//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Ethics Committee // Story: I Don't Need Magic // by Undome Tinwe //------------------------------// "She's hiding something." Twilight looked up from the uneven ground to glance at Sunset. "Who? Gloriosa?" "Yeah." They were following a short distance behind as the woman in question led them through the thick forest towards the cave where they had first found the pendants. "How do you know?" Twilight brushed away a low-hanging branch that nearly smacked Sunset in the face as it swung back. Blocking her would-be assailant with an arm, she took a moment to check the readings on her magic detector. "Still nothing. And I've always been good at reading people. Timber and Gloriosa have been nervous since they met us, and Gloriosa is obviously being helpful to hide how much she doesn't want us here. Also, have you noticed something about the route we're taking?" "Honestly, navigation isn't really a skill I have. Why? Is she not leading us to the cave?" Twilight looked up at the sun. "We seem to be heading in its general direction." "Well, I'm not that into navigation either, but I'm pretty sure that it took us around an hour to get from the entrance to the cave last time. We've been hiking for almost two hours now." "Hmm... that is odd," Twilight said. "You think she's trying to delay us?" Ahead of them, Gloriosa slowed down her pace as they hit a patch of dense undergrowth. Twilight and Sunset kept their silence until they were far enough apart again. "Maybe," Sunset said as she ducked under another branch. "I don't know why, but I do have a way of finding out." She reached into her pocket, pulling out her pendant. Twilight glanced towards her and tripped over a root, her arms flailing as she fell. Sunset barely managed to catch her, pulling the other woman towards hers. "You can't use that!" Twilight exclaimed in a harsh whisper, pulling away from Sunset. Sunset rolled her eyes. "Are we going to do this again? She's obviously hiding something, and we need to know what it is." "What if her secret has nothing to do with magic?" Twilight argued. "What if it's something completely unrelated that isn't any of our business? You're talking about a gross invasion of privacy here, all because you think she might be hiding something." "I know she's hiding something," Sunset said. "And you know how important our mission is. We need to use all the resources we have to figure this out." "Mind-reading magic is crossing the line," Twilight replied. "That's what this is really about, isn't it?" Sunset countered. "You don't want me using magic. It'd be fine if we were rifling through her office looking for evidence, but as soon as the magic comes out, you don't want anyone using it." "It's not about magic," Twilight replied. "It just so happens that the only way to violate someone's mind is with magic, and that's what I'm opposed to." "Really? So you'd be okay if we used magic for other things?" Sunset pressed. "I saw how you reacted when I was casting spells in the lab. Admit it, you just don't want me casting spells at all, period." "So what if I don't?" Twilight replied, eyes narrowing. "Magic is dangerous, and you're just throwing it around without thinking about the consequences. Did you even consider what might have happened all those years ago before you picked up that detector?" Sunset clenched her fists in frustration. "Ugh, when are you going to let that go? Why can't you see that magic can be used to do good as well?" "Because you keep using it for evil!" Twilight clamped her hand over her mouth as she realized she had raised her voice. Reducing her volume, she spoke again. "You keep telling me about all the good you've been doing with magic, but all I see is you using it to invade people's minds and nearly kill people. You want to show me that magic isn't evil? Then don't do this. Don't prove me right." "Are you two okay? I thought I heard shouting." Ahead of them, Gloriosa came back into view. "What are you doing all the way back here?" "Sorry," Sunset said calmly, keeping her earlier vehemence from her tone, "Twilight tripped over a branch." "Oh dear. Are you alright, Twilight?" Gloriosa asked, eyes wide with concern. "I'm fine," Twilight replied. "So how long until we reach the caves?" Sunset asked. "It feels like we've been hiking for a long time." "Oh, you city folks," Gloriosa said with a smile. "You think a couple hours of hiking is 'a long while.' The area around the caves hasn't been visited much, so it's gotten a bit... wild. This is the fastest route there now. We're almost there, anyways. See?" She pointed towards a rocky cliff that rose up above the trees a few hundred meters away. "That's good," Sunset said. "I was starting to get a little tired. So you're sure you haven't seen anything odd? Weird lights or plants and animals not behaving like they should be?" She reached back into her pocket, feeling the familiar pulse of magic from the small pendant engulf her hand. She didn't actually have to wear the necklace for it to work – physical contact was sufficient for her to be able to channel its power. "I'm sure I haven't seen anything since that day," Gloriosa replied. "Maybe your lead was wrong?" "Maybe." All she had to do was reach out and touch her to trigger the empathic link. "If that's the case, then we're sorry for wasting your time." "Oh, it's no trouble," Gloriosa said, waving off the apology. "It's always nice to see you again." Sunset raised her hand, intending to brush it against Gloriosa's. