//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: One Step Back 
// Story: I Don't Need Magic 
// by Undome Tinwe 
//------------------------------//

Twilight walked up to the front of Sunset's apartment, pausing outside with her hand hovering in front of the door. After their strained ride back to Canterlot, they hadn't actually set a time to meet up again, so Twilight had decided to simply show up at the same time as yesterday and hope Sunset would let her in.

She did feel a little sorry about what she'd done at Camp Everfree. The fact that such a large source of magic still existed in this world was a huge coup for Sunset, and as a scientist, she understood the pain of not being able to study the subject of one's research. Still, she didn't regret what she'd done; Gloriosa's gratitude had shown her that it was the right decision.

It was a little surprising how little it bothered her to allow the magic in the forest to continue existing. Sunset had been right; it would be so easy to destroy the source of the magic and remove the largest known deposit of it in this world. It would have been the right thing to do, too, given the destruction Gloriosa was capable of.

Maybe studying magic with Sunset was making her soft. She would have to remember that her purpose here was to prevent the spread of magic, lest Sunset manage to seduce her... with promises of studying magic, of course. Nothing else.

Twilight knocked on the door. "Coming!" she heard Sunset call out. Well, at least she wasn't completely shutting her out, though Twilight doubted their working partnership would be as amicable after what had happened yesterday.

The door opened to reveal Sunset dressed in her usual dress and leather jacket combination. She frowned at Twilight. "I didn't expect you this early," she said.

"Sorry," Twilight said, "I didn't know what time to show up."

"It's fine," Sunset replied. "Come in. I'm just finishing up my meeting with Starlight."

As Twilight stepped into the foyer, she saw Starlight resting on one of the chairs in the sitting room. The President of Equinox Labs shot her a quick glare before schooling her features to that of a calm, collected businesswoman. "Good morning, Dr. Sparkle," she said coolly.

"Miss Glimmer," Twilight acknowledged her greeting with a nod. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm doing well, Dr. Sparkle," Starlight Glimmer replied. "A little overworked, but that's to be expected with our CEO taking an extended leave of absence. Not that I'm complaining, of course – I understand the importance of the work that's being done here. But I'll definitely be happy when this is all over and Sunset can return to her rightful place at the head of the company. It'll be good to resume our research too; who knows what life-changing discoveries we're missing out on while chasing after this thief?"

Well, it seemed Starlight Glimmer wasn't one for subtlety. "I'm hoping to finish this as soon as possible." Twilight kept her tone polite despite Starlight's attitude. "Then we can all get back to our lives."

"Inconvenience aside, we also need to find the thief as soon as possible to stop them from pulling off whatever evil plan they have," Sunset said. "Anyways, I'll be ready to go in a few minutes. Starlight and I just have to finalize some details on a contract for..." She trailed off as a buzzing sound emanated from somewhere in the room.

Sunset grabbed the vibrating phone from the nearby table. "It's Pinkie. I should probably take this." She shot the pair a concerned look before heading out to the hallway, leaving Twilight and Starlight alone in the sitting room.

Twilight took a seat across from Starlight, the silence between them broken only by the distant sounds of Sunset talking to Pinkie.

Starlight was the first to speak, her words echoing through the tension hovering between them. "So, Dr. Sparkle, I hear you and Sunset had a fruitful trip to Camp Everfree."

"Yes," Twilight replied, her muscles still coiled as if ready to bolt at any time, "we've come into possession of some new knowledge that will be very helpful in our search."

Starlight snorted. "Please, Sunset already told me about Gloriosa's magic. There's no need to lie to me."

Twilight frowned. "She promised not to tell anyone."

"I'm almost single-handedly holding this company together for Sunset so that she can go on her magical adventure with you. I think I have the right to know how your investigation is going. Besides, I've proven to Sunset that I can keep a secret, and she doesn't have to answer to you."

Twilight shrugged. "In that case, yes, we found a large deposit of magic manifesting itself in botanical form. We've collected some samples and plan on analyzing them today."

