Chapters Chapter 1: She's Alive!
“I really don’t think this is a good idea, man.” Kevin paced back and forth on the stainless florescent-white floor of the university’s genetics lab. Richard on the other hand was busy punching in information on the brand new Biological Nano-Level 3D printer. The machine was the first of its kind, a machine capable of printing living tissue, and even fully living creatures. Richard had secretly been using said machine to biologically engineer from the ground up a real living pony from his favorite show.
“I know you’ve been working on this shit for like a month, or something. But this is just insane. I love the show as much as the next dude, but you can’t use this thing to make your own real living ponies. It can’t be possible!” complained Kevin while excessively throwing his hands up into the air.
“Nonsense! I’ve thought it all out. All the necessary material is here. The machine is fully capable of printing living tissue. And, like I’ve said before, I’ve thought of everything.” He cockily winked at his friend before entering the last bits of information for his half-a-year long project. “And finished! Let the magic begin.”
The machine instantly got to work. It buzzed, whooshed, and crackled as it began the long complicated process of putting together the very first, my little pony, and then bring it to life. It was obvious to anyone familiar with the show that the pony being assembled was none other than Twilight Sparkle, due to the lavender hue of her coat. Though, as much as Richard had gotten right with his process, he had gotten a few things wrong as well. Twilight was shaped almost like an American football. Her legs were teeny tiny. The face was featureless, with big eyes where the irises took up almost all of them, and finally just a tiny little mouth.
The Twilight Sparkle imitation glanced back and forth between the big creatures in front of her with an empty looking stare. Just listening to them talk, thinking, planning…
“I can’t believe it. It actually worked! All my work has finally paid off!” Richard threw his hands up in euphoric excitement as he spun around in his chair.
“Dude… that barely looks like a pony,” said Kevin as he approached the small creature.
“What are you talking about? It totally looks like one from the show. It’s purple and everything.” Richard walked over to stand beside his friend so they could both observe the newly made pony.
“It looks like a football with stubby legs!” groaned Kevin as he turned towards Richard. “Just look at her! Sure, you got the mane, tail, and even the horn kinda right. But she’s still long and fat like a football, and the legs are shorter than my thumbs!”
“Those are just details my friend. Just look at her for Pete’s sake. It’s a tiny Twilight Sparkle Football pony, TM.” Richard pointed accusingly at his friend as he called trademark.
“Are you seriously calling TM on this… thing?” asked Kevin with a raised eyebrow.
“Damn skippy I am. She’s adorable, and she’s mine. ALL MINE!” Richard laughed maniacally as he held up the squishy little pony high above his head.
Twilight kicked her legs back and forth in a feeble and futile endeavor, and from her tiny little mouth came squeaks which had a remarkable similarity to a muffled chew toy for dogs. The comically adorable squeaks caused both Richard and Kevin to stop in place and just observe Twilight as she struggled in Richard’s hands.
“I can’t say I remember them squeaking from the show,” said Kevin while trying to hold back a laugh.
“Shut up! I did my best, okay. She’s as close to perfect as she could be,” grumbled Richard while placing the miniature Twilight onto a nearby desk. The curious little pony immediately started to wander around on the desk with her stubby little legs. She gently poked and pushed the different objects near her with her face, such as a coffee mug holding a myriad of writing utensils.
“Yeah yeah, you did your best and for what it’s worth, you did a pretty good job.” Kevin patted his friend’s back reassuringly. “I just have three questions, can she do magic with her horn? What are you going to do with her? And how much did it cost our university to make this thing?”
Richard stared at Kevin with a blank expression. “I shall answer your first question with, are you a moron? Of course she can’t do magic. It’s just a horn. And I’m of course going to take her with me home and do fun things with her. No way I’m leaving her here in the lab. Someone could steal her and infringe on my trademark! And for your final question.” He quickly slapped the back of Kevin’s head. “How about it’s none of your damn business?”
“Ow!” Kevin slowly rubbed the area Richard had struck. “Okay okay. Geez, I had to be sure she wasn’t magical and stuff like that. Also… by fun you don’t mean…”
Richard didn’t even dignify that with an answer and instead just struck the same spot on the back of Kevin’s head as a proper reply.
“Ow! Okay, okay, I get it. You are just going to do dumb shit with her. Enough with the hitting already.” He once again rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head, slowly shaking it as he walked away.
“Do you wanna come over to my place and see how smart Twilight actually is?” Richard grinned as widely as he could, positively filled with excitement for having his very own pony.
“I really wish I could, but I got an exam tomorrow. I enjoy the show and all, but I’m not a big enough fan to skip cramming info tonight, but I’ll totally come over once my exam is done tomorrow morning.” He picked up his backpack and swung it over his shoulder. “I hope you can keep her safe and sound till then. Or at least keep her alive…” said Kevin mockingly while leaving the lab.
“What a douche. Why wouldn’t I be able to keep her alive? She’s a pony, not rocket surgery.” Richard rolled his eyes and finally turned his attention back to miniature Twilight. “Oh dear!” What he saw was the bottom half of Twilight sticking out of the coffee mug she had pushed onto its side. Her stubby hindlegs were kicking wildly as she was stuck.
“Easy now, easy, don’t panic!” He carefully grabbed the mug with one hand and Twilight with the other, gently pulling on both of them while twisting the mug a tiny bit. A small pop sounded as Twilight’s upper body was once again free. The expression on her face filled with fear and panic.
He held her wiggling body up to his eye level as he stared at her in as motherly a fashion as possible. “Calm down, Twilight. Everything is okay. I won’t let you choke to death or anything like that ever again.” He smiled awkwardly while she stopped squirming and began staring at him, still a bit blue from her lack of breathing.
“I really hope I didn’t screw things up already…” He whimpered slightly at the thought of already having caused harm to his Twilight, but seeing her face return to its normal color was just the right amount of reassurance needed for him to forget that it was his carelessness that caused her to almost suffocate on a coffee mug. “Phew, seems like you’re alright.”
Twilight was placed back onto the table where she eyed the mug with puffy cheeks and narrowed eyes, occasionally giving it a cautious poke. In the meantime, Richard rolled away from the desk on his chair to pick up his backpack. “I better get you home so we can give you some less dangerous surroundings. Though, I wonder how I can make it less dangerous than an empty coffee mug…”
He gently swept Twilight up into his backpack, closing it just enough to make her incapable of escaping it, but not enough to block out all light. The opening also allowed her to breathe some fresh air. “Okay, this will have to do for transport, Twilight.” He carefully put on his backpack, went about the lab to turn off all the machines, the lights, and then lock it all down.