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Twilight's gaze staring disapprovingly at her, like a judge prepared to render her verdict. She paused for a moment. If she did this, it was likely that Twilight wouldn't talk to her again for a long time, if ever. The thought of never seeing her again was painful, and Sunset almost stopped just out of desire not to lose the chance to see her smile again. On the other hand, Twilight was wrong about magic. The foolish girl couldn't see past her own prejudice and past to see the good magic could do. And yet, if there was something Sunset had learned in the years since her defeat at Canterlot High, it was that friendship required compromise sometimes. Maybe if she didn't do this, she could convince Twilight to rethink her position on magic. "It's good to see you again too, Gloriosa," Sunset said, removing her hand from her pocket. "By the way, how's the construction on the new dock extension going? I remember it was just getting started last time I was here." "It's almost done," Gloriosa replied. "Thanks to your donation, we should have it ready for everyone to use sometime next week." "That's great," Sunset stopped as the trees gave way to a sheer rock wall. "Well, here we are," Gloriosa said, pointing towards an opening in the cliff side. "The cave where I first found the geodes. Do you want to take some readings?" "Yeah." Sunset walked up to the cave, pulling out the detector from her bag and turning it on again. The display showed slightly above-average levels of anomalous radiation, but nothing outside the significance bounds. There were likely still trace amounts of magic hanging around causing the slight fluctuations. Walking into the cave, Sunset kept an eye on the detector while also taking the chance to look around. She hadn't been in this cave for fifteen years, but it still looked the same as it had the last time she was here. Even without magic, there was an ethereal beauty to it; drops of water trickled down from the stalactites, forming small pools that glistened in the sunlight. Crystal blooms scattered around the walls and stone pillars of the cave reflected what little light came in, glowing as if enchanted. It wasn't hard to imagine this as a place that once held a powerful magic. But those days were long gone. As Sunset walked deeper into the cave, the readings of the detector never went above the minimum threshold of significance, even when she was standing next to the makeshift pedestal where the geodes had first appeared. Going deeper into the cave simply weakened the signal. "I'm not getting anything," Sunset called out to Twilight, who was standing on the other side of the cave with her own detector. "You?" "There's some concentration around where the stones first appeared, but it falls below the noise floor so that's definitely not it." "Alright, let's get out of here then." The two of them headed back to the entrance of the cave. "Lotta memories here," Sunset commented as they walked. "Most of them about magic." "Yes," Twilight replied dryly. "Like the time Gloriosa took the geodes and trapped us here with her plant magic." "Yeah, that sucked," Sunset admitted. "But what about the time we all used our magic to throw a party in less than a day and save this camp?" "What about it?" Twilight said. "It was a good thing we did, and yeah, we couldn't do it without magic, but that doesn't change the fact that magic had almost gotten us all killed hours prior." "That's just it," Sunset said. They had stopped walking now and were standing in the middle of the cave, softly glowing crystals surrounding them. "Magic can be corrupted, sure, but it can be used to do so much good." "Assuming you don't try to destroy the world first," Twilight glanced over towards the entrance, where a pile of rocks lay that had once blocked the entrance to the cave. "You fought the corruption and won," Sunset said. "I almost didn't," Twilight said softly. "We should get going. Don't want to keep Gloriosa waiting too long." They walked out of the cave, where Gloriosa was examining some nearby plants. "So, did you find any magic?" she asked, looking up at them while holding a fern leaf. "Nope," Sunset replied. "I guess this was a bust, then." "That's too bad," Gloriosa said. "Should we head back to the entrance then?" "If you don't mind, I'd like to sweep a bit of the forest," Sunset said. "Just in case we missed something else." "Of course. Why don't we circle around down to the river? I can show you the dock on the way back and you can check out the east side of the forest." "Sounds like a plan," Gloriosa began walking towards the east and Sunset followed behind, with Twilight walking closely next to her. "Well, so much for that," Sunset said as they waded through the trees once more. "I guess Gloriosa wasn't hiding something after all. At least, not about magic." "I'm not so sure about that," Twilight said. "Do you remember what you said about the path we're taking?" "Yeah," Sunset replied, "we weren't taking the most direct path to the cave. Gloriosa said it was because the old, straight path was overgrown. You think there might be more to it?" "Maybe." Twilight reached into her pocket and pulled out a map of the area. "From what I can tell from a few landmarks, we travelled partially along a circular arc to get here, starting from the entrance in the south and curving towards the west before returning back to the straight-line path." She traced out a semi-circular pattern on the map that straightened out at the end. "Now, look at where the river is. If we follow it back, we end up taking a mirrored route back." She traced out a straight line that abruptly curved as it hit the river, forming another arc that reflected the one they had taken to get to the cave. Joining the two paths, Sunset instantly saw the point that Twilight was trying to illustrate. "She's trying to get us to walk around this area," Sunset said, pointing to the part of the map that the two arcs surrounded. "Why?" "Well, she did mention that the area had gotten a bit wild," Twilight noted, putting the map back in her pocket. "It's possible that she simply was following the most convenient course. But..." Twilight