We make our own Destinies [Midnight Mind]

"But... the idea of compacting a complex spell into simple formula is a bit like trying to force a square box through a round hole," Sugar replied, frowning, "Complex spells are complex for a reason, simplifying them could have any number of unseen effects, and shouldn't (in my opinion) be tampered with to make simpler. It's like taking the theory behind submolecular manipulation and trying to apply it to make an advanced form of telekinesis, it's just silly?"

Gently, the (not quite) mad mare lifted the masterfully crafted pendant up via its chain, tested the hinge and clasp a few times to make sure it really was working and fixed, and with a satisfied nod, gently gave it back. It was around about this time her mind had processed everything Midnight had said, and she spoke again.

"Remember, I'm a thaumo-mechanical engineer, not a weaponsmith. As fascinating as the ideas can be of weapons made of an amalgamation of magic and science can be, I won't lower myself to those standards. There's nothing.. There's no finesse, or skill, about making a bomb. Ammonium, Hydrogen, Anypony can make a bomb, and adding a magical element isn't that difficult to do either."

She looked fondly over at the drill in the corner and smiled. It wasn't actually that big, small enough to fit in a launcher, but it was robust, and she knew it worked.

"But making something that can drill through solid concrete?" She asked rhetorically, "That takes thought, time, testing.. And some heavyset calibrations. Here, look."

She turned around this time, ignoring the drill, and took Midnight over to the shelves marked 'Dangerous' and took down the box, placing it on a spare workbench and searching around for something else.

"During some of my more... interesting experiments," She began, "I tried to make a machine that would cook a meal in a few minutes. A full meal, not just a bit of hay or something. What I came up with included the use of... oh where is it!?"

She rooted around for a few more minutes, growing more and more frustrated, before giving up entirely.

"Whatever, probably best I don't show you. But, this is what I made. It bombards whatever's in it with microwaves, which, I thought at least, would cook the food nicely and throughout. Turns out Microwaves don't cook things though, and it turned a glass of water I was trying to boil into a lovely little vapour bomb. I was missing fur off my coat for weeks."

Sugar's face darkened and she sighed, putting the microwave away.

"... Equestria's still stuck in the dark ages," She finally said after a long pause, "They cling to what they hold dear, and find comfortable. They still hold fast to the idea that they don't need to advance in any other ways than what we already have. Streetlights are still lit with flames almost everywhere save for some larger cities, like Manehatten. Ponies still use candles as light sources when bulbs can now be retrofitted to be carried anywhere as a torch."

She hesitated, rolled her shoulders, and gestured for Midnight to follow her, leading her through the part filled workshop back to the stairs.

"The mining industry is always looking for a way to make their jobs easier," She continued her explanation, "Thus why I built my Quantum Bore Tunnelling Drill, but they're also very particular about operational health and safety, so I have to send it off to a committee first so they can approve it as safe. The problem with that is, nothing is truly safe to use. Ponies hurt themselves on the most mundane of objects, even their eating utensils, because of improper use."

She'd reached the stairs now, and she stopped, turned and sat down, head hanging.

"And... for ponies like me, who only want to look forward, to better understand the possibilities that our race can expand out limitless potential, and to make Equestria a better place with my skills... It's like living in a bubble, where nopony else can possibly understand your intentions, or care about your feelings. Or rather, they're in the bubble, and I'm stuck in reality, and whilst they phase in and out of existence, I'm still here, the only pony in the world trying to move forward in life, to advance us as a species. Sure, I've made mistakes... I'm an inventor, mistakes are what we do. But... I suppose it's just..."

She shrugged. She was starting to feel depressed, and that was never a good thing for poor little Sugar.

"We're a bunch of ostriches," She began, "With our heads stuck in the sand, thinking everything will go away, and it won't. I want to help, but we as a nation are so set in our old traditions, we refuse to embrace change. And that leaves ponies such as myself in a... precarious predicament."

"I don't know my future," Sugar replied stubbornly, "And I won't, until it arrives. Ponies have pretended to tell the future before. I put little stock in pyschics and soothesayers."

She turned, and headed back up the stairs.

"Where could I go?" She asked rhetorically, "The dragons? They see ponies as beneath them, lower lifeforms. Griffons? A warlike, tribal society. Their technology is focused on fishing or weapons, they have no need for my creations. Taurus? The minotaurs are barely out of their infancy, still tribal and nomadic. They, and pardon my rudeness, couldn't tell one end of a drill from another with an instruction manual and a diagram."

They reached the top of the stairs, and she pushed the trap door open again.

"There will always be ponies who are suspicious of my work, and it will always drag me down. I have come to accept that. I just... need to make a machine they cannot deny is useful and safe. Though, knowing my luck, it'll be something silly. As for why my wares don't sell..."

She snorted.

"Superstitious ponies will have you believe I have trapped a spirit within my Useless Machines," She huffed irritably, "To forever to my bidding and be a slave to a switch. because they're idiots, and don't bother to learn about circuitry or programming. A foolish thing indeed."

"You make it sound like a utopia," Sugar responded weakly, "Whilst others would say the same of Equestria. No place is perfect, and no nation is universally accepting. It's a fact, an unchangeable law of nature. It doesn't matter how much you try to change it, there's always resistance to new ideas."

She led the duo through the shop, back through the maze of shelves, to the counter. Clean and wooden, it held only a small register that no longer opened, a calculator in case she needed to confirm her math, and a few pencils and paper.

"I... I do not mean to insult," Sugar said hesitantly, "But I put very little faith in the words of fortune tellers. The idea that somepony could accurately predict the movement of every atom in the universe, every reaction to the movement of the other atoms, to accurately tell what one pony was going to go through is, I'm afraid, theoretically impossible."

Sugar paused for a moment, then spoke once more.

"And you owe me ten bits," She continued with a bit of hesitancy, "Unless you'd like one of my novelty machines as well?"

There comes a time in all ponies lives where this sort of situation pops up and, to most, it's the perfect situation to get laid. The poor mare, couldn't afford her expenses, looking desperately for another way to pay the pony in question, and is told she can resort to sexual favours to make up for it.

This was one of those times.

But Sugar was not one of those ponies.

Instead, she sighed, burying her face in her hooves, mumbling about next time being paid in advance, before looking up and waving a hoof.

"Don't worry about it. It only took a few minutes, eight will be fine," She said tiredly, "I was probably overcharging you anyway."

This wasn't true. Fiddly objects such as that locket could be repaired at a jewellers for almost double the price Sugar charged, and it generally took longer. But, given her circumstances, Sug couldn't complain about the money. She needed it, just like she needed to eat sometime in the next week.

A reading would never get her the bits she needed... It just didn't work that way! Then again, she wasn't known for accepting charity either so...

Ugh, what a drag.

Sugar sighed heavily, and looked up again. Maybe Midnight would go soon if she let her do this silly reading thing. Sugar was starting to feel depressed, and wanted to work on something to distract herself from the inane reality her life had become since moving away from home. Not that she didn't appreciate the bit of income the fortune teller had brought her, or the conversation. Far from it. But...

"Go ahead then," She said softly.