//------------------------------// // Mesmerizing and Misunderstanding // Story: The Meaning of Harmony // by KatonRyu //------------------------------// The glittering crystal path slowly pulsed with bright blue light in the setting desert sun. It was a shade of blue that seemed familiar to Sunset, but she couldn’t quite place it. She didn’t linger on it and focused on the plateau of the Forge itself instead. Before she could really take it in, Twilight said, “That’s odd.” “What, the fact that an ancient magical Forge just rose up from the water of a legendary oasis that has never been found even by the best explorers in history? What’s odd about that?” Rainbow Dash asked rhetorically. Twilight shook her head. “That’s not what I mean. Look closer at the Forge. It’s missing the focus formations the other Forges had.” Sunset looked properly now and saw that Twilight was right. It was definitely strange for this Forge to lack the crystal clusters the other Forges had possessed, but for some reason it didn’t bother her much. For a split second, she felt immense worry, as if part of her realized something, but the feeling disappeared as quickly as it had come. “Let’s go over there and check it out,” she said. “Maybe we’ll find some clues there.” She began to cross the crystal path. The feeling of the crystals beneath her hooves reminded her eerily of her nightmares. Even though she hadn’t been bothered by them for two days now, traces of the fear were still there. She stepped onto the plateau of the Forge itself and a blue light, the same color as the path, flashed before her eyes for a single moment, and then it was gone. As with the missing crystal formations, Sunset was surprisingly unbothered by the occurrence. Part of her found her lack of concern concerning, but she didn’t dwell on it and instead began to inspect the patterns of the Forge itself. The swirling shapes were inlaid with blue crystals, a lighter shade of blue than the path or the entry crystals in their obsidian holders. Twilight and the others had also traversed the crystal path, and had now joined Sunset in examining the Forge. “I think this is the Forge of Laughter,” Twilight said. “Ooh! So that means I get to stand in the center this time, right?!” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing up and down with excitement. Twilight chuckled. “Yes, Pinkie, this time you should be in the center.” A worried look crossed her face for an instant, but then her expression became neutral again. “Let’s quickly look around the Forge to see if the crystal formations have been forcibly removed, or if they’re really supposed to be absent here,” she said. “If the formations were ever here, there will probably be damage to the underlying patterns and the plateau itself, so that’s what we should look for.” They spread out across the plateau and began to look for signs of damage. Sunset decided to start at the center of the Forge, pick one of the many lines of magic, and follow it all the way to one of the crystals in its obsidian holder. She figured that if there was any damage she’d come across it that way. She began to trace one the lines. At first, it was easy, but after only a short while she was suddenly hit with a tremendous sense of vertigo. She blinked a couple of times and refocused on the inlaid crystals. The sudden dizziness didn’t bother her. She briefly wondered why not, then resumed her tracing of the line. Along the way to the outside of the Forge, Sunset felt the same vertigo as before twice more, and both times she simply carried on afterward. Eventually, she reached the blue crystal in its obsidian holder. For completeness’ sake, she decided to inspect it a bit more thoroughly. The crystal pulsed softly, in the exact same way as the path had done. Again, Sunset wondered where she’d seen that shade of blue before. Then, like a flash of lightning, she remembered. “Will-o’-Wisp…” she muttered. It was like having a bucket of ice water on her face. The pulsing light, the surprising lack of concern for any of the things that should have been major causes for concern…they were being hypnotized by the Forge! Sunset closed her eyes and called up her magic. I am Sunset Shimmer. I am here to activate the Forge of Harmony and save Equestria. I am Sunset Shimmer… With each reiteration of her name and purpose, Sunset’s mind became clearer. With her eyes still closed, she turned around and said, “Everypony, close your eyes. Tell me, who are you, and why are we here?” “Sunset? What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, confused. “Yeah, did you hit your head or something?