Defect
"I will always be with you..."
Twilight Sparkle, a genius scientist, was currently working on her greatest creation of all time. A creation she has spent quite a few years to finally perfect. A creation beyond anything the world has ever seen. She would spend days on end working on it. It had to be absolutely perfect, something the creation had yet to be. Until now.
"Spike, pass me a screwdriver, please," she asked her number one companion, Spike the talking dog.
"You got it, Twi," the dog said. He opened the toolbox sitting next to him. "Uuh... which one? There's like... a million in here."
"The slotted screwdriver. Y'know, the thin one? And please hurry, I can't hold onto this forever," Twilight said, holding a panel that was about to spring open.
Spike picked up a screwdriver with his mouth and carried it across to his owner. "Ish it thish one?"
Twilight smiled. "That's the one! Thank you!" She proceeded to twist the screws to hold the panel down. She then wiped her forehead against her labcoat's sleeve and let out a breath of relief.
"Is she almost done, Twilight?" Spike asked, looking at the machine sitting on the table.
Twilight sat on a chair on the other end of the room and began typing at a large computer. "Yep, I believe she's almost done. Just gotta fix her programming up a bit more, then that should the improve the machine's readings, letting it be able to bear it's surroundings and to be able learn within time, and then we can finally fire this baby up!"
"That's what you said the last time... and the time before that, and the time-"
"Thank you, Spike!" Twilight interrupted. "But I have great faith this time, it has to work. I've worked on this for so long." She continued typing away on the computer with Spike jumping up onto her lap, laying down on it.
The sound of a loud printer came on. It printed a long sheet of zig zags indicating Twilight's results. After getting up from the chair and reading the results, Twilight smile grew wider. She rushed back to her computer, typing more.
Spike's tail began wagging. "Have you done it yet?"
Twilight didn't take her eyes off of the screen. "Almost! Just got to get this last thing and that's it!" Then finally, she filled in the last line of code she needed. More readings appeared. They all looked positive. Twilight began jumping up and down in excitement. "This is it, Spike! This is it!"
The scientist rushed around the room and began flipping small switches and turned many knobs to their settings. Machines powered to life with wires hooked up onto the machine sitting on Twilight's table.
Once done, she looked towards a cabinet on the other side of the room. She walked towards it and took out a jar. "I've been waiting to use this for the longest time." Inside was a single strand of red hair. Twilight took a pair of tweezers to pick the hair up with and carried to the creation. There was a small door on the left side of the chest which she opened up, placed the hair carefully inside and closed it again.
"System: operational," a machine spoke. Those were the words Twilight has been waiting to hear for the longest time.
Twilight slipped a pair of safety goggles onto her assistance. "Keep those on, Spike. The light that's gonna shine can blind a man to the point he only sees black!" She then jumped towards a large switch, but before she finally pulled it, she looked at her project one last time. "After all of these years. The sacrifices I've made. It all comes down to this."
"She would be very proud of you if she were here," Spike said, smiling sweetly.
Twilight smiled back at her dog, then finally grasped the switch. "Now, without further ado, let's bring this thing to life!"
After many years and many defects, Twilight could finally pull the switch with confidence. She hoped for this to be the last time she'd do so. Every machine in the lab all came to life, sending powerful surges of electricity through the large wires into Twilight's creation.
She smiled wickedly watching the project she had worked on for the last four years finally come to life.
The wires buzzed like a swarm of millions of bees. Twilight could see the sparks of the huge amount of electricity coat itself around the wires and the project on the table. All was looking well so far, Twilight actually felt she had managed to achieve her greatest goal.
But then, a flashing red light shone on Twilight's computer screen.
"Warning! Warning! System: overloading! Preparing for automatic system shut down!"
"Wait, WHAT?!!" Twilight shouted. She hurried back to her computer. "No! No-no-no-no-no! Not now!!"
"Twilight! What's happening?!" Spike asked extremely worryingly.
"The system's overloading! There's too much power being sent into the machine!"
"W-w-well, stop it!"
"I'm trying!" She tapped the keys faster than she has ever done, but nothing was working anymore, the machines kept running and they only became more powerful. "Oh no... Hit the deck!!"
Twilight grabbed hold of Spike and they both ducked under her desk. The machines then finally released every shock of electricity they had remained, resulting in a blinding light that flooded the entire room for a moment before leaving the team in complete darkness.
