Pavlov's Pony
“I’m serious, Spike!”
“And I seriously don’t believe you.” Spike firmly stated. “That’s something right out of Power Ponies and you know it.”
“I’ll show you as soon as we get back to the library.” You promised.
“Darn right you will.” Spike responded while doing his best to glare at you over the hefty roll of parchment he was carrying in his arms. “Can’t wait to see how you do this without a horn.”
You held the door to Quills and Sofas open for Spike, who hobbled down the step to the dirt path below. After readjusting your grip on your share of supplies for the library you followed after the much smaller drake.
“Don’t need magic for this one, Spike.” You answered as the two of you neared the edge of the bustling Ponyville market.
“Well, how else could you possibly mind control Twilight?” Spike asked aloud. So loud, in fact, that you noticed some nearby ponies, Roseluck and Daisy, shot an inquisitive look to you from their flower stall. Those two were quite prone to gossip, at least according to Rarity, so you made doubly sure you and Spike walked out of earshot before you continued the conversation.
“Well, how’d it work in the comics?”
“What? With the Mind Writer?”
“Is he a super-villain? How’d he mind control ponies?”
“He was a mediocre writer who couldn’t get anyone to buy his stuff, but he found an ancient spell which allowed him to control whoever read the books he enchanted. He had ponies give him tons of their bits and made them forget the whole thing. Worked pretty well for a few issues until Mistress Mare-velous figured out what was going on.”
A chuckle left your lips once you heard Spike’s enthusiastic tone; explaining Power Ponies lore definitely excited him.
“How’d that work out for him?”
“A whole lot of bruises after Mare-velous got to him; he couldn’t put up a fight at all. He got a surprisingly short prison sentence, but that leads into a pretty funny issue where he tries to mind control himself to be able to fight better.”
“Sounds like a flawless plan.”
“I’ll let you read them once we get back, I’ve got ‘em upstairs.”
“Sounds fun.” You replied as you turned the corner at Sugarcube Corner to bring the Golden Oak Library into view down the road. The two of you walked in silence until you neared the massive oaken house.
“Anyway, I don’t need any of that crazy magic stuff to control Twilight.”
“Yeah, right.” Spike responded with an eye roll.
“Nope, just science.”
“Huh, you know, with all that phone-thing of yours can do I wouldn’t have been surprised…” Spike trailed off.
“Nah, don’t need that either. That and the thing probably won’t ever turn on again since its outta power.” You recalled. “It’s much, much simpler.”
“There’s no way mind control can be simple, Anon.”
“I’ll give you that; it did take a doctor to figure it out. He did it on a bunch of dogs.”
“Twilight’s a bit smarter than a dog, you know.” Spike responded in disbelief.
“Eh, maybe a little…” You said, making a so-so gesture with a hand. “I mean, the guy’s technique worked wonders on Twilight.”
Spike merely sighed and shook his head in dissatisfaction as the two of you came to the red, candle-adorned front door of the Golden Oaks Library. You stepped ahead of Spike to open the door for him.
“And it’s all thanks to these.” You remarked while pointing at down to your pair of shoes, wiggling your right foot around for emphasis.
“And now I know you’re lying.” Spike pronounced as he sauntered past you. “We’re back, Twilight!”
You ducked below the doorframe and walked into the library behind Spike. The little dragon let out, at least in his mind, a menacing roar as he hoisted the roll of paper above his head and heaved it towards the center of the room. A trail of unraveled paper snaked its way through the foyer of the library and came to a rest at a distant bookshelf. Spike paid the mess little heed and instead swaggered to the nearby bathroom mirror. Through an open door you saw him striking poses and flexing his little arms, searching for the slightest hint of muscle to impress Rarity with. As you went to wind the parchment back around the spool hoofsteps came from your favorite mare on the stairs.
“Welcome back!” Twilight announced. She came down the steps with her muzzle in a book suspended by her magical purple aura. Despite her focus on the book she didn’t trip up at all while descending the staircase. Twilight did, however, remain oblivious to the unraveled scroll strewn about the floor and stepped right on it without noticing, forcing you to stop raveling it back.
“How’s my favorite human doing?” Twilight asked, lowering the book to reveal her smiling face to you. You didn’t bother voicing a response and instead cracked a smile of your own as Twilight reared in front of you and squeezed her forelegs against your sides in a hug. You reciprocated by bringing your arms around her barrel and rubbing the small of her back. Twilight stretched her head towards yours and gave you a light peck on the cheek. “Now where’s my favorite little dragon?”
Twilight broke the hug and began looking back and forth around the room. She looked back to you for an answer and you obliged by pointing towards the ajar bathroom door. Once she saw Spike still flexing the unicorn stifled a laugh by bringing a forehoof to her mouth before trotting in. Spike’s muffled protests could barely be heard over Twilight’s magic forcing the baby dragon in for a loving hug.
Twilight’s fawning gave you just enough time to finish rolling up the paper and set it on the center table. Twilight shoved the door open and happily trotted towards the supplies you bought. Spike came out behind her dragging his feet rubbing his right cheek and bemoaning her giving him multiple kisses.
Lucky guy, she only gave you one.
“Oooh! Perfect!” Twilight cheerfully chirped as she magically picked up the enormous roll of paper and, to your minor annoyance, unfurled at least ten feet of it before tearing it away.
“Eeesh, what do you need so much paper for?” You asked.
“A follow-up friendship report to Celestia! Twilight stated, moving her head into the overturned bag to sift through the ink bottles, quills, and other knickknacks you picked up. “I realized I left out a couple details when I sent it last night.”
“Good to be thorough, I suppose.”
