Anima: The Creation of a Princess
Anima: Creation of a Princess
Chapter 1: Up And At 'Em
"Spike, could you go get my notebook?" Twilight called from the basement of Golden Oaks library.
"Which one?" he called back. "You have, like, a jillion of them!"
"The one that has my cutie mark on the cover!"
"Okay, that narrows it down to about half-a-jillion!"
With an exasperated huff, Twilight clomped all the way up to her study to find it herself. Spike was a very good assistant and a great friend, but there are some things that a mare just needs to do herself.
"Nice to actually see you, Twi," Spike greeted." Normally you're only a vague purple blur in the corner of my eye that darts to the kitchen and darts back down to your lab again. Don't you have some official royal business to take care of??"
"Spike, just because I'm an Alicorn doesn't automatically mean I have to run a country and do all the political wheeling and dealing that Celestia, Luna, and Cadence have to. I'm still getting used to this whole wing thing, too; what good would I be as an Alicorn Princess if I can't even fly?"
"I'd prefer to see you failing at flying than not at all," Spike answered back dryly.
"Spike, you can come down to the lab and see me any time, it's not like I'm keeping you out of there."
"I'm just concerned, that's all," Spike said. "You haven't come up out of your lab for more than an hour or two a day for the past few weeks. Your friends have been asking around for you but you 'demanded to not be disturbed lest you lose your spark of brilliance', so I've had to keep turning them away. What could be so important that you'd shut yourself away like this for it?"
Twilight felt her heart jump up to her throat. It had been absolutely killing her inside to spend so much time alone with her work, but if what she was working on panned out it could very well re-shape the course of history. Besides, she was getting very close to completion with her project, so it wouldn't be too much longer without pony contact before she could unveil it.
"Spike," she began as she balanced her notebook on her back, "I'm really sorry about the position I've had to put you in these last few weeks, but you need to believe me when I say that this could be the biggest discovery of my life. It could even redefine the very meaning of life, and I'm very close to completing it, but I need your help to make sure this stays a secret until the time is right. Can you please help me out for just a little while longer?"
"... Alright," Spike answered, "but if this goes past the weekend I'm gonna schedule you an intervention. You haven't seen the sun in so long your coat's starting to get pale."
"Thank you so much, Spike! You won't regret this, I swear!" Swiftly Twilight scooped Spike up in a great big hug before cantering back down the stairs. With a thud and a click of the lock Twilight sealed herself down in the lab she had retro-fitted out of Golden Oaks' basement.
The lab was littered with all sorts of devices, widgets and doobobs of every sort. Dimly lit screens displayed reams of numbers and letters, strange liquids bubbled away merrily in their flasks, and in the center of the room was a steel table where her masterpiece lay covered by a sheet. Twilight set her book down and flipped over to a page she had marked for just this moment.
"Now if I can calibrate the MRC in just the right way so as to kickstart a self-sustaining reaction..." she muttered as she leafed through her notes. They had all been jotted down over the course of the last several months of theoretical and practical research and experimentation, and they would prove essential to her plans if it came to pass.
Twilight gently floated her notebook away and readied herself for the first full activation of her experiment. Diligently she flipped the various switches and dials on her consoles, like an old watchmaker going over her crowing achievement. With a snap of the headband on her goggles she moved to the steel table and gently laid a hoof on her creation.
"They're going to love you," Twilight mused, "I just know it."
Determination filling her chest, she began the process of bringing her magnum opus to life. Methodically she connected all the attendant wires to their ports, taking care to make sure that each and every one was exactly where it needed to be. The coils of rubber and copper all led back to a machine that at the moment seemed inert, but would soon spring to life to fulfill its task.
"This is it," she said as she faced the machine with horn aglow. "Do or die, Twilight."
A loud zap and a bright violet light erupted from her horn, filling the machine with magic as it greedily drank the energy in. After a few seconds of sustained fire she let her own stream of magic die off to see how the device was holding up. Inside a glass vacuum tube and arcing between a pair of pylons was the magic she had drained into it, both contained and liberated at the same time.
"The containment flask is holding up... so far so good," Twilight noted. It had taken her the longest time to figure out how to contain the magic she was going to use for this experiment, almost as long as it took to design and build her creation itself.
