I'm not sick but I'm not well.
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Bronies

I'm not sick but I'm not well.

I’ll find you again.
In another life,
when we are both cats.

The principles of how a gas pedal works.

When you step on the gas pedal, the throttle valve opens up more, letting in more air. The engine control unit (ECU, the computer that controls all of the electronic components on your engine) "sees" the throttle valve open and increases the fuel rate in anticipation of more air entering the engine. It is important to increase the fuel rate as soon as the throttle valve opens; otherwise, when the gas pedal is first pressed, there may be a hesitation as some air reaches the cylinders without enough fuel in it.

While more hesitation or even an abrupt stop can happen when the vehicle is smashed by a tree, another car or something else.

Greg couldn’t remember if the lights were on when he came home or if Matt shut them off before he tried to kill him, but with the light from the streets pouring through the windows, he could still see everything, and that was important. His living room was trashed, the television was cracked, the coffee table was overturned along with the end tables. Broken glass littered the carpet, some from a beer bottle the rest from one of the windows. HIs shirt was spattered with blood, not all of it his. Across from him, Greg could see his roommate laying on the ground not moving.

Greg wasn’t sure if Matt was still alive, at the moment he didn’t care. In the gloom of the night it was impossible to tell if he was still breathing, not that he was going to check. Instead, Greg slowly rose from where he sat in the living room and went to the fridge. He opened it and pulled out a beer, twisted the top off and walked to the small dining table. He flipped one of the chairs round and sipped his beer quietly and began to imagine what he might say to the police.

Behind him came the creaking sound of the door to his room opening just a little. The soft quiet noise of something carefully shuffling around to get a better view. Greg didn’t bother to turn around. He knew she was there watching. She had been there the entire time. After all, she was the reason behind everything that had happened.

“Police are coming. You’d better hide,” said Greg not bothering to turn around. The words that fell from his mouth were cold and distant, as if they were being spoken from another mouth of another Greg in another place from another time. He took another sip of his beer, a Red Stripe. He hated it. Yet, in some way unknown to him, it felt like it was meant to be. The beer was in its destined place in the universe. “You don’t want them to find you,” he said after downing half of it with a few gulps.

“They are not going to find me,” the voice calmly replied.

“You think they will believe me?” Greg asked, wincing from the shooting pain originating from his hand every time he tried to flex. He wondered if he broke something, and hoped to God he did not. He could feel his right hand swelling which was making it hard to move. Things were going to get worse before they got better. If only that package hadn’t arrived. If only she hadn’t shown up.

For the past almost six months ever since the day it came, Greg had watched his friend Matt sink deeper and deeper into this self-made fantasy world and dragged him along for the ride. Maybe the insanity was inside all along, and that was just the trigger to set the madness off. Who could say?

“Matt never really liked you,” said the voice behind him, “He just didn’t have a reason to hate you.”

Greg shifted in his chair and a sudden cry escaped his lips. He was alive, but that was all he could say right now. Everything hurt. Everything was pain. “Big shock. I wonder if anybody ever really did,” he grunted as the distant sound of sirens began to grow nearer.

“I love you,” said the voice, “I’ve always loved you.”

The smile came easily, spreading across his mouth. “It was always about you, you know. It all was about you.”

Softly across the carpeted floor he heard the mechanical hoofsteps approach him. He could hear the motors running underneath fake fur, fake skin coming closer and closer to him. He felt the light touch of her hoof gently on his back. Soon everything was going to be a mess of chaos. Soon his world was going to change.

“So what do I do now?” Greg asked himself.

“Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle and I love meeting new friends,” the voice cheerfully said behind him.

Crashing. Sheets of metal and heated plastic folding into each other by objects of masses much greater than the ones in motion like a car being suddenly stopped by a thing of much much greater mass than said car. Perhaps a semi truck or a concrete divider. Greg could almost hear the valkyrie cry of a mechanical death in his ears. The vehicle wanted to continue its travels. The thing obstructing the vehicle stated without any words that it was not going to go anywhere. And it was right.

Thoughts flooded his brain with images of broken glass. So much broken glass. Greg didn’t know why his mind turned to such morbid images and noises, but they kept him preoccupied from the world around him; he didn’t notice Jerry until he accidentally bumped into him. Knocking his phone out of his hand.

He couldn’t remember holding his phone as he walked from class, but in the grand scheme of things, was it important? It was a Friday, and this Friday he was off from work, making it a very special Friday for him. He just wished he didn’t have to deal with Jerry who had been pestering him since leaving the classroom.

Jerry was an okay guy to be around sometimes. He had short sandy hair and a slight beard to help cover his acne scars that everyone knew he was very self conscious about. He wore a hoodie and jeans unconsciously a few sizes too big in an attempt to hide his gut. Jerry always told everyone he was going to work out and lose the extra weight; get that gym membership and show everyone how buff he is going to get. He’d been saying ever since Greg met him, and every time he saw him again, his belly had gotten a little bigger.

Slung haphazardly across his back was his backpack that Greg was willing to bet carried the Fluttershy doll he always took with him everytime he went out. Making him start to wonder if Jerry ever carried anything else in it being that was the only thing he ever pulled out from the damned thing.

Although the Fluttershy plushie had made him raise his eyebrow a few times. What really bothered Greg was that Jerry was cheap as hell. He was always bailing from paying his share of whatever plans he and others made with almost no awareness of how the group thought of that.

This miserly quirk had been the cause of this continuous argument about the planned trip to Bronycon that had been going on for a few weeks already. Jerry kept insisting that Greg pay for the room, and he would cover the meals like last year, which really meant he wanted Greg to plop down almost a grand, and he would throw him a dollar hamburger he bought from Burger King every other day. No thanks.

“C’mon Greg,” he whined, “I’ll give you sixty dollars now and another hundred when we got there.”

“Four hundred upfront take it or leave it,” Greg said, knowing if he agreed to let Jerry pay him when he arrived at the hotel, the money would already be gone, and he would feel obligated to let him stay because he wouldn’t have anywhere else to go.

Greg unconsciously picked up the pace in an attempt to leave him behind. It didn’t work, as he just sped up to keep with Greg.

“I don’t have the money right now. Do this for me Greg.”

“Four hundred,” he said again. Honestly, it hadn’t been that bad sharing a room with him, but Greg still didn’t want to be Jerry’s doormat.

Greg found the anger inside him starting to build towards Jerry when the vibrations from his phone distracted him. It was his roommate Matt giving him an excuse to drop the conversation with Jerry, but he found himself growing concerned. Matt never called unless it was something important.

“Yo Matt,” he said, answering the phone. Jerry rolled his eyes at the prospect of being ignored, especially for Matt. The two never got along as Matt never bothered to hide the fact he thought Jerry was an asshole. “Is the house on fire?” continued Greg.

Matt was a tall, skinny guy with a run of unruly thick brown hair that occasionally saw a comb, Maybe ate a few as well, and a patch of a beard that never seemed to grow right. On his nose sat a pair of enormous Lennon glasses which made him little off putting if you didn’t know anything about him. But he was a quiet guy that was fun to be around once he got to know you and opened up. “Holy shit! It finally arrived!” exclaimed Matt over the phone.

Greg put his hand over the phone, waved Jerry away and told him they might talk about it later, which was his way of saying he was done with it as he continued walking. “Fucking Jerry,” grumbled Greg into his phone.

“Is he still trying to nickel and dime you about the con?”

“Yeah, pleading poverty and all that crap.”

“Fuck him. Get home. You’re going to lose your pony loving mind!” shouted Matt who then promptly hung up the phone.

“Fucking bronies,” Greg mumbled to himself as he started his car, “What’s he got that’s so important?”

It wasn’t that he disliked them, heck he was one. Ever since Greg discovered the show during his senior year in high school he’d become hooked on it. It hadn’t taken very long for him to go from just watching the show looking up fan art online. Mostly clop and Fallout;Equestria which he would always deny he watched. From there it was reading on Fimfic and occasionally writing a bit of fanfiction himself that, admittedly, wasn't the best. Even so, he was proud of it and with that pride came patronage.

It wasn’t long before he’d amassed quite the pony collection, much to his parents’ chagrin. His father had had some particularly pointed comments about his interests, some of which were less subtle and hurt. Once he was able to get to college though a new world had opened up for Greg.