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Do you trust me?” Sunset asked, instead of answering their questions. “Of course,” Twilight said immediately. “Then please, close your eyes, and say your name, and why you are here,” Sunset said. She heard her friends state their name and purpose, one by one. “Good. Now do it again. Keep your eyes closed, and let the meaning of what you’re saying fill every fiber of your body.” “Sunset, you’re acting as if we’re…” Twilight’s voice trailed off as she realized it. “…dealing with a Will-o’-Wisp. That blue flash of light, the vertigo…we’re being manipulated?!” Sunset nodded gravely, forgetting for a moment that everypony had their eyes closed. “Yes. Specifically, we’re being manipulated into believing the focus formations aren’t there, and that that’s normal. I think that, if we try to activate the Forge while this spell is active, we’re going to set off some kind of defense mechanism.” “That’s all fine and dandy, but how are you going to deactivate it?” Applejack asked. “I can detect it like I did with the Will-o’-Wisps in the swamp. The unicorns who placed this spell here must have had a way to deactivate it and powerful wizards tend to be a bit arrogant. Case in point, me before I fled Equestria,” Sunset replied. “In any case, their arrogance will probably mean there is a pretty obvious way to deactivate it once you know it’s there.” She took a few deep breaths and reached out with her magic. She felt the enormous power of the Forge around her, but there was something more. From each of the six entry crystals around the Forge, she could feel the waves of mesmerizing light rolling over the Forge. A thin trace of energy ran down the obsidian holders, and then directly to the center of the Forge. It was difficult to detect, mostly hidden by the enormous power of the Forge itself, but Sunset now knew what to look for. The thin threads all met in the center of the Forge and went down, through the plateau, all the way to the very bottom of the magical dome that lay around the Forge. Pressed up against the barrier, there was what felt like a glowing ball of magic, bound together by a construct Sunset knew to be a spiral binding. She had to give the ancient unicorns credit; a spiral binding was not something you’d often come across. They were essentially ropes made of magical energy woven into a spiral pattern, which could be temporarily loosened by anypony with sufficient magical ability, but only truly undone by somepony who knew the exact spiral configuration, and Sunset suspected that nopony like that remained alive today. It didn’t matter, though. Sunset had played with spiral bindings before and she knew how to loosen them. She quickly cast the necessary spell and the glowing ball of magic dimmed considerably. Almost immediately, the waves of hypnotizing magic from the crystals in their holders fell away. “You did it!” Twilight said excitedly. Sunset smiled. Of course Twilight had been following Sunset’s actions closely. Sunset hadn’t felt the warm feeling of Twilight’s magic because she was focusing on deactivating the spell, but now she felt it briefly, just before she opened her eyes and pulled back her magic. She looked around the Forge and immediately saw the clusters of crystals spaced around the plateau. She glanced at the blue crystal behind her and to her satisfaction, it didn’t pulse anymore. “Can we open our eyes yet?” Rainbow Dash asked impatiently. “Yes. The spell worked. We should have about two hours before the hypnotizing effect comes back,” Sunset said. Her friends opened their eyes and looked around. Pinkie in particular was excited. “Can we activate the Forge now?! Can we?!” she asked, bouncing up and down. Twilight nodded. “Yes. I think it’s safe now. Everything looks normal now.” Pinkie smiled brightly and immediately took her place in the center of the Forge. Spike was about to step outside when Sunset held out her hoof and stopped him. “Close your eyes when you step outside,” she said. “The spell on the path is still active, since I can’t affect anything outside the dome from in here.” “Right,” Spike said nervously. “Thanks for the warning. I’m not too eager to get mind-controlled again.” He lined himself up with the path, closed his eyes, and stepped outside. Sunset and the others took their places underneath the blue crystals. “Are you ready?” Twilight asked Pinkie. Pinkie nodded eagerly. “Yes! Come on, activate it! I’ve wanted to find out what this feels like since the mine!” Twilight took a deep breath and focused. Sunset felt the now familiar warmth again, stronger than it had been at the earlier Forges because Twilight was actually well-rested this time. The crystals in the plateau began to glow a light blue and began to converge on the beaming Pinkie Pie, whose body also began to emit a faint blue glow as the magic drew ever nearer to her. “Ooh, tingly,” she remarked when the magic reached her and the blue glow from