Mason knocked on the door to Twilight's study. He heard a muffled sound through the thick green glass that sounded vaguely affirmative, so in he went.
"Did you need something, Mason?" Twilight asked without turning around from the bookcase she was sorting.[1]
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[1]I'm really curious why a member of royalty doesn't seem to have any staff. I could understand wanting to keep things to a minimum, but nobody?
"How did you know it was me?"
"You knocked," Twilight said as she moved another book into place. Deciding against whatever decision she'd just made, she picked it back up and set it aside, mumbling. "No no no, that should go with the pre-Equestrian studies into astronomy. Starlight doesn't knock unless she's worried about something, and Spike doesn't knock at all. It was you or Sprocket since I don't know either of your habits yet, and Sprocket seems to keep to his room."
Mason went over to the desk and pulled up a seat. "Sprocket is why I'm here, actually."[2]
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[2]Man, just getting all the hard conversations done in one day I see.
"What about him? Put that with the modern treatises on sociology…"
"He has a problem. A problem that's my fault. You… might judge me pretty harshly for what you're about to hear. So I just want to say up front that I would never do this on purpose."
Twilight put the book she was filing down and turned towards him. "How big a problem?"
"I'll leave you to decide that, but here's the deal." Mason hunched over in his chair, leaning closer to Twilight to speak softer. "I've explained what Geniuses and Clockstoppers are, but there's another type of pony who interacts with Mania. They're called Beholden."
"So Sprocket is clearly one of these, or you wouldn't be bringing it up."
"Exactly. So, with the exception of maybe Clockstoppers, these ponies aren't born. They're made. Geniuses obsess over finding this or that scientific truth or discovery, and come out the other side with Mania burning in their brain. If you can't control it, you may become a Beholden as the Mania actively destroys everything in there. If Mania is a flame, a Genius is a candle and a Beholden is a matchstick. The more common way one becomes a Beholden, though, is bearing witness to some Inspired technology in action that their brain can't reconcile without inviting the crazy in. This almost certainly happened to Sprocket when he saw me teleport into Baltimo...[3] Baltimare garden."
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[3]It was Baltimare.
There was a pause for Twilight to absorb that, then she frowned. "I dislike the implication that this is killing you, just slower. I also really dislike the implication that Mania has destroyed Sprocket entirely already. He seems fine, and he clearly enjoys working with you in the lab."
"No no, the metaphor is imperfect. He's not destroyed so much as damaged. And also we're operating on a very different time scale than the metaphorical candle and match. So, Beholden are called that for a reason. Geniuses consider them to be 'beholden' to us." Twilight's mouth shot open to protest, but Mason continued talking. "To be clear, I don't agree with that sentiment because any rational reading of the situation would be that taking advantage of Beholden is grossly unethical. That's why I didn't have any Beholden before now. But the reason Geniuses believe that is because Beholden sort of latch on to Geniuses. Something about the way their mind has been warped means they seek us out on some level. It's probably why Sprocket didn't return to whatever life he was living after getting me here. They also lose the ability to form coherent opinions. They just parrot what the Genius they serve believes, and if they don't have a Genius to serve they parrot something they heard from one once instead. Just ask Pinkie what he said when she asked why i couldn't just use my hoof grip instead of building these." Mason issued the mental command to open up his hoof claws.
"Okay, we have definitely moved into the realm of this being a gigantic problem," Twilight practically snarled in a low voice as her face darkened.
"I would just like to reiterate that I would absolutely never, ever, ever, do this on purpose."
Twilight poked him in the chest with her hoof. Hard. "Great. How do you intend to fix it?"
Mason gulped. "Well, there is one known way out, but it's unreliable and if you caught me in a morose mood I'd tell you it's no better than the state he's in."
"Stop dancing around it."
"The only way out is through. Beholden by definition have some spark of Mania in their minds. That can be kindled. If I can get him to catalyze as a Genius, his mind will still be radically altered from before he met me and there's no going back on that, but he'll at least have a mind which is his own."
"Listen, Mason," Twilight said as she stepped backwards away from him, "I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you're telling the truth about this being an accident. I understand. But I expect you to work on this. You staying here was unconditional before. It's not anymore, unless you can help him."[4]
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[4]And there it is! You pissed her off!
"I was already intending to. Even if you had managed to send me home immediately, I would have tried to come back for him. I didn't want to hide the problem from you."
