//------------------------------// // 15- Research Device // Story: The Trick to Growing Up // by Hakuno //------------------------------// Chapter 15: Research Device Sunset levitated a pen, a book, an apple, and a mane clip. She made the objects rotate clockwise, maintaining the same speed for each object, for five minutes, then made them rotate counter-clockwise. It was a simple exercise. But levitation was as easy to learn as it was easy to forget. Not entirely, of course, but if a unicorn didn’t keep her skills sharp, she could easily lose finesse. There was a knock on her door, so Sunset set down the objects on her bed. “Come in.” Princess Celestia entered her room, and Sunset suppressed a groan. She had hoped to avoid this confrontation for at least one day. “I was told you skipped your lesson today,” Princess Celestia said. Sunset couldn’t tell if she was angry or not, especially with the princess’ perfect poker face. “Did you feel unwell?” “No,” Sunset said. “Then, what is the matter?” Sunset sighed. She had thought of lying her way out, but Princess Celestia was as old as the very princessdom. One puny unicorn, as talented as Sunset was, could not ever hope to deceive her. So she gathered her courage to tell the truth. “I just skipped Alchemy,” she said. “I don’t want to keep studying it. It’s nothing but glorified cooking. You just have to follow a recipe, after all. I could be using that time to hone other skills more useful for…” She bit her tongue. “For an archmage.” Princess Celestia stared at her for a moment, then sat down and offered Sunset a smile. “You know, you are right. Alchemy is very much like cooking.” Sunset blinked. She had not expected the princess to agree so readily. “Then—” “Did you know,” the princess interrupted her, “that cakes were invented six hundred years ago?” “Uhm…” Sunset thought about it. She had never read anything about food history. She had never even given it a single thought. “At first, they simply started adding sugar to the dough,” Princess Celestia explained. “But as more and more ponies started experimenting, eventually, one of them came up with the recipe for the very first chocolate cake, similar to the ones you’ve eaten before.” Sunset nodded slowly. Where was the princess going with this? “Now, my dear, faithful student. What do you think would have happened if everypony back then had decided to just follow the one recipe they all knew?” Sunset hummed. “They… They wouldn’t have invented chocolate cake?” Princess Celestia smiled. “And so, if ponies just followed the recipe, we wouldn’t have half the potions we use now. No sleeping potions, no energy potions, no anti-acne potions,” she winked at that one, and Sunset blushed, “and the strongest medicinal potions would barely be enough to help with a mild headache.” That… made a lot of sense. “Studying alchemy is not just so you learn how to brew potions that we know the recipes for,” Princess Celestia continued. “But so that you learn the techniques and the ingredients, and potentially discover new effects or boosts, or even completely new potions. Why, we owe Archmage Eve Flicker for inventing and perfecting fertility potions in a time when our numbers were dangerously low. “So you see, Sunset. If you really want to be the most powerful Archmage to have ever taken that title, you may want to reconsider skipping the lessons whose importance is not immediately clear.” Sunset hung her head and closed her eyes. “Sorry, princess.” Maybe Sunset should give Alchemy a second chance. Maybe, inventing a potion that helped all of ponykind would open a new door to becoming an alicorn. If anything, Sunset had to try. ~~~~~~~~ “Now, tap on the browser icon,” Sunflower said. Sunset did so, and the ´screen´ changed to white, followed by a rectangle with a blinking line and the alphabet. After spending the morning in the library reading about Halloween for their paper, Sunset and Trixie had met up with Sunflower at Sugarcube Corner, where Sunset had asked her to teach her all about the smartphone. As it turned out, Dandy did not own one of the devices and had also been unable to properly explain the internet to Sunset. “Now, you can write any question you have,” Sunflower explained. “Most of the time you’ll get a Wikipedia article, but if you’re looking for a video, then Youtube is the go-to option.” Sunset stared at the letters on the screen. She tapped on them, and a G letter appeared on the rectangle. She cocked her head, then started carefully navigating her fingers through them all. The result was gibberish, but