her body began to expand outwards and fill the dome of the Forge. Sunset felt a stab of cold, but it felt much more muted compared to the earlier Forges, possibly because Sunset herself had been sleeping better as well, much like Twilight. The blue glow faded away, remaining only in the six crystals around the Forge. Sunset still felt exhausted, but again it was far less than it had been in the swamp or even the mine. Though the feeling would definitely get worse when she stepped out of the dome, as it had every time so far, she had a feeling she’d be able to deal with it much more easily now. “So how was it?” Twilight asked Pinkie. “It was amazing! I felt so glowy! I was even brighter than the Hearth’s Warming Tree in Ponyville at the end of the year!” “Maybe we should try to move the Forge there and do it again for Hearth’s Warming Eve, then,” Rainbow Dash said jokingly. Pinkie turned towards her with her biggest smile on her face. “That’s a great idea, Rainbow Dash! Twilight, do you think we can move it just for one night?!” Twilight chuckled. “I don’t think so, Pinkie. But I’m sure we’ll find a different way to make Hearth’s Warming Eve spectacular when that time comes, so don’t worry.” Pinkie sighed. “Oh well. I guess it does take up a bit too much room in the town square anyway…” Since it was already quite dark, the group decided to camp at Zerzura’s outer edge. The outer edge, because Sunset and Twilight weren’t certain if the mesmerizing spell would compel them to do something strange when it reactivated and so they didn’t want to be close to it when it did. As usual after activating a Forge, everypony was pretty tired, and so after dinner they all retired to their tents. Also as usual, Sunset’s and Twilight’s tent was set up a short distance away from their friends, in case the nightmares returned and the shield spell wasn’t strong enough to contain the explosion of magic. When Sunset lay down her sleeping bag close to Twilight’s it was already beginning to feel natural to her. Something about being so close to Twilight felt really good, safe, and when both of them were snugly in their sleeping bags, Sunset felt more comfortable than she had at any point during the trip thus far. She still dreamt about the clearing in the forest, but nothing bad happened anymore because Sunset’s magic was calmed down by Twilight’s and the dream ended with Sunset casting the spell, which she could never remember when she woke up, to calm down Twilight’s magic in turn and stop it from exploding. It was another good night and when Sunset woke up the next morning she felt great. At breakfast, the conversation turned to Twilight and Sunset’s miraculous cure for the nightmares. “So what exactly did you change to stop the nightmares? You never did tell us, only that your magic somehow mixed because of it and that stopped the nightmares,” Applejack said. Twilight blushed lightly when she replied, “Well, a few days ago I saw that Sunset was afraid of the nightmare, even more than I was. So I suggested she move her sleeping bag closer to mine to make her feel better, and…because we were so close it mixed our magic and stopped the nightmare. Discovering that was a happy coincidence, because now we have a way to get some proper rest while we’re on this journey.” Sunset had stiffened while Twilight was talking. Each word seemed to drive deep into her heart for a reason she didn’t even know herself. Of course Twilight was only being pragmatic. Why wouldn’t she be? Sunset had no idea why she suddenly felt the way she did, but it hurt and it made her angry, and not knowing why she felt like that made her even angrier still. She abruptly got up. “I think it’s time to get going. We should be able to reach the train today now that we know where we’re going,” she said stiffly. Twilight exchanged a confused glance with her friends before saying, “Sunset, are you…?” “I’m fine,” Sunset cut her off. “Let’s just go. We’ve got a long walk ahead.” Sunset knew her friends were looking at her while they walked, but she didn’t care. She was casting the spell the keep the heat of the sun away from everypony, so as far as she was concerned she was doing her job and the others should just leave her alone. Fortunately, they seemed to get that. They might not know why she was acting the way she was, but she was clearly angry about something and so they let her be. Sunset noticed that Twilight tried to catch her eye a couple of times, but every time she noticed she deliberately looked the other way. The utter confusion and even traces of dejection on Twilight’s face made Sunset feel a grim satisfaction, but the aftertaste was bitter because at the same time she hated seeing her friend like that. Even so, she made no attempts to improve the situation as they kept