Snare Trap bounced giddily on her hooves, grinning from ear to ear as she turned to face her audience. Sure, it was only her co-worker/marefriend and their mutual changeling friend, but it was more than what she usually had.

“You’re going to love this,” she said, igniting her horn.

She pulled the cloth from the covered object on the table, revealing a large, cylindrical object with numerous boxes and wires covering it. It stood partially on a pair of small wheels, while the other end of it was rigged with a towing harness.

“So, uh…” Pile rubbed his chitin chin. “What exactly is it?”

“It’s a thaumatic triangulation and location device,” Trap said proudly, puffing out her chest.

The shorter crystal pony’s eyes lit up and she let out an “ooh” as she eyed the device in full. “How’s it work, Snare?” Olivine asked.

“Well, it’s very simple,” Trap said, teleporting a pointer rod into her forehoof and starting with a glowing box near the front of the machine—or at least, the side of the machine facing her audience.

“It starts here, where I have a 500 megawatt-grade power crystal that powers the assembly. Had to put some thaumatic sterilizers in there to make sure it didn’t confuse any of the readings.

“The crystal powers a series of particularly cut crystal lens assemblies attached to thaumatic readers here.” Trap pointed to a series of boxes along the cylinder’s exterior. “Each one is angled differently to provide a 360-degree range of scanning.

“The thaumatic readers emit through the crystals in a sonar wave-like pattern when then reverberates on any thaumatic frequencies that might exist. The return waves will have traces of whatever thaumatic energy they picked up, and it’ll be fed through here: a spell-consistency matrix.” Snare pointed to a larger box on the wheeled-end of the cylinder.

“The energy signature is then fed through the matrix to identify the parts of the thaumatic energy that was picked up and what its use is. After assembling together enough data, it will then determine how the framework—if any—is laid out.”

“Hold up,” Pile said, raising a foreleg. “’Framework?’”

Trap nodded, glancing away. “Well, yes. Thaumatic energy is often organized into intricate lattices and frameworks—more commonly known as ‘spells’—and this device helps narrow down what the potential frameworks are that have been detected.

“Then we come over here…” Trap trapped another large box at the wheeled-end of the device. The front hissed open, revealing a green screen, along with a small console with a hoofful of buttons. A big red one was labeled as “power.”

“Once the machine is done, it will provide a readout of the various potential frameworks identified. Hopefully, with trial and error, I will be able to fine tune the spell consistency matrix to provide faster, more accurate readings.”

“Impressive!” Olivine said, stamping her hooves in applause. Pile quickly joined in.

“Thank you, thank you,” Trap said, bowing to both of her audience members.

“So, wait…” Pile squinted at the machine. “So that machine picks up spells and identifies them? Isn’t that just a… magic detector?”

“Well… if you want to put it in laypony turns… yes!” Trap beamed.

Pile chuckled and shook his head. “You two can be such eggheads sometimes.”

Author's Note

Snare Trap: Female, Unicorn

About: Snare Trap is a unicorn with a talent for tinkering and repairing machines. Known as "Trap" to most creatures, her most unique accomplishment was enchanting her oversized pigtails and tail so she could control them like limbs. Inspired by Princess Entrapta of Netflix's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

Appearances: Daring Do and the Crimson Conspiracy (upcoming)

Olivine Facet: Female, Crystal Unicorn

About: Shorter than the average pony and a rare Crystal Unicorn to boot, Olivine "Olive" Facet left the Crystal Empire to make a name for herself. She met Snare Trap while searching for a place to stay and convinced her to open a repair shop together. Inspried by Peridot from Steven Universe.

Appearances: Daring Do and the Crimson Conspiracy (upcoming)

Leaf Pile/Pile: Male, Earth Pony (Disguise), Changeling

About: Pile was an expert tunnel digger during Chrysalis's reign until he fled. It was a long time before he returned to the Hive. Pile assumes the identity of "Leaf Pile" while disguised, and his experience of being a tunnel excavator has helped with his job as a landscaper.

Appearances: Daring Do and the Crimson Conspiracy (upcoming), "Meeting the Family"