she had managed to get a feel of the whole thing. It was infinitely much easier than writing with her hands! “Is… Is there a way to erase this?” She asked, still looking at the random assortment of letters. She hadn’t thought about it until now. Seeing both images and text flicker in and out of existence told her that it could be a possibility, but she had just written complete gibberish. Would it not work if it wasn’t a logical sentence? What if she had ruined Sunflower’s smartphone? The thought made her shiver as she did not want to repay it, especially when she didn’t even know how much the devices cost. “Just tap on, uhh, that one,” Sunflower replied, pointing at a drawing of an enlarged pentagon with an X letter in its middle. Sunset tapped on it, and the last letter disappeared. She let out a sigh of relief. Definitely much easier than using an eraser, and faster, even, than a spell to restore a parchment to its original state. “Do you lovely girls know what you’ll order?” asked a bubbly voice. Sunset looked up to see a woman of light blue skin and pink mane smiling at her. “Chocolate smoothie, please!” Sunflower exclaimed. Trixie cleared her throat. “Uhm… Vanilla smoothie for me.” “I’ll have a strawberry one,” Sunset said, then returned to her exploration of the phone. “So, what are you girls gonna do for Halloween?” Sunflower asked. Sunset looked up at her. The library had taught her the origins and customs of the holiday, but it had been both Trixie and Dandy who had explained the current ins and outs of the whole thing. It sounded extremely familiar to Nightmare Night, with kids dressing up as scary things and going from door to door asking for candy. Except that humans would pull pranks on those that did not give them candy? That one she did not understand. “Well…” Trixie said, lowering her eyes to the table. “I usually just stay home and play video games.” Sunset shrugged. “I’ve never had time for it, either.” Unlike Trixie, though, she always spent the day studying or practicing her spells. “What!” Sunflower exclaimed, and Trixie flinched. “That’s no fun at all! You two have to come trick or treating with me!” Sunset rolled her eyes. Dressing up in a ridiculous costume and going to strangers’ houses did not sit well with her. Her parents had taken her to do it, once, well before she even entered Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She didn’t remember much, other than being tired and cold. “W-Well…” Trixie said. “I-I’d have to ask my mom…” Sunset looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Trixie looked eager, in her strange, shy way. She looked like she could barely hold back a smile, and her cheeks were a soft shade of pink. “What about you, Sunset?” Sunflower asked, and she had a glimmer in her eyes, expectant. Why did she look so excited about it? If she wanted candy so badly, she could simply go buy it at a store or something. Surely it was easier than having to go around asking for it. “I’ll pass,” she said. “Aw, come on, Sunset!” Sunflower said, leaning over the table. “It’ll be fun! We can match costumes, and get tons of candy, and…” She gasped. “I can ask my parents if they’ll let me have a slumber party!” Sunset was about to refuse again. She had never gone to those, knowing that the snobbish, pretentious fillies only wanted to use her for her intelligence and connection to Princess Celestia. And even then, she didn’t like the concept of spending a night doing something that was not working on bettering herself. Trixie, however, looked like she had been offered water after spending a week in the desert. Sunset could honestly not see the appeal to the whole thing. Then again, Trixie was an odd one. In any case, Sunset wasn’t interested in wasting her time… She crossed her arms and hummed. If she thought about it, however, it was an excellent opportunity to study human social interactions. That part of her research had been upended by that brat Diamond Rush, now that no one at school would talk to her. She had completely overlooked that Sunflower had befriended Trixie, and that meant Sunset could study their interactions. It wasn’t a very good replacement for the dozens of lost study subjects, but a good scientist had to do with what she had. “Alright, I’m in,” she finally said. Unlike her past experiences, neither Trixie nor Sunflower wanted to use her for their own gain. They genuinely wanted to spend time with her because they appreciated her. Which was more than any other pony had even shown her before. “Yes!” Sunflower yelled and stood up. Her cheeks