Author's Note
This story takes place around Season 1 where the characters are still kinda stereotypical. I haven't written a single word in 3 weeks so... better than nothing, I suppose!
Unintended Consequences
Twilight Sparkle stood in the Town Square, near the center. The summer day was a scorcher, the sun blazing down on the backs of the equine residents underneath it. That didn't stop the crowds from being out and about though, as Twilight had set up her mysterious display near the food kiosks that regularly attracted so much attention. On this occasion, the mango cart was on the left and the cabbage cart on the right. Her large rectangular shaped display was covered by an enormous black sheet, one which she frequently had to nudge Spike away from who kept trying to look underneath it.
"Not yet," she said gently. "We have to draw a crowd first. Would you do the honors like we discussed?"
"Okay!" He exclaimed, and moved to the sides of the display. Fireworks stood proudly pointing towards the sky on either side, and it only took a few puffs from the dragon's breath to get them sizzling. The fuses sparked for several seconds before shooting upwards, blazing into the sky where they exploded into delicate flowers of color. The majority of Ponyville Town Square stopped in its tracks, gazing in admiration at the small show.
Unfortunately, not everypony stopped walking, or flying in some instances. An easily distracted grey coated pegasus looked upwards in awe at the fireworks exploding far over her head. She continued walking without watching her progress, and tripped right over the cabbage cart, sending several rolling away while the cart owner chased them down, crying out "My cabbages!" in dismay.
"May I have your attention, please!" Twilight called, while the usual noise and conversation of the shopping residents had temporarily ground to a halt. "I have an announcement!" Twilight's announcements were usually fairly interesting, and she was pleased to see she got the attention she asked for, with many heads turning to watch in curiousity.
"I have here a brand new idea that I hope will turn into a wonderful contribution to the Equestrian Sciences," she said, gesturing to the covered display. As she talked, she was pleased to see that fortune had favored her, and both Rainbow Dash and Rarity were in attendance. The former had probably been sleeping somewhere and wakened by the noise, and the latter had come out of her shop. "This new interactive technology will allow all of us to contribute new ideas and work together for a brighter tomorrow!" She exclaimed, and there were whispers of approval.
The grey mare who had tripped had since recovered, and had silently joined the ranks of the others watching. "I give you," Twilight paused dramatically, and whipped the sheet off of what appeared to be an enormous wooden square. "Instagrain!"
There was quiet for a moment.
"It's a bucking bulletin board!" A stallion called from somewhere nearby.
"It's a bulletin board of science! An experiment, if you will. But Instagrain is catchier. Now I'm going to leave this up for two days, and whenever someone has a problem or becomes stuck on their daily algebraic formulas or brain teasers, feel free to post them here. We can help each other!"
"Daily what?" A mare asked.
"...Doesn't anypony else give themselves daily math problems for fun? I thought everypony did that," Twilight said.
"....Nope," Macintosh deadpanned, passing the crowd while hitched to a wagon of apples.
Twilight looked shocked, but recovered quickly. "Well, anyway, please use Instagrain to put up any scientific progress you feel is relevant. I really think we have a chance to help each other progress to a fuller intellectual capacity!"
"Nerd!" Someone shouted from the back, and Twilight flinched. This wasn't quite going exactly how she anticipated, but she was pleased just the same. She nudged Spike as she made her exit, and felt a small swelling of pride as she caught a view in her peripherals of several ponies coming closer to the board to inspect it, perhaps even to put up their research papers! She returned to Golden Oaks Library in a feeling of hopefulness, and there she would spend the weekend, eagerly and impatiently waiting throughout the two days that she had promised. She spent the time exchanging letters, playing scroll chess with Princess Celestia.
At last Moonday morning rolled around, and the sun had barely been raised by the time Twilight was dragging a still sleepy baby dragon out the door. She was optimistic about what she would find, and hoped to expand Instagrain to Canterlot if it proved successful. She rounded the corner to Town Square, and squealed with such delight that Spike snapped awake with a sudden jolt. The Instagrain board was covered with notices! She galloped forward at a full run, almost losing Spike in the process, who desperately clutched onto her mane.
"Look, Spike!" She exclaimed. "Scientific progress!" Her horn lit up and her aura snatched down the first notice before she'd even reached it properly. It was a photograph, and while amusing, it was fairly pointless. Rainbow Dash and Gilda had at some point met for dinner following the gryphon's visit to town and subsequent disappearance, and the two were smiling and posing over hayfries, Rainbow sticking out her tongue and Gilda flashing the peace sign. Twilight sighed, and reluctantly let the paper flutter into a bin she'd brought along marked 'Science Stuff'. She pulled down the next notice, another photograph. This one was of Lyra and that mare who worked at the candy shop, who's name Twilight didn't know. They were hugging and posing over ice cream, and Twilight groaned and thrust the notice into the bin with the other one.
"What is this fixation with food pictures?" She asked distastefully, and pulled down the next notice, which she was pleased to see was not a photograph. This one was several papers tacked together, and Twilight scanned it quickly. It appeared to be various simple math problems, several pages of math problems. "Now this is more like it!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Someone needs help with formulas!" She brought up a quill and solved the problems within several minutes, tacking it back up onto the board where she'd found it.
The wind fluttered slightly, and Twilight never saw the writing on the other side of the pages. There were names one each one of the pages, one Scootaloo, one Apple Bloom, one Sweetie Belle. Underneath the names was the same footer in the same handwriting.
DUE WEDNESDAY
One of the last items on the board was a notice in big block letters.
"STRONG SILENT TYPE STALLION SEEKING SWEET MARE - WILLING TO WORK HARD AND PLAY HARD. TAKE ONE IF INTERESTED." Underneath this the paper was cut into equal sized tabs. Twilight recoiled in horror. "My board!" She exclaimed. "Somepony has turned my board into... into... pornography!" She looked green, threw back her head, and howled crazily at the sky. "THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS IS FOR!"
She had forgotten Spike was there, who now looked at her in confusion. "What's pre-ography?"
Twilight froze in her tracks, and slowly looked at him. "Nothing, Spike. Nothing."