Richard walked out on the campus grounds of his university. The streets were almost completely desolated this late at night, and it didn’t help that several feet of snow had fallen during the day. Richard didn’t mind the snow at all though. It was a beautiful blanket of peace that put a damper on the otherwise noisy world he lived in. However, as much as he enjoyed the serenity and calm of a snowy landscape, his scrawny physique was grateful for him having remembered to bring a long thick dark blue winter coat with matching scarf and gloves.
The walk back home to his small apartment was an uneventful one. He didn’t really notice anyone around him. He was deep in thought about what he had actually created, and more remembering to peek into his backpack every now and then to make sure Twilight was alright. She seemed fine in there. Her eyes were closed and her breathing slow. “I guess you’re sleeping,” he said quietly to himself. “No playing with you tonight. I’ll just have to wait with that for tomorrow.”
He opened the door to his apartment as quietly as possible, taking off his shoes before stepping inside. He quickly shook off the remaining snow stuck to the sides and bottom of his shoes before placing them near the door. Never had Richard been happier about the thick gray carpeting of his place, as it greatly muffled his walking.
Like a silent ninja he went through the living room, snaking around the sparse population of furniture till he got to the bedroom. It had what one would normally expect there to be. A queen-sized bed with its sheets lazily curled up in one corner, a large desk with a computer on it and some staff for miscellaneous tasks. A closet filled with clothes, some shelves with all sorts of things, such as books, small memorabilia from trips, gifts from friends, and a few MLP Funko dolls. There were posters of a dozen or more shows he enjoyed taking up most of the empty wall space, and finally a TV on top of a small commode.
He looked around his room for a suitable place to keep Twilight for the night. “Eerhh… I think it’s safest for you to be inside my closet for tonight. Yeah, it definitely is. I don’t have anything else to keep you in, and it’s definitely not safe to just let you wander around the apartment. You’ll end up hurting yourself, again...” Richard formed a sort of nest out of some T-shirts at the bottom of his closet, gently placing Twilight in it while she slept.
“She looks so peaceful snuggled up in my clothes,” said Richard quietly as he stroked Twilight’s mane a few times. “Better get her something to drink for when she wakes up. Don’t think I have anything for her to eat though.” He went out of his room to fetch a small bowl of water which he placed near Twilight’s nest.
“There we go. You’re all set for tomorrow. Good night, Twilight.” The door was closed slowly and with that, it concluded the rather eventful day and the beginning for an even more exciting day tomorrow. Despite it being late, and Richard being tired, it was very difficult for him to fall asleep when he couldn’t stop thinking about all the fun he was going to have tomorrow. Though little did he know Twilight had been experiencing a sort of brain daze since her creation, and it was slowly wearing off, revealing the true nature behind those cold, empty, eyes.
Chapter 2: She's Learning!
Ponies were the bulk of what made up Richard’s dreams that night. Those cute, fluffy, tubby, and ever so small, little ponies in all the colors of the rainbow. It was possible for Richard to make any pony from the show with that machine. Every one of them could be his, and it was what he dreamed about. Though, among the sea of ponies was one who cried with her squeaky voice. She sat afloat in the distance, being solely visible because of a spotlight shined from the ever expanding darkness above.
No matter how hard Richard tried, it was like he was wading through molasses, only getting slower and slower the more he attempt to get close to the crying pony. Its squeaks got louder, and with them came an unsettling rapid bumping of flesh on wood. It echoed from all around him, quickly closing in, getting loud enough for his ears to hurt. There was no escaping it.
Beep Beep Beep
Richard’s eyes darted open and the disturbing images were pushed into the back of his mind as the alarm clock thankfully pulled him out of his sleep. One particular sound had however followed him out of his dreams and into reality, or was it reverse?
It only took him a second to realize that Twilight had woken up inside his closet and was bumping her body against the door as she was definitely trying to get out. She squeaked for help, and Richard felt very sure that there’d no end to those squeaks till he accommodated the little pony.
“I’m coming, Twilight. Just hold your horses, sheesh. I thought you’d be a lot smarter than this,” grumbled Richard as he lazily pulled his legs out of bed and sat up on his sheets.
He got up with a stretch and loud yawn as he went over to the closet, opening it up as carefully as possible so Twilight wouldn’t be able to run amok in his apartment. Not that he believed such a chubby little thing could actually run amok, but better safe than sorry.
Twilight’s wide eyes squinted into an oddly realistic size when presented with the morning light outside the closet. Richard chuckled ever so quietly as he observed her wobble out of the closet, almost falling over her own legs.
“Easy now, Twilight. My room isn’t going anywhere. You got all the time in the world to explore my place,” said Richard while placing a hand gently onto her back, giving it a few strokes to see how she’d react.
Though initially surprised and confused, she quickly found something desirable about getting petted as she leaned into his hand with every stroke. The sheer amount of joy Richard received from being able to pet Twilight was clearly visible on his face. A goofy smirk, which he couldn’t wish away even if his life depended on it, sat permanently fixed on his face.
“I could totally pet you all day… but, I don’t want to overdo it.” He looked around his room while thinking. “Maybe I could try to test your intelligence. I can’t believe how… well for a lack of better words, dumb you are, Twilight. I thought I designed you to be way smarter than a cat or a dog, or whatever it is you think you are.”
It was clear that she had adjusted to the lighting as she was once again capable of staring up at Richard with her usual vacant-looking wide-eyed stare when he talked to her, which was quite remarkable in and of itself. Richard almost felt like she understood that he was talking or at least what the point of his sounds was. Though, it didn’t seem like she understood a single word he was saying.
“Do you… understand me, Twilight?” he asked with hope in his voice.
She didn’t reply, she just stared vacantly at him, just like she had at any other given point when staring at him. A tinge of defeat swelled up in Richard’s heart as the little pony had yet to show any signs of being anything like the pony she was supposed to be.
“I guess not… hhhmmm… how about we try this.” Richard sat down in front of Twilight, patting the ground a foot away from her. “Go here.”
Twilight’s eyes carefully followed Richard as he sat down, and the sudden movement of his hand caused them to lock on to it with a dreadful fascination. Seeing it touch the floor was more than enough encouragement for her to move over there. Her little feet instantly began wobbling her over to where the hand had been so she could investigate the spot.
