I Don't Need Magic

by Undome Tinwe


Chapter 11: Paradigm Shift

By the time Sunset and Twilight finalized the specifications for the low-frequency magical-signature identification system, all Sunset wanted to do was retreat back to her bedroom and curl up with a good book.

As it turned out, trying to hold onto righteous anger against someone while also engaging in rigorous scientific investigation with said person really took a lot out of someone. She'd already dropped the snide remarks a few hours ago, and she'd even stopped trying to keep her distance in favor of getting the write-up done by the end of the day.

"Alright, this looks fine to me," she said after her last pass through the document. "I'll send it to Velvet Sky. She should have the tracking system uploaded to the satellite by tomorrow afternoon."

"That quickly?" Twilight said, looking up at her in surprise, her own eyes looking as strained as Sunset felt.

"Velvet's one of the best coders in the world," Sunset explained as she pulled up her email and began typing, "and I let her hand-pick her team. They'll have it done by tomorrow."

"If you say so," Twilight said. "Should we return to the main problem? Now that we've got a detection system to alert us when someone's casting magic, we can go back to trying to find them before they actually cast the spell."

"We already tried everything we could think of. Passive magic just doesn't emit enough energy to be tracked from a distance." Sunset ran her hand through her hair, tugging roughly at it. "Ugh, if only this were Equestria; a foal could track a magical signature as strong as the cloverbloom's with the right spells. Well, I could've done it as a foal, anyways."

"Well, this isn't Equestria," Twilight snapped. "There isn't some magic spell that can solve all our problems."

"And who's fault is that?" Sunset replied almost automatically in response to Twilight's tone, resulting in yet another round of mutual glaring. Tartarus, but she wished they could just stop.

Eventually, Twilight turned away with a sigh. "Look, neither of us are in the right mind to work together on this. We haven't made much progress all day and we probably aren't going to get anything else done. Why don't we just deal with our own stuff and try again tomorrow?"

"Fine," Sunset replied. The sooner she could get away from Twilight, the better. "Let's head back up to the lobby."

Twilight stood up and looked around the room. "Actually, I think I left my jacket in your apartment," she said. "Can we go back up to get it?"

"Sure."

They took a minute to collect their things before leaving the lab. As they walked over to the elevator, neither of them spoke, and in the silence, Sunset found her energy – and her anger – returning. Calculation ran through her head, her brain crunching the numbers on the cloverbloom they'd found at Camp Everfree.

With the scant amounts of arcane power she had at her disposal in her lab, she had already revolutionized multiple fields; with the cloverbloom, she could've remade the world.

But Twilight had stepped in with her short-sighted ideals and blackmailed Sunset into agreeing to give up that magic. All the great advancements she could've achieved, washed away because Sunset needed Twilight to help her track down the book thief. And Twilight wasn't even being helpful; they'd gotten no closer to finding the thief than they had at the beginning of the day, which meant that Sunset had essentially given up her hopes and dreams for nothing.

She felt a hopeless rage filling her as the silence continued. Tired of bottling in her feelings, she was about to tell Twilight exactly how she felt when the other woman spoke. "How did you and Starlight Glimmer meet?"

"What?" Sunset nearly forgot her anger at Twilight's sudden question.

"Starlight told me to ask you how you two met," Twilight explained patiently. "It got me curious. So, how did you meet?"

For a while, Sunset didn't speak, the whirring of the elevator rising upwards echoing loudly between them. Finally, she sighed. "Well, I guess there isn't any harm in telling you, especially if Starlight said it's okay.

"The first time we met was in a cell in the Crystal City Correctional Center."

"You met each other in prison?" Twilight glanced sharply at Sunset, and Sunset took a moment to enjoy her slack-jawed stare.

"Yup. Starlight Glimmer had quite the colorful past before she became President of Equinox Labs," Sunset said with a smirk.

"What were you two in jail for?"

"Starlight got involved with some pretty extremist political groups," Sunset explained. "Things got out of control, and they tried to blow up the Crystal City Stock Exchange building."

Twilight's eyes widened even further at that. "She did what?"

"Relax, they got caught before they could go through with it. Starlight's fellow freedom fighters all snitched on each other as soon as they could, but Starlight didn't say a word. They ended up putting her in a holding cell while waiting to see what to do with her next."

