MLP: Technology is Magic

As the weeks passed, Sophia noticed that Starlight’s combat training was proving fruitful as she noticed that Nova was beginning to put in significant effort to defeat her. The unicorn was still suffering bruises but Nova’s attacks were being blocked more often so her injuries were less.

At this point Sophia believed that Starlight could mop the floor with the guards but the mare appeared to be wanting more than that. Even though she stated her intent of not wanting to join the Guard, she was still studying military tactics while under her watch. Sophia had no idea why Starlight was being driven like this but it didn’t warrant a peer into her mind so she let the matter lie and decided to watch it play out.

Turning her attention to other matters, Sophia decided to see how Fluttershy was doing. She found the shy pegasus carrying Rarity’s cat, Opalescence, to her house. Apparently the cat was due for grooming and Fluttershy was the one to do it. Why Ponyville didn’t have a proper pet salon she would never know.

Opalescence learned quickly not to mess with Sophia when the two met eyes for the first time. Sophia’s stare instilled a primal fear into her so the cat kept her distance from her ever since.

Sophia was intrigued when Rarity mentioned something called “The Stare” to Fluttershy. Sophia decided to approach the two and inquire about that. “What is this ‘Stare’ you’re talking about?”

“Oh, it’s, um, it’s something I can do. I can’t control it, it just sort of happens,” Fluttershy explained.

“Okay, but what does it do?”

“Well, when my animal friends start acting unruly, I sometimes use ‘The Stare’ to get them to behave.”

“A look that makes animals behave themselves?” Sophia thought. “It sounds similar to my Primal Glare that I use to get hostile enemies to back down. This ability may be a lesser version of that. Uncivilized creatures would be affected the most while sapient creatures could be affected to a lesser extent.”

Sophia’s glare was also a psychic ability which made her suspect that the pegasus might have some psychic ability. Though her empathic ability toward animals was also a sign of that. At some point it might be worthwhile to look into it.

Meanwhile it appeared that Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were planning on having a sleepover at Rarity’s place. Unfortunately Rarity had to cancel the sleepover because she was feeling heavily inspired thanks to the latest schematics brought to her by Sophia from her mysterious benefactor who had agreed to take her on as an apprentice as long as she passed a few of his tests. This meant that she was going to have her foundry running and that would be unsafe for the non-metal fillies in the group to be around.

Fluttershy volunteered to look after the three, much to Rarity’s reluctance due to the way they often behaved when together.

Sophia had to admit that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were quite energetic, which was typical for fillies of their age. However, she also saw that the three were willing to try anything if it meant finding their special talents. She did notice that Apple Bloom was taking to Zecora’s potions lessons well and she seemed to have a knack for sneaking into the Everfree unnoticed by the other ponies. Scootaloo was still fast on the ground with her scooter, despite her underdeveloped wings. With Sweetie Belle having a mechanical body, she was sitting on a lot of potential.

Rarity finally relented and let the Cutie Mark Crusaders spend the night at Fluttershy’s house. Though Sophia decided to help her out since the shy mare would have no idea what to do about taking care of them.

The night was eventful. It started with Twilight telling Fluttershy that she was heading to Zecora’s to pick up that special tea that she enjoys. The energetic fillies then proceed with their cutie mark hunting activities which Sophia had to intervene when they started roughhousing and nearly broke Fluttershy’s furniture. When Fluttershy had them go to bed she also tried to sing them a lullaby to help them sleep. However, Sweetie Belle decided to sing along to Fluttershy’s lullaby too loudly and caused the chickens outside to flee the coop. Fluttershy wrangled all but one using her Stare.

Things got worse from there as the Crusaders noticed the missing chicken and went into the forest after it. This turned into a dangerous situation as Fluttershy searched the forest for the Crusaders only to discover a statue that captured every detail of Twilight in a shocked expression. Sophia soon learned that it was Twilight and she had been petrified as a statue by one of the Everfree denizens known as a cockatrice; a young one, according to Fluttershy. It had the head of a chicken and the body of a reptile.

Sophia was impressed to see the shy mare stepping up to protect the Crusaders and confronting the creature. Using her Stare to force the cockatrice into submission and freeing Twilight and the missing chicken also had the unintended side effect of making the Crusaders respect her. Because of that the rest of the night passed without further incident.

What the ponies didn’t know was that the young cockatrice was followed and he led his stalker to the nesting grounds. That night was filled with a cacophony of pained squawks and hisses as the population was greatly reduced when the stalker devoured a number of the adults and elders. Whenever the creatures tried to use their stone gaze to petrify their attacker she burrowed underground and abducted them from below.

By the end of the massacre, the stalker had a full belly and a useful new ability to try out at some point. She was also feeling glad that she did her part in reducing the cockatrice population so they wouldn’t behave so boldly as to leave their nesting grounds anytime soon.

Sophia spent a few days observing the Crusaders as they went through a number of activities. They invited Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Spike to join them. Spike accepted the invitations whenever Twilight or Starlight didn’t have anything for him to do and they cut back on his chores to make sure he had time to hang out with them. Diamond and Silver were reluctant to join them on the more extreme activities at first, given how they were raised, but slowly warmed up to the idea.

The activities the six experienced had been strenuous to the rich fillies but Sophia was confident that they would be able to keep up with the Crusaders as long as they continued hanging out together.