“Success!! Woohoo!!” yelped Richard. “I can’t believe it. You totally understood that, didn’t you?” It didn’t matter how many times he asked Twilight. She was never going to answer him when she didn’t understand a thing coming out of his mouth.
“If you can figure out stuff like that, maybe you can figure out a lot more things.” He gave Twilight one more stroke before getting up to leave the room. A quick run to the kitchen and back again was all it took for him to get to another experiment going with Twilight.
“Voila!” exclaimed Richard while placing a small apple in front of Twilight. “I present you with food my little princess. Hhhmmm… I should have made Applejack, she would have been super excited about an apple.”
The big shiny red apple, despite being relatively small for an apple, was rather large in comparison to Twilight. She marveled over its glossy hue and tantalizing smell as she approached it, butting her nose against the skin in her attempt to eat it. It initially came off as a comical view when the rather flat surface of her face attempted to bite into the almost flat surface of the apple. It was an amusing thing to watch for a bit as every one of Twilight’s attempts amounted to the same thing, she was unable to take a bite for whenever she got close to it, her forehead pushed the apple away.
“Here, let me help you with that, Twili.” Richard firmly gripped the apple so he could hold it still for her, allowing the first crunch to ring through his ears.
“There you go!” giggled Richard.
It was far from a charming view to watch Twilight eat an apple like this. The juices and bits of the fruit were smeared all over her face as she bobbed her head from side to side while munching happily away.
“Okay, I think that’s more than enough for you.” Removing the apple was met with a very unhappy squeak and two forelegs feebly flailing at the departing meal. “You’ve had more than enough food for now, stop squeaking already!”
“Hhmmm… what else can I do with you?” He asked out loud and scratched his chin. “I really should have thought this whole ‘creating my own real life My Little Pony’ pony through a little more.”
The environment outside the closet was still largely new to Twilight, and without Richard keeping her focus, the little pony began to wander like she had done in the lab. The bedposts were like wooden towers blossoming far into the sky. The shelves treasure troves ledging out from the steepest mountain she had ever laid her eyes on. Every breath of air felt so vivid, fresh, and filled to the brim with new scents, being strongly contrasted with the cramped dead air of the closet.
“Huh? Where are you going?” asked Richard while Twilight wobbled past him. “Are you… are you exploring my place?” He smiled warmly as she did indeed head towards the open door leading into the living room.
The bedroom already felt like a big open space filled with wondrous features. The living room, however, was a completely different kind of spacious. It was big open plains with furniture-mountains, though still surrounded by the always present sky-high wall-mountains. Her eyes glistened and sparkled, like her name would suggest, from once again marveling at the world she lived in.
Wobbling along the carpet was something she was steadily picking up on, getting faster and more precise in her movements with every step she took. It all made sense to Richard. Although she had the knowledge of walking, maybe even running, she had yet to actually do either of them, and needed enough practice to really get good at it.
“Well look at you. Off you go to explore the great unknown, all on your own” Richard kept on scooting bit for bit with her, keeping his distance, but always being close enough to watch any and all the things she did.
An exciting journey underneath the glass table, where Twilight constantly looked up to see the refracted sunlight, ended abruptly as she came face to face with the dreaded barricade of laundry blocking her way. The wall of seemingly, to her, unending fabric warded off any intruder with the help of a powerful odor.
“Yeah… sorry about that, Twili. I should probably have cleaned up my place a bit more before taking you home, or you know, creating you.” The phrase felt odd to say for Richard, having created her, a My Little Pony character.
“Hey. Don’t do that. It won’t end well.”
With puffy cheeks and head held up as high as it could, Twilight charged the brigades with the astounding speed of maybe a whole mile per hour. No magical wall was going to stop her from reaching the lands beyond the wall. Her stubby legs were however quickly devoured by the socks and soft fabric of the folded up sweatpants on the floor. Like quicksand she was pulled into the bundle and with every pull she could feel the teeny tiny chance of escaping slipping away from her.
“I told you not to do that. Here, let me help you out of it.” Richard leaned forward to take a nice firm grip on Twilight’s body. He pulled her out of the pile of clothes and onto the other side of it. “There you go. You breached the evil wall of clothes,” chuckled Richard. “What are you going to do now?”
Twilight neither responded with a squeak nor looked up at Richard; she just wobbled along with a course set straight for the kitchen. The tiles, albeit the same dull tones as the carpet stretching throughout the living room and bedroom, were yet another alien environment for Twilight to explore.
“No, no. You aren’t getting in there. I got knives and stuff that you could get hurt from.” Richard blocked Twilight’s way with a foot, constantly navigating it to circumvent her repeated attempts at eluding the devious adversary. His foot was a true monstrous villain to her, a long snake-like creature, besting at her even most thought-out movements.
Ding dong
“Great, someone’s at the door.” Richard groaned as he leaned down to pick up Twilight, carrying her away from the kitchen to find a more suitable spot for his little pet.
“This will have to do,” he said while placing Twilight onto a reclining chair. Having seen her struggle with something as pathetic as crossing rolled up laundry, the height of a chair would surely be more than enough to deter her from getting off it and back to the kitchen which taunted her in the distance.
“Who is it?” Richard opened the door just enough for him to see who was on the other side. His plan was however immediately foiled by the bright morning sun. Something he’d completely forgotten about due to always having the drapes and curtains over windows, privacy was important to Richard, and especially so when he had a one-of-a-kind pet.
“Argh! Why is it so bright out there!” groaned Richard while pulling away from the crack.
“I think the better question is, why is it always so dark in there?” commented Kevin before pushing the door open. “My exam went great, thanks for asking.”
“It’s the freaking snow. No wonder people go blind from it.” With one hand rubbing his eyes, Richard closed the door after Kevin.
“There’s barely any outside. Stop your whining already,” laughed Kevin while taking off his winter clothes so it could hang to dry on the lopsided hooks aligned next to the door. “Where’s the little bundle of joy at?”
“I put her on the recliner. The little thing is all out exploring my place, and she just won’t stop going into my kitchen. I had to put her somewhere where she couldn’t escape.”
Kevin eagerly tip-toed through the living room to make sure he didn’t frighten the little thing. Though, when he came to the reclining chair there was nothing but dust and crumbs on it.