The next step could ultimately prove her correct and make all this effort worth it, or put her long hours of work and study to waste and send her back to square one. The tightness she felt in her chest could crush steel. With a sigh of worry and a flip of a switch on the containment device, she watched all the magic flow down the wires and into the device on the table.
Twilight could tell immediately that something was going wrong; the experiment on the table was starting to jutter with movement as the magic flowed into it, but far more violently than she anticipated. Would her newly granted Alicorn magic prove too powerful for it, or was there possibly some flaw inherent in it that she had missed.
"No, no no no!" Twilight yelped as she checked her screens and printouts. "This isn't right, there's too much power! I need to shut this dow—"
A blinding green flash and a resounding explosion shook the lab and knocked Twilight clear off her hooves. After a few minutes that seemed to be years her ears stopped ringing and she could see again, but it wasn't a pleasent sight. Her lab was in shambles, the containment device a twisted hunk of scrap metal and melted glass, and her creation still lay on the table, just as motionless as when she had started.
Blearily she got to her hooves and made her way through the wreckage to the table. The sheet had blown off of her creation and the table was still warm to the touch, but there wasn't a sign of life to be found in it.
"Oh no," Twilight murmured as tears sprang to her eyes. "It was all for nothing. All those months, all those excuses, everything I put my friends through... all for nothing."
Before she knew it she was face down on the table, head in her hooves and wracked with sobs. She had tried so hard for so long to make this work, and now it seemed that all of this was just a pale dream.
So hard were her sobs that she didn't even notice the tiny whir of a cooling fan, the warm pine green light that her creation was giving off through its eyes, or the fact that it had just sat up by itself and was looking at her with a worried expression.
"Are you okay?" the creation asked, its voice soft and nurturing with only the slightest mechanical flange.
Twilight's sobs stopped with a few hiccups, and slowly she turned her gaze upward to the dull white face framed by a bobbed black mane staring back at her. Her hair was done up with a hairband the same color as her eyes and she wore a small heart shaped locket around her neck, all to Twilight's specifications.
"You seem upset; is there something I can do to help?" it asked with a reassuring smile.
Twilight's sadness melted away immediately, replaced by an ecstasy so powerful it was almost certain to burst out of her chest.
"You're... You're alive," Twilight gasped. "You're alive! You're alive!!"
Quickly the door to the basement flung open and Spike bounded down the stairs as fast as his little legs would take him.
"Twilight, are you okay?!" he asked. "I heard an explosion, and while I'm certain that you can take care of yourself I just wanted to mak—"
Spike!" Twilight said with glee "It worked! The experiment worked! Everything worked!"
"Uh, what worked?" he asked back, still in mild shock.
"She worked!" Twilight answered back, gesturing to the unicorn on the table. "Listen, I know this might seem weird, what with the lab a smoking crater and me giggling like a schoolfilly, but this is easily the most important thing I've ever done in my life!"
"Well, what did you do?" Spike asked
"I created her! Send a letter out to Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash; tell them it's urgent and that they need to get over here now!"
"Uh, okay, sure!" Without a moments hesitation he pattered his way back upstairs to start writing while Twilight went back over to her crowning achievement.
"Are you alright, miss?" the unicorn asked.
"I'm better than alright Anima, I'm ecstatic! You're alive, and that means that all those months of work and research weren't for nothing and this could change the world! You could change the world! Don't you see, you are the best thing to ever happen!"
"Um, what did you call me, miss?" the unicorn asked.
"Oh, right, sorry; I got so caught up in all of this celebrating that I forgot to do introductions," Twilight said with a slap upside the forehead. Straightening herself up and brushing some of the dirt and debris of herself, she continued.
"Ahem... My name is Twilight Sparkle, and your name is Anima. Your name is an acronym that stands for Artificial Neural Intelligence Mindscape Actuator, but I shortened it down to Anima for common use. I created you, right here in this room. Do you understand me so far?"
"I... I think so," Anima answered. "You are Twilight Sparkle, and I am Anima, and you made me here in this room."
"Very good, Anima," Twilight replied with barely contained enthusiasm. "Is there anything you'd like to ask me before I do some diagnostic work on you and make sure everything is running smoothly?"
"Yes, please, Ms. Twilight," Anima replied. "If you created me, then what was I created to do?"
"You? You were created to live, to go outside and experience things, to learn and to grow and to make friends."
"To live and learn and grow..." Anima repeated. "I would like that, I think."