blushed as she noticed other patrons looking at her. She slowly slid back to her seat as she cleared her throat. “Anyway, I’ll ask my mom and give you the details later.” Their smoothies arrived, and Sunflower spent the rest of their reunion talking about all the things they could do at her slumber party. ~~~~~~~~ The T.V. was playing a very strange cartoon about crying vegetables. Trixie had tried convincing Sunset to give it a try, but Sunset did not care for ponies… people… things that cried to solve their problems. It reminded her of the brats back home that would shed fake tears to their parents so that they’d get a new dress or something. So, while Trixie enjoyed her weird cartoon, Sunset sat on the farthest couch with a tome of the encyclopedia resting on her knees. History was one of the subjects she struggled with the most. Not because she couldn’t memorize the dates and events, but because she just couldn’t comprehend why humans killed each other so much. Sure, Equestria was no stranger to war either, what with King Sombra’s coup d’etat and war declaration to Unified Equestria. But that had been over a thousand years ago, and less than one thousand ponies had been killed. Humans, however, counted their war casualties in the millions. It was mind-blowing. The front door opened, and in came Dandy. Sunset looked up from the tome as the older woman closed the door behind her and tossed the keys on the dining table. “Mom!” Trixie said, jumping to her feet. “Mom! Mom! Guess what?!” Dandy barely had time to brace herself as Trixie ran up to her and grabbed her arms. “What?” “Sunflower wants to go trick or treating with us!” Trixie said, almost too fast to understand. “And she invited us to have a slumber party at her house after that! Her mom said yes! Can we go? Please, please, pleaaaaaaaase!” Sunset raised an eyebrow. If Trixie could be this loud and talkative at home, why was it so difficult for her to behave the same way at school? “Whoa, wait,” Dandy said, managing to shake off Trixie’s grip. She placed her bag on the table. “Who’s this Sunflower girl?” “Oh, right,” Trixie said as she took a step back. “Sunset and I’ve been hanging out with Sunflower for a while. She’s pretty neat!” Dandy blinked a few times, then looked at Sunset. “What happened to being a foreign variable?” Sunset shrugged. “Now that the whole school won’t talk to me, it’s kind of a moot point.” “What do you mean they won’t talk to you?” Dandy asked, placing her hands on her hips. “Is this because of that Rainbow Dash girl? Is she still bullying you?” Sunset frowned a bit. Why did she look so angry?  “No,” she said. “We made up. It was all just a misunderstanding on her part, so she apologized.” “Alright, that’s… good to know,” Dandy said. “But why do you say the school won’t talk to you?” Sunset huffed. “Because they’re a bunch of brats. Not like I care, honestly. Gives me more time to write my paper.” Dandy scratched the side of her face. “Uh… Ok. But, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here, ok?” Sunset shrugged again. With that, Dandy turned to Trixie. “So you made friends with this Sunflower?” Trixie nodded. “Well, she was already friends with Sunset, but she also wanted to be my friend!” That put an ear-to-ear grin on Dandy's face. “I’m really glad to hear that! And she invited you to a slumber party? The two of you?” “Yeah!” “Well, I’ll have to talk to her mom,” Dandy said. “But as far as I’m concerned, I don’t see why not.” “Yay!” Trixie yelled. “Thank you, thank you!” Dandy patted Trixie as her daughter hugged her. “Anyway. I need to talk to Sunset about some things. Will you please go to your—” “Sunset, come play with me when you finish!” Trixie said as she practically hopped to her room. Dandy stared at the now empty hallway with a smile. After a few seconds, she approached Sunset and sat down on the couch. Her expression immediately turned somewhat serious. “First of all, I’m glad your situation with that Rainbow girl is over.” “No kidding,” Sunset replied. “Now, I did promise I’d respect your independence, but if you feel like the kids at school are being cruel, you can tell me,” Dandy continued. “The idea of you enrolling was so that you could learn, not so you’d be accosted or something.” “I’m fine,” Sunset said with a huff. “I like being alone… Well, mostly alone. There are so many things about this world that I need all the time I can get to put my research together.” That made Dandy pause, then nod slowly. “Alright, I won’t continue prying if you don’t want me to.” She passed a hand through her hair. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Trixie.” Sunset raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Dandy smiled and leaned closer. “Her birthday is coming up,” she whispered. “It’s next month. November nineteenth. I was planning on having a small get-together here. You can invite this Sunflower friend of yours. And any other friends you may have, for that matter.” “It’s just Sunflower,” Sunset replied. “But sure, I can tell her.” “Thank you. Trixie will be really happy.” With that, she stood up. “Wait,” Sunset called her. Dandy turned to look at her. She opened her mouth… But words failed her. What was it she had wanted to ask? Sunset frowned. She had spoken out of pure impulse. What an odd thing to do. She shook her head. “Nevermind.” Dandy nodded and left. Sunset decided to ignore her own outburst and continue reading. The rest of the week went by without a hitch. According to Rainbow Dash, Diamond had been very active in spreading lies about Sunset and her group. Most of them were pretty stupid, but Sunset did find one amusing. Apparently she was trying to become the meanest bully around, and had started by recruiting a pair of lackeys that would do all the dirty job for her. As if Sunset would trust anyone but herself to do what needed to be done. Of course, students were starting to get confused. Were they supposed to ignore and ostracize Sunset and Sunflower because of them interacting with Trixie, or were they supposed to mock them? Sunset smiled every time she glanced at Diamond’s irritated face. Just like she had predicted, her flimsy control over stupid teenagers was beginning to crumble. Especially after Rainbow had been seen giving Sunset a thumbs up, even when the rumor of Sunset bullying Fluttershy was well known. Sunset couldn’t help but laugh. Internally, of course, since she was currently in class, half-listening to her classmates presenting their Halloween papers. Fortunately, Trixie had turned out to be a decent project partner. She had never once tried to slack off, and she had really made an effort to learn and practice for presentation day. For all her faults, Sunset had to commend her on that aspect. … That being said, Trixie was still extremely shy and awkward, and so she had literally whispered during her part of the presentation. Sunset could only shake her head while the teacher leaned in to listen. Fortunately, though, Miss Green Spell didn’t decide to take points off for that, and she had awarded them an A+. “Next up,” Miss Green Spell said when Sunset and Trixie returned to their seats. “Sunflower Dust and Berry Chaser.” Sunset turned her head just in time to see Berry —a short, purple-skinned boy—, hastily putting some sheets of paper into his pocket. Sunflower had an uneasy smile on her face as she walked to the front of the classroom. “Alright,” Miss Green Spell said. “The stage is all yours.” Sunflower cleared her throat. “Well, we’re gonna talk about how the Jack o'Lanterns were originally made out of turnips instead of pumpkins.” “What!” Berry blurted out, and Sunflower jumped a little, looking at him with widened eyes. “You said it was a Jack o’Lantern story!” There was silence as Berry realized what he had just said. He slowly turned to Miss Spell, who had an eyebrow raised. He opened his mouth, and Miss Spell opened hers to interrupt him, but it was Sunflower’s loud gasp that caught everyone’s attention. She placed both hands over her mouth as she looked at Berry. “I’m sorry! I gave you the wrong notes!” She immediately pressed her hands to shut her own mouth, but the damage had already been done. “The wrong notes?” Miss Green Spell asked. “Care to elaborate?” Sunflower shook her head. Sunset thought her expression looked like that of a little filly caught with her hoof inside the cookie jar. Berry, though, looked like he had accidentally told his mom to shut up. Miss Green Spell… Well, Sunset really didn’t know how to read her expression, but it had the effect of making both students fidget and sway this way or the other. When neither student spoke up, Miss Spell crossed her arms and huffed. “You didn’t prepare, did you?” “Of course we did!” Berry retorted. Miss Spell raised an eyebrow, however, and Berry simply looked down silently. “I will have a word with you two after class,” Miss Green Spell said. “But know that you two have an F on this assignment. Go back to your seats.” Harsh, but fair, Sunset thought as she watched Sunflower walk back to her seat with tears in her eyes. She understood that Berry had treated Sunflower the