desire for sleep made itself evident and she trotted upstairs to get some sleep. Spike had already laid down in his basket and was sound asleep.
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Twilight woke to a noise coming from below and rose to her hooves to investigate. She noticed Spike's basket was empty and assumed he was down in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Her belly grumbled to let her know it was time for some food and she giggled a little in embarrassment before making her way downstairs to see if her dragon was making food. She entered the kitchen to see her pony-bot working the stove and her dragon sitting at the table waiting.
"Spike, what's going on?" the librarian asked.
"Oh, I thought -- Twi, what's going on? This -- (he pointed at the robot) -- I thought she was you! Is this what you were talking about last night?" he asked in great surprise.
"Oh, Spike, that's my latest experiment -- I call her TS One Thousand. I left her in the basement last night, but -- why is she up here and making breakfast?"
"Um, I heard her knocking at the door, so I let her out," the little drake replied. "I thought you had locked yourself in, which was why I thought it was you knocking -- she looks exactly like you, Twi!"
"TS, how's breakfast coming?"
"My recipe bank has provided me with optimum directions to give satisfactory results," the pony-bot replied flatly. She placed the hay pancakes in a neat pile on a plate and used telekinesis to send the plate of cakes to the table, surprising both librarian and dragon alike.
"I gave you the ability to use magic?" Twilight half-asked, her surprise deepening at the rapid progress displayed by her creation.
"Affirmative, Twilight. Magic use optimized to improve efficiency," came her mechanical reply.
"TS, you're amazing!" the librarian chirped, a big smile on her face.
"Amazing is a relative term, Twilight," the pony-bot replied flatly. "What is the next task you request of me?"
"Um, clean the kitchen and wash the dishes?"
"As you desire," came the response. The pony-bot took the plate of cakes away and emptied it into the trash, then proceeded to wash it, along with the pan used to make the cakes, then went about the task of very swiftly tidying the kitchen, rendering it practically spotless. The display was so mind-boggling that the librarian and her assistant were left flabbergasted, their bellies still growling in protest at their breakfast having been disposed of so quickly.
"Um, TS, we were going to eat those," Twilight stated, more than a little annoyed.
"I was doing as you requested," the pony-bot responded. "Do you desire fresh food?"
"Yes, please -- we're hungry!"
Spike had already dug into the trashcan to fish out the hay pancakes -- noticing they weren't too badly soiled, he scarfed one of them down and was about to eat a second before the pony-bot zapped him with a lightning bolt from her horn.
"OUCH! What was that for?" he asked indignantly.
"Do not eat from the trash," came the robot's reply. "I will make fresh food for you."