Does a cyborg have a soul?
Sunset opened her eyes, squinting from the bright sun rays that didn’t seem to notice the light purple drapes on the bedroom’s window. What was Twilight thinking when she talked her into buying…
She sat in the bed abruptly. No. Not a single thought about that. It’s a taboo. Ban. Prohibition. Time to let go.
The girl gritted her teeth and clenched fists, driving away the memories.
This time it went better than the last one. At least her wrists weren’t damaged.
‘You can go through this. You can go through this. You. Can. Go Through. This!’
It became her everyday mantra ever since she left the clinic she spent several months straight in. Usually it helped. Did now as well.
Sunset crawled out of the bed. She was never a morning person, and she always was amazed at the sheer variety of tricks Twilight came up with to wake her up…
With a groan Sunset bashed her head against the wall, yelping from sudden pain. It didn’t seem possible for her to go through this damn morning without thinking about…
She shook her head, trying to take a grip on herself. She must go to the bathroom. That’s the main objective right now. Anything else can burn.
Sunset walked to the bathroom and switched the lights on, simultaneously closing the door. She sighed deeply and looked at the mirror, just to see a reflection of herself: a scrawny girl with bags under the eyes, completely messed up hair and a dim facial expression. All what is left from once thriving and happy person.
“Good morning, loser...” She muttered, reaching out for a toothbrush and dentifrice with silver nanoparticles. Twilight insisted that this grade is especially effective…
Sunset nearly broke down her brush when she dredged another painful memory. It felt like this morning had made a stern decision to make her life as miserable as possible.
“You’re too late, honey… it’s already done...”
She remembered who did it. Who took her Twilight away. Remembered the legal action, court sessions, troubles with lawyers. When the sentence was announced, it took four of her friends and the court security to barely prevent Sunset from lynching the culprit herself.
Those lousy few years in a prison with a right to apply for full parole seemed like a desecration of Twilight’s memory.
After overcoming herself for another, and definitely not the last time, Sunset returned to the bedroom to get dressed for a new day. Skipping college could only last so long.
A sudden call made her wince. She took her smartphone just to see an unknown number on the screen panel. In the old day she’d try to remember where could she see such number, but now she just didn’t care.
“Hello?”
“Miss Sunset Shimmer?”
An unknown voice of a middle-aged man. Maybe they confused the number? No, dumb idea. They know her name.
“Yes… who’s asking?”
“It’s about your partner, Twilight Sparkle.”
A phone fell down on the floor, while Sunset just slided down the wall.
“Hello? Hello?”
Someone on the other end didn’t know why this weird girl suddenly stopped talking.
Sunset gathered all her willpower and took a phone with a shaky hand.
“She is… gone… I don’t know what do you...”
There was silence for several seconds before the voice simply replied.
“Her time of death announcement was premature.”
“What… what do you mean?..”
“You should probably come yourself. Write down the address, please...”
============================
Sunset parked her Crown Victoria near the facility, located at the address that man gave her. It was a moderate-sized building with an original design. Huge steel letters were gathered in an inscription: “Transition technology and cybernetics inc.”
“Looks promising...” She mumbled to herself and briskly headed towards the facility, feeling how her heart attempts to leave the chest and make a brilliant career of a tap dancer in Broadway.
The girl took a very deep breath and forced herself to calm down somewhat, ruining her heart’s dreams and forcing it to stay at the same old boring desk job for the next 90 - 100 years.
From the inside the facility looked very similar to what you’d expect a high-tech lab would look like: people in white lab coats going around, working with some devices or whatever these things were, white walls that seemed sterile… at least that’s what she saw through the closed, transparent door while waiting for an appointment -- nobody would let her inside without a permission, of course.
“Miss Shimmer?”
The familiar from the phone talk voice made her jump.
“Y-yes?”
She looked at the person who was standing in front of her.
“My name is Time Turner, I am a lead researcher of the ‘Phoenix’ project. We were talking by the phone.”
“Yes, I remember.” Sunset replied impatiently.
“You said something about… about Twilight...”
He hesitated before calmly offering her to sit and listen to him.
“You see, miss Shimmer… How do I put this… Miss Twilight Sparkle was one of our most promising laboratory assistant… you probably know it.”