walking. Instead, she kept wondering just why it was she had reacted so strongly to what Twilight had said that morning. Every single thing she’d said had been true. Sunset had been more afraid of the nightmare than Twilight. Twilight had suggested moving her sleeping bag over, and the discovery of the nightmare-canceling effect had been a happy coincidence, so of course they’d continued putting their sleeping bags together the nights after. Then what was the problem? Her thoughts went in circles, and Sunset got more and more frustrated with her complete inability to come up with a reason for her behavior. She’s more than a friend to you. You aren’t to her. The thought suddenly bubbled up inside her, but Sunset immediately rejected it. That couldn’t be the problem. She and Twilight were friends, close friends, even, but surely it wasn’t anything more than that. If it were, Sunset would know. Wouldn’t she? But that would explain her current behavior, only it made no sense for her to get angry over feelings she didn’t even know she had, so it just couldn’t be that. So what else was there? Sunset was shaken from her spiral of angry and confused thoughts by Rainbow Dash. “You have to be kidding me! The train station is right there?! Zerzura was only a few hours’ walking from the station? How has nopony found it in all those years?!” Twilight gave an embarrassed cough. “I forgot to mention that Zerzura is entirely invisible from the air. At least, it has never once been spotted by Pegasi flying over the desert to search for it. And since the recorded sightings of Zerzura have always been in different locations, but never in the real one, and nopony would just wander into a desert without a reason…nopony probably looked there.” Rainbow Dash hung her head. “Unbelievable. We could’ve activated all of the other Forges in the time it took us to walk there.” “Cheer up, Rainbow. At least we got to have some fun on our trip through the desert, right? I mean, the sculpture contest was impressive, wasn’t it?” Applejack asked, with a small smile at Sunset. Sunset returned the smile with the absolute greatest effort it had ever cost her, and only managed to make one corner of her mouth barely curl into a grimace that could maybe considered to be a smile. Applejack quickly changed the subject. “Besides, now we’ll be in a town tonight, we’ll have actual beds this time, no more hassle with tents and sleeping bags.” When Applejack realized that this subject was even worse for Sunset’s mood, she quickly decided not to talk anymore, and in silence the group began to walk over to the train station. Spike lagged behind a bit and walked next to Sunset. “You’ve been angry all day. What’s wrong?” he asked. Sunset looked at him and saw the concern in his eyes. She sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to find out, but it’s not really working.” Spike considered that for a moment. “Well, maybe you should try to distract yourself from it. When Twi…uhh, when I’m stuck on…something…I always just distract myself by doing something else for a while. Then when…I…get back to it, it usually goes better.” Sunset appreciated Spike’s effort to avoid Twilight’s name; he’d apparently noticed that Twilight had caused Sunset’s anger. “Maybe you’re right,” Sunset said. Suddenly she thought of something that might be able to distract her. “Could you send a note to Princess Celestia? Could you ask her if she can send me information on a unicorn called Parallax Dream?” she asked. Spike nodded uncertainly. “Sure,” he said. “But, you know, whatever it was Twilight did…I’m sure she didn’t mean it that way.” Sunset’s face hardened. “Who knows?” she said coldly. Her anger began to stir again. Spike sighed and said, “I’ll send the note to the Princess.” “Thank you,” Sunset replied in her normal voice. A short time later, the group had boarded the train headed for the Hippocampus Bay area. At first, Sunset had considered to sit in another car from her friends entirely, but ultimately she had settled for just taking a seat as far away from them as possible. She was still brooding over the morning’s events and she had no interest whatsoever into talking to anypony about it. It wasn’t long before she was, however temporarily, shaken from her dark mood. Spike approached her, carrying a number of old scrolls. He placed them on the bench opposite Sunset and said, “Princess Celestia just sent these scrolls for you. She says that all of these came from her personal archives and that she’ll be expecting the scrolls back once you’re done with them. And…” He hesitated for a moment. “…and the others are worried about you. Especially Twilight.” Sunset looked over the pile of scrolls. “Tell Princess Celestia I said thanks. She’ll have the scrolls back by tonight,” Sunset said. She