"Trust me Anima, you will like it. Now," Twilight continued as she made her way over to one of the less battered computers in the room, "I need to run a few tests on you and make sure that everything in you is running alright; waking you up did a number on the lab and it would be better to be safe than sorry. This'll take a little while, so feel free to ask me whatever you want in the meantime."
"I'd love to!"
* * *
Anima: The Creation of a Princess
Anima: Creation of a Princess
Chapter 2: Introductions All Around
The atmosphere in Golden Oaks was tense, to say the least of it. Spike had gathered up Twilight's friends like she had asked, but as far as Twilight could tell they seemed a little bit miffed. Even Pinkie Pie's normally infectious cheer seemed a bit subdued, and it wasn't like she could blame them; she had been blowing them off for the better part of a month-and-a-half while she worked on Anima with next-to-no explanation for why. That'd be enough to drive most ponies away permanently.
Still, Twilight knew her friends; while they'd certainly be upset, once they saw Anima they'd understand why she had been so single-mindedly focused on this project. With a final dusting off of her coat and fix of the mane, she fully opened the door to the main floor of the library.
"Well, look who finally decides to show her face?" Rainbow Dash spat. "Glad to see we're so worth Her Majesty's time again."
"Rainbow!" Rarity shot back. "That is no way to behave!"
"It's alright Rarity," Twilight interjected. "I kind of deserved that."
"No kidding," Rainbow muttered with a snort.
"How've you been holdin' up, sugar cube," Applejack asked, more concerned than mad. "I mean, it's not every day that a newly christened Princess falls of the grid like this, and I think what Rainbow was tryin' to say is that we've been really worried about you."
"Yeah!" Pinkie added. "I even came up with a bunch of really cool ideas and theories for why you disappeared like that! At first I thought that Celestia and Luna were trying to get you ready for being a Princess, but then I thought that that wouldn't have taken this long so then that's when the really weird ideas started coming out! Like alien invasions, or you got teleported to another dimension where everyone walks on two legs!"
"I thought you had gotten sick of us..." Fluttershy murmured.
"Oh no, of course not!" Twilight replied. "I would never get sick of any of you! It's just that I've had a lot of stuff on my mind ever since I became an Alicorn, and I just couldn't shake the idea that something else changed in me besides getting wings and a bunch more power."
"What do you mean by 'something else'?" Rarity asked.
"Honestly, it'd take too long to try and explain with words, which is why I have this." With a flash of violet light a whiteboard about as long as the rear wall materialized behind Twilight. It was covered stem-to-stern with just about every type of mathematical and scientific formula imaginable, as well as enough tiny notes and and papers to fill a dictionary. In the center were a set of diagrams detailing Alicorn anatomy, with one section at the base of the skull circled in red marker.
"Well I'll be," Applejack said, her voice low with awe. "Now I believe you when you said you needed time for all this; my head's spinnin' just lookin' at that board."
"So is this the part where you start explaining things, or are we supposed to just look at your nerd stuff and take that as an apology?" Rainbow Dash asked, venom still thick in her voice.
"Yes Rainbow, this is the part where I start explaining things," Twilight replied as she pulled out a meter stick and pointed to the anatomical drawing. "This, as I'm sure you can guess, is an anatomical drawing of an Alicorn. Specifically, this is one I drew after doing a lot of self-exams and scans on myself."
"Do we want to know the details?" Applejack asked.
"Probably not; the details that aren't horrifically boring are probably not for more delicate ears to hear. What I want you to pay attention to is this part here," Twilight continued, pointing to the circled section.
"What makes that part so special?" Rarity asked. "That looks like the Gramarius organ that all unicorns have to produce their magic.
"Very astute observation Rarity!" Twilight replied. "How'd you know that?"
"What, you don't think I read anatomy books from time to time? Being a fashion designer means that I have to take differences in physiology into account, and that little organ can sometimes change a unicorn's head shape. I tend to give my unicorn specific couture high collars to help hide it."
"Every day's a new adventure in fashion with you, isn't it?" Applejack asked with a sly smile.
"There are quite a few things you don't know about me, Applejack," Rarity curtly replied.