“Erhm, I don’t see her, Richard.” Kevin leaned in over the chair to see if she had perhaps hidden herself behind it, and then leaned down to look underneath. “Nope, she ain’t here.”
“She was there literally 10 seconds ago! She moved like a freaking turtle before, how could she possibly get away from the chair?!” Richard stormed through the living room to push Kevin aside so he could examine the recliner.
It was as if a hurricane had spontaneously formed inside the house. Pillows were hurled to the sides; the recliner was pushed over, and just about anything in the room had been haphazardly turned upside down in Richard’s violent search for his lost pet.
“Sssh, Richard! Listen,” said Kevin while holding his friend back for just long enough to hear the weak thudding of wood on wood from the kitchen.
Richard flew towards the direction of the sound, almost falling over himself as he slid into the kitchen. There, next to one of the several wooden cabinets stood Twilight, repeatedly attempting to open them with her left front leg. Though the amount of force and friction only allowed her to open it for a split second before it closed on its own.
“Oh thank God, you’re alright,” said Richard while sighing with relief.
Twilight squeaked and flailed as she was pulled away from what she perceived as a mysterious compartment containing untold secrets, a giant wooden gate guarding a dark cave of exciting possibilities. The complaining squeaks slowly turned into pathetic sniffles and gnawing on Richard’s clothes as she was once again taken into the middle of the living room.
“She doesn’t look happy,” commented Kevin as he looked Twilight all over. “She kinda looks pissed at you.”
“She does?” A quick inspection of her face did indeed reveal pouty cheeks and wet eyes that were somewhat narrowed. “I guess she kinda does. A bit hard to tell with those eyes of hers… they mostly look completely void of anything.”
“But isn’t this great?” chirped Kevin. “She must be able to think a bit if she’s able to look pissed. We should really try to test her to see how smart she is.”
“Of course she can think! I designed her to be smart. Her brain is as kickass as ours are, just smaller… and really slow at setting in,” said Richard while placing Twilight back onto the floor, but this time Richard kept an eye on her as he talked things over with Kevin.
“I already kinda tested her wits earlier this morning. I tapped a spot on the floor in my bedroom and told her to go over to it and she totally did it,” bragged Richard. “I’m sure she’ll be a genius in no time.”
“Or she could just have reacted to your hand going down.” Kevin sighed and shook his head. “For a guy as smart as you, you sure can be an idiot.”
“Well Mr. Brilliant idea-guy… erh... what would you do to test how smart she is?” Richard’s attention became more unevenly divided between Kevin and Twilight as the little pony had begun mildly assaulting his foot, or at least it seemed like she was. Her body had fully embraced the appendage while she feebly sunk her teeth into the slipper he wore. Though, her teeth couldn’t even penetrate the fabric, so it just came off as an exceedingly stubborn hug.
“I’ll show you an extremely simple test to give her.” Kevin walked past Richard and into the bedroom, digging through one of the large drawers to fish out a small keyboard. It was placed on the floor next to Twilight upon returning to the living room.
“Okay, Twilight. Just try to do what I’m doing.” Kevin smiled warmly at Twilight who curiously eyed the new device in front of her. With one index finger, he pushed down a simple rhythmic pattern of five keys. The process was repeated several times while he made sure Twilight watched it.
“Great, you’re playing a song for her,” mocked Richard.
“Just watch,” replied Kevin. The sixth try of doing the small pattern ended one note short. Kevin retracted his hand immediately, not even bringing the finger near the missing note. Instead, he watched Twilight’s curious reaction as she wobbled closer to the instrument. Both Kevin and Richard watched with baited-breath as Twilight brought a hoof up from the carpet, as highly into the air as she could, and slammed it right back down on the missing note.
“You know what this means right?” squealed Kevin excitedly.
“That she’s about as smart as a monkey?” answered Richard with equal excitement.
“Well, yeah. But, it means she can learn all sorts of things. Maybe we can even teach her to talk!” Kevin repeated the keys a few more times with Twilight finishing each set.
“I really hope she’ll learn to speak… Then I can finally know if she has the memories I gave her,” mumbled Richard.
“What memories?” Kevin stopped his little game with Twilight, who was now just happy with playing with the different keys.
“I kinda programmed memories similar to what happened in the show. You know, so she’d be like Twilight, the actual Twilight Sparkle from the show.” Richard kneeled down to stroke Twilight’s back, being fairly satisfied with the warm smile he got in return from his creation. “Either I messed up her memories, or there is an actual personality underneath all of this.”
Chapter 3: She's Scheming!
“Weeks have I been trapped in these lands of illogical textures, strange odors, and weird creatures,” snorted Twilight to herself. “I cannot be safe out in the open. I need a place to keep me safe, to plan out my dominance of the giants.”
Stone after stone clashed together with thunderous applause, matching the harsh winds in her mane and lightning in the background. Twilight raised another block into the air with merely the strength of her face, placing it into the rows making up her majestic castle. Plenty more blocks awaited her guidance, all equally sized, all within her reach. She had a vision, and she was going to obtain her dream, no matter what.
“I think it’s soon going to storm outside. It’s only drizzling now, but those clouds in the distance look rather menacing,” said Richard while turning off the fan which seemed to bother Twilight.
“Erhm, what is she doing, Richard?” asked Kevin as he observed Twilight feebly push around wooden toy blocks to get them up on each other.
“I think she’s building a house or something?” replied Richard, standing now a foot away from his friend as both of them were slightly leaned in over the table Twilight wobbled around on.
“Maybe she’s making Canterlot! Would make sense that she’d build something from her memory,” chirped Kevin.
“It could be that… but I hardly think we can call five stacked toy blocks for Canterlot.” Richard groaned a bit. “I’m glad I got out all my old toys from my childhood and all, but… it doesn’t really seem like Twilight is getting any smarter. It was like she improved for the first week, but now she just seems stuck with where she’s at, intelligence wise that is.”
“But she’s gotten really smart! She definitely understands when we talk to her, she is building stuff, she is learning our world very quickly if you ask me,” replied Kevin as he helped Twilight place blocks into an actual wall.
“Magic… my magic is returning!” gasped Twilight as blocks flew around her. “They won’t be able to do a single thing against me once all my powers return Muahaha!”
“Yeah, I know she’s gotten smarter, but I just expected her to get to you know… our level of intelligence.” He sat down and sighed a bit while watching Twilight being amazed over the castle being constructed. “She hasn’t even learned to talk. All she does is squeak. It’s really cute, but I wish she could talk. Maybe I need to rethink how I made her, maybe I can make a better version.”