refused to acknowledge what Spike had said about her friends and he took the hint, heading back over to the others with a last glance over his shoulder. Sunset knew she was being petty. She wasn’t even angry with any of them except Twilight. Her inner conflict just frustrated her more, and she quickly opened one of the scrolls Spike had brought her, hoping it could provide her with some much needed distraction. The Seventh Aspect of Harmony Parallax Dream, High Wizard in the Harmonic Council of Caballus Caballus is a nation bound by Harmony. It is this mysterious and powerful magical force that allowed the three races to unite as one in the face of adversity and so keep many threats at bay. As such, Harmony has been one of the most studied forces by unicorns all over Caballus, and today it is well known that ‘Harmony’ consists of six Aspects: Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, and most mysteriously Magic itself. These traits, when combined in sufficient amounts, enable ponies to achieve incredible feats. However, through many hours of research with a large number of subjects (see Appendix A for a full list) I have determined that the well-accepted notion of Harmony having six Aspects appears to be incorrect. To understand my reasoning in reaching this conclusion, one must first understand what Harmony is. Harmony, in and of itself, is a force of balance. Ponies living in Harmony with one another form thriving communities. Ponies in Harmony with nature harvest bountiful crops. These things are possible because the balance is dynamic and ever changing. Disagreements between ponies can be solved amicably in a Harmonious society, and care must be taken not to overstrain the land on which crops are grown; it needs time and care to replenish itself. The problem with our current notion of six Aspects of Harmony is that at least five of them are fully positive, with but a single neutral Aspect: Magic. (Studies have shown that Magic reacts more strongly to positive forces like the five other Aspects than it does to negative ones, which require exponentially more raw power to utilize. Appendix B lists a number of reproducible studies showing this effect. However, for the purposes of this document Magic is considered to be a neutral force.) It is evident that five positive Aspects and one neutral one do not make for much of a balance, despite the common knowledge that Harmony and balance are very closely related. How can this be? The answer is simple: There exists another Aspect of Harmony. An Aspect which has its roots in the negative, but which is meant to enhance the positive. In certain cases, such as when confronting Windigos (frost spirits feeding off hatred), Harmony can be weaponized. It is interesting to note that this trait of Harmony seems to only be usable if there is conflict first. If this hadn’t been the case, Windigos and other creatures which thrive on inducing hatred would never present a problem at all: ponies would simply use Harmony’s power every time these creatures appear, and instantly defeat them. It is, however, a fact of life even today that occasionally settlements are besieged by these beings, sometimes for long periods of time, before it becomes possible to use the power of Harmony to defeat them. What, then, is the actual trigger needed to use Harmony in such a way? To discover the answer to this, I sought out settlements which have in recent memory had encounters with any creature capable of inflicting or otherwise stimulating negative emotions. Invariably, there were local ponies who had proven instrumental in defeating the creatures, and curiously it always seemed that these ponies had also been the ones engaged in the fiercest conflicts during the events. Even the triggers for each instance of Harmony’s power being used were similar: one of the belligerent ponies would own up to their mistakes and apologize to the others. This act then fostered more goodwill, and allowed Harmony to take over. (Appendix C shows the list of incidents I have investigated, as well as the specific form the magic of Harmony took in resolving the situation.) Harmony, then, is at its strongest when it is preceded by an act of atonement. This makes sense, because Harmony is a force of balance. Its many positive Aspects can thrive only if there is something negative for them to contrast with, but they can only manifest if the desire to repent is strongly present. I therefore believe that there is a seventh Aspect of Harmony: Atonement. The desire to fix one’s wrongdoings. It necessitates the existence of the bad in order to bring out the good, and without it, the other Aspects cannot show their real power. The balance within the Aspects remains very much skewed in the direction of the positive, which to me