"If we could get back to the whiteboard," Twilight said, steering the conversation back on course. "This organ, as Rarity pointed out, is responsible for a unicorn's ability to produce magic. I won't bore you with the specifics on how it works, but it involves a lot of biochemical and bioelectrical reactions. However, as I analyzed mine I noticed something odd. Do you see this thing sticking off of the back of it?"
Everypony crowded around the board and stared at where she was pointing. Just as she said, there was a small ovular nub sticking off the back of the organ. It seemed no larger than a standard pencil eraser, but Twilight knew that it made all the difference.
"So, what is it?" Rainbow asked with genuine curiosity. Twilight could feel the knot of tension slip away.
"That, my fine feathered friend, is what I call the Magical Recombination Cortex, or MRC for short. It is a small gland located at the back of the skull that has a very special purpose in Alicorn anatomy; it allows us to filter magic from the environment and wasted energy that is given off as light and heat from normal spell use."
"But, what exactly do you mean by that?" Applejack asked. The confused looks on her friends faces told Twilight that she'd have to put it in terms they could relate to to fully grasp the magnitude of what she was saying.
"Think of it the way you'd think of your lungs," Twilight continued. "It does for the Gramarius what the lungs do for your bloodstream; your lungs filter oxygen out of the air for your cells to use, and your red blood cells store oxygen to be used later. The MRC, by comparison, takes ambient magical energy from the environment and from contact with other spell-using unicorns to feed an Alicorn's own stores of energy, as well as providing a means of storing excess magical energy for later use."
"So, your saying that if I used a spell right now, a little bit of its energy would go to you?" Rarity asked.
"Precisely! It wouldn't be a noticeable amount, and it would mostly come from the waste energy that performing a spell gives off as light and heat, but yes."
"What about the energy I give off in laughter and hugs?" Pinkie interjected.
"Probably not that type of energy, but I appreciate that you're getting the concept," Twilight replied.
"Okay, I'm no expert on magic stuff," Rainbow said, "but something tells me that this isn't all you've been doing for a month-and-a-half. This is foal's play compared to some of the stuff I've seen you pull of with that brain of yours."
"And you would be correct!" Twilight continued. "This isn't all I've been doing, this was just the first couple of days. After finding out about the MRC and what its function is, I started to ask myself if I couldn't make it better. That eventually lead me to what is quite possibly the greatest achievement in my entire academic career, a discovery that could possibly change the way we view life itself!
"Well, spit it out then!" Rainbow shot back. "What is it?"
There were murmurs of agreement from Twilight's gathered friends, and the swell of pride and nerves in her chest couldn't be abated any longer.
"Okay, I'm going to show you something that nopony has ever seen before. This is gonna be weird and maybe even a bit scary, but I need you to trust me on this. Can you do that?"
Collectively they all nodded in agreement, and with their affirmation Twilight turned and opened the door back down to the basement.
"Alright, you can come out now," she called down. There were a few hesitant hoofsteps coming up the stairs that stopped just shy of the top step. Anima's soft voice said something to Twilight, a hesitant confirmation that she was nervous. It was a situation she could certainly empathize with.
"It's alright, they're friends, like me. They're here to be your friend," Twilight said in the calmest and friendliest voice she could muster. Seemingly bolstered by her creator's words, Anima stood tall and walked out into the main floor of the library. She blinked her eyes in the light, the soft click of her plastic eyelids the only sound in the room save for somepony dropping a pin.
"Girls," Twilight announced to the shocked faces of her friends, "this is Anima, the world's first artificial lifeform."
The tension in the room could be cut with a butter knife, and for the longest while nopony seemed to say anything. It was a standoff of sorts; nopony wanted to be the first to let the other horseshoe drop. Thankfully, Pinkie Pie's enthusiasm finally got the better of her.
"Hi Anima!" she called out as the first to break the ice. "I'm Pinkie Pie, and I'm really only talking right now because nopony else is. How are you?"
"Um, a little nervous to be honest with you," Anima replied.
"That's okay, I used to get nervous a lot when I met new ponies! You'll get used to it."
"Wait wait wait, hold on a minute," Rainbow Dash interjected. "I get that this is a really huge thing and all, but what does she have to do with what you just told us about the Alicorn organ thing?"
"I'm glad that you asked actually," Twilight answered. "See, as I was studying the MRC and its relationship to the Gramarius, I realized that the Gramarius does more than just produce magic; it circulates it as well. If the MRC is like your lungs, then the Gramarius is like the heart, and it's actually something the every pony type has. It just happens to be more prevalent in unicorns since they're the only ones that can produce functional magic at will. As a result, it was just assumed that only unicorns had one."