"But you don't have anything from the actual source of the magic."

So this was how the conversation was going to go. "It wasn't possible to take a sample from the source without damaging it."

"That works out quite nicely for you, doesn't it?" The ice in Starlight's tone melted as she snarled at Twilight. "The perfect excuse to hinder our research as much as you can." Twilight could see the fury burning in her eyes as she spoke. "After all these years, you're still trying to destroy Sunset's life."

"I'm not trying to destroy Sunset's life," Twilight replied, her own anger flaring up at the accusation. "I'm trying to stop her from destroying the lives of others with her research. Magic is dangerous, and she doesn't seem to understand the damage it can do." She scoffed as she glanced pointedly around at the very expensive furnishing of the room they were sitting in. "Besides, I don't exactly think she's suffering here."

Starlight rolled her eyes. "You must've been a worse friend to her than I thought if you don't get it. You think she isn't suffering? You think this nice apartment makes up for everything she's lost? You have no idea how much magic means to her, and how much you hurt her by taking it away." Starlight's face reddened as she spoke. "Then again, how could you know? After all, you ran away after you sealed away the magic and left your friends behind to pick up the pieces."

"I left to get away from the woman who betrayed me and tried to kill me!" Twilight snapped back, unable to hold back her emotions anymore. Who was Starlight to question her decisions? "What, was I supposed to stay behind and help her endanger the world again?"

"You should have stayed behind to fix the mess you made!" Starlight nearly shouted before lowering her volume back to normal. "You should have been there in the early days to see what you did to Sunset. It took her years to recover, and even then, she still hurts. Because of you. And now that you're back, it's going to happen all over again."

Starlight leaned forward, her next words coming out in a hiss. "Ask her about how we first met. Then maybe you'll start to understand."

Before Twilight had the chance to respond, she heard Sunset's voice grow louder as she got closer. "If Rarity says it's okay, then it's okay with me too… Alright, bye Pinkie. See you at the party." As Sunset came into view, she ended the call and placed the phone back on the table. "Sorry about that. Pinkie just wanted to pass along the details for her Welcome Back Party. Also, Mulia's Mousses just called to say that they couldn't handle the order for the Exhibition Show, so she's getting Applejack to fill in for the desserts catering."

Starlight smiled, all traces of her earlier hostility gone. "Wonderful. I'd prefer Sweet Apple Acres' pastries over Mulia's Mousses any day. Though, didn't Pinkie mention that Applejack's prices were too high the last time we talked?"

"Rarity already talked to Pinkie and offered to have Carousel cover the additional cost, but I just told Pinkie we'd split it."

"I swear, that woman is too generous for her own good sometimes. It's a miracle that she's managed to be successful in the world of fashion," Starlight said, shaking her head. "Well, I'll make a note to check that the proper chain of command gets followed for approving the extra expense."

"Pinkie said she'd have the revised estimate sent over to our people by the end of today," Sunset replied. "Anyways, what's next on our agenda?"

"Actually, I think we've covered all the important things that've happened since yesterday," Starlight said, standing up. "I can handle the rest of the logistics myself, and I'm sure you and Dr. Sparkle want to get started as soon as possible. After all, we can't have someone unleashing magic back into this world, can we?" With a pointed look at Twilight, the President of Equinox Labs grabbed her purse and started walking out of the room. "Should I call you tonight with an update?"

"Sure," Sunset said, "that'll work. I'll see you tonight then."

"Until tonight," Starlight said before turning to face Twilight. "A pleasure meeting you, Dr. Sparkle." The veiled sarcasm could not have been clearer.

"Likewise, Miss Glimmer," Twilight replied just as coolly.

Sunset led Starlight out of the apartment before addressing Twilight again. "Are you ready to go to the lab?"

Twilight suppressed a wince as the terseness of Sunset's tone. It seemed she still hadn't gotten over what happened yesterday. "Yeah, let's go."