"And you? What did you do to land yourself in a cell?"

Sunset's temporary joy at Twilight's surprise vanished. "I got caught trying to buy illegal drugs," she said, turning away from Twilight.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Drugs? Really? You were trying to get high?"

"It was a little more than that," Sunset replied. "The drug was called 'Unicorn Powder,' and the people who took it said that it made them see symbols and cast magic spells. They said they could move things with their minds and create light."

"And were they telling the truth?" Twilight sounded skeptical as they stepped out of the elevator.

"No," Sunset replied. "I found out later that it was just hallucinations caused by the chemicals. The 'magic tricks' they were doing were all in their head. I didn't know that at the time though."

"And you actually believed that those drugs would give you magical powers?" There was a note of derision in Twilight's tone now.

"Well, it's not like there isn't a precedent for magical drugs. Considering what happened with Sombra, it wasn't completely out there." Sunset paused for a moment as she considered how much to reveal. "I was desperate at the time." What the hell, there was no point hiding it. "After you left, I spent the next three years trying to find another source of magic in this world.

"It was obvious that Princess Twilight couldn't figure out a way to re-establish the portal, which wasn't surprising – it's a lot harder to build a portal from a high-magic world to a low-magic one than the other way around – so I knew that I was the only one who could help me.

"I went to the east to talk to the monks that lived in the mountains. I travelled south to chase rumors about the shamans in the jungle. I even consulted mystics in the caves in the north. I searched all around the world for real magic, but everyone was either a fraud or their abilities came from mundane training.

"And then, after three years, I ended up in Crystal City, looking for any other leads that would get me to magic. When I heard about Unicorn Powder, I figured I'd give it a shot too. I mean, I already tried everything else; what was another shot at doing something impossible?"

Twilight was silent as Sunset unlocked the door to the apartment. As the two of them stepped in, something seemed to occur to her. "Isn't possession a misdemeanor in Crystal City? How'd you end up in the same jail cell as a terrorist?"

"Possession is a misdemeanor, yes, but if you have enough it becomes possession with intent to sell, which is a felony."

"Wait, why would you have enough to bump it up to a felony? That requires a lot more than a single dose."

"I told you, I had tried everything else. I had searched the whole world over and found nothing. This was my last lead, and I was determined to make sure it'd work." Sunset smiled without humor. "And if it didn't, well, then there wasn't any reason not to take all of it at once and see if it was just a question of quantity."

Horror etched itself onto Twilight's face. "You were going to overdose on purpose?"

"I figured if it wasn't going to work, then there wasn't really any point in continuing on with a hopeless search," Sunset said flippantly with a casual shrug. She tried to keep her tone light, to keep the pain of those memories away. "Either way, my quest was going to be over that day."

"So you were going to kill yourself?" Twilight's voice rose until she was nearly shouting at Sunset. "Why would you do something so stupid?"

"Because I didn't want to live in a world without magic!" Sunset found herself shouting right back, her repressed anger coming back to the surface. She took a moment to calm herself before she continued speaking. "Magic was everything to me. In Equestria, everypony receives a symbol on their flanks when they come of age. It's called a cutie mark, and it only appears when that pony has an epiphany about their calling in life. The cutie mark is a symbol of a pony's destiny, their true self, and their special talent."

Sunset walked over to her office, where a portrait depicting a stylized sun hung on the walls. "That was my cutie mark," she said, pointing to the image. "It symbolizes leadership and magic. The first part didn't turn out so well, so all I was left with magic. It's literally my reason for existence. When I lost it, I lost my identity, my calling, and my reason to live. I figured dying in the pursuit of magic was an appropriate way to go."

"So what happened after you got arrested?" Twilight asked, her voice shaky.

"Well, like I said, I ended up sharing a cell with Starlight." Sunset continued with her story, letting herself get caught up in her memories. "I asked her what she was in for, and you can imagine how surprised I was when she said domestic terrorism – she really didn't look the part.

"Anyways, she told me her story about how all her fellow compatriots abandoned her and their grand cause. With her movement dead, she thought she didn't have anything else to live for and she was pretty much just ready to go to jail for the rest of her life."

Sunset recalled the sense of determination she had felt at hearing Starlight's plight. "There was something about her. When I was listening to her talk about her ideals and how she'd been screwed over by the people she trusted, I know couldn't just let her throw her life away.