They both sat there for a moment longer, breaths held, incase anything else decided to explode. Twilight then opened her eyes and looked around the corner of the desk. Her eyes went wide with a loud gasp. Her lab had been completely destroyed. The machines were smoking, the wires and cables were torn apart, and the lights were all busted.
Twilight, with Spike in her arms, walked towards the project, praying that it was okay after everything that had just occurred. The machine laid there, completely lifeless. No gears were turning, no lights were shining from its eyes, nothing. It was like it was completely dead.
Twilight's eyes began to well up with tears. She fell to her knees hugging Spike close to her, who was whimpering in her arms.
"Th-This was supposed to be it..." Twilight managed to get out. "I-I did e-everything I possibly could to make this p-perfect." She kept trying to hold back her sobs. "N-Now... I d-don't think I can keep h-her promise!"
Her machines, her greatest project... everything she worked for. Gone. She did not know what to do anymore. Twilight Sparkle, the city's greatest scientist, did not have an idea.
She sat back against the table her project laid on, losing the battle of holding back the tears. She was on the brink of breaking down then and there. Spike's whimpers also became louder as he remained in Twilight's arms.
"W-What am I g-going to do, S-Spike?" Twilight said inbetween gasps. "I-I p-promised her I would get this d-done, b-but now..." She finally gave into her sadness. "I-I've lost e-everything. I failed her!"
Spike tried to break free from Twilight's grasp, wanting to speak. "There must be something you can do. I mean, you've been working on this thing for, what, four years now? You can't give up. What would she think?"
Twilight's eyes shot open, remembering that there had been a reason why she kept working on this is the first place. Everything she worked on since that day, it was all because she had made a promise. But could she really be able to continue anymore? Was there still hope on completing this project? "She would think I've forgotten," she said weakly, getting back onto her feet. She placed Spike on the floor and walked towards a somewhat clear desk. There was a notepad sitting not to far from her chair, so she reached from the pad, grabbed a pen and began jotting down new machines and ideas for her creation.
"Wait, right now?" Spike asked. He stood next to Twilight's leg, looking directly up to the side of her face. "You don't want to take a break from all of this right now? I mean, a lot has already happened and you've been up for, like, five days straight."
Twilight, faced completely wet, did not look away from her notepad. "If you want to go to bed right now, Spike, the door's open, but I'm staying here tonight. If I want to finish this, I need to start right away," she explained with a monotone voice.
Spike pouted, Twilight still not looking, and slowly walked out of the basement lab. The only sound that could be heard now was Twilight's pencil scraping along the small piece of paper.
"I need more efficient generators so I can send a correct amount of power into the machine," Twilight mumbled to herself. She let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes under her glasses. "I'll also need a stronger metal to use as the shell for her... and I." She yawned again, eyelids slowly becoming heavier. "...and I..." She lost her grip of her pencil and her face fell on top of the notepad, falling into a deep slumber.
The Next Morning...
The sleepy girl felt something poke her. She groaned and tried to move around to get more comfortable. She was poked again. Her eyes slowly opened and saw that she fell asleep at her desk the previous night. "Spike? Is that you?" she asked, still half asleep. Her vision finally focused and she caught sight of a figure standing right beside her. A female figure but she was... made entirely of metal. Her hair was red with streaks of yellow. Her skin was orange, yet made of metal. Her eyes were teal coloured, but they glowed just like a TV in the dark.
"Good morning. You fell asleep on your desk last night and your body temperature decreased. I took the liberty of blanketing you to help keep your temperature at optimum level," she said with a metallic voice.
A blanket fell from Twilight's shoulders as she just stared. Before her... was her creation. It was working. It was alive.
The robot stared back at her. "Do you require further assistance?" it asked.
Twilight stood up from her chair. She got closer to the robot, which did not move an inch from its spot. She couldn't believe it. Even after everything that had happened last night, it worked. She caught her breath as tears began to form. "You... you work. You actually work!" said Twilight. She pulled it into a hug as she continued to cry with joy.
"I'm afraid I do not understand this act of affection," it said with the same blank on emotion voice. "Would you like me to 'hug back'?"
"Wait, what?" She moved away from the robot. It was then that Twilight immediately noticed something. This wasn't how she programmed it to act. Why was it acting like this? "What's your name?" she asked quickly.