Sunset shook her head slowly, mentally cursing herself for not paying enough attention to Twilight’s line of work. She knew that her girlfriend works in some library or lab, or whatever, but never bothered to specify.
Now, though, she’d have asked everything, every little detail about Twilight’s life she did not know.
“Anyway, we’ve been working on a project named ‘Phoenix’, which is aimed to research revival technologies. If successful, it could allow us to reverse the most severe cases of medical conditions.
This project has been running for quite a while and now...”
“Excuse me, mister Turner...” Sunset raised her hand, noticing how her fingers were shaking.
“It is certainly very interesting, but I have no idea how is it connected to me and… Twilight.”
“Right, sorry for offtracking. You see -- Twilight Sparkle, along with every other participant, including me, had signed an agreement of a special sort. This agreement includes a signer’s consent to be used as a test subject in case of decease.”
Sunset’s eyes became even wider than usual.
“You… she… what… but… but I was… funeral… casket… cremation...” She helplessly tried to form a coherent sentence, but Time Turner understood what she meant.
“The agreement also states, that none may know of the post-mortem project participation, even blood-related relatives.”
“So, you… just fabricated everything?” The girl asked in a weak voice.
If it were about some of her buddies or acquaintances, she’d have asked a lot of questions about how did they take care of legal issues, papers, documents and other bureaucratic obstacles.
But they were talking about Twilight, so Sunset wanted to know only one thing…
“Did you… save her?” She asked just under her breath, feeling that the answer will define if she will live further or not.
Time Turner nodded slowly.
“Well… you can say tha-”
Sunset rushed to him and got in his face with a frantic expression in her eyes.
“WHERE IS SHE?!!”
He was taken aback by her assault.
“Hey, calm down, alright? I’ll lead you to her.”
Sunset nodded, trying to stop hyperventilating and get rid of the tunnel vision. She almost didn’t notice how he carefully took her hand and led her… somewhere. She didn’t care where -- only Twilight mattered to her right now.
When she was able again to perceive reality more or less, she found herself in a large pure white room, wearing a white lab coat and big glasses.
Time Turner gestured to a steel chair, wearing a very prideful facial expression. And that chair was occupied by…
Sunset took a step towards it, then another, not believing her eyes. The creature that was there looked like a dark-blue colored mannequin, covered by some black fragments. But the face of this creature…
It was Twilight. Sure, the eyes weren’t purple and glowed blue instead and had a transparent visor with some sort of constantly changing data, displayed on it. But all the face features, including lips, cheeks, nose, brows and forehead -- every single part of the face Sunset studied in details while they were together -- were intact.
Sunset gasped and lost her consciousness.
============================
“I assume you understand that we will need to sort out a lot of issues before you can… miss Shimmer? Miss Shimmer, can you hear me?”
Time Turner might as well talk to a wall. Sunset Shimmer was out of this world: nothing mattered to her. Nothing but Twilight. Living, breathing, smiling Twilight, who held her tight in her new metal arms. Sunset was caressing her girlfriends’ face, smiling like a child during the first trip to Disneyland.
“I don’t suppose you will gain a response from her within the current day, Time Turner.” Twilight noted, jostling Sunset slightly.
Her voice was slightly altered, but still remained mostly intact, since the vocal cords didn’t undergo major damage during the collision.
“We have already discussed everything, so there’s no need to make her go through the same thing.”
“I know, but as a legal guardian, she must sign several papers and be aware of all possible implications and warnings.”
Sunset frowned.
“W-wait a minute… a legal guardian? Why does Twilight need...”
Time Turner and Twilight shared the glance.
“You see, officially, Twilight Sparkle is dead. Until we run additional tests and go through court hearings, the cybernetic organism, codenamed ‘Phoenix’ cannot be recognized neither as Twilight Sparkle, nor as an EQUSB*. The agreement states that it is the property of this facility and is temporarily handled to you to test it in the conditions of a regular life. Thus you are becoming a legal guardian.”
Sunset’s expression was terryfing.
“What do you mean, she’s not an EQUSB?! She’s not your property! She’s not some kind of a domestic robot that will silently obey your orders! She’s-”
Twilight’s hand softly covered her mouth.
“Sunny, please...” She whispered.
Time Turner continued, as if nothing happened:
“It is my duty to introduce this cybernetic organism to you.”