“Make a better version? What would you do with your first version, hm?” Kevin stared daggers at him for such an idea.
“I said maybe! Geez, calm yourself will you?” grumbled Richard. “It didn’t mean I was going to kill her or anything like that… Maybe I would sell her on ebay or something. I could get a fortune you know.”
“How could I possibly calm myself when you’re talking about replacing a sweet and adorable pony, and now you talk about selling her on ebay?!” snarled Kevin. “All kinds of sick things could happen to her if some weirdo bought her.”
“My humble keep is soon done, and not a moment too soon. I see the giants scheming in the distance. Their howls will always haunt me, but I can’t let them distract me from my task,” thought Twilight from within the small opening of her keep as she glared at them with her vacant-looking eyes.
“It was just a passing thought. Would you please relax, sheesh.” A hint of shame and anger crept into Richard’s face when realizing how bad his idea actually was. “Whatever…”
Richard rolled his eyes and leaned back in the chair with crossed arms, having been severely soured by Kevin’s insinuations. Kevin on the other hand sat down on the table with one hand on top of Twilight, as there was no roof on her castle, so he could gently stroke her back.
“Though, for as strange and horrific as they are… they really give the most fantastic rubs!” purred Twilight while leaning into the strokes.
“Look at her, she’s so happy. She’s like a way cuter cat. Have you ever thought about letting her outside?”
“You really think that would be a good idea? She could be spotted by someone who could cause problems. Or maybe she’ll die from the cold. I know there isn’t snow out there, but we are really still on the edge of the temperature dipping below 32 again.” He slowly shook his head at Kevin’s idea. “I have to keep her safe here, and things are going fine for now. She’s happy, I’m happy, and I’m totally going to make more ponies to help keep her company.”
“It’s not a bad idea… you got a forest less than a quarter of a mile away from here you know. Take her into the forest and let her explore it and stuff like that.” Although he wasn’t sure that Twilight had the home she deserved, he couldn’t help but smile at the idea of more ponies being made. “Well… which ones would you make? Perhaps the other mane five?”
“Maybe,” said Richard with a large grin plastered on his face. “I really got the unicorn base set already, so I could remove the horn part to make earth ponies. I still need to figure out how to make a pegasus… But I thought I would make another unicorn as my next one.”
“So, you’re making Rarity?” asked Kevin. “Wait, you still haven’t given me a reason for why you can’t take her out into the forest.”
“Because it’s not spring yet! We’re almost there, but till we get some green leaves on the trees, and some bushes on the ground, I’m not taking any pony outside to be seen in the naked woods. It’s way too easy to spot that little purple bundle of joy when there is no green around.” With an unimpressed stare focus on Kevin, he somehow leaned further into his chair. “Satisfied now?”
“Well, maybe!” pouted Kevin while getting up from the table, subsequently leaving Twilight alone as he went over to sit next to Richard. “So, were you making Rarity next?”
“I think I am, unless I can get my lazy ass to work on this stuff so I can make earth ponies and pegasi.”Richard took a sip of his bottle of cider.
“Wait, you haven’t been working on that for all this time? What the heck have you been doing for these last two weeks with her?” asked Kevin while stealing Richard’s cider as he was about to take another sip.
“I’ve been busy studying Twilight. You know, compiling all kinds of notes about her behavior and what she can do, and how she reacts to different things. I gotta make sure she’s all healthy and stuff. Now, gimme back my drink!”
“What about making Alicorns?” asked Kevin after having drunk the last bit of Richard’s cider, grinning proudly of his dickish move.
“You jerk! My poor cider… And pft, don’t be that guy.” He rolled his eyes in annoyance.
“What guy?”
“You know, that guy who makes an Alicorn OC and expects everyone to just love him and his incredible originality. I bet you’d want me to make a red and black one, wouldn’t you?” Richard chuckled loudly while getting up from his chair. “I’m just messing with you. I might consider making Alicorns later on. I think it would be super cool to have my very own Celestia and Luna.”
“Dude, my OC was incredible!..” grumbled Kevin. “I have to say I think that would be pretty awesome as well. Though, I still think you should wait a bit before making more ponies. I mean, look at Twilight, she still acts a bit… weird.”
When not being petted by Kevin, Twilight lurked like a little monster in her castle-cave, scheming, planning, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Her vacant stare could even be a bit unnerving when looking directly into her eyes, and even when she did react a lot with her facial expressions the eyes rarely shrunk away from that strange gaze.
“Yeah, she is an oddball for sure… Then again, wasn’t Twilight in the show rather odd? She went nuts over the tiniest things if you ask me.”
“Eh, not this odd if you ask me. Though, maybe I remember it wrong. Either way, I really think you should wait with making more for at least one more week.”
“Or maybe I’ll make another one when I freaking want to,” snarled Richard while opening up another cider he had stashed away under the reclining chair.
“Whatever, just be careful,” sighed Kevin, watching Twilight stare at them. “You know… she is really cute at times, but right now she gives me the creeps.”
“It’s the eyes isn’t it?”
“Yeah…”
Their titanic forms sat proudly in the far distance to Twilight. They were watching her, and she knew it. But, they were never going to get an ounce of knowledge for what she was planning. They were never going to breach her keep of darkness, not unless she wanted them to.
“You have been benevolent captures. But the time dawns upon you when freedom will be mine! I must find a way to return home… My dreams, I cannot stop dreaming about this home of mine, Ponyville… My friends await my return. And I shan’t disappoint them! My magic is fleeting for now, but it will return to me, some day. For now, I shall plot and scheme a method to end your warding oversight of me. You hear me giants! I WILL BE YOUR END!”
Her muffled squeaks steadily built up in sound till they reached the point where she had stood up and walked halfway out the open arch in her block-castle, squeaking loudly in defiance at the two humans.
“What in the world is she doing?” snickered Kevin.
“I don’t know… but she sure is… talkative,” chuckled Richard in return.
“Maybe she is complaining about something?” said Kevin as he got up from his chair, approaching Twilight to calm her down with some petting.
“Complain about what? She gets plenty of food, water, toys, and even petting from the both of us. I mean, I even got cool project ideas to give her some really neat stuff to play around with.”
“Like what?”
“You know. Things you’d find in Equestria. Stuff like that. You’ll just have to wait and see till I’ve made it for her,” mumbled Richard before taking a large sip of his cider.