trailed off, a thoughtful look on her face. "But?" Sunset echoed. "But you said that Gloriosa was hiding something, and that it had to do with magic. How sure are you about that?" Twilight held Sunset's eyes with her own in a piercing stare, and Sunset knew that Twilight was putting her trust in her answer. "I can't be entirely sure, but she only really started acting odd after we mentioned magic," Sunset said. "I think there's a good chance it's related." "Then we need to see what's in that area," Twilight said. "Should we ask Gloriosa to change the route?" "Yeah," Sunset replied. "Let's see how she responds." The two of them picked up the pace until they had caught up with her again. "Hey, Gloriosa," Sunset said as she walked up beside her. "Twilight and I were running some calculations, and we're wondering if we could make a quick detour along the old path we took to the cave. It'll give us a better search region to triangulate any anomalies." "I don't think that's a good idea," Gloriosa said. "Like I was saying, the plant life's gotten really dense there, and we've seen an uptick in predatory wildlife in the area too. I wouldn't go there without some preparation first. Maybe another day?" "Are you sure we can't take a quick look?" Sunset asked. "It could be magic causing the changes." "I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous," Gloriosa said. "If you give me a couple days, I could maybe organize something, but not now." Sunset could see the obvious signs of strain on Gloriosa, and for a moment she was sorely tempted to use her empathic link to discover what she was hiding, but there was no way she was going to let Twilight win this little debate of theirs. Well, she had other skills besides magic. Like bluffing. "That's fine. We'll just take whatever measurements we can today and we'll see about later." Sunset stuck her hand into her other pocket, pulling out her phone. "Hold on, I just got a text." She made a show of waking up her phone and bringing up her messages. "Hmm... interesting. Do you mind giving me and Twilight a moment?" Gloriosa nodded, looking a bit confused. Sunset walked over to Twilight. "Take a look at this." She handed her phone over to Twilight, leaning over to whisper in her ear. "Just play along." Twilight looked at Sunset with suspicion, but eventually took the phone. She stared at the screen for a few seconds. "Hmm..." "Yeah. Starlight finally got the satellite tracking to work. Do you see the highlighted areas?" Sunset silently willed Twilight to give the right response. "Above average measures of anomalous emissions," Twilight said, sounding thoughtful, and Sunset nearly breathed a sigh of relief. "A good indication of magical activity." "Exactly," Sunset pointed at a random point on the screen. "And the central point of it is pretty obvious." "I wonder where that is," Twilight squinted at the screen. "Well, here's the cave we were at, and there's the front entrance, so I'd say it's about a couple miles south of us. Can I see your map?" Twilight pulled out the object in question, handing it over to Sunset. "Here you go." Sunset pored over the map, looking for the section that they had discussed previously. "Ah, there it is," she said, pointing to the spot. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a worried look flash across Gloriosa's face. With a smile, she walked over to the other woman. "Our satellites just detected an anomaly over here," she said, pointing to the part of the map that Gloriosa was trying to lead them away from. "Right where you don't want us to go." "Like I said," Gloriosa said with a nervous smile, "it's dangerous." "If the danger is from magic, we can deal with it," Sunset said. "It's just some wild animals." A slight twitch in Gloriosa's eye appeared as she kept smiling at them. Sunset, sensing that she was about to hit a tipping point, continued her impromptu interrogation. "Are you sure? Magic can have all sorts of strange effects on nature." "I'm sure I would have noticed if something magical was happening." "I suppose you would have." "Are you implying something?" "Just that magic of this magnitude is pretty hard to miss." "I told you I haven't seen anything." "I can come back with the proper equipment and safeguards." "Not if I don't let you back in the camp." "Why would you do that if there isn't any magic to be found?" As the tension between them came to a fever pitch, Sunset and Gloriosa locked eyes in a battle of wills, neither willing to concede. Finally, Sunset spoke. "Gloriosa, this is serious. The magic we're investigating could have major worldwide consequences if we can't stop it. If you know something, please tell us." She softened her voice, hoping to convince Gloriosa to side with them. The fire in the camp director's eyes dimmed, and a look of resignation crossed her face. "Fine, I'll show you," she said, monotone. She set off in a different direction from where they were walking and Sunset and Twilight followed close behind. There was an uncomfortable silence for the next hour as they waded through the increasingly thick forest. At some point, they were so focused on not tripping of running into anything that speech would have been next to impossible anyways. Finally, just when Sunset began to suspect another misdirection, Gloriosa stopped, pointing to a veil of trees just ahead of them that completely obscured their vision. "It's on the other side of that thicket." All the life seemed to be drained from Gloriosa's voice as she spoke. Sunset walked towards the trees, pushing various branches out of the way and stumbling through the near-total darkness as the canopy of leaves above her obscured the sunlight. As she continued wading through the sea of dark green, she began to see light ahead, until she made it through the final layer of foliage... ...And emerged in a land of fantasy.