“On that note, did you two find everything alright? We’re so short on stuff I hope you triple-checked that checklist.”
“Eh, sorry Twi. Only double-checked it.”
Twilight stopped examining a set of manila borrowing cards and shifted her eyes towards you, narrowing them into an inquisitive squint. Your eyes locked onto hers in return. After a few seconds the unicorn scrunched up her nose and furrowed her brows a bit more which, unfortunately for you, ended up breaking you through sheer cuteness. Your emerging sly grin gave away the truth.
“Don’t scare me like that.” Twilight lightly scolded.
You walked off towards the kitchen where you saw Spike scamper a few moments ago. Sounds of a cork popping off an ink bottle and the scratching of quill on parchment came from behind you. Spike had scampered on top of the counter and helped himself to the stash of gemstones stored in the cupboard above. As nice as it was that Spike was capable of getting snacks for himself you weren’t too pleased with him dirtying up the counters with his feet. You made a mental note to both wash the counter and also move those jewels to an easier to reach place later.
“You ready, Spike?”
“Just got some snacks to watch the show.” Spike replied as he sat down in the doorway. “So what’ll you make her do? Some backflips or something?”
“Eh, something a bit more subtle, but I think you’ll like it.”
You poked your head through the doorway and, as expected, Twilight remained distracted by her writing. You hadn’t tried “controlling” her in any other situations, but this definitely meant your trick had the highest chance of working. You motioned Spike to keep his chewing noises down to ensure nothing distracted Twilight. You tip-toed as quietly as possible towards the distracted mare and came just close enough to peer past her horn and forward facing ears to see her jotting down something about her sleepover with Rarity and Applejack the other day. You pressed the heel of your right shoe down hard and harshly twisted your foot against the wooden floor. A loud squeak emanated from the rubber sole all throughout the library.
Instantly Twilight’s ears swiveled towards the sound and, without missing a beat, they relaxed once she registered the sound. Happy that Twilight Sparkle’s training had paid off you stepped closer and rewarded the little mare with some light ear scratching for a few short seconds. Using both hands you pampered each purple ear, gently gripping the apex of each one and lazily stroking the pinna up and down with your thumb. After a second of scratching between Twilight’s ears you backed away and headed towards the kitchen and a very confused, unamused Spike.
“Did you even do anything?” A dour Spike questioned as you walked past him into the kitchen. “All you did was massage her head.”
“Yeah, I kinda figured this’d take some explaining.”
“It better. You got me all hyped, too.”
“So, back on Earth when I was in school, a teacher taught me about a psychologist, Dr. Pavlov, who brought dogs food and always rang a bell when he fed them. He did it for weeks and eventually the dogs just started salivating whenever they heard the bell, even if food wasn’t there. It’s called classical conditioning.”
“Okay… And what does that have to do with getting all feelsy with Twilight?” Spike scrutinized.
“For over a month now, every time I’ve squeaked my shoe I’ve scratched Twilight’s head. I’m pretty sure she just expects it now on some subconscious level.”
“Whuh? Why?! What’s the point? Why wouldn’t you just make her do something cool?”
“It doesn’t work that way Spike, I mean, I didn’t even think this would work at all.”
“But does it?”
“What do you mean?” You asked.
“Is Twilight actually relaxing because of your noisy shoe or because she knows you’re right there and will likely give her a massage?”
“Oh… yeah, I guess you’re right” You admitted. You actually had no idea whether your experiment actually worked.
At least for another couple seconds you wouldn’t.
“I think we can figure this out right now.” You declared after a moment of thinking. You walked to the kitchen doorway and waved Spike over. “Let’s see what she does when I do it again.”
Like before, Twilight was completely engrossed in her writing when she heard the loud squeak behind her. Her ears twisted around, focused towards where the sound originated from, and then shifted back forward and relaxed when they didn’t detect any noise after a few seconds. Spike and you stared at Twilight all throughout the process and you eagerly awaited any kind of reaction.
“What are we looking for?” Spike whispered, looking up at you and pulling your pant leg to get your attention. You responded by simply pointing back at Twilight.
Twilight had stopped writing, brought her head up, and stared forward. She set the quill in her magical field down and, much to your delight, brought a forehoof up to the space behind her horn and between your ears. She rubbed the edge of her hoof back and forth atop her head to scratch at the unexpected itch; slowly at first, but soon increased the pace of her back and forth motion. The unicorn let out a small huff of frustration as her hoof evidentially wasn’t enough. Twilight’s horn produced its familiar lavender glow a purple, marble-sized sphere of concentrated magic popped into existence just behind her head. The sphere pressed itself into her mane and began moving to and fro to massage her head, but once again the unicorn wasn’t satisfied. Another orb popped into existence and began its own kneading. And then another. You figured that was proof enough and you sprang into action by deftly walking towards your friend in distress.
Twilight’s magic fizzled out as your fingers pressed against her scalp and began scratching her troublesome itch. A satisfied coo came from Twilight and she turned her head to get a better look at you.
“Thanks, Anon. I really needed that.”
“Any time, Twi.”
“You wouldn’t believe how nasty that itch was, it was crazy.”
“Eh, happens to everyone.”
The hum of magic signaled Twilight picking up her quill again to get back to writing, and you turned around and walked back to the kitchen.
“Told ya, Spike. Mind control.”
Spike, suddenly quite nervous, shifted his weight from one side to another and fidgeted with his tail in his claws.
“So, uh, Anon… Think you can teach me to do that on Rarity?”
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Smart and really cute
Step?
No space after full stop.
This is funny and adorable. Just like the first one. Im guessing the 3 dislikes are from people that didn't actually read it and just downvoted because its human in Equestria. Oh well its their loss.
Awesome!