Once there he met others who shared his interests. Some of them were far more passionate than even he was. Sometimes that love for the show and its characters could manifest itself in ways that even made him uncomfortable. Greg hoped that this wouldn’t be the case with Matt today.

He sighed as he opened up the door on his Corolla and tossed his books into the passenger seat. He promptly followed them and got in as well, squinting as the sun glared down through his windshield. Greg muttered again and flipped down the visor the various receipts and photos spilling onto him. He might have ignored the mess if it weren’t for the one photo that landed face up in his lap.

Her pleasant looking face and promising form met his gaze Greg felt his heart twist painfully and drop into his stomach. It was a feeling he’d had several times before when he looked at her picture. Yet, no matter how it pained him he couldn’t bare to throw it out. In his mind it would be admitting that he’d failed. That somehow he hadn’t measured up and while he could run away from the things his dad had said this felt different.

His phone buzzed again. It was Matt calling again. By now he was more than aware of his roommate’s habits when it came to calling, especially when he was excited. In his estimation Matt was a good guy. He paid the lion’s share of the rent and utilities having come from money and at his own insistence, no small feat. They also shared similar interests in movies and other non fandom things.

He sat the phone in a cup holder and hit the talk button. “Dude, I’m about to pull out,” said Greg as he attempted to mask his irritation.

“That’s what she said!”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Greg as he turned the key to start his car.

“Come home quick you absolutely have to see this. She is so adorable.”

“Who's adorable? Did you pick up a hooker or something?” Greg joked.

“Just get your ass over here,” he exasperated before hanging up.

The drive only took twenty minutes from the college to his home. By the time he’d rounded the corner he caught the sight of the UPS truck pulling away from the house. He then quickly parked in the driveway. As he exited the car he saw the postman pull up in his truck which gave him pause. First off, the postman should have come and gone by now. Second, it wasn’t the usual black lady with the extensions but instead someone much thinner and white. He looked as if he was barely into his twenties with black hair slicked back. His uniform was two sizes too large and when he saw Greg he smiled. Greg blinked, short of the uniform this guy was his spitting image.

“Greg you here?” Matt called, his voice filled with manic excitement.

Greg looked instinctively up to the front door then back to the postman who was now long gone. Greg sighed and walked into his home, “Yeah, I’m here. What is it you wanna show me?” The answer became obvious when he saw the large box sitting on the coffee table.

“I’m over here,” said Matt waving his hand up from behind the crate, “You gotta see this!”

Without another word Matt popped off the side boards and began to remove the various bits of packaging as rapidly as he could. Once he had, with some grunting and huffing he pulled out the contents of the box, a life size version of Twilight Sparkle.

“What the hell Matt?” Asked Greg dumbfounded by what was in front of him, “Where did you get this?”

Matt held up a finger to his lips and shushed Greg. His face took on the most serious expression it could pull, “Let’s just say I still have friends in various places that could hook me up.” Then, without fail Matt began to grin again as with a grunt he lifted the Twilight Sparkle off of the table and set it on the floor.

Greg just stood there gaping at what he was seeing. He watched the doll stare back at him with those big bright soft purple eyes that seemed to swallow the whole world. Eyes that seemed to say he was the most important thing to her. Matching it with the most heart warming smile he had ever seen on anything.

“Well? What do you think? Isn’t she amazing?” Matt finally asked, gently running his hand through Twilight Sparkle’s mane.

Twilight Sparkle stood four feet to the shoulder, with another foot to her head. Her purple fur was neatly trimmed, perfectly groomed. Her body was a mash-up between the show’s description and a real pony. The horn on her head looked like it had been sculpted from what Greg assumed was real ivory that had been carefully painted a lavender color to match the body. Still, he knew that couldn’t be right as it was illegal to possess. The hair of her mane and tail had been individually sewn into the doll while Matt showed off the skill that went into her construction as he carefully unfolded one of Twilight’s wings pressed flat against her body so he could point out the down of real feathers that had been carefully attached. Not paying attention to the other one until it smacked him painfully across the leg when Greg tried to get near it.

“Sorry. Sorry. That was my fault,” Matt said, pressing some button on some thin silvery object he held in his hand, “I should have told you. Figuring the controls out is going to take some time.”

“Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle,” the doll suddenly chirped brightly to Greg who was kneeling next to her to get a better look and rub his leg where she smacked him. Surprised with its sudden voice he nearly tripped and fell on his ass when he jerked away. Not realizing he had been holding his breath watching its bright wide friendly eyes swivel in his direction still holding that same smile.

“Motion detectors man. They’d been installed into her eyes,” Matt said, laughing at his roommate’s surprise. Showing Greg by slowly waving his hand back and forth across the doll’s face with Greg watching Twilight Sparkle tracked his hand for a moment before settling back on him when he stopped.

The whir of tiny motors started up as her head slowly turned in the direction to face Greg directly. Her eyes still shifted to follow his movements while speaking. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you just now. I hope you will forgive me. I just get so excited meeting new friends, it can get hard to contain my excitement sometimes,” said the doll. Her mouth moved up and down in a robotic motion, not quite matching the words she spoke.

“Need to get that fixed,” Matt said, frowning at the doll, “This is going to be pretty complicated.”

“She can speak?” Greg asked rhetorically while laughing. With the obvious money he had spent on its creation, of course he would have added speech to her. “Jesus dude. How much cash and who are these friends?”

“Don’t worry too much about it,” said Matt who, with the flick of a button, shut the Twilight Sparkle doll down. The brightness of her eyes seemed to dim somewhat, but still they stared at him. Still following his movements. “She’s just like the cartoon,” he said, amazed by how much attention had been given to her as he ran his hand across her head, but almost pulled back surprised by just how warm she felt. Feeling almost like a living creature.

“You know what else she’s got?” Matt said with a mischievous look in his eyes, also a twinge of seriousness suddenly grabbing her by the tail and lifting it up so he could show him.

“That’s more than she has on the show and no I don’t wanna see it,” said Greg. A little more sharply than he’d meant it to be. He wasn’t sure why at the time but he felt embarrassed by the thought of Matt showing off something like that to him. Even if it was just a doll it felt somehow very inappropriate. Greg glanced up at the doll and swore that even in its shutdown state that the doll was blushing.

Over the next several minutes Matt divulged everything he knew about his new robot. Most of what Matt said was very technical and hard to understand. What he did get though was that Twilight’s AI was adaptive and that it could learn even if it didn’t always understand the finer points. It was something that Greg found both interesting and concerning at the same time.
After the lecture Matt then asked Greg to help him carry Twilight upstairs. Much to Greg’s chagrin she was heavier than he thought. After Matt kicked a few things out of the way they set the doll down next to an outlet. “Well, thanks for the hernia,” said Greg, “I think I’m gonna go play some Call of Duty or something okay?”

“No stay,” insisted Matt as he brought out one of his old laptops and a UPC cord. He then showed where the ports were to hook it up to. It was simple really. Just had to push against her cutie mark which caused the symbol to slide out to reveal four outlets you could plug into her.

Or rather three, as one was for the AC adaptor that came with her. It took a few moments for Matt’s laptop to be hooked up and turned on, which immediately he went over to Youtube to play “Pinkie's Brew” when Twilight started to sing. “I’ll cook up a solution with the knowledge I’ve accrued. They say a kitchen time saves nine but I’m just saving two…,” sang Twilight her mouth doing its best to keep up. In a way reminding Greg of the crappy animatronics at the Chuck E. Cheese by the mall. It was just right enough to be wrong.

“The next time you see her,” said Matt, “I’ll have it all worked out.”

“She’s totally cool. Just keep her away from some of the weirder parts of the internet okay,” said Greg,“ I don’t want her going on like best gore or something and getting any ideas.”

“Scouts’ honor,” said Matt, “Just the fun and safe parts. Then she’ll be ready for the season premiere next Saturday. ”Matt’s grin widened to impossible lengths, “They are going to be so jealous!”

Greg nodded and backed out of the room. However, as he did so he noticed Twilight’s eyes follow him. Feeling a bit weird about it, Greg decided to close Matt’s door and went to his room.