He cleared his throat, then switched the lights off and ran a presentation.
“The cybernetic organism, codename ‘Phoenix’, is the result of the ambitious self-titled project, launched by the ‘transition technology and cybernetics incorporated’ with sponsor help of Filthy Rich, Photo Finish and Fancy Pants.
The goal of this project was studying the possible ways of reanimating an EQUSB from the certain, usually irreversible states of clinic death.
The subject of the experiment, Twilight Sparkle, had been killed in a traffic collision. Before her death, she signed an agreement of voluntary and free body transfer to the team of the ‘Phoenix’ project.”
He stopped for a second, taking a sip of water.
“After examining and processing the body, we managed to save and put in the state of suspended animation next body parts:
*brain;
*a single lung;
*the front side of the face;
*the major part of the central nervous system;
*several parts of the neck, such as the larynx, the trachea and the esophagus.
To provide a sustainable and safe vessel of the remained body parts, we have created a brand new android module, made of nickel titanium alloy, reinforced with carbon fiber.
Body parts were located within the module and connected with the new synthetic life support systems.
Artificial blood, produced within the module, supplies organic parts with oxygen and nutrients and distributed to them by a powerful pumping mechanism with several backup pumps.
The brain is connected with the cutting edge Intel Core i11 central processing unit to interact with and control the artificial systems.
Phoenix is powered by paired hydrogen cells with the total specific energy of 566 MJ and power of 819 W, capable of increasing power output fourfold.”
He continued to describe the project while Sunset just sat in Twilight’s lap, lost in thoughts.
She didn’t understand how it is possible -- it was her Twilight, just in the body of this metal thing, right? After all, it couldn’t be that bad -- her girl always loved all kinds of robots and stuff; she was the one who bought that domestic robot that cooked and cleaned while they were spending time together.
“And the last thing, before you sign the papers...
While the costs of sustaining Phoenix will be partly covered by our institution, some expenditures have to be covered by the legal guardian, namely -- hydrogen supplies.”
“How much?” Sunset asked emotionlessly. She didn’t care about the cost -- in fact, she was ready to work all day and night long and live on the street, if it will pay the bills that let Twilight live.
“Well, according to the market value of hydrogen, minus some minor subsidies… the total sum is $2,738 per annum.”
“Deal.” Sunset replied without thinking.
============================
“Hey… Twilight? Are you ready?” Sunset asked with a forced smile.
They were living together again for a week now. And while Sunset was happy beyond measure when she’s got her Twilight back, she noticed soon that something was not right.
These feelings have only increased over time, making her feel less and less attached to Twilight. Her girlfriend didn’t remind her the old Twilight anymore, and with each day the differences grew in geometric progression.
Twilight was spending a lot of her time in the lab now, being tested and checked several times per day. Not only that, but she also was forced to meet with the sponsors and reporters, to spread the success of the ‘Phoenix’ project all across the country and eventually, the world.
Interviews, tests, tweaks and other things like these made Twilight absent from their home for the most part of the day.
Sometimes Twilight returned only at the late night, just to find Sunset sleeping on a couch, covered with their favourite plaid which they loved to share during long evenings. And every time she woke up, she discovered that her girlfriend isn’t home again.
What’s more, Twilight became less warm and passionate with Sunset. Those rare minutes they shared were filled with awkward silence as Sunset tried to come up with something and Twilight was just staring in the distance, obviously processing some data with her CPU.
The critical mass of frustration have been growing very fast, and eventually Sunset was forced to set an ultimatum: either Twilight finds time in her schedule to go out on a date, or… no, she didn’t say directly that she will break up things with her girlfriend, but the implication was as transparent as Twilight’s visor.
She didn’t know what Twilight did or said, but when she returned, she looked exhausted, if you can say that about the cyborg with synthetic muscles that physically cannot experience fatigue.
Sunset was wearing her favourite jacket and skirt, while Twilight, who stopped wearing any dress after her revival, was talked into wearing her old clothes that Sunset was secretly keeping ever since the collision.
The girls left their house and headed to the nearest park.
“I’m glad we were finally able to get away from that four-wall jail. The weather seems so nice tonight.” Sunset said after several minutes of silence.
Twilight didn’t seem to have a desire to add something there, so instead she just nodded.