Her tone softened somewhat as she sighed, then continued. "You seem like you at least mean well. Please don't let me down on this, Mason."[5]
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[5]If only she knew how bad an idea it is to tell that to a Genius.
Mason opened the front door to Sugarcube Corner and walked in with head hung. The setting sun glinted off the glass display case Pinkie stood behind.
"Did Starlight not want to talk to you?" Pinkie asked as she scrubbed the countertops.
"What? No! We've come to an understanding, and I think we're sort of friends now?"
Pinkie launched herself over the counter to smother Mason with a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, yippee! I told you she was alright![6] What had you so glum on your way in, though?"
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[6]And I'm still not convinced this isn't some long con.
"Oh, I had to tell Twilight about Sprocket," Mason said with a sigh.
"What about him? Did you tell Twi about how he's like a mini-Genius?"[7]
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[7]Makes sense that the universe's most isolated Genius wouldn't know what a Beholden is.
Mason wriggled out of the embrace, then explained both Sprocket's situation and Twilight's reaction earlier. Pinkie remained surprisingly calm.
"He's gonna be okay, right?" she asked.
Mason sat back on his haunches and shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure he will. Turning him into a Genius like us is possible, but it's hard and the events that cause it are usually traumatic. How did you catalyze?"[8] He pointed at Pinkie. "That is, when did you first get that sense that you could make things? That you were different?"[9]
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[8]She's gonna need an explanation of what that is.
[9]Not sure she's going to get it there.
"Oh, that's easy! It's when I got my cutie mark![10] You see–"
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[10]Quick, ask her what hell those are before she launches in! She knows you're from another dimension already and the subject came up she won't think it's weird!
Mason held up a hoof. "Hold on Pinkie, what exactly is a 'cutie mark?' Chip's managed to work out that they're those pictures everypony has on their butts, but we don't get what they are or why they're there. Humans don't have those."
"Well, let your good pal Pinkie explain!" She patted him on the head like a child who had asked a good question in class. "A pony gets their cutie mark when they learn what makes them special. That's their special talent. It's what a pony is best at. What they're meant to be doing!"
"How do balloons have anything to do with advanced science?"[11]
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[11]Glad you asked, I was wondering too.
"Ha! They don't, silly.[12] That's just something I'm good at. Like baking. No, my special talent is throwing parties!"[13] Pinkie threw her hooves in the air, and confetti rained down on him.
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[12]Then what even is your talent if not Genius-ing!?[A]
[A]Shush, she's clearly going to tell us anyway.
[13]That seems both utterly ridiculous and fitting.
A silence washed over the room, before she gave Mason a puzzled look. "Wait, you don't know your special talent, do you? If humans don't have cutie marks, that means yours just appeared there when you came here, right?"
Mason nodded. "I'm pretty sure this one would mean something to do with making things. Like my inventions. Although it looks more blacksmith-y than scientific."
"Just because you do it a lot and you like it doesn't make it your special talent, Mason. Look at me! I work in a bakery and don't have a mark for it."
"I honestly can't think of anything else I know how to do that it could possibly signify."
Pinkie shrugged. "Got me there. So, my cutie mark story! I grew up on a rock farm.[14] We would spend all day working out in the fields. No smiling, no laughter, not even any talking. One day, while I was finishing up some work before lunch, suddenly boom! A rainbow explosion lit up the sky! I learned later that it was Dashie[15] doing a trick in Cloudsdale, and it made me smile so much that I never wanted to stop. I wanted to make my family smile, too! I stayed up aaaaaaall night in the silo trying to put together something that would make them happy.[16] In the morning, I took them to see. I had made my first party! For the first time I can remember everypony was smiling, and dancing and laughing! While we were all having fun, my cutie mark appeared![17] From there, I went on the road to bring joy and parties to ponies everywhere, which eventually lead me to Ponyville."
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[14]To be clear, this is not an unusual phrasing of 'quarry.' She literally means 'farm whose crop is rocks.' Like they plant little rocks seeds and get bigger rocks. Before you ask, almost certainly magic.
[15]That rainbow-haired mare you met last night.
[16]So something awful happened to her family as a result of her first invention and that's why she's nuts. Got it.
[17]Can't tell if this is denial or she's the one Genius who catalyzed from positive emotions. So… Staunen, you think?[B.]
[B.]Outside chance she's a Hoffnung. I'd say seventy-thirty on Staunen, though.