"I told her that she still had so much to live for, that she could use her intelligence and drive to make the world a better place and to do other things." She smiled wryly. "I think at some point I was talking less to her and more to myself.

"Eventually, Starlight realized that it wasn't just her I was talking to, and I ended up telling her my own story. She thought I was crazy at first with all my talk about magic, but she didn't want to see me end it all either.

"We both decided that if fate and other people were going to try and knock us down, we weren't just going to take it lying down. An hour later, I called Rarity and asked her to bail us out, then hired some very expensive lawyers to get Starlight and me acquitted. They managed to negotiate me down to just simple possession, and they painted a convincing enough picture of Starlight as the kind-hearted, innocent victim who didn't know what terrible things her organization was doing that the prosecutor ended up agreeing to a very generous plea deal."

Sunset glanced at the picture of her and Starlight in their first lab. "After all that, I showed Starlight that magic existed, and we realized that even without a ton of magic, the knowledge I had from living in Equestria could still make the world a better place. And that's how Equinox Labs was founded."

Twilight had been silent for a while now, staring at Sunset with an unreadable expression while she'd spoken. When Sunset finished telling her story, she had a haunted look in her eyes. "I… I never realized how much magic meant to you. I knew you held it in great regard, but not to that extent."

"Yeah, well, you knew me when I had friends too. But then you left, and I lost that and my magic, so there went both halves of my destiny."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you," Twilight said. She paused for a moment before speaking again. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry that I hurt you yesterday."

"Well, it seems fair that you hurt me, considering what I did to you all those years ago," Sunset said. It wasn't lost on her that Twilight's apology mirrored Sunset's in their lack of apologizing for the action, only the consequences, but at this point, she'd take what she could get. Staying angry at Twilight was just too exhausting, and she missed having her friend back.

"You hurt me, I hurt you, maybe we should just call it even. Start with a clean slate." Twilight looked up hopefully at Sunset. "What do you say to that?"

Sunset shook her head. "No, not a clean slate." As Twilight's face fell, Sunset quickly added, "that implies starting over. I want to be friends with you again." She held out her hand towards Twilight. "Will you accept my friendship?"

Twilight face broke out into a beautiful smile, the first one she'd seen from her all day. "Yes. Yes, I will." She grasped Sunset's hand with her own, and for a few moments, Sunset enjoyed the simple pleasure of physical contact with her friend.

"So, now that we aren't mad at each other anymore, do you still need to leave?" Sunset asked as Twilight walked over to the sitting room to grab her jacket.

Twilight shrugged. "I guess not. Why, do you want to do something together?"

"I was thinking we could grab dinner, if you're free. Eating with a friend is a lot better than eating alone, don't you think?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, it's been a while since I've had dinner with a friend. What were you thinking?"

"I dunno. Why don't you pick this time? Most of the same places we used to go to are still around."

A thoughtful look crossed Twilight's face before she smiled. "I think I know the perfect place."


"Man, I haven't been here in years," Sunset said as they sat down on opposite sides of a worn plastic table. They had just placed their order at the counter and were waiting for it to arrive.

"Really?" Twilight asked as she picked up a menu. "You used to be almost addicted to Donut Joe's donuts. I'm sure I put on at least five pounds just from working on homework with you here all the time."

"Well, I tried coming back after you left, but there were a few too many memories here," Sunset said delicately. "And eventually this place sorta slipped my mind."

"Oh," Twilight said faintly, the earlier feeling of guilt resurfacing. Learning the depths that Sunset had been driven to had shocked her, of course, and while she knew intellectually that Sunset had ultimately brought it on herself, she couldn't help but feel someone responsible as the one who had suggested the sealing spell in the first place. And while this newfound understanding of Sunset didn't excuse her of what she did to Twilight afterwards, it did go a long way towards explaining why she did what she did.

Add to that the guilt over her more recent actions against Sunset, and Twilight was left with the horrible feeling of knowing that she was hurting Sunset deeply, but being unable to do anything about it. After all, keeping magic away from everyone was necessary to the greater good, and Sunset's feelings on the matter didn't change that, right?

Twilight forced her thoughts away from the topic of ethics. Right now, they had a chance to start over with their friendship, with Sunset accepting the metaphorical olive branch that Twilight had offered.

