“These ones are the last samples from Batch 13.” Minuette slid four plates onto the table and pushed two in front of Twilight. Each held a small cupcake and had a paper note in front of it that read ‘A’ for one and ‘B’ for the other.
Sitting at the table in Minuette’s dorm room, Twilight took the two cupcakes in her magic and bit into one. She chewed, thought, and swallowed. “Cupcake ‘A’ has a bit more of a tart taste compared to the previous batch.” She took a sip of water from a bottle beside her and then bit into the other cupcake. “‘B’ is more sweet.”
Next to her, Moondancer set both of her cupcakes back on their plates. “I concur, and I will add that sample ‘B’ tastes more similar to the control.” She wrinkled her nose. “I also detected a bit of a peculiar odor with sample ‘A’. Not unpleasant, but noticeable.”
“The taste I expected, the smell, not so much.” Minuette smiled happily and picked up a pencil to make notes in a binder on the counter. Next to her was a rack with several jars and bottles of various alchemy reagents, and a large bowl of dull brown batter with a ladle leaning on the edge. She set her pencil down and slid the binder back. “On to Batch 14!”
Twilight looked at her ‘A’ cupcake a bit more cautiously. “What was in ‘A’ anyway?’
“Ah, ah!” Minuette shook her head. “I can’t tell you that, this is blind taste-testing!” She set a smaller bowl next to the large bowl of batter and ladled some of the batter into it. She then pulled the smaller bowl over to the rack of ingredients and shifted position until her body blocked their sight of what she was doing.
Moondancer nodded. “I do trust you will not be feeding us anything unseemly.”
“Oh, no, this is mild stuff.” Minuette waved a hoof. “I’ll have the batch ready in about twenty minutes.”
Twilight looked at the notebook in front of her. “In that case, you two can help me with my own thesis.” She looked between Moondancer and Minuette to see if they were listening before continuing. “So, I am to research the cause of my dreams about this mysterious pony named Sunset Shimmer. Step one – although one cannot disprove a negative, I can provide reasonable evidence that they are not normal, mundane dreams.”
“How so?” Moondancer asked.
Twilight flipped a page back to where she had made point-form notes. “First, these dreams have happened on a consistent basis, two or three times a week since the school year began. Second, they are unusually vivid – I recognize that is a subjective thing to quantify, but I nonetheless contend it is a valid observation. Third, the one time Sunset and I made physical contact in the dream, I had an unusual reaction and the dream ended shortly thereafter. This im–”
“Wait, what?” Minuette interrupted. “You had a reaction?”
Twilight paused and raised her head to see both her friends looking at her, Moondancer more curious and Minuette more concerned. She nodded. “Sunset patted me on the back, and it triggered some sort of spasm that caused me – in my dream – to lose my balance and fall down a flight of stairs. We’ve avoided physical contact since.”
Moondancer nodded. “For safety’s sake, good call. But I’d say you ought to attempt to make contact the next time you see her and see if the same thing occurs. Try to touch her yourself rather than the other way around.”
“That is part of the plan, yes.” Twilight paused. It makes perfect logical sense to do that. A result must be reproducible by an identical experiment to verify a result. She frowned. I still don’t like it. Just thinking about that fall, when she touched me… it makes no sense for it to unnerve me like this.
“Twilight?” Moondancer’s hoof in her face made Twilight jerk out of her thoughts.
“Oh, sorry. Just, thinking.” Twilight cleared her throat and looked back at her notes. She resumed reading to calm herself. “As I was saying, I had a reaction to physical contact with Sunset and the dream ended. This implies some sort of unusual manifestation within the dream that could affect the dream itself. Fourth, Sunset seems to have knowledge of things I do not. I need to verify this but I am fairly sure it has happened. Fifth and finally, Sunset’s appearance and personality have been consistent across multiple dreams. Given the nature of dreams it is unlikely she would be identical every time and remember past times she’s appeared to me, especially if she is not based on somepony I actually know and is apparently just a construct of my imagination.”
Twilight finished and nodded firmly. “I think there is certainly reasonable cause to believe these dreams are somehow magical in nature. I now need to prove it.”
“How will you do that?” Moondancer asked.
Twilight turned back to the empty page in her notebook and set her pencil to the paper. “First, set up some sort of ward to detect any foreign magical influences on me while I sleep. That’s the most elementary step.Once I have some sort of data on what kind of magic it is, I can form hypotheses about the what, how, and why.”