The robot paused. "My system memory tells me that my name is 'sunset_shimmer'."
That seemed correct. "Okay, now what's my name?"
The robot didn't reply. Instead, it's eyes turned bright and shot a green beam over her. Twilight just stood still as it was happening. Finally, it's eyes turned back to normal and it spoke. "Name: Twilight Sparkle, Age: 24, Height:-"
"Thank you!" Twilight interrupted. "I only wanted my name." This was very strange. It didn't seem like the robot was working like it should. Was it because of what happened last night? "No, this isn't right. This wasn't how I programmed you to act."
She turned back to her desk and pulled out a thick cable from underneath. Along with the cable, she also booted up a laptop sitting in one of the drawers. Conveniently, it was one of the only things that weren't affected after last night's catastrophe. Twilight plugged one end of the cable into the side of the laptop and the other end into a socket at the side of the robot's head. "Let's see what was damaged," she quietly said, tapping her fingertips as she impatiently waited for her computer to load the machine's current status.
"My scanners tell me that you are feeling distressed," the robot said, staying completely still. "Do you require any assistance?"
Twilight ignored her creation. Eventually, the screen finally loaded with what she needed. Upon looking over it, she became very confused. There was nothing actually wrong with the robot. But why wasn't it working and acting like Twilight wanted?
"Sunset Shimmer?" The robot looked at Twilight upon hearing its name. "Is there anything damaged in your system at all?"
"Please stand by while I scan," the robot said before making various beeping sounds. It didn't take long for it to turn back to normal. "No internal or external damage detected."
Twilight gripped her chin. "Strange. Wait... what if...?" She went back to the robot and opened its chest compartment where she placed the hair strand. Except, the hair was no longer there. All that was left were a few grains of dust. Twilight gasped loudly. "The hair... it-it was burned in the process..." Her breathing increased dramatically as she groaned very loudly. She began pacing fast around the room. "Years of trying to perfect you... yet when you're finally perfect, it's all gone because I lost the single most important thing of this whole damn project!" Twilight kicked over her chair in a fit of rage.
The robot just stood there watching Twilight continue to rage on, punching and kicking already broken machines. It blinked and tilted it's head.
After taking her anger out on broken machinery, Twilight picked her chair back up and fell upon it, crying into her arms on her desk.
"My scanners now tell me you are feeling sad. May I be of assistance?" the robot asked, still in the same place.
Twilight shakily shook her head. "No, no you can't be of assistance," she said quietly. "You can't, because you're not her."
The robot now tilted its head to the other side. "I'm afraid I do not understand 'her'. Will being her improve your emotional level?"
Twilight quickly stood up, staring at the robot with rage in her eyes, cheeks completely stained with her tears. "That's the thing! You aren't her! You can never be her! That was the whole point of this fucking project! So it never felt like she actually ever left!" she screamed, only to then fall to her knees and sob loudly. She didn't speak again until her crying had calmed down enough for her to talk without shouting. "You were supposed to be her spitting image. That hair, it was supposed to give you her DNA, her knowledge, her memories, her kind, loving personality. Now that it's gone..." She tried to choke back a sob attempting to escape. "...th-there's nothing left of her."
"Who was 'she'?" the robot asked.
Twilight looked back up to the robot, eyes now bloodshot from the crying. She sighed and began explaining, "'She' was Sunset Shimmer. She was probably the greatest person I had ever met in my life. Ever since I joined her high school, she had been by my side almost the entire way through." She stopped for a second to wipe her eyes. "If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be where I am today. After she saved me at one point and taught me that friendship plays a major factor for achieving dreams, since friends can push eachother and encourage them to be the real best they can possibly be.
"But then, about when high school was ending, Sunset began acting strange. She seemed less... well, herself. She became much slower and weaker and for a while she didn't tell us until it became terribly serious. It turned out that Sunset had contracted a deadly disease and she didn't have the funds to help pay for medicine or surgery. We realised we had to step in when we found her violently vomiting into her toilet one day. So we got her into hospital and put whatever money we had so she could get the best care we could give her."
Twilight fought with herself to maintain her composure, but the dams were on the brink of crumbling. "Then the doctor tells us that she went too long without getting help and now it had spread beyond fixing or even slowing down... and because of that... she could leave at literally any moment. I was there with her during her last moments."