same way Granite had tried to treat Sunset. Wanting her to do everything and simply turn over the notes. The fact that Sunflower had allowed it made Sunset shake her head. Because of that, and because of her mixing up her notes, she had failed such an easy assignment. At least it wouldn’t lower her grades irreparably. ~~~~~~~~ “Mom’s gonna kill me,” Sunflower whined. After school, they decided to go to the mall. Sunset still didn’t know why people liked hanging out in a place like this, but she had to admit it gave her plenty of opportunities to observe human interactions. “Why didn’t you tell Miss Green Spell that he made you do all the work?” Sunset asked. Sunflower shook her head. “I did, but then Berry told her I prepared something different to make her think so. In the end, Miss Spell decided we both were to blame.” “At least you didn’t get detention,” Trixie offered. “Yeah, I guess.” Sunset turned her attention to the stores that lined the hallway. Despite having visited the mall several times, she was still amazed at the fact that humans had built a building for the sole purpose of gathering stores of all kinds. Especially considering the same stores could be found all around the city. Well, at least it helped her get what she needed, as she didn’t really have the time nor the freedom to roam about and search for the specific stores she wanted to visit herself. There was also the perk of not having to cross streets. Back in Equestria, she only ever needed to pay attention to the right of passage, indicated by the rotating signs that were either magically automated or had some traffic pony operating them. Everypony respected the right of passage, and carriages were only as fast as a galloping pony. Here in human land, however, people seemed desperate to go before everyone else, and Sunset had had to learn to always be careful, no matter what the traffic lights said. And so that was another point for the mall. “What are you looking for?” Sunflower asked. Sunset turned to look at her. “I want to buy a smartphone.” Sunflower stopped walking. “Wha- like, right now?” “Yes,” Sunset said. “The device is fascinating. And it seems like it can be really useful.” If the internet really was everything they said it was, then Sunset would be able to have access to amounts of information of the likes no pony has ever seen before. “Well, what kind of phone do you want?” Sunflower asked. Sunset looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, what kind?” “Uhm, you know. What brand, or model?” Sunset simply blinked. “I think it’ll be best if we have an expert tell you all about it.” Sunflower hummed. “Maybe going to a phone store will be best.” Sunflower led both Sunset and Trixie through the mall until they reached a particular store called ‘EQ&G mobility’. Sunset raised both eyebrows. The few times she had seen the name while passing by, she had thought it would be some sort of travel agency. These humans were terrible at naming things. Upon entrance, Sunset couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. The smartphone Sunflower had shown Sunset was a gate for near-infinite knowledge, something akin to the entirety of Canterlot’s Royal Library archives. Even more so, if that was even possible. It was something that no mere mortal could ever hope to make good use of. And yet, here it was, a store that had dozens of these devices on display, ready to be sold to anyone who could pay for them. It was mind-blowing. “Hello there,” said a voice. Sunset turned to look at a tall, lanky boy with white skin and short brown hair. His glasses were so thick Sunset couldn’t properly see his eye color. “Welcome to EQ&G. My name is Poindexter. How can I help you?” “What does EQ and G mean?” Sunset asked. The boy raised both eyebrows and stayed silent for a few seconds. “If… If I remember correctly, I think it was ‘Electronic Quality and Guidance’.” He then gave Sunset a smile that looked a tad forced. “Is there anything else I can help you with?” Sunset nodded. “Uh, yes. I want to buy a smartphone.” “Sure. What did you have in mind?” “I actually don’t know anything about phones,” Sunset admitted. “I want you to show me.” “Well, that kind of depends on your budget. High-end phones are very expensive, but, of course, they have better specifications.” Poindexter turned and pointed at a row of phones. “Still, low-end or old models work just as fine, and they are cheaper.” He took one of the devices and handed it to Sunset. “Orange phones are very popular nowadays, and even their old models still work really well.” Sunset