“Sounds like a solid plan to me,” Minuette said. She slipped her cupcake tray into the oven and shut the door, then grabbed a timer on the counter and twisted the dial.
Moondancer nodded, a hoof held to her chin. “I believe you are overlooking one other thing you ought to look into.”
“Oh?”
“The ‘who’. Clearly, if this is some sort of magic influencing your dreams, there is something or someone causing it.”
Twilight stilled. “I… hadn’t thought of it that way.” She furrowed her brow. “Well, not necessarily. It could be some sort of latent magic that’s affecting me indirectly, right?”
“Could it?” Minuette sat at the table with a glass of milk. “I mean, I’m no expert on this type of magic, but I’d figure that if there was some sort of magic something or whatever that it could give you these dreams by accident, it’d be causing a lot more problems than just your dreams.”
“Absolutely.” Moondancer nodded. “But I’ve not heard of anything else unusual happening.”
“Fair enough.” Twilight made a note. “I guess, third point of research then – consider who may be causing these dreams and what motive they might have.” As she put her pencil to the paper to dot the period, she held it there and stared at the words. “I’m really not sure what to do with that train of thought. The idea somepony might be purposefully using some sort of mental magic on me is...”
“Hey, don’t assume it’s a bad thing,” Minuette said. She winced. “I mean, yeah, obviously someone using magic on you without permission or telling you is bad. But they aren’t trying to do anything bad with it, right? You’ve been pretty happy chatting about Sunset before. Maybe whoever is doing this is doing it for a good reason.” She stopped and sighed. “Though that still doesn’t make it okay.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Twilight frowned and tapped her pencil on the paper. “That could be a lead, though. If somepony is giving me magical dreams, they must have a reason. But what could that reason be?”
“That’s far too broad a topic to get into.” Moondancer shook her head. “There could be any amount of data they may be interested in.” She paused and inclined her head. “That said, though, if somepony were conducting some sort of experiment on you, they’d need some way to monitor you. Has anypony unusual been taking an interest in you lately?”
Twilight thought for a moment. “Not that I can recall.” She looked over at Moondancer. “Just the same ponies I usually interact with.” In her peripheral, Twilight saw Minuette open her mouth and lean forward, but she stopped.
“Minuette?” Twilight turned her head in her direction.
“It’s nothing, it’s silly.”
“What is?” Twilight looked at her closely.
Minuette fidgeted in her chair. “Well, just…you have made a new friend recently.”
Twilight sat back. “Luster? No, that’s impossible. I’d already considered if the dreams could be related to her, but I had the first dream the night before I even met her. So the timeline doesn’t line up.”
Moondancer murmured. “Actually, didn’t you say Celestia was the one who asked you to be her friend? And she had been planning to introduce you two?”
“Yes?” Twilight turned back to her. “Why?”
“Well, if she was going to introduce you two on orientation day, she probably would have told Luster about it. You didn’t know about her before you met her, but it is possible she may have known you.”
“No, Moony, no.” Minuette held up a hoof and shook her head. “Like we said, what about motive? Luster has no reason to do something like this.”
“Twilight says she’s spoken to Sunset about Luster before, and many other topics. And she’s had problems opening up to us. Perhaps the initial dream was to gauge Twilight’s character under an illusory alias, and then when Twilight demonstrated a willingness to consult with Sunset about Luster, Luster continued the experiment to better know how Twilight felt about her.” Moondancer gave a small shrug. “If I knew I was going to meet somepony new and the Princess herself was expecting us to be friends, using dream magic to meet them before actually meeting them and then to keep tabs on what they think about me… it almost seems logical.”
Minuette huffed. “You’re leaving out one critical point that undermines everything you just said – Luster is our friend,” She leaned forward, her eyes narrowed at Moondancer. “She wouldn’t do this to Twilight, or any of us. And you’re just speculating. There’s not even a shred of real proof it might be her.”
“Yes, there is,” Twilight said suddenly, her eyes going wide. She looked between the two. “Luster’s thesis. She won’t tell any of us what it is, she was downright angry when I kept pressing. But I’ve been to the library with her in the past. She’s checked out books on mental magic and said they were for her thesis.”
Minuette and Moondancer shared a glance. “That is unnerving…” Moondancer said lowly.
“No.” Minuette shook her head more fiercely. “We shouldn’t even be considering this, it’s absurd. We know Luster, she wouldn’t do something like this.”