Sunset sighed and looked aside, wondering what she should tell to get any sort of reaction out of that Phoenix who’s supposed to be her Twilight.
When they arrived in the park, her patience has almost ran out. Twilight ignored all attempts to engage in conversation, either answering monosyllabically or not answering at all.
“Look, Twilight, I think I’ve had enough!” Sunset’s frustration has finally bursted out.
“What do you mean, Sunset?” Twilight responded, visibly forcing herself to distract from something.
“What do I mean? You really don’t get it, Sparkle?! Okay, let’s count.
Ever since those… those people did that to you, you became… a freakin robot! I don’t recognize the same Twilight in you!
At first I was happy that I didn’t really lose you and that we will be together forever again, but… I don’t know what happened to you. You’re not the Twilight I was happy with.
The old Twilight would’ve spent all her time with me. The old Twilight would’ve made me forget about all those horrible things I went through during those months. The old Twilight would’ve talked to me and made me smile and laugh, like before.
I was telling myself that I was wrong, I was trying to ignore all those stupid things, but… I can’t do it anymore.
You are not Twilight! You’re just a soulless and cold iron blockhead!”
Sunset was breathing heavily, looking at Twilight… Phoenix with undisguised anger that was filling her eyes.
“Well, say something! Or did your mouth get rusty?!”
“It is nickel titanium alloy, or nitinol, not iron. And while my mouth is organic, the alloy my body made of is highly corrosive-resistant.”
Sunset barely held herself from hitting this metal thing in front of her.
“You see?! Of all the things you could tell me you choose some weird scientific mumbo-jumbo! You…
You know what? I’m done. I’m going home. Go to the lab and begone from my life -- after all, you already practically live in there!”
Sunset turned around and nearly ran away from Twilight, desperately holding herself from crying.
Her ex-girlfriend was just standing there, looking to the same direction.
“...that weird scientific mumbo-jumbo was one of the reasons why you fell in love with me, Sunny...” She whispered sadly.
============================
Sunset was heading home, angrily wiping away her tears. She felt herself horrible -- it was like she lost her girlfriend for the second time, and now it was even worse than before. Because this time she had some hope that everything will be the same, as always.
And Phoenix had taken away her hope and stomped it into oblivion. Sunset was alone again, and this time permanently. It was painful; so painful that she looked up involuntarily, wondering if there’s a roof high enough in her neighborhood.
Fortunately, it was a typical suburb with one and two story houses, without any higher buildings.
‘Well, if I can’t find it here, I should go to that district in the west. There are many buildings that are tall enough for me.’
That district was located not too far away from her current position, so it didn’t take long for Sunset to reach it.
Deep in her despair, she forgot completely that night walks in unknown districts can be dangerous for a lone person, especially if she doesn’t watch where she’s going and not avoiding dark alleys.
“Hey baby, what are you doing here all by yourself? Want to spend some time with us?”
She heard an unknown voice and raised her head sharply, just to see an evil, smiling face of a stranger who blocked her way.
Sunset felt how her heart raced. She turned around just to see two figures coming towards her.
“Where are you going? It’s not polite to make the others wait.”
She was pressed against the wall by the first stranger, while two others were making sure that nobody’s coming.
Sunset wanted to scream, to call for help, but she was so scared that she couldn’t force herself to make any sound.
The girl felt that something horrible will happen to her. It was like a nightmare, but not the one that makes you wake up in cold sweat, thanking stars for it is being just a dream
.
It was real, and that made it much more terrifying.
But before they were able to do whatever they wanted to with Sunset, she overpowered herself and screamed so loud that her lungs gave out. She screamed the first thing that came into her head.
“TWILIGHT!!!”
The loud cry traveled around the district, spreading further and further. It made an illusion that the whole city heard it, and that everyone’s already alerting the police.
“Alright, bitch, you asked for it!”
Sunset gasped in pain as she felt something sharp piercing through her jacket and skin, causing the most horrible physical pain she’s ever experienced in her short life. She couldn’t even scream properly because of it.
The knife, covered in her blood, now was an inch away from her neck, shaking dangerously.
Sunset closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.
But the darkness didn’t overcome her again, forever this time.
She heard heavy steps, rapidly getting closer; it was like something massive yet fast moving into her direction.
It was Twilight.