Mason had several questions, but set them aside to just smile. It was a rare treat to hear the story of a Genius who had a happy life.
"So how about you?" Pinkie leaned in close, snapping him out of his mood. "You don't have a cutie mark story, obviously. But what made you want to invent stuff?"[18]
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[18]Oh boy. You've never even told me that, but I've overheard enough of these to know that this is a bad idea.
"It's not a happy story, Pinkie," Mason said as he leaned away from the intrusion.
"But it's the moment you found your special talent! How could that be a sad story?"
"One thing you learn real fast in my line of work is that the better you are at something, the more likely it is to make you miserable."
She frowned at him, then wrapped her forelegs around his chest and placed her chin on his shoulder. "Well, you're here now, and ponies don't let their friends' talents make them sad. Tell me. It'll help." Pinkie let go of him.
"Alright, fine. I warned you, though." Mason took a deep breath. "So, I started out in biology.[19] I specialized in studying muscle structures. It's a bit of a haze where exactly that blurred into Inspired technology, but what I remember most was obsessing over how I thought some chemical or other would make an excellent muscle stimulant to counteract short term fatigue based on my findings. I worked night and day. I had to prove my theories."
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[19]Wait, you're an actual scientist? I thought you were just one of those Geniuses who's just really good at kludging stuff together.
"How long did it take you to prove them?"
"I didn't, Pinkie. Sure, I eventually made a working prototype, but medical regulatory authorities took one look at the recipe and told me that I had done something wrong. Repeat trials done by anypony else were failures. My results couldn't be recreated. I didn't realize it at the time, but my results were impossible. That's the funny thing about Mania, though. It doesn't care about silly things like being possible or not. It just wants the result and reality be damned.
"I couldn't just leave it alone. I had to prove my invention worked. Eventually, my wife tried to step in." Tears started to well in Mason's eyes. "Told me she couldn't bear to see me like this. That I was throwing my life away. Throwing our retirement money away, too, since the funding for my project had long since stopped coming. When I told her it would all be worth it and we'd be set for life when I finally made the breakthrough, that's when she left."
Across from him, Pinkie was dramatically sobbing. Mason returned the hug she'd given him.
"It's alright, Pinkie. I miss her, but she deserves better than how I was treating her. She was right, anyway. No matter how hard I tried, whenever I went to present my work to someone who could produce it on a large scale they just told me I was insane. They're not wrong. I am. We are. All of us."
Pinkie pulled away and turned from him, looking distraught. "But I'm–"[20]
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[20]Great, you hurt her feelings. Hope you're happy.
"No one's saying it's a bad thing, Pinkie. Our brains work differently, but you're living proof that that's okay. Most Geniuses' big problem is that they eventually stop caring about the mundane people they could be helping. But you didn't. You barely know me and you're willing to help me get to a home you've never been to or have any reason to care about. You're also the only Genius I've ever heard of to befriend a Clockstopper. To me, that all sounds pretty crazy, but I think I'd have to be even crazier to tell you it's wrong."
After a long silence punctuated by sniffles, Pinkie faced him again. "What happened then?"
"Not much more to tell. I got really lucky one day. After a rejected proposal to another company, there happened to be a Genius in the meeting room. Heard everything, recognized what was on going with me, and offered to sort of coach me. He'd teach me the ropes of a few branches of Inspired technology – I was already pretty good at working with Exelixi[21] projects so that would be my focus – on the condition that I help him at the Guardians of Forever. I've been going on adventures through time and space since. It's how I wound up here, and I think we can agree me being here is a positive, right?"
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[21]Not a chance she knows what that is.[C]
[C]I can teach her what the branches are. That's the easy stuff.
Pinkie nodded.
Outside of Ponyville, a flash of light on a hillside heralded the arrival of a dark brown earth pony with a black mane, and a cutie mark of a clock snapped in two. He took a few stumbling steps on hooves he didn't normally have, then took in his surroundings. Looking down at the little hamlet below him, he was thrilled. A quaint little town like this was clearly removed from the ravages of technology! Greenery as far as the eye could see, a crystal clear sky! Train tracks going up the nearby peaks was bad, but no sign of automotive access anywhere. He breathed in the refreshing night air, and was distraught at a familiarly rancid scent.
"I smell smarts," he mumbled as he made his way away from town. He had work to do before storming in.