Is everyone new in Ponyville, or is it just me?

Trains have always facinated Intelligent.

Not because of the massive train network that spread all over Equestria. Not because the system managed to survive in a world where flying passengers, cargo and other assortments was commonplace through a combination of efficiency and shrewd marketing. Not even its strange tendency to almost always be delayed except for the time you were late, then the train seems to be annoyingly punctual. *sigh*

No, the amazing thing was how the trains could easily apply a steam engine to the front carriage, yet they were insistant on using horsepower to run the entire system! The front carriage was designed for such an engine! Even if you had to use horsepower, one could easily remove the front carriage entirely, losing a whole lot of useless weight to pull.

Ah... such is life. A sequence of inconsistancies that one hopes to iron out.

For now, Intel's life consisted of looking for a place to live, something to do, and people to talk to. That last one was something new to Intel. He never really needed to find people to talk to. The rest of the Design family usually sufficed for for a reliable source of conversation, and new designs didn't present themselves to clients. Now he had neither. This was a problem.

"Ponyville," he read, looking up at the station's sign. Intel tried to rack his brain to stir up information about the place. It was close to the old Palace ruins, wasn't it? That actually might be worth checking out for research.

Other than that, Intel knew nothing of the place. His family just put him on a train to somewhere, and he wasn't allowed back in Canterlot until the whole business with the AME was forgiven and forgotten. Who knew how long that would take.

Intel didn't have much. Some bits, a geometry set, some paper and... well, this was unexpected. Intel took the device out of his pack carefully with his mouth. The magic dampener would be impossible to pick up telekinectically. Why did he bring this? He put the dampener down on the ground and stared at it, and smiled. A cylinder, with a ring standing upright inside. If anypony applied magic in the vicinity of this device, such as trying to pick it up telekinetically, the ring would spin rapidly, forming an energy sphere that absorbs unicorn magic. Best part was that when it stopped absorbing magic, the excess energy would spin the ring until it ran out, so the device could be reused, unlike traditional magic dampeners. Intel's horn glowed as he applied energy to the dampener, causing the ring to spin and glow. He smirked.

How very nostalgic.

Cory was bored.

She had returned from magic tutoring and was tired. She had asked her best friend for things to do, but he only responded with a slurred grunt that sounded vaguely like "I don't know". Fat help he was. They had tried playing cards, but Cory would always beat him. The thrill of winning had lost its appeal. Sunspot had suggested showing off by jumping around on clouds, but feats of athletic prowess ceased to amaze her. The older ponies forbade them from playing with fire. What were they supposed to do? Study for that test they were having tomorrow? Help Cory's sisters clean the house? Um, no.

So she had suggested going down to the Train Station. Plenty of new ponies had been showing up in Ponyville, and the next train was due to come back soon. Why not? Maybe someone interesting would show up.

When they arrived, Sunspot stopped, noticing a thin unicorn playing with some sort of cylinder. In a hushed voice, the pegasus urged Cory to hide with him in a bush to see what he was doing.

In moments, a glint flashed across Cory's glasses. She grinned. Sunspot instantly knew she was about to cause trouble. He covered his ears just in case. "I'm going to try to take it from him," she muttered.

The colt seemed surprised. "Um... are you sure you can do that? I mean, you're just a little filly..."

This was true, but it was also a challenge. It only increased Cory's willingness to prove herself. Her horn began to glow, pulling on the cylinder.

Okay, that was enough playing around. Intel stopped applying magic to the device, letting the ring slow down. As he waited, he thought about what actually do with the thing. Unless magic was applied directly to the device, it would only absorb magic if somepony had lost control, so it wasn't as if it were a impediment to his magic. Then again, did he really need to bring it with him? He could try to sell it, but who would be willing to buy it? He doubted there was anypony in Ponyville that regularly experimented with large amounts of magic. Hmm.

Shouldn't the ring have stopped spinning by now?