looked at the phone in her hand and cocked her head. “Orange. Why does it sound familiar?” “Diamond’s mom works in that company,” Trixie said. “Oh, yeah,” Sunflower replied. “She’s the CEO, right?” Trixie frowned. “Uhm, I think she’s a marketing manager or something like that.” It was Sunflower’s turn to frown. “What? I’ve heard her mom runs the company. That’s why she’s rich.” “And where did you hear that?” Sunset asked her. “Uhm… Around school…” Sunflower crossed her arms. “Do you think she made up that rumor?” Sunset sighed and shook her head. “Wouldn’t put it past her. Regardless, that’s reason enough for me.” She turned to Poindexter and gave him the phone back. “I don’t want anything from this Orange company.” Poindexter stared at her for a few seconds. “Alrighty, then,” he finally said and put the phone back to its previous spot. He then proceeded to talk about all the different kinds of brands there were, the models, and other stuff. Sunset eventually had to bring up her notebook to write down everything she was being told. Poindexter really seemed to know what he was talking about, answering Sunset’s questions with practiced ease. The more she learned, the more impressed Sunset got with this piece of technology. It had almost everything! The unlimited pool of knowledge called the internet, telephone, camera, calculator, and many other different, useful-sounding things, all brought together in a device that could easily be carried in a pocket of her jacket. In the right hooves, like hers, a device such as these ones had the potential to change the world. She really needed one. “... So, if you’re not really into photographs, any low-end phone’s camera is more than enough,” Poindexter explained. “And, if you ask me, if you are trying to be a professional photographer, you’ll be better off with a professional camera… Uhm, don’t tell my boss I said that.” Sunset nodded. “Well, I don’t have enough money for those super expensive smartphones, anyway,” she said. Which was only partially true. But, well, even if she did have enough human money, she didn’t think it was worth spending it all on an expensive phone simply because of the camera and some performance upgrades. “What can you give me for four hundred dollars or less?” Poindexter smiled and started lining up a small collection of smartphones on the counter. For Sunset’s untrained eyes, they looked almost exactly the same to each other. “These are the two most popular brands,” Poindexter said. “Well, with the exception of Orange, since you don’t want their products.” He cleared his throat. “They all are practically the same. Some are faster than the others, but their battery lasts a bit less.” Sunset listened to the pros and cons of each of the four smartphones in front of her. It was a very tough choice, she had to admit. They were so similar to each other, it was like the companies that made them wanted people to choose them simply by their brand. And so, with Poindexter unable to convince her to buy any specific one of the four models in front of her, she picked the Starsong brand, simply by virtue of it sounding like a unicorn name. “How much is it?” She asked as Poindexter started gathering the other three phones. “One hundred, ninety-nine.” Sunset raised an eyebrow at that. She had already noticed that human prices were really odd. Never did she see a round amount. Everything always ended with a nine. Why did they do it? She shook her head to dispel such thoughts. It wasn’t like it mattered anyway. It was just another minor difference from Equestria. She gave Poindexter the two one-hundred dollar bills, which elicited a gasp from Sunflower, for some reason. He explained some other things Sunset needed to know, such as the ‘pack’ she’d be hiring in order to actually use the device to its full potential. Of course she’d need to pay even more money. A few minutes later, she walked out of the store with her smartphone in a plastic bag. “Let me write down your number,” Sunflower said, taking out her phone. Sunset gave Sunflower the paper note in which Poindexter had written her number. Sunflower happily tapped away at her phone for a while. “I sent you a text,” Sunflower said, giving the note back to Sunset. “When you get it, you can add me!” Sunset nodded and looked down at the bag that contained her smartphone. She was still surprised that something so small could do so many different things. It made her doubt everyone and everything’s claim that magic didn’t exist in this world. She already wanted to get back home and learn how to use it.