"But what does it do for pegasi and earth ponies?" Fluttershy asked.
"For pegasi it gives them their ability to manipulate the weather and stand on clouds, as well as providing the necessary awareness needed to fly. It's a little more esoteric for earth ponies, but as far as I can tell it gives them a deeper connection to the land and a natural ability to cultivate it, and it also seems to speed up recognition of one's Cutie Mark talent."
But how does this relate to Anima?" Rarity asked "I mean, she's a unicorn in appearance, but can she actually do magic?"
"Yes, and what's more she's powered by it," Twilight replied as she walked back over to her board and started pointing out to various formulas and diagrams. "See, I realized that the Gramarius and the MRC working in tandem can form a functional and self-sustaining energy source for something like this, I just needed a way to make it artificially and give it a little magic to kickstart the reaction. She has a special electrolyte fluid running through her that channels the magical energy and keeps her going, and just being active and awake gives her the energy she needs to function because of the MRC's filtering of magic from the environment."
The little impressed noises her friends made started to ease the tension of the situation; they didn't seem to be mad anymore, and even Rainbow Dash looked genuinely curious as opposed to the sullen expression she had when Twilight walked into the room. Their looks were expectant, and she could tell that they wanted more information on Anima herself.
"Well, now that the ice is sufficiently broken, I suppose I should do introductions," Twilight began. "As I already said, this is Anima, and she's the world's first artificial pony. Anima, these are my friends; Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike." She took it in turn to point all of them out so Anima would be able to recognize all of them.
"Um, hi, everypony," Anima greeted with a shaky wave. "It's, uh, nice to meet all of you."
"The pleasure's all ours, Anima," Applejack said. Quickly she extended her forehoof in a friendly hoofshake, to which Anima drew back a bit.
"You'll have to excuse her, she was only just activated," Twilight said. "She needs time to get used to socializing and things like that."
"Oh, right, sorry," Applejack replied. "If that's the case, is there anything you'd like to know about us, Anima?"
"Oh, yes!" Anima answered, interest immediately sparked. "Whatever you can teach me, I'd love to know!"
"Well, isn't she quite the eager beaver," Rarity said with a chuckle. "Gather 'round girls, I think we're going to have quite the story time on our hooves."
After setting out some comfy pillows and getting everypony settled in, they all took it in turns to explain who they were to Anima; where they live, what they do, where they come from, things of that nature, as well as some general small talk. Twilight's heart soared with pride and affection as she watched all of her friends getting along so well with Anima. She knew that they would, but after so long of blowing them off she had worried about how they'd treat Anima for being the cause of her reclusiveness. They talked the whole day away, and before anypony knew it the sun had set and the town had settled into its nightly routine.
"Whelp, I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat," Rainbow Dash said. "I mean, it's already past 9 o'clock at night, and Tank's gonna be hibernating soon so I want to get some more time in with him before that. I'm gonna boogie."
"I'm afraid that I've gotta get goin' too," Applejack continued. "Harvestin' time may be over but that still leaves Big Mac and I with the task of cratin' up all those apples to send off all over Equestria. This was really fun though, and it's nice to see that you're doin' well, Twilight."
"Glad to hear it," Twilight replied. "You are right though, we all should probably turn in. It's been a long and really weird day, and I need to figure out sleeping arrangements for Anima."
"She doesn't have a bed yet?" Fluttershy asked.
"Afraid not. I wasn't quite sure how we'd handle the situation given that she's a robot, but it'd seem a little cruel to not give her a place to sleep if she wanted it. I can sleep down in the lab tonight and she can take my bed, I suppose."
"Uh, Twilight, you blew the lab up this afternoon, remember?" Spike interjected.
"Oh, darn it, that's right!"
"Um, I have an extra bed at my place," Fluttershy began. "If it's okay with you, Anima could stay with me until you get her a bed of her own."
"Ooh, that'd be so fun!" Anima exclaimed as she sprang to her hooves. "In fact, I could take turns staying with all of you!"
"Woah woah woah, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I mean, you aren't even a day old yet," Twilight chastised.
"But if my purpose is to learn and live and make friends, then wouldn't meeting as many ponies as possible and going as many places as possible be the best way for me to do that?"