As previously stated, only two things would cause the dampener to absorb magic; a unicorn out of control, or someone applying magic directly to it. There was a distinct lack of screaming and chaos for it to be the former...

When one has eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

Raising an eyebrow, Intel looked around for the offending unicorn. Telekinesis from a curious pony, probably. He wasn't angry or alarmed, more amused at someone trying to lift the dampener with magic. Such an act was made out of curiousity, was it not? Who was he to stifle that? In fact, he thought when he finally spied the filly trying to just that, I'll just let her realise her attempts are not working, and let her try to figure out why.

Cory let out a gasp as the glow around her horn began to dim. She grunted, applying physical strain to get the thing to lift off the ground.

Sunspot raised an eyebrow, not bothering to lower his voice anymore. "Um, are you OK?"

The filly shot him a yellow-eyed glare. "I'm fine..." Then her face lit up in realization. "It's probably because I can't see it very well."

"Wait--"

Before the pegasus could do anything to stop her, she had jumped out into view of the adult. Sunspot leapt after her, trying and failing to catch her tail in his teeth.

Both the foals froze for a moment. Then, releasing her telekinetic grip on the object, Cory puffed out her chest and stared at the unicorn with a proud expression on her face, marred only by a furiously red blush. Sunspot sheepishly kicked a hoof and avoided eye contact.

"Um.... sorry," muttered the pegasus. The little filly kicked him, signifying that there was nothing to apologize for.

"No need to be sorry," Intel replied, "I take it you tried to get my little device here?" He poked the dampener with his hoof. "I wondered why the ring thing was spinning." He paused. "The rhyme wasn't intentional."

He looked over the two little ponies. A male orange pegasus and female green unicorn, a very odd pair. Their natures were also quite different. Either way, they were sufficiently amusing for Intel to humour in turn.

"Anyway! My curiousity wants to ask why you would try such a thing, what you would do with it, etc, etc... but most of all it wants to find out if you can lift this thing. Magically, that is. If you can lift it to about the height of your head, you can keep it. Use it for tricks at birthday parties and such. If you give up..."

Intel raised a hoof to his mouth in thought. At this moment in time, what did he actually need that two young ponies are able to give?

"Can you possibly show me around town? I don't really know Ponyville that well. At all, actually." He kicked the ground. "So, there you have it."

I wonder if the unicorn would be able to work out what the dampener actually does...

Cory responded immediately to the challenge, muttering. "I don't know why the ring was spinning either," She said, bent down and focusing on the dampener as she tried to pick it up. "All I was trying to do was see if I could take it away from you. Not because I wanted to steal it, you understand. Just a joke..." She grunted, baffled by the object.

Sunspot glanced at her, then back at Intel. "We'd be glad to show you around," he offered quietly, "We're in desperate need of something to do anyway." He blinked with his huge eyes, realizing that there was something he was missing. "I mean... "we" being "us". Me and Cory. "Me" being Sunspot. I mean..." he stuttered, not sure if anything he had just said made any sense. "What's your name anyway?"

"UGH!" squealed the unicorn. "Why is this not working? I've lifted stuff twice this size without any problems. This can't be heavier than a book. Am I just tired from tutoring or something? Come on, Cory, you're better than this..." She stopped talking to herself for a moment, thinking. Suddenly a spark of realization made her stand erect. "What's so great about a cylinder with a ring in it that would qualify as a party trick anyway? What kind of prank you trying to pull?"

The pegasus reached out a hoof. "Um, Cory... calm down..."

"My name's Intelligent Design," Intel winced. "Call me Intel instead, please. My name makes me sound smarter than I actually am." He smiled a sad smile, and looked at the ring spinning inside the cylinder. "This little device is essentially the cleverest thing I've ever done."

"I tell you the truth. I can't pick it up magically. Even especially magically gifted ponies would not be able to pick it up magically. Even Prin..."