“I want to agree,” Twilight whispered, “but it lines up perfectly. Like Moondancer said, when you really think about it, it makes sense…” She inhaled. “You’re right, Minuette. Luster is a friend and I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. But even circumstantial evidence is still evidence, and right now I don’t have much else to speculate on.”
“Twilight…” Minuette gave her a concerned look. “You and Luster just had a big argument the other day and she already doesn’t want to talk to you. Approaching her about this–”
“I’m not going to talk to Luster,” Twilight interrupted. “One way or the other, whatever is causing these dreams, Sunset herself is the key. So, I’ll start with her. I already have my dream journals detailing what I remember each morning, which is usually extensive. Whoever is using Sunset to talk to me, if they’ve been using her as a fake identity then there is a simple dichotomy that they have either been lying or told the truth about her life. If they’ve lied, then there will be inconsistencies in her stories. And if they’ve been truthful, those journals are clues I can use to piece together who it could be.”
“That makes sense.” Moondancer gave a firm nod. “For your own peace of mind, I’d start with questions related to Luster. If Sunset is somehow Luster, then pressing her on that will either make her slip up and reveal herself, or she’ll try to tell a lie you can catch her in.”
“Or, it could tip Luster off that Twilight is on to her and she’ll call this all off.” Minuette winced. “If it is Luster, even. Which is a big if.”
“If Sunset were to change her behavior after Twilight questioned her about Luster, that would still be a clear give-away,” Moondancer replied.
Twilight sighed. “And confirm something I don’t want confirmed. In a best case scenario, Sunset will have no suspicious reaction to questions about Luster which would incline me to believe she knows nothing about her beyond what I’ve said.”
She took a breath. “But, until I dream of Sunset again or talk to Luster, there’s nothing more to do for that theory. In the meantime there are other leads I can pursue to get more information. Moondancer?”
“Hm?”
“I’ll need your help this weekend, if you have time. I’d like to prepare a thaumometer. If some sort of magic is being used on me, it ought to be detectable when I sleep, right?”
“Naturally.” Moondancer nodded. “I’ll need to check the magic shops in Canterlot for an appropriate spell crystal, but it won’t be a problem.”
“Good, and thank you. I’ll reimburse you the cost.”
“Anything I can do to help?” Minuette asked.
Twilight shook her head. “Thank you, but not yet. I just–” Twilight stopped and sniffed the air. “What is that smell?”
The other two mares sniffed, and Minuette whirled her head towards the oven – a thin stream of pale smoke was coming from inside.
“No!” She pulled the oven door open with her magic and the smoke billowed out. Moondancer and Twilight ran to the windows, and pulled back the curtains and threw up the sashes. Gusts of magical wind blew the smoke out into the open. Twilight coughed, her eyes watering from the smoke that went past her, and looked back to the kitchen area.
Minuette pulled a tray of dark brown and black cupcakes from the oven. With a dismayed look, she tossed them on the counter and grabbed her binder and pen.
“Important note – Batch 14’s cooking time is greatly reduced, monitor closely when conducting further testing.”
“The influence of solar energy on magic is well-documented, but not fully understood.” Dr. Turner paused and glanced around the hall of students. The air was filled with the scratching of pens and pencils taking notes, and he continued. “Preliminary research suggests a connection between the sun’s influence on one’s magic and the relative positions of Equus and Bunabu at the time of their birth.” The doctor looked up at the pale blue magical projection of the solar system in the air overhead, and then reached to his desk to the box projecting the image. He pressed two buttons on the side and two of the planets lit up red.
“One theory as to why concerned a foal’s exposure to the sun, but that is a broad umbrella to make assumptions under. For one thing, it’s been asked how it can be certain that it is the time of birth and not conception that is of importance…”
In a far row of the hall, Lemon Hearts leaned over in her seat to whisper. “I’ll let you copy my notes over lunch if you want.”
Twilight jerked and turned her head. “Huh?”
“You seem a bit spaced-out.” Lemon nodded at Twilight’s notebook; Twilight followed her eyes and saw the lined paper in front of her entirely blank but for the date in the upper corner.
“Sorry.” Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“Need to share?” Lemon asked.
Twilight eyed Dr. Turner at the bottom of the room; he was enraptured in his lecture, gesturing to the projection of the solar system with a pointer. She slumped onto her book. “It’s a bit much to get it out in the middle of a lesson.”
“I didn’t mean talk,” Lemon replied, still taking notes. “Write it out and I’ll have a read. If nothing else, it’ll get your thoughts organized.”
Twilight sat up and looked at the paper. She picked up her pencil in her magic and put it on the first line.