Powerful servomotors that were used in her legs instead of synthetic muscles like in the rest of the body made her move at the speed worthy of Lightning Bolt himself: 13 meters per second.
She didn’t even show courtesy to slow down, crashing instead into the first stranger with the kinetic energy of an elephant gun, knocking him off his feet.
Twilight shifted her body to another position and ripped the knife away from the second thug, hitting him with her metal forehead so fast that he didn’t even notice how he lost his consciousness due to the impact.
The third attacker tried to hit her with his bare hands, but suddenly screamed wildly, holding his broken palm in another hand, while the 300-pounds metal girl didn't feel anything.
Twilight’s fist with depleted uranium and tungsten carbide composite in its core travelled in his direction, carrying enough force to kill a bull.
But instead, she just aimed to his broken hand, ripping it to shreds and making the thug faint because of the severe pain shock.
She looked around, looking for the others to attack, then rushed to Sunset.
“Sunny? Sunny, dear… please, talk to me...” She whispered, running a diagnostic program.
Sunset opened her eyes slowly, smiling at the sight of her. It was Twilight’s face -- not the texture itself, but what it was reflecting -- lively emotions, true concern and care.
“Gosh… Sunset, we need to take you to the lab, now! You’ve got a liver failure!” Twilight exclaimed, taking her girlfriend into her arms.
The limbs that recently were breaking bones and crippling people now carried Sunset more carefully than anything else could.
“It’s… okay, Twilight… I just… I’m sorry, for… acting like this… I’m happy… to see you… returned… Even if… I’m...”
“Shh, don’t talk like this, Sunny. They’ll fix you. They fix everything...”
============================
Sunset Shimmer was lying on her and Twilight’s favourite couch, with her head on her girlfriend’s knees. Both girls were covered with their special plaid, though Twilight had to concede a noticeable chunk of it to Sunset due to the former’s position.
They both were exhausted, but happy beyond measure.
It turned out that Twilight was so busy because she was working on possible solutions of getting herself out of the situation she was in: to stop being property of the lab and to return her real name and identity.
Finally, after many legal actions, press scandals and some nasty revelations (nasty for Time Turner, that is), the Supreme Court sentenced that Phoenix has a right to return her true identity and name, along with the full list of EQUSB rights.
There was no excuse for making her the lab’s property, no matter what papers were saying. Time Turner did that so she won’t escape his sight and won’t hinder his quest for glory and fortune. Maybe there was another, legal way of achieving his goals, but he let his greed and ambitions to get the best of him.
He was accused in engaging in slavery, documents faking, fraud and some other crimes. Sunset and Twilight did everything they could to mitigate his sentence, because, no matter what anyone says, he played a major role in returning Twilight back.
The Phoenix project, useful but very controversial, became a valuable source of information for the scientists. This info allowed them to develop new life prolonging and enhancing technologies, along with advanced methods of reanimation.
“You’re sleeping, Sunny?”
Sunset opened her eyes and smiled apologetically, stroking Twilight’s hand.
“No, it’s just… memories... You know, I’m so glad that we’re finally free and together again, I can’t express it verbally.”
Twilight smiled back.
“I’m glad, too. How’s your liver by the way? That new grade of nitinol is even more in tune with the living tissue than any previous ones.”
“It’s fine, I guess. At least I’m not feeling any different from the times I didn’t have an artificial liver. The only downside is that it’d take much more booze to get drunk. Although some might say that it’s an advantage.”
The girls laughed.
“Hey, who am I to judge -- I can’t get drunk at all! But look at the bright side -- I’ll forever be your sober driver!”
They laughed harder, exchanging loving glances.
“So, what’s the plan, Niti? You mentioned that you wanted to make some improvements.”
Twilight giggled. She loved her new nickname. Sunset was always so creative with those.
“Of course! I wanted to construct a boron nitride coating for my body because I can’t stand those scratches anymore! Also, I’d need some new hydrogen cells to increase the time before refilling… or… hey, why won’t I just replace it with a nuclear reactor?! It’d be much more powerful and autonomous! Let me just...”
Sunset was listening to that techno talk, smiling peacefully. That was Twilight, alright -- her favourite geek with limitless heart and that cute and gentle smile.
She was back and she will never leave her alone anymore.
Author's Note
*EQUSB -- Equestria Girls universe sapient being