Four Years Ago...
Twilight walked through the long corridor of the hospital. Everyday when she was finished with all of her classes for the day, she would come up to visit her fiery-haired friend up in her bedroom. She had been visiting her for a few weeks now, and everytime she came, she was afraid of something terrible happening.
When she finally made it to the door she wanted, she lightly knocked on it and let herself in. There, sitting in a bed, was her best friend Sunset Shimmer.
"Hey Twilight," Sunset greeted weakly. "How was school today?"
Twilight sat her schoolbag at the side of the chair she chose to sit on. "Ehh, it was alright, I guess," Twilight said. "Though, Doctor Discord, while he's a pretty good guy and all, he really knows how to get right under my skin. I go to school to learn! Not to be told that he did something so hilarious during the weekend but not tell me what that thing was!"
They both laughed. Sunset's being much more cut short by her going into a coughing fit. Fortunately, it didn't take her long at all to calm down. "So, how are those plans for your little 'project' coming along?" she asked once more, forming a smile again, although it was small.
"They're coming along great!" Twilight announced enthusiastically. "And I can't thank you enough for letting borrow a strand of your hair to help out. I promise, when I finish this thing, it will be your perfect image."
"Kinda weird how you're making everything about it based on me, but it's still really cool." Sunset seemed to be getting more pale and slow.
"Are you okay, Sunset?" Twilight asked, heart beginning to pound.
Sunset took a little longer to reply. "Honestly, no, I'm not. In fact, it's getting much harder for me to stay awake." She looked at Twilight dead in the eye. "Twilight, I'm not sure I'm able stay for much longer."
Twilight could feel tears trying to escape her eyes. "C-Come on, Sunset, d-don't say that."
"I'm sorry, Twilight, but..." Sunset began coughing again. "...I think this is the end of the road for me." She laid down an open hand in front of Twilight. "Take my hand, Twilight. I want to finish my story with you."
Twilight hesitated, but she placed her hand within Sunset's, gripping it tightly as she tried to hold back from crying.
Sunset noticed this. "It's okay, Twilight. I know this isn't easy for you and you want to seem brave, but it's okay to cry."
With that, Twilight finally gave up and let herself cry. "I-I don't know w-what I'm going to do w-without you."
Sunset smiled sweetly at her, her own eyes beginning to tear up. "Yes, you do, because you won't be without me."
"W-What?"
"I will always be with you... Just promise me one last thing."
Twilight calmed herself down a bit. "A-Anything, Sunset."
"Promise me you will finish your project. I want to go knowing you are willing to go on even if I'm not there."
Twilight wiped her eyes, smiled through her sadness and nodded. "Okay, Sunset," she said. "I promise, I will finish my project, for you."
"Thank you..." Sunset's grip loosened and her eyes began to shut. "...Twilight..."
Then there was a long beep.
Present Day...
"...I left her with the promise that I would finish you no matter what. And I've tried, for the last four years, to keep that promise. I've gone through so many ideas which have all failed on me, then I finally find the perfect one, you, but then... well, I guess you know the rest of it," Twilight finally finished, more calm down than she was at the beginning of her story.
The robot stared at her with its blank of emotion face. "She sounded like she was very special to you," it said.
"She was..."
The robot looked down at its own hands. "Am I a failure like the past attempts?"
Twilight's eyes shot up at the robot in surprise. She thought over it and smiled. "No, you're not a failure. In fact, you're as perfect as can be, even if it isn't what I was intending for." She stood up and hugged Sunset. "Sunset's gone and I can't replace her with a exact copy. I guess I was dreaming a little too big. But that doesn't matter now. You're finally finished. You are perfect just as I promised her."
Sunset wrapped her robotic arms around Twilight, joining in hugging her. They stayed within each other's embrace for a moment before letting go.
"Come on, Sunset. Let's go and give Spike the big news," Twilight said, going up the stairs of her basement.
Sunset slowly began moving her feet, following Twilight up the wooden staircase. Her first ever time climbing stairs. She wasn't exactly what Twilight had hoped for, but at least she's happy with the way she turned out. Even if she's not truly perfect. Sunset walked through the basement door into a new world that she hoped to learn all about. And maybe eventually, she could become the Sunset Shimmer Twilight truly wanted.