“Write as though you were saying the words,” Lemon whispered.
Twilight nodded and did as told. Her pencil began to move and she let her mind pour out.
Luster is avoiding me and I’m worried about why. I know, of course she’d avoid me, but it’s been two days since the alchemy incident and she’s been distant ever since. I don’t know what it’s been like for you girls but every time we have a class together, she tries to avoid even looking at me. Did I really hurt her feelings that much? I didn’t mean to, and I want to tell her I’m sorry, but if she’s that angry about it then maybe I shouldn’t?
Twilight paused as she considered bringing up the other point. She decided to preface it and kept writing.
And there’s something else, something I really don’t want to consider but I can’t get it out of my head. It’s possible Luster could be the one causing my dreams about Sunset. I don’t know how or why, but she’s really secretive about her thesis and I know it’s on mental magic. It’s circumstantial evidence, entirely too little to accuse her of anything and I don’t even really believe it’s her. But just the possibility is unsettling and I can’t shake it. I don’t want to think about a friend this way. What does it say about ME that I’m so suspicious of her for such flimsy reasons? And what does it say about our friendship? Am I a bad friend? How can I even try to apologize to Luster if this is how I’m thinking of her?
She set her pencil down and inhaled. “Done.”
“Feel better?”
“No.” Twilight leaned forward and looked past Lemon. Moondancer sat on the other side of her, paying rapt attention to the lecture. Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Luster didn’t take Advanced Astronomy; it was just the three of them. I’ll be seeing them in Magical Geology in the afternoon. I hope. Luster hasn’t sat with us all week in other classes. She likely won’t today, either.”
“We’ll talk about it later, I promise,” Lemon whispered.
Twilight nodded. “I’ll try to pay attention now. Thanks.”
“Of course.”
Twilight picked up her pencil again and did her best to concentrate on Dr. Turner’s words.
“If it is indeed a matter of relative positionings of the planets and entirely unrelated to sun exposure, then ought we to expect an inverse relation at an opposite position?” Dr. Turner chuckled. “Well, that is where the most curious thing was discovered…”
Lemon finished reading and offered the paper back to Twilight. “You’re right to be concerned about Luster’s feelings. Whatever her thesis is about, clearly it’s a touchy subject for her.”
Walking next to her down the halls of SGU, Twilight took the paper, folded it, and slipped it into her saddle bag. “And the second part?”
Lemon’s brow creased. “If you sincerely think Luster could be behind your dreams, then to be honest, no, it doesn’t reflect well on you.” When Twilight looked away she quickly continued, “But, I think your concern is more about you wanting to be sure it isn’t Luster rather than genuine suspicion. It’s always off-putting to think a friend could be doing something behind your back.”
On the other side of Twilight, Moondancer spoke up. “Having been there for the discussion, I agree with Lemon Hearts. True, Luster is the most viable candidate for who could be behind the dreams, but you’ve not even begun vetting other possible candidates. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you are able to quickly rule her out, given how circumstantial the evidence against her is.”
“I know.” The three reached the stairwell doors and pushed them open. “So, what should I do?” Twilight asked as they descended the stairs.
“Talk to Luster,” Lemon said simply. “About the argument and the dreams.”
Twilight recoiled. “Just, bring the dreams up to her directly?”
“Not in an accusing way.” Lemon shook her head. “Just explain to her that you’ve been having odd dreams and you’re wondering if she has some insights.”
Moondancer pursed a lip. “Come to think of it, did you ever tell Luster about the dreams?”
“No. I brought them up to you girls because I wasn’t sure what to make of them. And then once Luster and I began to really get along, I wasn’t asking around about them anymore.”
Lemon nodded. “Then, from her perspective, if we presume her innocence – and we should – she has no idea why you might be suspicious of her. You’re just a friend having some unusual dreams and you’re wondering if a friend who is studying mental magic could have any ideas on them.”
“So, lie?” Twilight frowned. “I don’t know…”
“It’s not pleasant, but it’s perhaps the best option,” Lemon said. “Lying to one’s friends is rarely advisable. But a white lie to spare feelings is sometimes the preferable course to blunt honesty. Especially in circumstances like this where you and Luster are already not talking. If you come right out and tell her you’re suspicious of her, even if you don’t really believe that it’s her, it will just do more damage to your friendship.”
“...You’re right.” Twilight took a breath as they exited the stairwell and headed for the cafeteria. “I told Twinkleshine about it last night and she said I should just be open with Luster about it, and whatever happens, happens. I didn’t like the sound of that, either.”