suggests that there could be up to four more Aspects of Harmony to be discovered, but thus far I have been unable to find traces of them. Further study will be necessary, both to establish whether or not Atonement really is an Aspect of Harmony, and whether or not there may be other Aspects rooted in negative events. What follows are exact transcripts of my conversations with the subjects, as well as the notes I have taken throughout. Sunset quickly looked over the rest of the document. None of the names of the settlements rang any bells, but of course these events had taken place before Equestria as she knew it had even been founded. For the first time, Sunset truly realized just how old the Elements of Harmony were. They predated even the Cold Age, during which all the tribes had devolved into war because of the Windigos. She wondered how a nation apparently so familiar by Harmony had still allowed itself to be bested by the Windigos, although hundreds of years had probably passed between the writing of this document and the Cold Age. It wouldn’t be the first time knowledge had been lost to the ages. What also surprised her about the scroll was that Parallax Dream, before becoming a saboteur, had occupied what seemed to be a high position. For a moment, she wanted to call Twilight over to discuss the document, but then she realized she still didn’t want to talk to her. She scowled and opened up the next scroll. For the attention of the esteemed Elder Councilor Star Song, regarding High Wizard Parallax Dream: As promised, I will hereby disclose the contents of the closed session of the Harmonic Council regarding the findings of High Wizard Parallax Dream concerning a possible seventh Aspect of Harmony. Within the Council, High Wizard Parallax Dream’s assertions have found very little traction. It has been known for a long while that six is a number of great power in the magical arts. It stands to reason, therefore, that an exceedingly powerful force like Harmony would of course consist of six Aspects. While High Wizard Parallax Dream has been thorough in his inclusion of comprehensive lists of cases and subjects, the Council feels that his conclusion has little merit. Harmony, as a force of balance, is naturally stronger in places where there is very little of it. The finding that each of the events was preceded by an act of atonement, while interesting, certainly doesn’t imply that atonement should therefore be seen as an Aspect of Harmony. It is out perspective that High Wizard Parallax Dream confuses correlation with causation and merely sees what he wishes to see. The findings of High Wizard Parallax Dream did, however, inspire an idea in the Council. It was discussed whether or not it would be at all possible to construct vessels in which to house the Aspects of Harmony, in order to enable ponies to respond more quickly when evil creatures threaten their settlements. Perhaps these vessels could even be used to completely rid Caballus of undesirable influences. With enough Harmonic power, we might even be able to tame nature itself. The Council has unanimously decided to pursue this possibility. For the time being, it is recommended that High Wizard Parallax Dream is involved in these plans, despite the dissent he voiced in his document. It would be a waste to let a wizard of his caliber go, and the council is of the opinion he can be made to see the flaws in his judgements. This concludes the content of the closed session of the Harmonic Council. With the highest regards, Ethereal Spark, Councilor / Chairpony of the Harmonic Council of Caballus Sunset closed the scroll with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Ethereal Spark and the other Council members were very resolute in their dismissal of Parallax Dream’s claims and Sunset had to admit that Parallax Dream really didn’t have very strong evidence for his claims of a seventh Aspect. She sighed and decided to read another scroll. Maybe there would be stronger evidence for the existence of Atonement somewhere. For the attention of the esteemed Councilor Ethereal Spark, regarding Rainbow Power and Atonement Recent events in Eohippus have shown that the Rainbow Power manifests itself solely in those showing exceptional affinity for one single Aspect of Harmony and have been at the center of a Harmonic outburst before, and even then only when all Aspects are gathered together. In the confrontation with the centaurs, my group has been able to observe the Rainbow Power when it manifested, as opposed to hearing from its effects from witnesses later. Other than during the ‘regular’ outbursts of Harmonic magic, the Rainbow Power drastically alters the appearance of those wielding it, including such things as longer manes, streaks of color appearing in the