Intel raised a hoof to his mouth again and started muttering. "No, no, Princess Celestia probably would find a way to lift it, maybe not through conventional magic. Princess Luna, too. These are goddess types we're talking about here."

Intel looked at the two little ponies carefully. "If you want to know why it is impossible to pick it up magically look at what the magic is doing to the device. Or, if you like, what the device does to magic."

The reaction between the material that forms the ring reacts to unicorn magic, causing it to spin. The spinning ring both uses up magic and forms an absorbing sphere, which creates a cycle that absorbs magic and uses that magic to absorb more magic. Yay.

"Oh, I apologise-um, Sunspot? Did I get that correct? I don't exactly know how much a pegasus sees when it comes to the workings of magic, but maybe whilst your friend- Cory? Cory. Whilst your friend Cory figures this out you can tell me what there is to see in this place."

Cory stared at the cylinder, absorbing the information being fed to her. "Wow. That's... really brilliant."

Sunspot's ear twitched. It was true-- he really had no clue what was happening. He flashed Intel a nervous smile. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, Cory interrupted.

"No way." She picked up the dampener, then finished her sentence with the item awkwardly in her mouth. It was something that sounded vaguely like "You're not going without me". She put the dampener in one of the saddlebags she always carried cards in -- just in case.

"There's no way he'd be able to show you around by himself."

"Actually, I--"

"Let's go!"

((Sorry for shortness. :( ))

(No need to apologize.)

"Okay, then," Intel said with a smile. "Where to, then?"

He had really no idea what to expect.

"What is there to do in Ponyville? Is there..."

Oh dear. Not only did Intel not know what was in Ponyville, he didn't even know what to look for. Like a certain princess, he hadn't really grasped the concept of 'fun' outside playing with his little devices. He hadn't even explored Canterlot that much.

"Is there anything interesting to see here?" His voice was uncertain, more than anything. This is where Intel's nervousness kicked in as he realised the gravity of his situation. He was kicked out into the world beyond Canterlot, and it was a whole different world, so to speak. Would libraries be counted as interesting? Is there even a library here? Is there an initiation for newcomers, like those tribal griffon cultures he had read about? What social taboos were Ponyville exclusive and punishable by death?

"And for not doing the Pony pokey before Tuesday's lunchtime, I sentence, you, Intelligent Design, to hard labour until death!" declared the fearsome mayor of Ponyville, who looked suspiciously like his grandmother.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Intel blinked.

No, that's just silly.

Sunspot smiled a gleaming smile. "Sure there's interesting things. There's... um... hm."

It had never occurred to him just how quaint a town Ponyville was. It was plenty entertaining for a younger foal, and it was a joy if you had friends here, but other than that, it was... pretty normal.

Cory stepped in to the rescue. "Depends on what you call interesting." She smiled. "Umm, maybe we should start at the town square and spread out from there?"

"When you've spent most of your life studying in Canterlot, what you view as exciting is rather pretty boring," Intel mused. He was really quite pleased with that thought; it sounded nice and pithy plus it was probably correct. Pity it was hard to come up with them.

"But yes, that does sound like a nice idea. Lead the way!"

Following their lead, he considered asking for his dampener back, but decided not to bother. He didn't need it anyway, and if he did, all he needed was a workshop, some tools, copper and rowan wood (gold and silver would work as well, but those were more expensive) to make another. Actually, that might be a decent place to start.

"Is there anything like a workshop or something around here?"

Sunspot looked back at him, his brow furrowed. "Um... I don't think so..." He bit his lip. "There's a mechanic in town, he probably has one, but... I don't think he's had time to set up yet."

Cory bent down menacingly, as though she were telling a horror story. "And I heard a rumor," she said, her child's voice dripping with secrecy, "That Twilight Sparkle once did... experiments on Pinkie Pie in her basement!" She stood back up, innocence taking over again. "I think that would qualify as a workshop!"