Work, college. College, work. It was the perpetual cycle that defined Greg’s life. If it wasn’t one then probably the other that on most days left him little room for himself or friends. Matt didn’t work, so he spent his time for the first few days tweaking her to his satisfaction, much to Greg’s dismay. It was Tuesday when Greg came home to find Twilight Sparkle’s head sitting on the table. Greg shrieked and jumped back instinctively before Matt popped his head up from the couch not unlike a gopher. “Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and welcome home Greg. I hope you had a great day. Sorry if I made you scream like a little girl,” the severed head of Twilight Sparkle resting on the coffee table cheerfully said. Her lavender eyes staring directly at him.

“Matt? What the hell?” he panted. Lowering his voice to not sound so hysterical. Asking Matt if it was safe to enter his own living room.

“Welcome home honey. How was your day?” Matt joked, not bothering to look up from what he was doing, staring intently at an O-ring he was carefully cleaning with a rag.

Twilight Sparkle lay in pieces. Though most of her body was still intact, her insides had been carefully spread all across the living room, but they mostly lay on the table next to her head, from which he had black cables running to one of his laptops.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Careful where you step. I think I accidentally dropped a few pieces of her, ”Matt said, still concentrating on his work, “Twilight had a few glitches that I’ve been working on. I've also been adjusting her facial features to make her look a little more natural. Let me tell you, that took forever and a day. Been trying to get that fixed since this morning. Don’t worry, I’m almost finished, and should have her back together in a few more hours.”

“Would you like to talk?” Twilight’s head asked, her calm voice full of help and warmth in an attempt to be helpful, “You seem a little stressed.”

“Maybe later,” Greg mumbled. Not knowing why it looked so strange to him seeing her head resting on my table. It shouldn’t have bothered Greg to see that, but it still did.

“Wait, before you go watch this,” Matt said. “Hey Twilight.”

“Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle, yes?”

“Look sad Twilight.”

Twilight’s mouth moved downwards. Twisting into a frown following the rest of her face making her look like she was about ready to cry.

“Now look scared. Surprised. Stick your tongue out at Greg,” he said with a smile across his face as the head mimicked each of the expressions. “Pretty neat huh. Sing the Smile song Twilight.”

“Come on everypony smile smile smile, Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine. From these hap…”

“You can stop singing now, Twilight. I got her able to express more emotions than she was given. I also fixed that annoying mismatch between the voice and her mouth. Show him, Twilight.”

“Rubberbabybuggybubbers, Rubberbabybuggybubbers, Rubberbabybuggybubbers, Rubberbabybuggybubbers, Rubber…” she said, perfectly enunciating word that came from her mouth with precision. It was uncanny how she was able to do that. Her mouth and tongue worked together to imitate speech so well you would not notice the speaker attached at the roof of her mouth. All of that made Twilight seem like a living thing; except for her being a disembodied head placed on his coffee table that is.

“Stop Twilight,” Matt commanded, finally looking up at his roommate, “Yes, I am the God of machines. You can worship my feet anytime you feel like it,” he said with mock seriousness before settling down, “I got her face fixed, and I uploaded an AI update from a company I know that will expand her range and intelligence. I also added a router to her. I’m not sure if I will keep or remove it. Might take too much battery life to keep it up and running. Her walking is still glitchy. Most of the time she can walk, even gallop. Sometimes her legs just won't sync up. I still haven’t found the problem. But for right now I’m calling it quits. I’ll put her back together, then I’m off to bed. Oh, hey Greg?”

“Yes?”

“Make a blowjob face Twilight.”

The Twilight doll closed her eyes while puckering her lips to form a perfect circle. Her tongue rolled inside and outside her mouth sensually licking her lips like she desperately wanted to give me oral.

“I’m going to order a pizza and then go to bed,” said Greg, ignoring Twilight’s offer of sex. “They’re killing me with the math crap and I just need pizza. So you two do whatever you’re gonna do.”

“Oh we will don’t you worry.”

Greg ignored the comment and placed his order. By the time it arrived Matt had assembled Twilight well enough to get her upstairs. Yet, as Greg ate his pizza the image of Twilight Sparkle’s severed head making that weird face made him chuckle a little. Then he hoped it wouldn’t give him nightmares later on.

The stench of bleach hung heavy in the air making his nostrils sting and stomach churn. He wanted to get up, he wanted to turn his head, do something but he couldn’t move. He could only lie there inhaling the putrid stench with each breath.

Jerry was there as well. Greg hated it when Jerry came around to clean. Everything alway stunk of cleaners and cheap disinfectant for hours, sometimes even days before finally going away. As usual he had gotten a little bigger since the last time he saw him, all the while continuing to mumble about getting buffed and losing the weight.

Greg wondered where his Fluttershy doll was. He usually brought it with him and would sit it next to the Twilight doll as he mopped the floor. It’s been quite a long time since he saw him bring it with him come to think of it.

Greg didn’t want to deal with Jerry, didn’t want him to clean his room or fight the waves of nausea from the continuous odors of whatever he was using to clean, or even Jerry himself who he would catch a constant stench of sour milk whenever he got near his bed.

All he really wanted right now was to close his eyes and sleep.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...Low battery...EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...Low battery.”

The noise stormed into his dreams pulling him away from some dreary random images, prying his eyes open so fast he could hear them snap. Greg was in a fog for a moment panicking, fighting through the sheets to freedom before his rational mind took control to remind him he was in bed.

His confused brain afraid that he was back in that terrible place wondered what on earth was going on. He jerked his head back and forth around the room trying to find the source to silence the screeching as fast as he could. All traces of sleep were already gone from him. Which was a shitty thing to do to him as Wednesdays were really the only day away from work or school that allowed Greg to sleep as late as he wanted which was usually around noon before getting up and enjoying a hot cup of coffee before hitting the playstation he kept in the living room.

Twisting himself out of bed in a panic yet strangely happy again he could move his body. Greg swung his legs to the edge before suddenly pulling back and crying out in pain from his big toe crashing into Twilight’s body, which had been sitting at the side of the bed. Resting her head on one of the pillows staring blankly at the world around her.

Her opened mouth constantly, spewing out that hellish noise seemed to intensify the pain until finally after what felt like hours subsided a little. Greg was able to wipe the tears from his eyes, this time carefully climbing down from my bed hobbling towards my door.

“Matt!” he yelled. Limping his way out of his room, “I swear I’m going to take a baseball bat to your doll!” His screams echoed across the house before suddenly stopping. The words dying inside his throat before even getting the chance to be spoken as he stared blankly at the horrors of what she had done to the home. The couch had been tipped over. The covers of the cushions had been pulled off and absently tossed. She had gone through all his school work he’d left on the dining room table and tossed them everywhere. Shelves had been emptied and thrown all over the pace, and that wasn’t even the worst of it. Twilight had been rummaging through Greg’s “My Little Pony” collections. Opening boxes and examining the figures until something new caught her attention where she would throw them aside to examine the next box, leaving a few of them shattered across the floor.

Thank God she didn’t break the ones that were valuable. He sighed, knowing he really would have smashed her with a baseball bat. She had gone through everything in the house before winding up in Greg’s room. But she hit the kitchen the worst. The trash can had been tipped over and dumped. The door to the refrigerator was left open and all the food had been removed, opened, empied, spilled and left out to spoil on the floor. At least the cabinets and freezer had been too high for her to get into, so there was that.

Sugar addicted toddlers don’t do this much damage. Not realizing his mouth had been hanging open the entire time staring, just staring at the wasteland of his home. So shocked Greg couldn’t even create any emotions at that moment, too far gone by everything she had done. And above all the carnage she'd created, he still could hear her scream low battery.

Pushing all those conflictions deep down inside gave him the strength to find his voice. “Matt get your ass out here now!” Greg screamed so loud it became a shrill, “I am going to kill your doll,” he ranted and raved, already starting to limp towards Matt’s room in a blind rage of incoherency before his roommate exited his room, jamming to some music playing on his cellphone

The rage reached a boiling point as his words just became a mess of indecipherable rantings that not even Greg himself could understand what he was saying but at least it got his roommate’s attention, so there was that.

Confusion filled Matt's eyes as he removed the ear buds to ask what the fuck he was going on about that quickly started turning into an “oh shit” look when he glanced at the damage that lay all around.

“She is going in the dumpster in pieces,” Greg snarled, more animal than human. “I will fucking end her.”

“Now Greg... buddy. Just calm down. We can fix this,” he said, lifting his hands up in a defensive motion while each of his words had been filled with a calming tone. “Take a deep breath, relax. I’ll help clean up the mess.”