“Yeah, she would say that.” Lemon rolled her eyes.
Twilight turned her head at the tone in her voice. “Pardon?”
“Nevermind.” Lemon waved a hoof. “It’s not worth thinking about anymore.”
As they passed the entrance of the building, Twilight stepped away. “I have to skip lunch today to hit the library.”
Moondancer adjusted her glasses. “What for?”
“There’s a couple books on mental magic I want to check out. Not specifically related to Luster, just for possible leads into dream magic. I still have a thesis to do, after all.”
“Sounds good.” Lemon waved. “Good luck!”
Twilight waved back and turned forward. She hopped down the small flights of stairs to the doors and exited outside. She opted to trot across the grass to reach the library and avoid the usual crowd of students moving around the central fountain.
Dream magic… I’ve never really given much thought to it before. Now, it’s the central subject of my research and my personal life. She passed through the doors of the Royal Canterlot Archives and headed towards the card catalog, pulling aside to let two students going out pass her. She reached the balcony overlooking the central study area and paused to scan the students below.
The last time I was here with Luster, I saw a vision of Sunset down there. Today there was nothing. She walked along the balcony and then turned to look down parallel rows of shelves, and followed them until she saw the plaque for mental magics. She looked down the shelves and took a breath before going down them.
The books in each section were organized by number, of course, but in turn they were numbered so as to be separated into subtopics. So it was that the shelves marked ‘7.14.’ were almost entirely about magic related to dreams and sleep. Twilight looked over the spines.
Luster may have been here as recently as this morning in this same section. She pulled out one of the books she was looking for and examined it. If she was, then… She turned the book over, flipped open the back cover, and pulled out the card. Various different colored inks had stamped the student ID numbers for past borrowers down rows of lines.
One of those could be Luster’s… Twilight put the card back, closed the book, and slipped it into her saddle bag. She closed her eyes and took a breath.
One of us is being a horrible friend. And I’m not sure which one would make me feel better.
She shook her head and looked back at the shelf. Well, I’m going to find out soon enough. She found the next book on her reading list and pulled it down.
Twinkleshine swallowed her mouthful of food and smiled. “Professor Gleam assured me that emeralds are the best gemstones to use for high-level compression runes. I’m going to head out on the weekend to see what the costs run on magical ones. If I can find a good quality gem, even just a small one, I can do some early testing.”
“Great!” Minuette grinned at her from across the lunch table. “I had some promising results with my taste-testing, but also a few hiccups. Thanks again for helping me, Moondancer.”
“Certainly.” Moondancer nodded and poked a fork into her salad.
“Uh, girls?”
The four mares turned their heads, Minuette leaning back to see better.
A few hooves away from their table, Luster Dawn stood with a tray of food beside her. She awkwardly smiled and took a step closer. “Hi...um, can I sit here?”
“Of course you can, Dawny!” Minuette pushed a chair out from the table.
“Thank you.” Luster stepped closer and slid her tray onto the table before climbing into the chair. She coughed lightly. “I know I’ve been avoiding you girls lately. I’d like to just, stop doing that, if it’s okay.”
Lemon nodded. “You didn’t do anything to us, Luster. Whatever reason you had for needing space, if it’s settled, then we’re happy to have you back.”
“Actually, about that.” Luster looked around the table. “Has anypony seen Twilight? I checked the lines and didn’t see her.”
Moondancer glanced at Minuette and saw her catch her look before she spoke. “She had to go to the library. She’s changed her thesis subject.”
“Oh. Okay, then.” Luster nodded and turned her attention to her food, swirling a spoon in a bowl of soup.
“Is it something urgent?” Lemon asked.
“No, no. Well, yes… no.” Luster frowned. “I just need to talk to her about some stuff. Privately. Important stuff, but private stuff. So… you know.”
Twinkleshine nodded. “We gotcha. Sorry she ain’t here.”
“It’s fine. I’ll see her, eventually.” Luster lifted her spoon to her lips and blew on it. She kept her eyes trained on it as she whispered, “Somepony please end this awkward silence.”
Lemon spoke up brightly. “Dr. Turner’s class today was really insightful. A lot of what he covered could be applied directly to my thesis.”
The table fell back into conversation. Even as she listened to Lemon, Luster’s eyes kept straying to the sixth, empty chair at the table. She inhaled deeply and dipped her spoon back into her soup.
I’m sorry, Twilight.