They could put the past behind them, and if another conflict arose, well, then they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. Right now, Twilight just wanted to enjoy some time with a friend.

A friend who was staring curiously at her with those brilliant cyan eyes of hers. "You got quiet all of a sudden," she said. "What's on your mind?"

"It's nothing," Twilight replied. "Just bad memories."

"Ah," Sunset said, nodding in understanding. "Yeah, we went through some crap, but it wasn't all bad, right? We had some really good times too. A few of them right here, actually. Remember when we brainstormed our science fair project for senior year?"

"I remember," Twilight said, smiling. "You didn't want to compete. I had to beg you for days to get you to be my partner."

Sunset shrugged. "It wouldn't have been a fair fight. You were a genius who'd discovered an entirely new branch of science, and I was the personal student of a Princess with several doctorates worth of knowledge in math and science. It wasn't even a question of winning the fair; I was just trying to figure out the easiest and quickest thing we could do to get first place."

"I thought the flame tornado was interesting and visually appealing," Twilight grumbled before something occurred to her. "Wait, why were you even in high school if you had a postdoctoral level of education?" She hadn't really thought much about it when she was a teenager, but in hindsight, it didn't make sense for Sunset to go to a high school of all places.

"There were a few reasons," Sunset replied. "I wanted to stay close to the portal, which would've been tough if I wasn't a student. There's also the fact that I was stuck in another world. Even if was a genius at math and science, I knew nothing about, history, geography, cultural mores, or anything else about how your society worked. High school gave me a chance to learn about all of that while also staying under the radar."

Sunset paused before she continued speaking, her voice lowering. "It also gave me a chance to practice manipulating more impressionable people in a controlled setting. I thought of it like a trial run for when I eventually ruled over Equestria as its rightful Princess." She sighed, her eyes downcast. "I was such an idiot back then."

"Hey," Twilight said, reaching out to awkwardly pat Sunset's arm, "happy memories, remember? We're focusing on the good things in our past, not the bad stuff we've done." Though she had dreamed of seeing Sunset remorseful after all this time, it killed her to see her friend suffering like this.

Sunset smiled at Twilight. "You're right," she said, some strength returning to her voice, "good things. Anyways, I also needed to figure out how much of the sciences was the same in this world and how much was different, and pick up whatever advances you humans discovered that we ponies hadn't yet. Did you know that probability theory in Equestria is over a hundred years behind this world? When I left, we'd just figured out what you call the Central Limit Theorem and we were still arguing about what conditions needed to hold for it."

"Really?" Twilight asked. "I mean, given the difference in tech levels I'd expect us to be ahead in number theory or finite element analysis, but probability theory has been useful since the idea of uncertainty existed, and from what you told me, Equestria has had the foundational mathematics knowledge to develop the field for a long time."

"We do." Sunset took a moment to take a sip from her glass of water before she continued speaking. "But we didn't really have a good reason to develop it as much as in this world. For the longest time, there wasn't anything probability theory could do that divination spells couldn't. Like, why calculate the probability of something happening when you can just divine what's going to happen?

"Divination spells also handle complex systems much better, and other than a few niche cases, probability was just a theoretical thing that some mathematicians would play around with when they were bored. Then the first casino opened up."

Sunset paused to take another sip of water. "Turns out, problems involving gambling don't have the intrinsic anima that divination spells need, so there was a bit of a rush to develop more mathematical ways of calculating expected returns and stuff. Which was good, since the first insurance company popped up really soon after that."

"Well, with a strong calculus base, Equestria should be able to catch up to us really quickly. I assume you have calculus over there, right?"

"Yup, and you guys are really behind in a bunch of places," Sunset said with a smirk. "Like, we proved that integer linear combos of pi and e were transcendental ages ago."

"I assume you had a similar incentive to develop that field more than we did, similar to the differences in probability theory," Twilight replied.

"Yup. Trying to model magic gets you working with a ton of group theory stuff pretty early on."

Before Twilight could comment on Sunset's statement, the waiter arrived with their orders. "One original-glaze bacon sandwich and one cheese donut veggie sandwich," he said, setting down a steaming plate in front of Twilight.