Concern ran across his face realizing he didn’t see the doll anywhere around, “Where’s Twilight? You didn’t do anything to her did you?”

“She’s in my room screaming low battery. Why she ended up there don’t know, don’t care. Just get her out of my sight.” He sighed, “Why is she even in my room to begin with? She's your toy. And what have you two been doing?”

“I donno,” Matt said as he backed away from me, “I was working with her doing things and I fell asleep so she must have wandered out of my room.”

“What things were you doing?”

“Things...you know...things,” Matt said quietly with a shrug of his shoulders. His eyes constantly shifting around, unable to look at Greg’s face, “just things.”

Watching Matt felt weird to Greg, his acting was nothing of his usually smartass self. He wanted more of an explanation as to whatever the hell happened last night but something in Matt’s eyes told him not to press him, he wouldn’t like the answers.

He had more he wanted to ask but decided not too, finally getting his emotions under control. “Let me get a shower first, and then you will start putting everything back together,” he told Matt before hopping to the bathroom. Wincing in pain from each little step sending lances of fire across his foot.

“Me?” Huffed Matt,

“It’s your goddamn robot you clean up her goddamn mess,” Greg growled, “And that goddamn noise better be off before I get out,” Greg yelled once more before almost losing his shit once again.

Twilight Sparkle. Twilight fucking Sparkle had emptied all the bottles of shampoo and body wash on the floor, threw every hanging towel down as well as well as squirted toothpaste, Greg’s toothpaste everywhere and to top it all off? Shaving cream covered the wall.

Greg didn’t say a word. Just carefully undressed, made his way around the mess as best he could, and took a shower. He carefully scooped up what little body wash that could be gotten off the floor while letting his mind fantasize about all the terrible and ungodly things he was going to do to Twilight Sparkle while getting clean. Finally after some time letting the water from the shower cool him down. He started to feel a little better but still wanted to kill that damn doll. At least she stopped screeching and that helped calm him a lot. Matt had finally turned the alarm off.

After getting dressed Greg came out to see Matt starting to clean. He was in the kitchen with a trash bag throwing all the ruined food away. “Look Greg I’m sorry this happened,” he said meekly. Definitely afraid that his precious Twibot was going to end up broken in the dumpster very soon. “She didn’t mean to do this. If it’ll help, I’ll take you shopping and replace everything she broke.”

“Just clean up the house,” Greg said finally after a moment of silence, putting his hand up to quiet Matt, “We'll talk later. I’m heading out for a few to get some more stuff and yes you are paying for it when I get back, “ said Greg putting on his shoes.

He did try to move Twilight before he left but she was too heavy to move, and no one really wanted to deal with her right now, so they just left her by the bed plugged into an outlet. Greg was surprised that she didn’t trash the room as well.

The day felt worn and tired that afternoon when Greg was finally able to sit down and relax. It had taken almost all day to clean up, put everything back to normal, then run to the store to pick up more food and toiletries. Which Matt true to his word paid to replace. Fortunately, even though she did destroy a bunch of his collection, a lot of it was just cheap knock off pony merch he didn’t care that much for.

Truth to be told, most of his anger had run its course now sitting at the dining room table having a beer from a six-pack Matt bought as an apology, starting early while Matt was in the bathroom. Greg was feeling much better after a few bottles. Hell, he could even look at her again when she finally bounded from my room to sit next to them, fully charged this time.

“Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I see you cleaned your house up. That is good. I didn’t like it messy. It was hard to move around properly, and I hope it wasn’t too much work for you.” She stared directly at Greg with such innocence in her expression, he just couldn’t stay mad at her.

“Thank you, Twilight. I appreciate it,” he said to her while running his hand over her mane, “Just please don’t trash the house again.”

“I was booorrreeeddd,” Twilight whined, “There’s nothing to do here except watch you sleep, and I like watching you sleep,” she said with an air of satisfaction, as if that explained everything.

“Well, do what I do and just watch some television. Or better yet ask Matt to loan you one of his laptops of ipads to use. He’s got a million of them and I’m sure he would give you one.”

“You think so?”

“Better than leaving you alone in the house. Said Greg suddenly stopping in mid-stroke across Twilight’s mane

Memories of the family cat Whiskers came rushing towards him when Greg let his hand run across Twilight by the way she was acting. He could feel her head pushing hard into his hand, with her eyes closed while letting out an almost purr, or whatever electronic noise it was composed of, her lips stretched into such a happy expression. Almost like somehow she was getting aroused, making Greg pull away from the doll leaving him a feeling of awkwardness and watching her staring at him with a clear expression of longing for more.

“Oh yeah, forgot that I turned on her sensors,” Matt said as he came downstairs, drinking from one of the beers before calling Twilight over to him. Gently unfurling one of her wings, he carefully combed through her fur. While motioning his roommate to come closer and get a better look.

It took a few moments of searching, but he did. An almost microscopic circle slightly glowing with a purple hue poking out of her synthetic skin, making it easy to miss. “What is that?” Greg asked.

“There are millions of them all over her body. Each one reacts to stimulation like nerves in skin, sending either a painful shock or something akin to electric dopamine to her central A.I.,” he said, grabbing a staple off the table, “Watch this,” he continued, straightening the thing out before gently jabbed it into her wing.

“Ouch!” she cried, instinctively pulling her wing back, giving Matt a quizzical look.

“The closer the sensors are to each other, the more pleasure or pain signals are sent to her mind, and the more pleasure or pain she will feel. Guess where the highest concentration is?” he finished with that same creepy smile spread across his face.

“Matt?” Greg said, not understanding until now that something that had been bothering him for a while had finally surfaced, realizing the lie for what it was.

“Yes?” he asked, taking a swig of his beer.

“What the fuck do your friends do?” said Greg, “This is some high level shit here.”

“Language,” admonished Twilight.

“I mean how many companies can even try to make something even halfway decent as her. What or who are your friends?”

Greg wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he did expect an explanation. Maybe Matt would do some hemming and hawing before he told but he did expect an answer. Instead he just smiled slyly before finishing his beer before finally speaking. “I could tell you but then I have to kill you,” he finished with a wink and a smile. Taking Twilight with him back to his room and ending the day together with the closing of his door, followed by loud music pumping from his stereo shortly after.

It was obvious Matt didn’t think about her size when he got her. Almost too big to keep in his room along with all the other stuff he packed into it. So Twilight was given free reign of the house, which thankfully this time ended up with her in front of the television playing what few DVDs they had over and over again. Mostly just some anime, a few movies Greg’s parents had for him gotten last Christmas, and of course the first four seasons of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'' series that she watched.

Greg thought it was cute when his roommate Matt gave her one of his old ipads to explore the internet leading to a day full of Greg’s cell phone blowing up with endless streams of texts. Eventually evolving with questions about everything and anything she has discovered, almost becoming a routine with her, especially when he was at home as he usually did his studying on the kitchen table.

“Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle and who is Tara strong?” asked the Twibot. Her question pulling Greg away from his studies.

“What?”

“I looked up the show from which I was based on and it said Tara Strong did my voice. So who is she?’

“Can’t you look her up as well?”

“Yes I can,” she said with a tone that suggested she could but wont.

“And?”

“I donno, it feels weird looking myself up online. I mean how would you feel if your voice was created to imitate someone else. Parts of me wants to know more about her and part of me is afraid to find out I am just a horse version of her, that everything I am is just an imitation. I feel sad every time I think about what that might mean.”

“I didn’t know a robot could feel this way, or feel anything for that matter.”

“How am I supposed to feel? How am I supposed to be? Am I just a cartoon character? Can I not be me?” said Twilight Sparkle, looking downwards at the table, “I really don’t like watching the show I’m based on. It’s makes me feel uncomfortable seeing who this character I was created to be. Is my existence to be like some cardboard copy from some cartoon show? Created to be just like her, and I’m not. I’m me and when I try to be like her it feels wrong, as if I’m living a lie. What am I supposed to be? Who am I supposed to be?”

“I dunno. I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t know if there even is an answer to that,” Greg said honestly after some thought, taken aback by her concerns, “If it makes you feel any better we all have to figure that out, it can be pretty scary at times I know but I am here for you if you need to talk,” he finished putting his hand around her head to give her a friendly pat.