“What do you want, monster? Don’t you know you cannot stop my quest, my resolve is… oh gosh that’s nice… right there...” squeaked Twilight as Kevin gently scratched the area behind her ears.
“There we go little Twilight, all is better now,” chuckled Kevin.
“Yup, that seemed to fix things. She’s easy to please. Still, I’m going to give her some really cool stuff in the next couple of days.”
“Don’t you think all your old toys are good enough?” asked Kevin while turning halfway around to look at Richard.
“Yeah, maybe it’s good enough. But what I have in mind is way better than all of this. Plus, I’m doing it for science. I need to research her some more, figure out things, you know?”
“So you can make better ponies?” Kevin raised an eyebrow suspiciously while his stroking of Twilight came to a halt.
“No! Well, maybe it’ll help improve the next couple of ponies. But, it’s more of a social studying thing. I wanna figure out how she thinks about the world, and if I give her the right conditions, maybe I can study her in her ‘natural environment’ instead of my place.”
“Are you saying you are actually going to try to build Equestria in our world?..” Kevin looked absolutely floored by that thought.
“No… Not all of it. Maybe just a little chunk she can live in, you know, for science.”
Chapter 4: She's In Equestria!
“Don’t you think you’ve taken this a little too far?” asked Kevin as Richard dragged some more things up the stairs to the guest room.
“Nope, not at all,” chirped Richard.
“Well… how much has this little ‘slice of Equestria’ cost you so far?”
“Erhm, nothing at all actually,” mumbled Richard hesitantly.
“Fine, let me phrase it another way then.” Kevin groaned in frustration, taking a deep calming breath so he could ask the question, “Where did you steal it all from?”
“Steal is such a harsh word. I rather say I, erhm, borrowed it without permission for an undetermined amount of time.”
Kevin couldn’t do anything but stand in dumbfounded silence as the realization of his friend having stolen a lot of stuff from the university hit him. He had already stolen the materials when he made Twilight, and now all of this, it was all adding up. He’d seen him drag stuff up to that guest room all week now, and it could only be a matter of time before someone found out what he was up to.
“Dude… you are going to get caught if you keep this up. How can’t people notice you stealing things like some kind of irrigation system, a lot of plants, and other things? What are you even doing with all this stuff?” asked Kevin as he began to walk up the stairs to the second floor where the guestroom was located.
“Nobody notices shit at our university, man. You just gotta know the right tricks and you can get away with anything.” Richard glanced over his shoulder as he placed a batch of plants, which could easily be mistaken for miniature trees, onto the ground. “I’ve already told you, I’m turning it into Equestria.”
“All of the room? Weren’t you originally going to rent it out to someone so you could get a roommate?” asked Kevin.
“Well, yeah, but I don’t really need the extra money. I can afford this little pleasure of mine, and besides, I’m doing it all science!”
“For science… right. I’m pretty sure you’re doing it just for your own…” Kevin’s eyes widened a fair bit as the door to the guest room was pulled open. “… Science.”
What was once a completely plain and boring empty room had been completely transformed. The ceiling was painted like a sky with clouds, and the walls with distant depictions of mountains, forests, and other landscapes in the style of the show. On the floor, from what he could see from the edge closest to them, was built a square box of some sort with wood and it had a fairly elevated edge. The box was used to store away a huge amount of dirt with a thin lair of grass neatly planted on top of it. In the middle of it all was carved a river with a drain at the end nearest to them, and some horribly looking cardboard mountains at the end furthest away from them where the water was pumped back to, to then flow down like a waterfall into the river. There was even scattered in between small trees and bushes, on both sides of the river, a handful of doghouse-sized MLP-designed houses for ponies to live in.
“Dude… you’ve outdone yourself… this is like, borderline creepy actually,” mumbled Kevin with a mixture of fanboy-awe and reserved disgust. “But at the same time, it’s really cool. How did you even know how to make all of this?”
“Science my dear friend, science taught me how to do all of this,” said Richard cockily. “My mother taught me all I need to know about gardening and stuff like that. I had a friend pretty much flat out design the water system, and the houses I bought online. They are kinda just dog houses, but they look like the ones from the show.”
“Well, it looks nice I guess. Where is Twilight by the way?” asked Kevin as he took a step into the room, only having about a foot of space in between the box and the plain old boring area of the room.
“Oh, she’s over there at the forest I’m still making.” Richard had sat down on his knees, pulling out one miniature tree after another to plant in the soil to what was indeed a forest of perhaps two dozen closely placed trees where Twilight stood at the far away end of it.
“She looks kinda happy in this place,” said Kevin with a smile.
“Yeah, I think she thinks she’s back home in Equestria. So, of course she’s all happy now.”
“The horror… It is as if I’m trapped in an illusion. I see the sun through stained glass. I even sometimes mistake the artificial cool winds for real ones. Though, things have only gotten worse now with everything having changed… Trees, grass, a river… I think this is Ponyville. No, it can’t be. I see nopony here… I can tell it’s not real, even if it looks like my home, it’s not!”
Twilight squeaked and squeaked which to Richard and Kevin sounded like nothing but joyful elation towards her surroundings. It was quite the sight to watch her waddle from one thing to another, even exploring the houses Richard had set up for her.
“The giants are tricking me! I see them! There, in the distance!” With a scowl she glared at the dark silhouettes. “Yes, they wish to fool me, but in the end, they are the ones who shall be fooled! As much as I would appreciate lodgings like the world which I come from, I know this is nothing but a fake, and it is insulting to a pony of my intelligence. I swear, this will be your last insult to me, strange giants.”
“Look at her talk. It’s like all she’s been up to since I put her there,” chuckled Richard heartily.
“Yeah, she must really love her new home. Though, I’m beginning to worry about what your next step will be with this. You’ve already taken your experiment to a slightly disturbing level… What’s next?”
“More ponies of course!” A grin of pure joy stretched from ear to ear on Richard’s face as he imagined them all. “While making this I’ve been making adjustments to the machine, and I will totally be able to make any pony from the show I want. In fact, I’ve already made one to introduce to Twilight today!”
“Really?! Who is it?” asked Kevin while giddily eyeing around for the new pony.
“Fluttershy!” exclaimed Richard as he proudly presented the chubby little pegasus. She was hidden away inside a duffle bag he had stored in the closet next to the guest room. The tiny mare slept happily inside the bag, completely unaware of anything going on outside of it.