They left in silence, neither of them wanting to speak. Sunset was clearly still annoyed at Twilight, and Twilight wasn't feeling particularly friendly either. Yesterday had been a stark reminder of the differences in their beliefs, and of Sunset's ability to place her own needs over that of others.

Finally, as the elevator descended into the basement, Twilight spoke. "So, what do we do next?" she asked. She wanted to ask Sunset about what Starlight had told her, but now wasn't the time for it. They needed to focus on the task at hand.

"We should probably analyze the samples we collected from Camp Everfree to make sure that the magical signatures match," Sunset replied. The elevator doors slid open, and Sunset stepped out, leaving Twilight to follow behind her.

Once inside the lab, Sunset walked over to the safe, which Twilight noted still had that ridiculous pink pony plushie sitting on top of it. Was it only two days ago that they'd been laughing and bantering like old friends over the stuffed toy? Twilight so wanted to go back to that, but she knew it wasn't going to happen.

While Sunset was fussing around by the safe, Twilight went over to the spectroscope and began the process of calibrating it. "What kind of spellform does the cloverbloom's magic produce? I need to figure out how to set the cross-terms."

Sunset walked over with a glowing flower in her hand. "Hmm... it's a platonic flower, so the spellform should be the theoretical local minima of the thaumic potential in the natural domain." She placed the flower on the table and walked over to the whiteboard. "Something like this," she said, tracing out a crude set of runes.

"It's a bit vague, but I should be able to isolate the signature with it." Twilight fired up her laptop and began coding the necessary adjustments. A few minutes later, she was done with the modifications. "Alright, put the luminescent lichen in the box."

Sunset did so, and Twilight ran the analysis on the sample. A few minutes later, a familiar symbol appeared on the screen. "Got it. It's definitely the same source as our thief's."

Sunset walked over and glanced at the screen. "Yup. So, we can confirm that the thief stole the other cloverbloom from Camp Everfree and used it to power the spells used in the theft. Too bad that doesn't actually help us track down or identify the thief since Gloriosa didn't see anyone suspicious. Nice to know that trip was a complete waste."

Twilight wanted to ignore the implication that came with the pointed look that Sunset was giving her, but she couldn't resist responding. "Well, we gave Gloriosa some peace of mind, so it wasn't a complete wash."

Sunset glared at Twilight. "Whatever. So, now what do we do? You talked about some long-range tracking methods before, right?"

"I have a few ideas," Twilight said. "The first is to stay in the electromagnetic spectrum. Satellites and other long-range sensors can detect weak emissions from significant distances. Visible light and higher frequencies of EM radiation reflect and attenuate too much to be detectable, but lower frequencies pass through solid matter just fine."

"The problem with that is the intensity of the frequencies below the visible spectrum decreases exponentially with distance from the Young Peak," Sunset replied. "By the time you hit millimeter-wave or larger wavelengths the relative power is around a hundred decibels less than the peak. For passive power, you'd be way below the limit of background radiation. Active power isn't so bad, but I figure you'd rather catch them before they cast whatever spell they stole the book for. Wouldn't want magic to seep back into the world now, would we?"

Twilight shot Sunset a disapproving look. "You know very well why we have to stop the thief," she said before sighing. "But it may be a good idea to start looking into lower frequencies, since we can track those with satellites. If we can't figure out how to locate the journal when it's dormant we can at least have a stopgap measure in case the thief enacts their plan."

"I guess that's fine," Sunset said. "So, you have any other ideas about how to find the journal?"

"Well, the other two kinds of emissions I've looked at are thermal and sonic," Twilight said. "I haven't done as much work modelling those phenomena, but I have some preliminary results."

"Alright," Sunset replied, "let's hear them."

Twilight picked up a marker and walked over to the whiteboard. With a final, wistful thought about how much more pleasant this would have been without Sunset's hostility, she began writing out a complex equation on the board, preparing to explain her work to her reluctant research partner. It was going to be long day.