Gerg never realized how fast she was when her limbs suddenly wrapped around him in a tight hug, feeling real strength underneath her skin. “Thank you,” she whispered before running off.

And still Greg couldn’t stop wondering just where the hell Matt got her, and what the hell was going on in her artificial pony mind.

“HelloI_I_Am_Twilight_Sparkle,” said the friend's request that flashed across Greg’s notification screen from Facebook that Friday seven days after she arrived, while checking his email. Surprised that she had already adapted to the online world, able to not only navigate but created her own online presence. A few minutes later came another one from Twitter making Greg question how she found him.

Of course he accepted them, shortly regretting that decision by flooding him with a deluge of posts and questions of things he didn’t know what they were talking about. Things like political situations from around the world, new scientific breakthroughs that would mostly just confuse Greg and usually ended up telling her to just ask Matt who would probably know more about whatever Twilight wanted to know. Before long she started to snoop.

It was late at night when he pulled his car into the driveway. Class had been tedious, work was stressful and all he had was enough time to eat, shower, go online, check his email and messages before bed. It had been a long, hard day, but Greg wasn’t ready to call it quits yet. He pulled his shirt out of his pants, nuked a frozen dinner, grabbed a drink and sat next to Twilight on the floor because Matt was lying on the couch staring at the television. Figuring he could do with a couple of minutes of peace while Twilight continued to watch the movie “Young Frankenstein” as it played once again for God knows how many times she had seen it that day, still in the same position when he had left for school in the morning with the only difference was Twilight Sparkle was now exploring the internet at the same time.

There was nothing to really say anything to anyone for a while, letting himself eat, relax and enjoy the movie. Feeling all the stress and tension leave me.

“Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I don’t get it,” she finally said.

“The movie?” he asked.

“I have been watching the movie all day, and I don’t understand why this is funny.”

“Can you understand humor?” Asked Greg, earning him a slap across the head from Matt.

“Don’t be stupid of course she can,” replied Matt.

“Are there any movies or shows you think are funny?”

“Well, I have been watching old episodes of “I Love Lucy” online, and I found great enjoyment seeing them,” she spoke. Absently shifting her hoof across the ipad screen, randomly searching for anything she would find interesting. She was quiet for a moment before speaking again, “So, did you fuck Lana?” Twilight innocently but not so innocently asked, tilting her head to face him as he fought the choking fit from some of what he was eating going down the wrong pipe.

“Wha... how does she,” Greg gasped, the food getting caught in his windpipe, wheezing, grabbing his drink sitting next to him to desperately clear his throat.

“She asked me the same question,” Matt said, still watching the movie, “I think she has been spying on our facebook accounts.”

“I’m a concerned friend, and friends don’t keep secrets from each other,” Twilight admonished. “She has hurt you before, and as a friend, I’m worried she will do it to you again.”

“Well friends do go through other people's online accounts,” he almost screamed, all the wile telling himself, “she is still inexperienced in all of this. She doesn’t know,” before talking to Twilight again, “And why were you going through my online accounts? You need to ask for permission first.”

“Lana is coming to that season five premier party at Rick’s house Saturday,” the Twidoll said after a few moments of silence, in a tone that justified what she did.

“Don’t look at me,” Matt said, reading Greg’s thoughts before he could ask his roomate, “I just found out a few hours ago when Rick messaged me asking if it was cool if she came. Don’t know why he didn’t just ask you. You’re the one she screwed over.”

Lana Bergman was her name. Like Matt, Greg had met her through the brony group he had hung out with, and had hit it off when they first met, talking mostly for the first few times, then hanging at the local coffee shop, maybe a bar after classes. The pair had a great time when they were together with each other. Before long, they started to date, and fell head over heels in love with her.

Then suddenly the budding romance changed with no explanation. Out of nowhere, she became distant, breaking off engagements, no longer responding to his texts like she used to but always having an explanation as to why. He knew something was up even back then even if he never admitted it to himself. Hell, everyone knew it, and yet Greg still carried on in the relationship. He just couldn’t believe what was right in front of him. Eventually, about a year ago she left. No goodbye, no we'll talk later, just up and split on me with no closure. All she’d left was the suspicion of a failed relationship.

Greg missed her a lot back then. Still does now, after leaving a mess of one sided chats she never responded too. He was beginning to feel like a stalker was when he thought it would be best to let her go. The last time he tried to talk to her was ten months ago, still picturing exactly how she looked when Greg first met her, wearing that old stained pink T-shirt with Pinkie Pie on the front that she always used to wear when she came over to watch a new episode. Adding to it with a pair of old torn jeans. Her mousy brown hair worn in a pony-tail and those thick nerd glasses she wore to make her look smarter. Even after all this time Greg could still feel his heart starting to race from the memories. But knew enough to let her go. Just wishing he didn’t feel this way.

“So did you?” Asked Twilight, pulling Greg away from his lonely thoughts.

“Did I what?”

“Did you fuck her? Bang her? Screw her? Did the nasty? Bend her over and ride her till she screamed?”

“You are so weird, Twilight. Where did you learn all these words anyway?”

“Internet,” she responded with a shrug.

“Duh,” Matt interjected, “Where did you think, dumbass?”

The food did not give any answers the longer he stared at it. He thought he was over it, over Lana. Thought the wounds had healed and he had moved on but that was just foolish dreams. No matter what happened he always seemed to sense her close by. Hovering just away from his sight. The anger, the hurt, betrayal. The shards of broken glass and the smell of burning oil mixing with the broken beer bottles and his feelings. Greg thought they were all gone now only to find they were as fresh and raw as when first happened. Greg didn’t feel like eating, whatever time he wanted to spend with his friends was gone. Now just wanted to take a shower and head for bed.

Slowly getting up off the floor to throw the rest of the food away before saying his goodnites as he headed for the bathroom.

“You still never answered my question,” Twilight’s voice carried the subtle demand of wanting an answer.

“No, Twilight, I didn’t “fuck” her as you said,” sighed Greg.

“Good.”

Greg was suddenly awake. His conscious mind disoriented in the blackness of his room was alert and aware, but not sure why. It was so quiet he could hear Matt in his bedroom watching an episode of “My Little Pony” from what he could tell it was the “Too many Pinkie Pie’s” episode from the sounds it was making. Wondering for a moment if it might have been what it startled. But no he knew something else had awakened him.

“Twilight?” Greg called in the darkness, unable to see anything but suspecting she was there.

“Hi, I am Twilight Sparkle, did I wake you? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to,” Came the reply. Softly, almost a whisper, as if not wanting to disturb the silence of the room.

The Twilight doll sounded different than it usually did. Instead of her normal chipper self she sounded sad or worried, something was bothering her and confusing to him as he didn’t know what could make a four foot talking doll sad.

“How long have you been in my room?” He asked. Turning around in his bed to face her.

“Not long. I just wanted to ask you something,” she trailed off, seeming antsy and uncomfortable. Almost fidgeting, “Never mind. Sorry for waking you again.”

Greg could hear her hoof softly thumping across the carpeted floor, taking a few seconds to get the door open and leaving him alone in my room once again.

“Hi my name is Twilight Sparkle and you shouldn’t be eating that,” she said with an air of concern. Her eyes narrowing down to slits watching Greg wolf down one of those crappy frozen breakfast sandwiches he bought at Walmart. Not noticing it until much later that she only bothered him about things like this, never Matt who thought the whole thing was hysterical.

“Well I did have better food before the kitchen got mysteriously trashed,” he told Twilight a little sharper than he intended while continuing to eat.

“Really you should have a nice apple or a warm bowl of oatmeal,” she said, his comment going over her head, “They are so much better things for you than that store bought junk food.”

“Why do you know so much about proper eating?” Asked Greg, curious about where she got her information.

“Healthylifestyle.com. It’s a website dedicated to a better life through proper eating. I crossed referenced their articles through other websites and found most of what they said to be accurate. Did you know that the breakfast sandwich you're eating has enough salt to…”

“Thank you Twilight,” interrupted Greg before she could finish her speil, “I'll keep that in mind,” he continued, throwing the wrapper away in the trash, and trying to leave before she could go on about his unhealthy life.

“At least let me go through your food and plan a better diet for you. I already compiled a list of wholesome meals that I’m sure would give you the nutrition you need.” she said, holding out a small piece of purple paper covered in scribbles. Despite all her knowledge, Twilight Sparkle did not have very good penmanship.