"Um, Cory..." Sunspot interrupted, ever the voice of reason. "Have you ever actually been in Twilight's basement?" He knew that Cory took magic lessons from the unicorn, and even went with her to watch from time to time, but highly doubted that she was let into the basement. It would be pointless, especially if there was machinery down there that Cory could destroy.

Cory shot him a poisonous glare, then rolled her eyes. "No, but it's totally there," she insisted. Then, with a huge gasp, "OOH! And even better! Pinkie's basement is where she--"

Sunspot shoved a hoof in her mouth.The pegasus nervously chuckled, "I think you best bet is to find the mechanic."

Intel sighed a bit when he heard the news. Maybe he'd look into it tomorrow. He didn't really want to go looking for a pony in a town he was new to. Something Cory said made him reel a bit.

"Wait, Sparkle? Twilight Sparkle? She lives here?" Intel scratched his mane. "I thought I hadn't seen her in a while." He didn't really know her that well; apart from the Sun Princess and that baby dragon, he didn't think anyone knew her that well. But everyone had heard of 'Celestia's most faithful student'.

But besides that, Intel knew her as the pony who almost destroyed the lecture hall in the school for magically gifted unicorns, the event that inspired the creation of the magic dampener and thus the cause of his cutie mark. Unlike other unicorns at the academy, Intel wasn't really jealous of Sparkle's magical ability or relationship with Princess Celestia, more curious.

Though feeding her dragon that tainted gemstone was enough to make her use her magic painfully.

I wasn't able to walk properly for weeks

Speaking of experiments...

"And she actually experimented on another pony?" Hypocrite. "Huh. Never thought she'd actually do that. What makes this Pinkie Pie so interesting to experiment on?"

For her to do that, it must be a doozy, Intel thought.

Ponyville was shaping up to be interesting after all.

A massive grin spread across Cory's face. "You know Miss Twilight? That is so awesome. Can she really do amazing magic-y things? She's only been teaching me how to levitate stuff. I've never seen her actually DO anything."

Sunspot ignored the filly. "There's plenty about Pinkie that's interesting to experiment on," he laughed. "Umm, we can go to Sugarcube Corner! She works there. And hey, even if you don't want to meet her, they have the best cupcakes in the world."

The pegasus hovered above the ground, his hooves almost brushing the dirt. Buzzing forward, he chuckled, "Besides, you look like you could use some food."

Cory's stomach chose that exact moment to grumble. "Yeah, so can I!" she exclaimed energetically, "The town square can wait, let's go to Sugarcube Corner!"

And the foals began their way to Sugarcube Corner, not waiting for their older companion's response.

"Hey, wait up," he muttered as the pair went off, cantering behind them. Did he really look that hungry? Cause he wasn't hungry. Honestly. He bought a snack at Canterlot's station and ate in on the train. That was enough. He didn't need...

Grumble.

Et tu, stomach?

So the student had a student of her own. Things were getting recursive. Intel couldn't even begin to dream of having a student of his own. Most of what he learnt was not through rigourous study of texts, but through extensive trialing and erroring and by the occasional strike of inspiration. He was often criticized for, what was it his teacher said? "Discarding thoughtful dispute for gross mechanical contrivances"? "A deep lack of respect for the wisdom of the elders"? Bah. Neighsayers.

That was not to say that Sparkle wasn't doing the right thing with Cory. Telekinesis was underrated, and that was definitely saying something. It was simple enough to be examined, yet complex enough to have depth. Definitely a boon for magical theory. Let the showponies have their flashy tricks.

Still... "Have you ever been on the receiving end of her magic when she's mad? That's enough to be thankful she doesn't use her full strength that often."

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO SPIKE?"

Okay I probably deserved that. Oh, dear Celestia, I can't see her irises! Run, run like an extremely angry mare wants to kill you!

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't know it would- Please don't hurt me!"

What the hay is she doing? OH $#!+, IT HURTS!

qscfthm

Intel trembled at the mere memory as they arrived at their destination, a pink cottage that screamed sugar and diabetes.