Twilight thought long and hard; as scary as the idea was, letting Anima explore the town unfettered would be a great way for her to learn how to socialize and make friends. Plus, her friends would make sure she stayed safe, and it would certainly go a long way to restoring some of the lost faith she had from her nearly two months of being a hermit.
"...I just... I don't know," Twilight said with a sigh. "Girls, would that be alright with all of you?"
"Sure, I could teach Anima a thing or two about farming, and I'm sure Apple Bloom would love someone new to hang out with," Applejack said. "Granny Smith on the other hoof..."
"Ooh, when she stays with me we could do baking and she could help me run Sugar Cube Corner and we could stay up late and do each other's manes and ooh this is going to be so much fun!" Pinkie replied.
"If you can figure out a way to get her up to my house, then she could totally crash with me for a while and watch me do my sick stunts and learn all about weather control. Don't know how Tank'll take to her, though," Rainbow added with a thoughtful expression.
"Tell me Anima, are you good and holding perfectly still?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah, I can lock my servos up whenever I want so that they don't move a millimeter. Why?"
"Because I have been in desperate need of a pony to help me with some new fashion designs I've been working on, but they're very delicate and any excess movement from a model could cause them to come apart. Think you could lend a hoof with that?"
"Absolutely! I don't really know much about fashion, but I'd love to help out and learn," Anima answered. "So, I guess that's everypony in agreement then. Is it okay, Miss Twilight?"
Seeing Anima's hopeful expression combined with the generous offers of all of her friends absolutely crushed what little resolve Twilight had against the matter, and with a smile she gave her answer.
"Okay Anima, you can go and stay with my friends for a while. Just make sure that you stay in touch, okay?"
"Oh, I will, believe me I will," Anima replied with barely contained enthusiasm. "Oh, this is gonna be so much fun! Thank you so much Miss Twilight!"
Before she even knew it Anima had her wrapped up in a big hug, the cool plastic of her forelegs pressed against the back of Twilight's neck. Tenderly she returned the favor, and in Anima's chest Twilight could feel the warmth of her artificial heart that pumped the magical ichor in her body. It's steady rhythm gave her a stunning realization; Anima really was alive. She wasn't just a program running in a body, or a set of wires and motors and servos operating as they were dictated. Anima was alive, even if she came from artificial means.
"I'll come and visit as soon as I can," Anima said as she cantered over to Fluttershy, who was standing by the door with the rest of Twilight's friends. "Thank you so much, Miss Twilight!"
With a last few hugs and waves goodbye her friends made their way to their respective homes, with Anima following the long trail to the edge of the Everfree where Fluttershy lived.
"They grow up so fast, huh?" Spike said as the pair of the stood in the doorframe.
"Spike, she isn't even twelve hours old," Twilight replied.
"And yet there she is, making her own way in the world. You did a good job here, Twilight; you should be proud of that at least."
"Would it be weird if I said I'm more scared for her than I've ever been for myself?" Twilight asked.
"I doubt it," Spike answered. "I mean, she may as well be your daughter for all the time and effort you've put into her. It's only natural that you'd feel like that."
Softly Twilight shut the door to the library as they went back inside to clean up from the day's events. She had a lot on her mind, and Spike's words echoing around inside of her head were only adding to the din. A little light housework would help calm her nerves and collect her thoughts.
"Is this what being a parent feels like? Constant worry that something you made, something that you're responsible for, is out there in the world and could hurt themselves even when your better judgement is telling you that they'll be fine?" Twilight mused to herself. "Did I take on more than I can handle with this?"
With a shake of the head she dispelled those thoughts and finished cleaning up. Above all else she believed in logic and she believed in her friends; they were all responsible and would take care of Anima. She could trust them, that much was certain.
With the downstairs finished Twilight headed upstairs to her own bed. She hadn't really had a proper night's sleep for the entire time she'd been working on Anima, so to go to bed at a time before 2 o'clock in the morning would definitely do her some good. She'd deal with the lab in the morning.
"Nice to see you actually going to bed for once," Spike said as he made up his basket and settled in as well. "Goodnight, Twi."
"'Night, Spike," Twilight said. Less than five minutes in bed and she was out like a light, in a deep dreamless sleep the likes of which she hadn't gotten in a long time.
* * *