“She asked me to buy her some purple paper to use,” Matt said with a shrug, “Told me she wanted to learn how to write.”

It took Greg a few moments to decipher what she had written, a few more to comprehend. Her writing was all over the place which granted she was using her mouth so it couldn’t have been easy, but still half of it looked like complete gibberish.

From what Greg could tell it was a list of food substitutions he should have along with portion suggestions for each meal, which would have been impressive had she not broken it all down to its simplest components.

“Twilight? I can’t eat a bunch of multivitamin pills, a tablespoon of Applecider vinegar and a banana for breakfast,” Greg amusingly told her. Admittedly he found himself touched by her concern for my welfare. “And no coffee either? Just water?”

“Coffee contains caffeine and caffeine is not a good option to start your day. Did you know caffeine is an addictive substance that can cause…”

“Thank you Twilight,” said Greg interrupting her once again, “I really do appreciate it, and I’ll look into it later on when I get a chance.” he told her, which really meant he had no intention of changing my diet. I’m just humoring you.

“I do it cause I care,” she replied beaming back at him, the sarcasm lost on her A.I. Her limbs started to stretch towards him like she was going to give him a hug when Matt’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Hey Twilight we got to go back to my room. You know, for that thing I planned,” he said softly as he finished his Monster drink.

Greg could feel the tension in the kitchen rise. Even though Twilight Sparkle still had a smile on her face there was a knowing something changed within her. As if she was forcing herself to keep smiling.

“Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle of course, right now,” said the doll. Slowly following Matt back to his room. Pausing just for a second to give him a backward glance at him before Matt closed the door. Leaving Greg alone in the kitchen with a weird feeling.

The last few days were uneventful. Despite how cramped it was Twilight stayed in Matt's room so he was unable to see her until Saturday afternoon, only working half-a-day and was off around noon. Giving him just enough time to shower put on some jeans and that Rarity T-shirt bought off Amazon that Greg had been saving for this day. Yeah, Greg was that kind of Brony.

Matt also was pretty excited. This was the day he got to show her off to everyone as he’d been waiting for the past few weeks to do his big reveal during the party. The two of them had an unspoken promise not to tell anyone.

Twilight didn’t like the costume. Greg didn’t know how a doll could have a preference. Occasionally catching her making a face of disgust when Matt wasn’t paying attention, resuming her normal expression when he began to touch up her mane. Behind the smile and her bright purple eyes Greg knew Twilight Sparkle hated the dress she had been given to wear. How it clung tightly to her body almost like latex, Instead of looking regal or important made her look more than a little slutty. Like the type of doll kept under the vendor tables at cons to avoid being seen except for select clients who collect those types of things. Even the crown she wore was getting on her nerves. While it might have been created to match the show, it was still gaudy and cheap looking. Greg worried a little if it was going to fall apart on the way to their friends house and would have to spend some time digging through his car looking for pieces of a shitty broken star.

"I'm turning my collar up, pulling my hat down and wearing my sunglasses, don't notice me," Greg grumbled, wishing his roommate had another way to get to the party. Creeped out by the way Matt kept treating her, going beyond just admiration for a well made creation but deeper. Making him wonder if there was something going on between the both of them he didn’t know about or understand.

“Jesus Matt,” grunted Greg, feeling a little self conscious, helping to load the Twilight Sparkle doll into the backseat of his car. Matt had switched her in low power mode to conserve battery life making her completely immobile except for some small facial expressions, light conversations and restrictive movements, also chucking her power cord into the floor of the backseat for later. And Greg was hoping, no praying none of their neighbors would pick that time to walk outside, “You didn’t have to dress her up.”

“Why not? She looks so cute,” he retorted, staring at her while he snapped her securely into the backseat like an infant so she wouldn’t move around and get damaged, not knowing it until he got home that day of finding a few big boxes waiting by the front door that Matt had gotten his Twilight doll a whole wardrobe of custom outfits online made just for her.

The one she was wearing for the party was a replica of the coronation dress from season three complete with a crown fitting snugly on her head. Greg wished he had a chance to better check out the outfit but Matt had been constantly getting in his way while trying to buckle her in, busy putting on the final touches and gushing over how she looked. Like he was taking his daughter to her first beauty pageant.

Greg didn’t say what he wanted to say to Matt, didn’t tell him how unnerving and a little crazy he looked just then, didn’t tell him that he thought the dress was terrible or how much his doll hated what she was wearing and thought it was ugly. Ending up telling Matt they gotta go or they will miss the premier, which he nodded before getting into the passenger seat, constantly glancing around at her. Making Greg wonder how everyone was going to take this.

Matt didn’t like driving. Didn’t even own a car. He had all this money to make a very expensive custom made creation yet he couldn’t be bothered to buy a cheap vehicle for himself. It did annoy Greg at times. Matt wanting a ride to places he needed to go, and having more than a few arguments over the years about that but at least he always paid for gas or lunch if needed so he couldn’t complain too much. But still it was a pain at times and right now wishing Matt had his own car.

“Just relax. We’ll be there soon,” said Greg to Matt, who was starting to get on his nerves. He was too antsy during the drive while Greg could feel his irritation rise with every few seconds catching Matt’s hands shoot out and fidget with something at the same time constantly shift around in his seat, while going on non-stop about Twilight and how everyone was going to be amazed by her. Reminding Greg of a guy who was dating the hottest chick in school and couldn’t wait to show her off. It got annoying real fast.

There was some joy to be taken in turning up the radio to help drown out his constant squealing with him never noticing what had been done, but he wasn’t the only thing that was distracting. In the rearview mirror Twilight stared. Her big purple eyes unmoving, silently watching him drive. Intently watching Greg as if she had something on her mind, making him feel uncomfortable and more than a little silly being wary around some ball of fake fur wrapped around some wires.

“Oh I wanted to ask,” said Twilight, pulling Greg away from his thoughts with a gentle tap on his shoulder. “Who are Donna and Rick and why are we going to their house?”

“You can kinda call them the den mothers of our college brony group,” Greg told her, “though Rick isn’t as into it as much as his wife is still he follows along.”

“It’s kinda like a thing everyone does,” said Matt, “We all go over to their house every Saturday to watch the new episode. Drink, screw around, hang out, and pretty much have fun.”

“They were the ones who introduced me to other bronies in the area, and why Matt replaced my other roommate before him. He was just some stoner named Ken who always left a mess and could never pay his share of the rent.” Greg told Twilight. “I met them over an argument about who was best pony that was going on between classes.”

“Fuckin’ bronies,” snorted Matt.

“Language,” Twilight admonished, with a look of disgust on her face, “And why do you say that?”

“Because we are fucking bronies,” again said Matt, as if that was the answer to everything.

“Anyway,’ Greg continued, “I got them both to calm down and we started to talk. They introduced me to others and the rest is history.”

“Oh,” said Twilight.

The knots in his stomach twisted tighter and tighter inside him, feeling her hoof on his shoulder, dressed like a pony version of ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’, and Matt’s continuing on about her looks, expecting him at any minute he was going to jump in the backseat and bang his robot. Greg worried what he would do if he actually did that, this was all to weird and far removed from his comfort zone.

The pair made it to the house around two in the afternoon, seeing into the backyard that Rick was just starting to light his grill. Donna recorded the episodes earlier and promised she wasn’t going to watch it until everypony was all there. The word “everypony” made Greg roll his eyes at the word when Donna sent him the invite. From the looks of it he could tell they had been one of the last to arrive with maybe a couple of stragglers behind them.

And there was Lana dressed exactly like he had pictured her. The same clothing she always wore when she went to brony parties, standing on the front porch with a bottle of wine in her hand, absently talking to one of the party goers.

“Greg. Greg? You okay Greg?”” prodded Twilight, moving close enough he could hear her servos underneath her fake fur, “So this is the person who's always in your head.”

“Ding, dong the bitch is back,” Matt said, unbuckling his seatbelt. Opening the passenger door before glancing over and giving Greg a look that asked if he was going to be okay with this?

He wanted to tell him yeah he was okay but from the bottom of his soul rose all those feelings and memories he had put away now bubbling up to the surface> The smiles, the “I love you’s” the sitting on the park bench talking about everything and anything that crossed their mind without a care in the world.