“Aaww… she’s so cute!” Kevin was completely helpless in the presence of the chubby Fluttershy, and it was almost enough to make him forget to ask a very important question. “Wait… I thought you hadn’t figure out how to make pegasi yet.”
“Well, that was a week ago! I’ve figured it out since then. She got cute little wings and they work!” boasted Richard proudly. “Well, work is a strong word. It’s more like she can move them around and such, but she’s way too heavy to ever get off the ground.”
“Oh… well, how long have you had her?! Did you just keep her in a duffle bag till you were done making this stuff?!” groaned Kevin as he berated Richard.
“Of course not! She was freshly made today… geez, will you please calm down just a teeny tiny bit. I just wanted this to be done before introducing her to Twilight and vice versa.” With his head shaking from side to side, Richard placed both hands into the duffle bag so he could slowly and gently pull out Fluttershy and put her into the box.
Like an angel she descended from the sky and landed right in front of Twilight, who watched in surprise as one of her dear friends had suddenly appeared before her. The big wide-eyed stare of Twilight was met with the equally big eyes of Fluttershy, albeit half-open as she had just woken up from being moved.
“Fluttershy! My dear friend! It’s so good to see you. I thought I was all alone in this horrible place!” With a great deal of affection, Twilight did her best attempt at a warm hug, but the fact that their forelegs could barely reach their mouths made a hug almost impossible without them looking like two sausages mushing against each other.
“Well… I guess that will have to do for now. Tell me, where have you been? Do you know anything about this place? Did the giants kidnap and brainwash you as well?” A million questions were on Twilight’s mind, and she couldn’t even spare a second to let her friend speak before bombarding her. Though, all her questions were simply met with a vacant stare .
“Fluttershy, are you, alright?” asked Twilight with concern in her voice.
“ple!” squeaked Fluttershy while drooling ever so slightly.
“Ple? What does ple mean!? Don’t tell me they did the same things to you as well… it took me days before I could even be the slightest bit coherent… I guess you are…” Twilight was hesitant in saying what was on her mind, but unfortunately, Fluttershy confirmed what she was thinking when she tipped over onto her side to nibble at the grass pressing against their hooves. “dumb as a rock… For now at least! With enough time you’ll be as smart as me, and then, together we can figure out a way to defeat the evil giants and their dreadful tyranny!”
“There, now Twilight won’t ever get lonely again, and judging by the looks of things, she looks pretty happy now,” said Richard as he leaned against the wall, watching the interactions of the two ponies.
“Yeah, they do look happy… but Fluttershy looks a bit, off,” commented Kevin as he joined his friend with leaning against the wall.
“Well of course she does. Don’t you remember that Twilight was just as dumb as Fluttershy is now? She was literally a danger to herself and her surroundings… she nearly killed herself by getting her head stuck in a coffee mug… I think it takes them a while to get their brains going.”
“I guess you’re right. I still think we need to have a talk about your little problem…” sighed Kevin while turning towards Richard who adamantly avoided looking back at him.
“What problem? I don’t have any problems.”
“Dude! You’ve stolen how many things so far? You don’t think anyone is going to notice this at some point. Not to mention the fact that you used high tech machines and costly materials to make these two ponies. The university is bound to find out soon!”
“Pft, would you please just pull that stick out of your butt and relax. I’ve already told you, no one will find out anything.” With an annoyed groan, Richard bounced himself away from the wall with his back so he could leave before adding, “besides, I’ve taken precautions to make sure the University doesn’t notice what I’m doing with their machines. I’ve made some fake logs about running typical experiments. They won’t know what really happened, unless someone tells them…”
“You think I’d tell them?” asked Kevin while following after Richard out of the room, closing the door behind him. “I wouldn’t tell them anything. I’m just worried about it all going to hell… You know, bad stuff could happen to the ponies if you aren’t careful.”
“Don’t worry, I got plans for that kind of stuff if shit happens. The ponies will be just fine, nothing bad is going to happen to them.”
The arguing back and forth became more and more faint for Twilight and Fluttershy as the two of them went downstairs, leaving the two ponies all to themselves inside the guest room. The sun stood high in the sky, making their world so bright and colorful, and the quiet street outside meant that barely any noises but birds singing could be heard. Trees, grass, water, and dirt predominantly made up the smells around them, and it was as if for a moment, they were back home where they belonged.
“No! Fluttershy! Don’t get fooled by their tricks, we must stay strong!” cried Twilight as she stopped her friend from entering one of the houses. “There is nothing in there… they are as empty and hollow as the dreams they’re trying to sell us. We need to figure out a way to get out of this strange place. So, can we sit down and plan something. Maybe we could- aah!”
Twilight was caught by surprise as Fluttershy absentmindedly licked her entire face once, causing an awkward moment of complete silence where they both shared a long hard stare. Twilight’s eyes were filled with bemusement while Fluttershy kept on being as blank and empty as she could be.
“You aren’t going to do anything I say right now… are you?” sighed Twilight before stepping aside. “I guess I have no other choice than to let you do as you wish till you somehow snap back to reality… I hope it’s sooner rather than later, because I have a plan which I need you for. I have a plan indeed hehe, a plan to end the giants once and for all…”
Chapter 5: She's Trapping Him!
“Hold it steady, girls!” yelled Twilight from atop the living room table. “The giant shall be here soon, and this will be our one chance to defeat him! We’ve planned this for weeks, and the time has come to achieve freedom! Now begin our practice heave!”
At the door frame between the living room and bedroom stood two ponies on each side holding threads of yarn like a rope suspended at the opening. It was Pinkie Pie and Rarity on one side, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack on the other. Though, their practice of pulling the threads of yarn up didn’t go as well as Twilight had envisioned.
“What’s the status for our practice run, commander Fluttershy?” asked Twilight as she saw her friend crawling up onto the table, her hind legs wiggling wildly during the struggle to get up there.
“Phew, erhm… well, not that well. The recruits are a bit, wet behind the ears, Twilight. Pinkie Pie keeps falling over, Rarity is getting very easily distracted, and Applejack, well, she won’t stop chewing on her hat.”
Twilight sighed in deep frustration as she looked down on their disorganized group. Their trap to tip over the giant was never going to work if the four of them couldn’t even do something as simple as hold their strongest rope suspended for him to trip over.
“They’ve had several days to recover after the giant brought them here!” complained Twilight.