manes, and cutie marks appearing around the hooves. It also appears that the very nature of the magic these ponies possess is changed, to such a degree that they can no longer be affected by the magic drain of the centaurs. Also of note is the sharp increase in Harmonic magic around the site of the Rainbow Power. Whereas regular Harmonic outbursts are fully localized and have no effect other than on their targets, the Rainbow Power increases Harmonic readings in a radius around itself. It should also be noted that, during the event, there were seven ponies in Rainbow Form present. One of these ponies was a subject of my earlier research into the possibility of Atonement as an Aspect, and I feel that the presence of this pony, wielding the Rainbow Power, lends credence to… The rest of the sentence was unreadable. Somepony, possibly Ethereal Spark, had written a comment on the letter and its red text obscured the original words. Nine in Rainbow Form seen in Lophio, surplus Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity. Another rebuttal for the existence of Atonement, then. Sunset was starting to get frustrated by it. She decided to at least finish this scroll, but below the comment Ethereal Spark had hastily scribbled the letter did not contain any more information of interest. Sunset leaned back in her seat. It intrigued her that in the past, ponies had apparently been able to wield Harmony much more frequently than her friends had done in modern times. She wondered why nopony in living memory other than Princess Celestia and Twilight and the others had been able to use the power. Then again, at some point the three races had lost their Harmony altogether, when the Cold Age began, so maybe after the Fire of Friendship and the founding of Equestria there hadn’t been a great enough need for the power to arise. She didn’t get a chance to dwell on it much more, because Spike had come over to announce they had almost arrived at their destination, and that Princess Celestia would soon be expecting the scrolls back. Sunset was surprised that so much time had gone by while she was reading. It almost reminded her of her past as a student of magic, during the odd times she had actually found a book that piqued her interest. She thanked Spike for his help and allowed him to send the scrolls back to Canterlot, then got up and stretched. The train rolled into the station, and as soon as it stopped Sunset made her way outside, taking care not to make eye contact with any of her friends. In truth, she wasn’t even that angry anymore outside some frustration over not finding what she had hoped to in the scrolls, but she decided to keep up the act at least for now as a matter of principle. When they got to the hotel, Sunset’s mood had proven somewhat infectious and nopony spoke much during dinner. As soon as they were all finished eating and they retired to their rooms, which meant that for the first time today, Sunset wouldn’t be able to keep her distance from Twilight. She felt nervous as they walked up the stairs in a frosty silence. She was a bit embarrassed by her outburst and her petty avoidance of any contact all throughout the day, but at the same time she still felt hurt without really knowing why, and her anger wasn’t gone entirely. The two of them entered their room, and Sunset closed the door behind her while Twilight headed over to the beds and shook off her saddle bags. She opened the thin white curtains, and looked out the window. The sun was setting, and in the distance, over the water of Hippocampus Bay, Sunset could see her namesake shimmer in the air just above the horizon. She felt a warm feeling inside despite herself. “Do you know what this village is called?” Twilight asked, not turning around from the view. “No.” “Siren’s Call. The legend says that Sirens used to lure ships to their doom on the rocks just outside the bay, to feed on their fear and horror as the ships sank.” She turned around and gave Sunset a fragile smile. “Not that we would have to fear Sirens, of course.” Sunset just shrugged. She had no idea why she didn’t just tell Twilight what bothered her now that they were alone, but something inside her simply refused to. Twilight’s face fell and she sighed. “Let’s…let’s just get some sleep,” she said dejectedly. Her crestfallen look hurt Sunset almost as much as her words that morning had done, but still Sunset didn’t speak up. “I think if we move the beds together we’ll be close enough to…” “I’ll take my chances with the nightmares, thanks,” Sunset interrupted, her inner conflict fueling her temper. Her temper, which had gotten her into so much trouble before. “Sunset Shimmer!” Sunset was startled by Twilight’s sudden angry tone. “You’ve been avoiding me like the plague all day long, you’ve been