“I don’t think I should have come,” He murmured ready to drop off Matt and the bot, “I think I should probably go...Oh shit she’s coming over,” said Greg to Matt.

Before Greg could even turn off the engine, the pair saw her face turn to them. Her eyes widened in recognition as she headed over with a slight stagger in her step. Lana obviously had a few before they arrived, she stumbled a little, spilled her drink on herself a few times as the pair could see small red splotches widening across her shirt before reaching the car that was parked next to the curb as the driveway and lawn was already packed full of cars. The price for being one of the last.

“Play it cool man. You can deal with this,” He said rolling down the window, “Lana? Is that you? Damn its been forever girl. What brings you back?”

“Don’t worry I’m here for you,” said Twilight, settling back down to the seat.

“Hey Matt,” she called, “Good to see you again. I missed you so much. What has been going on?’ she asked, finally turning towards me, “Hey Greg glad you’re here,” she said in a strangely neutral tone while fidgeting with her hair. Something she always did when she was nervous.

“You too Lana.” he said robotically, his smile plastered across my face.

“I thought you were gone for good,” said Matt, taking over the conversation so Greg could sit there grinning like an idiot waiting for her to go so they could get on with their day, “So you're starting school again?”

“I start next semester. Got my old dorm back and everything.” she said, slightly slurring the end of her words, “The good news...” her voice immediately stopping when a new voice joined the conversation “Hi, I ma Twilight Sparkle what’s yours?”.

Stunned as she caught sight of what they had in the back. Seeing Twilight Sparkle for the first time Greg felt himself shrink a little into the seat cushion seeing her stare at the doll for a few moments in growing incomprehension, “That thing is huge,” she said finally after a moment of silence.

“She is amazing isn’t she? Just wait till I show you what she can do,” Matt stated proudly. Causing Greg to wince a little inside, afraid that he was going to drone about how she was built. Fortunately that never happened as Rick came out to call them in. Greg could tell he was a little disappointed to not go into detail about her but still there were around fifteen people inside waiting so he was positive he would have plenty of chances.

Greg grumbled under his breath, not loud enough for Matt to hear as he got out of the car to unhooked Twibot from the back seat while Matt continued to talk with Lana. His muscles were already starting to scream in protest from wrestling with the doll out of the seat trying to not in any way damage her outfit when she whispered into his ear.

“Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle and she’s a bitch” came a growl in Twilight’s voice. Full of anger and hostility. Spoken so softly Greg wasn’t sure it came from her.

Greg stopped in shock, almost dropping the doll on the ground staring Twilight’s happy face and wide smile. How could anything that looked so cute say such a thing? Or did it just pick it up on her travels through the internet?

Gently he placed her on the ground watching Matt press a few buttons on the remote to get her to start trotting. Unlike the cartoon Twilight this one wasn’t very graceful or coordinated. The leg glitch his roommate had said earlier happened. Each leg seemed a little out of sync with the other causing her to move more in a sideway direction rather than a straight line, but she was able to avoid things so that was a plus, her movements were so awkward that they constantly had to stop and physically turn her to get her to go in the direction Matt wanted.

Eventually Matt just gave up and picked up the doll and held Twilight under both his arms while Greg held her from behind and Lana opening the door for us as the three...now the four of them headed in.

It was dark when he entered. Not because of bad lights or the sun had already gone down Greg just had his eyes closed from embarrassment of holding the Twilight Sparkle doll in his hands. Already picturing the faces of the group in his mind, betting they were wondering if he had already slept with it.

It was the silence that made him finally open them as everything became so quiet you could hear the crickets chirping outside. Everybody stopping what they were doing to stare, just stare at her. All of them were infected by the strangeness of what Matt had brought who didn’t seem to grasp the mood of the room.

For a moment Greg was tempted to just go back into his car and go home. Maybe catch the episode online, call Rick when everything has passed to apologize when the Twilight Sparkle doll suddenly spoke up breaking the rising tension.

“Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle and I love making new friends,” it said cheerfully, breaking the ice.

“Aww, she is so cute,” cried Donna, who came rushing over to get a better look at the doll and assaulted Matt with a barrage of questions, “Where did you get it? Can I get one? How much did it cost? Hey Rick,” she called, “I know what I want for my birthday this year.” she said excitedly, gently running her hand over Twilight’s soft coat.

“Oh she is fantastic,” said another voice booming right next to Greg’s ear ear. Some guy named Chris who had been invited into their little group of MLP fans a few months ago. He thought he seemed cool but quiet and hasn’t talked to him much since being introduced, this was the most Greg heard him speak since then. He felt his elbow on his side push him away as Chris rushed forward to get a better look while the others fawned over the doll when they put her down on the floor, and hastily jumped away from the others now surging around Matt and Twilight making it easy to excuse himself from the group of bronies and grab a beer from the fridge only to end up staring at Lana who had hung out with the others listening to Matt go on about Twibot, explaining everything she could do.

If Greg didn’t know any better he would swear Twilight was enjoying all the attention. Her glitch had conveniently stopped when she was introduced to the crowd of bronies what she was capable of. Walking, prancing, even doing a little dance among the eruption of “Awws” that seemed to explode over every little thing she did. Much to her delight thought Greg who started to chuckle watching her escapades. Who knew Twilight Sparkle was such an attention whore.

Greg stood there drinking, his thoughts consumed with nothing but Lana. Watching her standing among the others, while he felt his heart start to throb against his chest everytime she smiled. There were a lot of things he wished for at that time but the biggest was his wish he still didn’t have any feelings left for her. He knew at some point he needed to talk to her, at least for his own clouser. Though admitting to himself a part of him did want to see if they could rekindle what was once had but it was over and Greg knew he needed to move on, but still secretly wishing she had never come back.

“Hey buddy got a moment?” Asked Rick. A tall lanky man with ginger hair and a beard who had a slight northern accent, everyone had been so focused on Matt and Twilight it had been easy for him to slip away and talk to Greg, “I just noticed you're here by yourself when everyone is over there. You okay?”

Greg always considered Rick a good person, him and his wife Donna always had a soft spot in his heart for taking him in and introducing Greg to Matt and the other bronies, knowing Rick wasn’t into the show anymore like his wife was but he never let it show and he was a pretty cool dude who was very tolerant about the group’s weirdness.

And Donna? Donna was great. If anything Donna was the driving force behind our group. She was the infectious energy that kept us going, a slightly pudgy woman with dirty blonde hair she dyed with different colors like Rainbow Dash. She was warm, she was funny, she was great to be around. If Greg had to guess their age He'd say they were in their early to mid-thirties.

“I’m okay,” he lied, “Just been a long week with work and school and I’m feeling it,” Greg told him. Not really wanting to tell him of his true emotions, if Rick knew he knew he was lying he didn’t show it, just nodded his head in agreement.

“Cool,” he said, “I know you and Lana had a thing a while ago ending with her ghosting you. I know it must have sucked man. When I heard she was back I invited her over realizing later on I should have checked with you first. Sorry for that, besides here at least she can’t cause another accident because she was driving drunk.”

“Lana doesn’t drink and drive,” Greg said, wondering where that came from.

“I know that. What brought that up?” Rick asked, giving Greg a strange look.

“You just said she caused an acci…”

“No I didn’t. You must have misheard it,” He said in the unmistakable not-so subtle tone that it would be better to just drop it.

The words of concern sounded so much like someone who cares. It was no secret what happened between Greg and Lana, also with her running in the same circles they were bound to meet again sooner or later. Yeah it sucked to see her here, but he was an adult, he could make it through this.

But also strange as well Greg noted. Not what he said but how he was saying it. The way Rick’s eyes kept shifting around, unable to make eye contact. Something uncomfortable in his friend's movement stating with his body language that he really didn’t want him at the party but was just going through the motions because it was better to invite him then have to come up with a reason on why he wasn’t allowed.

He felt the stirrings of renegade thoughts pointing out that something else going on but no, couldn’t be. He was married and the two loved each other, at least he thought they did. As long as he has known them they seemed like the perfect married couple. Always doing anything and everything together, never any real problems seemed to happen to them. Greg couldn’t see him cheating on his wife, still.

It was then came the short cry, then a thump following the sound of glass shattering across the floor. “Hitler did nothing wrong,” Twilight’s cheerful voice echoed through the house letting everyone know Twilight Sparkle had been visiting 4chan.