"Thank you," Twilight said as he set down the dishes. She picked up the extremely unhealthy combination of sugar and fat and bit down on it, savoring the decadent mixture of salty and sweet. Across the table, she saw Sunset doing the same thing with her own sandwich.

"Mmm…" Sunset's eyes were closed in bliss as she ate. "I'd forgotten how great this place was. I don't even care how unhealthy this is. Come to think of it, we've been eating a lot of junk food in the past few days."

"I swear I'm normally a lot healthier than this," Twilight said, feeling the urge to defend her dietary choices. "I try to maintain a balanced diet and a reasonable fitness schedule to keep myself in okay shape."

"Well, it definitely shows." Sunset gave Twilight an approving look that made Twilight's cheeks warm slightly. She was abruptly reminded of the events that had transpired yesterday at the gas station, and felt that urge to press her lips against Sunset's returning like a chronic illness flaring up again.

Twilight forced herself not to think about how soft Sunset's lips looked – now was really not the time for that. Their friendship was still too newly-mended, and Twilight's feelings towards Sunset were complicated at best. Despite how well they worked together and how attracted she was to her, there were some serious rifts keeping them apart.

Trying to keep her thoughts away from relationships, she decided to ask a question that she'd always meant to pose to Sunset. "I notice that you're still a vegetarian. Is that a physical necessity due to pony biology or a psychological thing?"

"It's purely a psychological thing, from what I can tell," Sunset replied. "I did some experiments once and I can digest meat, but as a being who spent her formative years as a pony, the idea of eating animal flesh still makes my stomach churn. Good thing I grew up with the palace and we had diplomats over all the time who ate meat. The average pony might have freaked out over someone eat a burger, but after seeing a griffon scarf down a mouse in one bite, it doesn't seem so bad."

"I see." Twilight wondered if she'd ever get used to Sunset casually name-dropping things right out of a mythology book, as if having dinner with a half-eagle, half-lion monster that no one believed even existed was a thing that just happened. To Twilight, it only emphasized how different Sunset's world was to hers, and how different her perspective on many subjects must be, including magic.

Wanting to know more about that difference in perspective, Twilight returned her thoughts to the current conversation. "So, does the portal alter psychology in addition to biology? The fact that you aren't omnivorous would suggest against that, but then again, lots of humans find meat-eating abhorrent, so that isn't really a definitive indicator."

Wracking her brain to remember what she could about biology, Twilight spoke on. "There would need to be some rewiring of the nervous system to be able to handle manipulating an entirely different set of muscles, but that's relatively low-level neurology, I think. I'm not exactly an expert on how the brain works."

"I'm not sure either," Sunset replied. "It's kinda difficult to reason about your own psychology. My sense of taste definitely changed; I've tried eating flowers, and most of them taste like crap." Sunset sighed wistfully. "I miss being able to enjoy a good dandelion and daffodil sandwich."

"That doesn't say anything about higher reasoning, though," Twilight said.

"Fair enough," Sunset replied with a shrug. "Sexual orientation would be an easy metric, but mine's a bit complicated."

"Didn't you date that guy in high school? Flash Sentry?" Twilight recalled Sunset mentioning that they were formerly an item before he had fallen for the other Twilight. She still cringed a bit every time she recalled the awkwardness that had permeated her interactions with him due to her resemblance to his crush.

"Yeah, he was pretty cute," Sunset said.

"Well, then that settles it, right? You're definitely attracted to human males." Twilight suppressed the urge to ask if she was attracted to human females as well.

"Sure, but I can't say for sure if that's because of the portal." Sunset paused, looking uncomfortable. "See, back in Equestria, I had a bit of a reputation as a… let's just say that the technical term for it was xenophilia."

"Xenophilia?" Twilight took a moment to parse the word in her head for this context. "So you had a sexual fixation with those outside your kind?"

"Pretty much," Sunset replied. "I had a thing for other species. Dragons, griffons, minotaurs… I liked 'em exotic. Not that I had any time for that kind of stuff – I was too busy studying and trying to gain power to care about relationships. But a girl can always look, right?"

"Hmm… I guess that means we can't really tell if the portal made you attracted to humans or if you already would've been attracted to them." Twilight chuckled softly. "A fetish for humans – never thought I'd be able to use that phrase in real life. If nothing else, your background definitely makes for some interesting moments."