refusing to talk to any of the others except Spike, you’ve got everypony in a bad mood, and now you want to face the nightmares that could cause us to level this entire building?! What in the name of Celestia is going on with you?!” Sunset knew that Twilight was really angry, otherwise she’d never have used Princess Celestia’s name like that. Still, Twilight’s outburst was exactly what Sunset needed to vent her own anger. “Right now, you are my problem! Being that close together to stop the nightmares might be just pragmatic for you, Twilight, but it isn’t for me. I enjoyed being that close to you. It felt right to be so close to you. If it had been anypony else I wouldn’t have done it, but I trust you, and only you, enough to do something like that even when I’m sleep-deprived and frightened. During this trip, you’ve become more to me than just my best friend. But to you, I’m apparently nothing but a bucking dreamcatcher. So I’ll say it again: I’ll take my chances here. I have no intention to just be…” Sunset trailed off as her mind finally caught up with what she’d just said, and she realized that despite her earlier assertions that this couldn’t be the case, everything she’d just said was true. Twilight was absolutely more than a friend to her. Normally a realization like that would have been joyous, but the current situation kind of put a damper on things. Twilight, meanwhile, stood there as if she’d been bolted to the floor. She was blushing lightly, no longer red-faced with anger. “You…you see me as more than a friend?” she repeated stupidly. Sunset now began to blush as well. “Yes. I did. Maybe.” She sighed. “Look, this is all new to me, okay? This morning…when you said that sleeping so close together helps to stave off the nightmares…the way you said it hurt. Way more than it should, because everything you said was true, but it still hurt. As if you want to do it only because it stops the nightmares, nothing more, nothing less. And I…I didn’t know why it made me so angry, and that just made me angrier, so I didn’t want to talk to anypony, especially you. “But what I said just now…I do mean it, I think. You’re more than a friend to me. At first I thought it was mostly because I only really know you, out of the whole group, but it’s not just that. I like you, Twilight. Your enthusiasm for magic, your skill with it, your drive to help your friends and Equestria, I like all of that. And…look, I don’t expect you to feel the same way. Until just now, I didn’t even know I felt this way for you. And of course, keeping the nightmares at bay is…” “I do feel the same way,” Twilight interrupted her. Sunset just blinked stupidly in response. “I…I didn’t want to say it this morning, because I wanted to tell you first. I just…I have no experience with any of that. I had no idea how to broach the subject, and I had no idea if you’d appreciate it anyway. So…I just decided to stick to the facts.” She smiled wryly. “That turned out well.” “When did you find out you…liked me?” Sunset asked. Twilight shrugged. “I don’t really know. It wasn’t like it suddenly just happened out of the blue. I just found myself enjoying your company a lot, stealing a glance every now and then, enjoying the feeling of our magic mixing a bit more than I probably should…small things, really. But when I asked you to move your sleeping bag closer to me…I did guess, then. I wanted to know how it would feel, being that close to you, and I had the feeling it would make me feel better about going to sleep to face the nightmare. I never imagined that it would stop the nightmares altogether, but that did provide a great excuse to keep on doing it.” She looked away. “I would have been fine not telling you any of this, you know? I enjoy the way things are. I’ve read too many books where confessions of this nature lead to estrangement. Maybe that’s another reason I never brought it up. But I guess everything’s going to be different now, anyway.” Sunset shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be. Like I said, until just now I didn’t even know I had any feelings for you beyond friendship. I’m really, really not looking to rush into something, here. Just like you, I like the way things are now — minus today, anyway. Besides, we’re still on a mission. After, we can talk more about all of this. Right now…let’s just pretend neither of us know anything and carry on like we were.” Twilight nodded, looking immensely relieved. Sunset knew she probably looked the same way. She really hadn’t expected that conversation to go the way it did, but she was definitely happy with the result. Sunset walked over closer to Twilight, who looked a bit apprehensive. “Just a hug,” Sunset promised with a wink. Twilight smiled at her. “Right. As friends.” “Yep. Friends, nothing more…”