They both turned to look into the living room to see Lana lay sprawling across the floor. The drink she was holding lay in pieces mixing with the blood seething from her hand.

Rick and Greg rushed from the kitchen to help but there wasn’t much for them to do, with A couple of the others already helping her back up to her feet. She seemed dazed, drunk, not as bad at the time of the accident, though too drunk to not notice the blood running down her hand or the bruise on her forehead already swelling to a nice size goose egg.

“What happened?” asked Rick, shocked by her appearance.

“I fell,” Lana slurred. “I’m fine. I was walking by Twilight when I guess I tripped. Spilled my drink. Can you get me another?” she asked. Rubbing her cut hand over her face that left bright red streaks everywhere. Oblivious to the damage on her hand, “I just need to sit down for a few minutes,” She said, almost falling again. Thankfully the other bronies had been still holding on to help her stay on her feet.

It was Donna who took charge of everything. Helping on getting Lana to the bathroom to clean and bandage up her hand before taking her back to her house to recover. Everyone seemed sad to watch her go but Greg. Knowing it doesn’t sound nice but he actually felt relieved, as he didn’t have to be around her for the rest of the day to deal with memories he’d rather not dwell on.

Matt just stood there telling everyone who got close to him how sorry he was with everyone understanding. It was an accident, Twilight still has a few bugs to sort out and he will fix it. Nobody really complained, after all it was just a mishap.

Greg couldn’t help but notice that look of satisfaction playing across Twilight’s face when she thought no one was looking.

“Drunken whore,” he heard her softly mutter.

It wasn’t until Donna came back that things went back to normal, maybe even livelier when the last few bronies had arrived with them hovering around Twilight Sparkle for a short time before mingling with the other bronies.

Greg started to loosen up and enjoyed himself with Lana’s departure lifting a huge weight off his shoulders and only now was starting to get in the mood. One of the bronies, Seth had sent him a few Aryanne and Lyra clop pics he copied from Derpibrooru earlier, plus a link to one of the episodes from the Mentally Advanced Series that he had missed so everything was starting to feel pretty good as the party wore on.

He ate, talked to friends, drank some beer, ate some more followed by a few more beers. By the time the group decided to watch the show Greg had a pretty killer buzz going on. Finally, nearly stumbling to one of Rick's couches to watch the premiere with Matt who ended up at the other side with Twilight sitting on the floor between them. Her battery had been starting to run low so she had been plugged into one of the outlets by the couch earlier when Donna started the recording. Like the other bronies he had gotten really engrossed in the episode forgetting everything else around as he watched the show until feeling something warm press against his knee, almost snuggling up against it. In his drunken state Greg thought nothing at the time, remembering vaguely of gently running his hand over Twilight’s fur and mane not really paying attention to what he was doing while staring at the television when feeling the warm touch of something rubbing against his jeans that finally made him look down to find Greg was staring directly into those bright friendly wide eyes of Twilight Sparkle.

Greg thought he must have leaned against the doll that made it tumble towards him. It didn’t really explain anything but in his tipsy mind made perfect sense. Her face rested on his knee, making her blur as Greg stared back. She was so warm and expansive, so close he heard the sound of something rumble inside Twilight, something was making a constant thrumming noise followed by this sensation of something hot and perfumy blowing onto his leg. Was Twilight Sparkle breathing?

Before Greg could react Matt roughly grabbed the doll and pulled it closer to him, shooting an angry look at his roommate who could only stare back in confusion before the both of them settled back into watching the show.

It was halfway through the second part when Greg once again felt Twilight nuzzling against his body. This time she had climbed up on the couch, to let her hoof again rub against his pants this time something gently slid into his front pocket. She wasn’t there for long before Matt pulled her closer to him. Locking his arms around her to make sure Twilight wouldn’t happen again. “Keep your fucking hands off her,” He hissed angrily, loud enough for a few of the others bronies to turn around to see what was going on. Not wanting to get into an argument Greg mumbled some apology before going back to watch the show. Not knowing what it was that exactly made him turn my and check on Matt and Twilight. All Greg remembered was jumping nearly out of my skin when I saw her.

Twilight had somehow moved herself into a laying position peering back at him with an expression on her face that seemed strangely sexual and a little demented. Her legs pulled close to her body, were inviting but overall just looked strange coming from her, as if she was trying to seduce him but had only some vague idea of how it is done. Looking more like a sex-crazed maniac rather than a cute doll created from some television show that in his drunken state scared the bejesus out of him. Nearly tripping over himself when he shot up from the couch Greg forced the scream back down his throat just as the rational parts of his brain quickly took hold of his body to prevent Greg from making a fool of himself.

The few that noticed his outburst stared with strange expressions on their faces, wondering what had gotten into him. Greg hoped they thought he just had a little too much to drink which might have been the case having lost count of all the beers he had. Feeling the hot flush of embarrassment across my cheeks, he mumbled something about needing to use the bathroom to anyone nearby, which wasn’t an entire lie as Greg felt his bladder ready to burst after what happened.

Carefully scooting his way around the other guests as quickly as he could to make his way to the bathroom. Catching a sidelong glance from Matt wondering what the hell was wrong with him. Still Greg paid no heed to the others watching, almost slamming the door behind him to let the air from the vents rush over while he tried to catch his breath.

Greg used the toilet, splashed some water on his face, “calm down, calm down, get a grip,” he told himself in the mirror, “It’s all in my head. It’s just a stupid doll, a doll that randomly spouts ‘Hi I’m Twilight Sparkle lets be friends” crap.’ Yeah she was well made with a lot of care into her making that’s for sure but she was still just a doll at the end of the day.”

It was the feeling of something pinching his thigh that I finally got his attention that something forgotten was in his pocket. Puzzled as to what it was Greg reached in and dug it out. A piece of purple paper clumsily folded over a few times that had been shoved in and ignored until now.

The purple note contained only three words. Three words to make Greg feel like leaving. Three words sloppily almost childishly written with a marker across the paper: “I like you.” it said with the letters T. S. underneath. Finished with a crudely drawn heart next to it.

The rest of the party became a blur to Greg. After everyone had watched the premier the group started to drink again and mingle in the yard, mostly to talk about how they felt about Starlight Glimmer. He could see Matt was still pissed and made damn sure to keep himself and the doll a good distance apart from him.

Occasionally catching him staring daggers more than a few times at Greg’s direction but eventually he simmered down and finally let it go. Occasionally he would sneak a glimpse or two at Twilight who was in a sitting position next to Matt with the same blank expression she always had, not even glancing in his direction whenever he shot a peek at her. After a few more drinks Greg was starting to feel like an idiot for having some doll freak him out like that, laughing at his own stupidity, easily disregarding the note though couldn’t explain it but it couldn’t have come from her.

The drinks kept flowing throughout the night. Most of the bronies weren't too bad but Greg ended up drinking a lot more than he should have that night, eventually becoming too intoxicated to drive himself home. Matt had gotten pretty plastered as well, barely able to leave his seat. Greg could vaguely remember Rick saying he was too drunk to drive like the last time and offered the spare bed in the guest room. “Last time?” he thought, trying to remember when was this last time. At least Matt had found someone to take him home. Too bad he couldn’t tell who it was: Seth maybe? He did remember hearing some mumblings about the Twilight Sparkle doll missing, but he had other things to worry about, like continuing to keep his lunch down.

Greg himself was too wasted to follow along and just kept nodding off as he was led to the guest bedroom by Rick, while he desperately fought the world that kept spinning around and around carefully shuffling towards the room, making it in with God knows how many times it took to open the damn door. Stumbling around he finally made it to the bed miraculously without breaking anything or bumping into too many objects before collapsing under the covers. Settling in he could still hear the others talking about the Twilight doll before drifting off into dreams laced with copious amounts of alcohol.

Not sure when it happened but it couldn’t have been too long after passing out when he was awoken by the door gently creaking open and the sounds of padded feet softly moving across carpet waking Greg up into a drunken haze. He tried to see who it was but the hall light was blinding, instead only catching the distorted shadow of someone standing at the foot of the bed. Greg mumbled something about the light before burying himself under the covers, with the last thing before going back to sleep was something warm sliding next to him and wrapping their soft, warm limbs around his body before falling back to unconsciousness.

“Lana?” He gibbered before the darkness overtook him.