Now, science was something that Twilight had become rather famous for over at Canterlot High. In her relatively brief time at that school, she had gained an almost unchallenged reputation for being perhaps the most intelligent girl there, with only Sunset being considered an equal rival to her. But even Sunset herself seemed to be taken aback at just how out-of-her-depth she felt when she once more came upon Twilight's personal workshop within the school. In truth, that room had frequently been used by her, as a sort of replacement lab for the one she'd had back at Crystal Prep, but it really did seem like she'd settled in nicely to the place. Bleeps and bloops were abound in this room, with many different types of machines all with blinking lights and whirring sounds. Though she’d been here before, Sunset tried her best to avoid touching any of it, largely out of fear that she'd cause some kind of explosion. But, thankfully, she didn't have to remain alone here for long, for at that moment, the door swung open, and through it came Twilight herself.
"Sorry I'm late!"
Sunset smiled.
"It's fine. I haven't been here long."
Twilight smiled back, and it was here that Sunset noted that she had been carrying the small robot that had just recently proved a great help to them during their most recent incident during the production of the play. In silence, the Equestrian watched as her spectacled friend took the tiny bot over to the main desk in the room, wherein the amateur scientist promptly began to start disassembling one particular section of it.
"Something wrong?" Sunset asked.
Twilight shook her head.
"Not exactly. I noticed there was a bit of lag in it's arm movements earlier. Probably needs a few tweaks here and there."
Reaching down, Twilight opened one particular drawer on her desk, and after rummaging around it for a few moments, she pulled out a small screwdriver. Smiling to herself, she adjusted her glasses before continuing her work on her mechanical creation. Looking over her shoulder, Sunset bore a distinct look of being impressed.
"You know...you really are good at this, Twilight."
A small blush came to Twilight at that.
"Oh, I just dabble in it."
But Sunset chuckled.
"Don't sell yourself short. Between this, the selfie-drone and that robotic dog-friend you made for Spike, you really do have a talent for things like this. I’ll bet the other students at the robotics club had their jaws plummet to the ground once they saw that you’d built."
Stopping her work for a moment, Twilight considered that.
"Well...I had a lot of alone time back at Crystal Prep. Since my brother graduated, I didn’t really have any friends besides Spike and Cadence, but even then, I was mostly by myself. So I suppose I just sort of...you know...filled the time with this."
Folding her arms, Sunset nodded.
"Out of curiosity...exactly how many more robots have you built?"
Leaning back into her chair, Twilight poked her chin with the end of a pencil, before then starting to count off her fingers.
"Well...let's see...there was my watering-bot, when I needed some help tending my Mother's garden. And there was also the carrier-bot, which I used to help my Father carry his box of tools around during one of his...um...projects."
Sunset raised an eyebrow.
"Wow...I could almost hear the air-quotes on that one."
Twilight giggled nervously.
"Yes, well, he gets pretty enthusiastic when it comes to fixing things around the house. He's usually pretty organised about it, but...well...he's not very...um..."
"Good at it?" Sunset suggested.
Twilight sighed.
"Yeah...that."
Sitting straight again, she thought harder on that one.
"Although...I suppose it's thanks to him that I started doing things like this."
In the quiet moments that followed, Twilight continued to adjust some of the exposed wiring on her present robot, and as soon as she'd started that in earnest, she continued to explain the matter.
"When I was younger, I'd say when I first started at Crystal Prep, I liked to help my Dad out in the garage whenever he started work on something. I sort of got it into my head to, you know...build a robot to give him more help than I could."
Looking to the currently-offline machine in front of Twilight, Sunset gave a brief smirk.
"You know...it's not uncommon for kids to dream of building a robot...but you're probably the first person I've ever met who actually went ahead and did it."
The two girls laughed together, and when it was done, Twilight got back to putting the panelling back on her machine. After giving it a quick look, she took on a satisfied expression, giving a short nod before setting the robot down upon the ground. It still wasn't activated, it was just being kept there for the time being, and as such, Twilight turned to give her friend her full attention.
"Although...in hindsight...it maybe would have been more simple to use my magic the whole time."
Sunset sighed, then put on a smaller albeit still warm smile.
"It's okay. If there's one thing I've learned about you from that texting incident, it's that complicated solutions tend to come to you pretty easily."
Again, Twilight blushed.
"And you always go simple and practical."
Pride came to Sunset at that.
"Yeah...but like I said before, it wasn't always easy for me to think like that back in the day. Besides..."
Getting down to one knee, the ex-unicorn gave the inactivated robot a quick pat on the top.
"...if you had used magic, I probably wouldn't have been able to appreciate just how good you are at this stuff."
Getting up from her chair, Twilight clasped her hands behind her back before replying to that.
"Thanks for saying so. It's always nice when something I make manages to work properly."
She sighed as she glanced down to her robot.
"You wouldn't believe how many different versions of this little guy I had to make before I found one that worked to my specifications."
Standing up again, Sunset placed her hand upon Twilight's shoulder.
"Well, consider me pretty glad that this one worked out for you. If the backstage stuff gives us any more trouble, we can always call upon your robot again. And I'm pretty sure the rest of the students would be happy to have his help."
Twilight practically beamed at that. But, as that moment passed, she tapped her chin with her finger, taking on a look that suggested that she was deep in thought over something.
"There is just one issue I have with him though."
Sunset looked to her with curiosity.
"Oh? What?"
Twilight pointed to him.
"What to call him."
Folding her arms, Sunset chuckled.
"Sorry, Twilight, can't help you there. I've just been calling him robot this whole time."
Stifling a giggle, Twilight responded to that one.
"Well...guess there are some downsides to being practically-minded then?"
Sunset gave a brief snort.
"Alright, I'll let you have that one."
Looking to the robot again, Twilight knelt down, placing her hand upon it's "head", before breaking out into a sweet-looking smile and glancing back up to Sunset.
"How about we just call him Shiny? You know, since it's the Shiny City prop he's carrying?"
Sunset considered that, then smiled back to her.
"That sounds perfect."
Standing up again, Twilight seemed pretty pleased at that, and together, the two girls began to move together, heading for the door of the lab. However, once outside and back in the hallway of CHS, Sunset stopped, looking to Twilight yet again.
"Wait...isn't Shiny also your nickname for your brother?"
Pausing, Twilight started to look just a touch guilty.
"Well...nobody said I'm not able to have two Shiny's in my life...right?"
Placing her hand upon her hip, Sunset raised an eyebrow towards her friend.
"Uh...huh."