"Yeah, too bad none of those moments are useful for what we actually need to do," Sunset said with a wry smile, though her voice was tinged with frustration. "Thinking about home just makes me realize how easy it would be to track the journal if we were in Equestria."

Twilight was about to repeat the line about this world not being Equestria anymore, but a sudden thought stopped her. "Why don't you walk me through what you'd do back home? I know it wouldn't work here, but maybe we could gain some insight from your Equestrian perspective."

Sunset looked up from her nearly-finished sandwich in surprise. "Huh. Sure, why not?" There was a moment of silence as Sunset appeared to be collecting her thoughts. "Okay, so the most effective way of tracking a linked object like the journal would be to find the other journal and cast a Piggyback spell on the connection with either a Beacon or a Where-Am-I spell embedded in the spellform, like we did when human Sombra stole the journal."

"By the way, have you investigated him yet? He knows about the journal, and he got pretty good at magic before we stopped him. I feel like he'd be the perfect suspect." Twilight really, really didn't want to go up against the crime lord again, but he seemed the obvious choice.

"I checked – he's still in jail." Sunset waved her hand dismissively. "His crime empire fell apart after he got arrested, and according to my contacts all he does is talk about songwriting with his fangirls, of all things."

"Huh. Well, unless we manage to open a portal to Equestria, that isn't going to happen. Are there any other methods?"

"Without access to that connection, it's a lot harder. I guess you could try to search the magical plane for the connection if you knew enough about the metaphysical location of the two journals, but you'd need a team of researchers and years to translate the effects of the magical plane on this world, and even then, tracking this kind of connection is iffy at best. You'd be better off trying to trace its magical signature directly."

"And how would you do that?" Twilight asked, an idea forming in her mind.

"Personally, I'd use an Echo spell. Basically, you send a pulse of magic out that's specifically attuned to the magical source with some kind of trigger spellform inside it. When the pulse hits the source you're looking for, the spellform activates and the source sends back an echoing pulse back that you can track."

"Wait, magic can remotely trigger the casting of a spell from an external source?"

"It's tough, but yeah, it's possible."

"Can other things trigger a magical reaction?" Twilight asked.

Sunset's eyes widened in response. "Yeah," she replied, the excitement in her tone mirroring that of Twilight's, "there's a few non-magical ways to cause unintended spellcasting. Like touching someone's horn while it's 'hot'. There's other things too that can do it." Twilight could see the fires of her intellect burning behind her brilliant cyan eyes, and assumed she had the same look on her own face.

"If we can figure out a way to activate the magic in the journal, we could trace its location." Twilight reached into her pocket and brought out her notebook and a pencil, intending to write down her ideas.

"Actually, it'd be easier to track the magic from the cloverbloom," Sunset replied as Twilight scribbled furiously into her notebook. "It's got stronger magic and a more malleable form, so it should be easier to trigger."

"Right, of course," Twilight said. "So, what kind of non-magical triggers are you thinking of?"

"Hmm… I'll have to think about it for a bit. I think I remember reading some military books on how earth ponies and pegasi used shockwaves to disrupt unicorn spellcasting. I wanna double-check some of my notes on magic at home before I say anything more, though. Can you wait 'til tomorrow?"

"Sure. I need to catch up with work anyways. I've got a grant application deadline coming up and I need to finalize my proposal for it. Same time tomorrow?"

"Sounds good. I think I'll head out – I want to get started on this right now." Sunset stood up, with Twilight quickly following suit.

"Well, this was a fun and productive evening," Twilight said as they walked out of the donut shop.

"Yeah, it's a shame it took us fifteen years to be able to do something like this again," Sunset replied. She looked Twilight right in the eyes before speaking again. "Think it'll take another fifteen before the next time?"

"I-" Twilight tried to look away from Sunset, but her gaze held her mesmerized in place. Her original plan was to help Sunset track down the journal and then return to Hayvard, never to think about this week ever again.

But even with her limited knowledge of friendship, she knew it would be wrong to abandon a friend so soon after rekindling a friendship. And she really did enjoy Sunset's company – she was witty, intelligent, funny, and they clicked together so well. Twilight didn't want to lose that.

"I'll keep in touch after all this is done," she found herself saying, and as Sunset smiled in response, Twilight knew her life was going to change forever once again.