“Well, it took me over a week to learn things. I think they just need a bit more time, Twilight,” mumbled Fluttershy as she waddled her way over to Twilight.
The familiar sound of keys rattling in the distance triggered something within Twilight. They had journeyed all the way from the safety of their upstairs base to the dangers below. The giant was finally home to his keep, it was now or never if they were going to execute this brilliant plan of hers.
“Fluttershy, get your butt down there and get our troops in line. He is back! We can win this war once and for all. There will be no more casualties if we can pull this off!”
“But… there haven’t been any casualties so far, Twilight.”
“Are you trying to contradict me, soldier?” with intimidating steps, Twilight turned to go face to face with Fluttershy, staring her down in the best fashion she could.
“N-no, Twilight! I’ll get right down there!” squeaked and whimpered Fluttershy as she almost rolled off the table, onto the reclining chair and then onto the floor to do her best to wrangle in the disorganized group.
“Good. Yes, there it is. Come closer to us, every step you take is just one more step closer to your ultimate doom!” cackled Twilight, which to Richard merely sounded like tiny squeaks.
“I wonder what she’s so happy about?” pondered Richard out loud as he walked into the living room with several envelopes in his hand which he was taking to his bedroom.
Time was running out for them, and as much as Fluttershy tried to put the four ponies back on task, they proved themselves to be a task far greater than what she could handle.
“Oh dear, oh gosh. Please get up Pinkie. Here, take the rope, Rarity. That’s good!” squeaked Fluttershy before running over to Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
“Glad to see you’re still holding the rope, Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy before turning her attention to Applejack who still absentmindedly chewed on her hat, her big vacant eyes staring out at nothing particular. “Erhm, Applejack, would you mind it if you chewed on the rope instead?”
There came no response from Applejack, only more chewing of her hat which had gotten a lot worse for wear over the last couple of days. Fluttershy knew what had to be done, and without hesitation she grabbed the other end of the hat with her mouth and pulled it away from Applejack who wasn’t prepared for the tug.
“I’m really sorry, but I have to take it away for now, Applejack,” mumbled Fluttershy as she spat out the hat again and then picked up the rope. “But how about this nice and juice looking rope, hmm?”
No response, just an empty stare for the few moments she waited before gripping the rope with her mouth, chewing on it like she had done with the hat. “Well, I guess this is as good as it’s going to get, and not a moment too late.”
The moment Twilight had waited for had finally arrived, Richard was about to cross the border between the bed and living rooms, and there, high enough for his feet to get caught was their mighty rope of yarn, ready to bring the giant to his knees.
Each step boomed as he came closer and closer to the rope, it was now or never for Twilight, and she wasn’t going to let the chance pass. “NOW! HOLD IT UP!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
The rope neither rose or lowered more than it already was. The ponies holding it up weren’t very capable and at least, to Twilight’s comfort, they had it up just enough for Richard’s right foot to slip under it. Though, when push came to shove, it all fell apart. His foot did get tagged by their yarn rope, but as he pulled the foot up, all four ponies were dragged along for the small duration before the strings of yarn simply snapped, leaving Richard slightly confused.
“Huh, what was that?” asked Richard out loud as he felt a slight tug on his foot. Looking back only revealed two bits of yarn as the ponies were still hidden behind the wall, lying on their sides in the living room.
“That’s strange. I don’t remember yarn being here…” mumbled Richard. “I guess the little ponies must have found it and played with it, wait, these strings of yarn has been threaded together…”
“Dammit, dammit, dammit! How could this brilliant plan have failed?! We should have won the war right now. I checked the math on the rope, it was perfect for this trap.” Snarled and squeaked Twilight. “The ponies… It must have been the ponies’ fault! Yes, everything was perfect. It must have failed because they weren’t trying hard enough. I guess there needs to be a lot more training before these idiots are ready for another attack on the giants.”
“Twilight! What are we going to do now. The plan’s failed, and what is the giant going to do to us if he finds out what we did?” whimpered Fluttershy from the floor, trying her best to herd their four soldiers towards the stairs for a tactical retreat.
“He won’t find out, commander. The giants are far too dumb to notice our schemes. We’ll simply head back to base and come up with an even more brilliant plan. I’m certain our next one will work!”
From the doorframe Richard watch the absurd sight of six small ponies waddling away in a hurry towards the stairs.
“What in the world is going on here? How did all of you get out of the guest room? What were they even trying to do down here. This is really strange…”
Curious and confused, Richard picked up the six miniature ponies, holding them firmly in his arms as he carried them upstairs while they wiggled and nibbled through their transportation. Upstairs he was met with the sight of the guestroom door standing ajar, though nothing indicating how it had opened up.
“Hhmm, maybe I left it open before I went outside… Perhaps I should set up something to keep an eye on all of you. Whatever, time for all you to go back to miniature Equestria,” chuckled Richard while placing each one of them down into the box as carefully as he could. “Now could you please stay here for a little while longer? I have to do some studying and homework. But, I’ll totally be back in a few hours to have fun with you girls.”
Twilight watched in horror as the giant hand gently stroked Applejack who had once again returned to eating her own hat. Disgust filled Twilight’s heart as she could see, even through the vacancy of her expression that Applejack actually enjoyed the attention she got from the giant. Though, she could remember her time before intelligence, and those petting sessions were something else.
“This will be our last defeat, evil giant!” With him gone, Twilight went about to check up on her troops. “I’m disappointed in all of you, especially you, Fluttershy.”
“But, I did the best I could, Twilight,” whimpered Fluttershy while helping Pinkie back up on her hooves as she had once more tipped over.
“Well, it obviously wasn’t good enough.” Twilight sighed frustrated. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. It wasn’t your fault. I’m just a bit, frustrated. I want us to get out of this horrible place and back to Equestria as soon as possible, but I guess we have to take some more time to help our friends regain their senses and memories before we can even think about another plan.”
“It’s okay, Twilight. I know your heart is in the right place. Why don’t you help me with Applejack. We gotta be able to do something so she’ll stop chewing on stuff all the time, it’s bad for her teeth,” said Fluttershy in her usual calm and sweet manner, walking towards Applejack after having helped Pinkie.
“I’ll help, I’ll help,” mumbled Twilight. “I guess we won’t be making any new plans or much progress for the next week. But, once our friends have recovered fully, we’re going back to the drawing board, and we won’t stop until we’ve come up with the perfect plan to stop the giants once and for all!”