On a side note, it was amusing to see that Sweetie had an aquatic mode to help her propel through the water in the lake when the six went scuba diving with her acting as an air tank for the five of them.

The Crusaders walked away from each activity with a brief look of disappointment on their faces when they found that nothing appeared on their flanks. Then they moved on to the next activity.

Being around the ponies for ten years had given Sophia an idea about how the magic of cutie marks worked and she could see that the Crusaders were going about their attempts the wrong way.

A few days later the Crusaders took part in the talent show and made themselves look like a trio of clowns with their ridiculous outfits and a really off key song that left the audience on their backs laughing helplessly. They won the best comedy act which Sophia knew they weren’t aiming for but gladly accepted anyway.

Once the three got cleaned up and told Twilight what they learned about forcing themselves to do something they weren’t good at being a bad idea, Sophia came up to the three in private and greeted them, “Hello girls!”

“Aren’t you the rabbit living at my parents’ house?” Scootaloo asked.

“She’s also the one who’s been goin’ around helpin’ ponies,” Apple Bloom added.

“I’m also the one who gave your sister the original schematics for your body, Sweetie Belle,” Sophia added.

“Huh, I guess I do look a little too advanced for anything my sister could have come up with on her own,” Sweetie noted.

“Don’t sell your sister short. She certainly does have a talent for inventing machines. She just needed a boost from her benefactor to help her explore the full potential of her talents.”

“Aren’t you her benefactor?” Apple Bloom asked.

“One of them. But that’s not why I’m here. I’d like to discuss your ongoing hunt for your cutie marks.”

“You think we could get cutie marks in inventing things?” Scootaloo asked.

“Not at all. None of you have Rarity’s creative flair to come up with ideas for machines.”

“But I’m a machine,” Sweetie pointed out.

“A machine built by Rarity to house your brain and give you a chance to live a…normal adjacent…life,” Sophia corrected. “Anywho, have you three ever considered what you would do when you finally get your cutie marks?”

“Show them off and display our skills?” Scootaloo offered.

“Let me rephrase that: have you given any thought to your futures after you receive your cutie marks?”

The Crusaders looked at each other for a few moments, seemingly in a silent conversation. Sweetie turned back to Sophia to give her reply, “I guess that all depends on what our cutie marks are.”

“So you’re saying that your lives will be defined by an icon on your flanks?”

“W-well, ah guess it don’t have to be…” Apple Bloom replied with uncertainty.

“That’s right, your lives don’t have to be dictated by your cutie marks. Think about all of the things you three have done recently. Mark or no mark, you are capable of doing so much without it being your special talent. I have seen ponies in workplaces that are happily doing their jobs and their marks had nothing to do with what they do with it. Even if Sweetie Belle had a cutie mark for singing, for example, she can still go into whatever career field that interests her as long as she puts in the effort. The same for the two of you. Even if Scootaloo’s mark was in scooter riding, she can still try out for the Wonderbolts someday.”

Scootaloo looked away with a bitter look on her face as Sophia said that. It seemed that the filly was fully aware of her circumstances.

Sophia continued, “You may not have earned your marks from your various pursuits but they did have the benefit of strengthening your friendships with one another as well as Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Spike. I won’t discourage you three from your activities since you’re doing them together and growing closer as friends. It just doesn’t have to be related to your cutie marks. That way, even when you do receive them nothing will change about your dynamic.”

“But we can’t just give up looking for our cutie marks,” Sweetie argued.

“Ah’m tired of bein’ a blank flank,” Apple Bloom added.

“It’s bad enough that my wings are like this, it stinks being blank too,” Scootaloo bitterly added.

“Have you ever asked yourselves what makes you happy?” Sophia asked. “Not each other, I mean. Consider the things in each of your lives that can cheer you up when you’re feeling down. What are the things you enjoy doing whether your friends are with you or not? Think hard about that and perhaps you may find the answer to your problems was staring you in the face the whole time.” Sophia smiled as she saw the thoughtful expressions on the fillies. “Spend some time by yourselves to think about it.”

Once Sophia’s philosophical lesson was over, she bid the Crusaders farewell. However, she stopped Scootaloo before she could leave, having one last thing for the flightless pegasus. “Before you go, I’d like to make a proposition for you, one that could make you a really happy filly as long as you do your part.”

Scootaloo gave a confused look but remained skeptical. “What’s up?”

“I want you to train your body. I want you to improve your muscles through running while improving your endurance. This means without your scooter.”

“Why?”

“Your body holds a ton of pegasus magic that you can’t seem to channel because of your malformed wings. It rivals Rainbow Dash’s magical potential at this point. If I were to fix that problem your body might not be able to handle the resulting surge. My theory is that a trained body will help your magic circulate better once the channels in your wings are properly formed.”

“You can fix my wings?” Scootaloo asked, with a gleam of hope in her eyes.

“I will need some material before I can try the procedure as well as a feather from you. I don’t need your feather right now though. I just want you to focus on training your body for the time being and I will work on the research.”

“Really? You’re not fooling me? Wow! I gotta go tell Aunt Lofty and Aunt Holiday!”

“Just remember to follow my instructions. I will be working with you during your training.”

Sophia wasn’t sure if the filly heard the last part but it didn’t matter. Scootaloo was too excited about the idea that she could become capable of flight someday. It didn’t matter though. Right now, it was time to work on gathering the materials.