//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Dreams' Horizon // by DrakeyC //------------------------------// “This doesn’t make any sense.” Twilight grunted and held the small white crystal in her grasp up to the ceiling lamp. “It must be a trick of the light.” Moondancer shook her head. “Twilight, I assure you, the crystal is the exact same color it has always been.” “Which is impossible!” Twilight floated the crystal down. “You’re sure you enchanted it properly?” “Yes, Twilight. It’s a perfectly functional thaumometer. I’ve done this many times before.” “Then how is it still white?” Twilight sat on Moondancer’s bed in her small, solo dorm room. Despite being the exact same dimensions as the other single dorms, Moondancer had gotten the most out of the space. Flat, rolling drawers were under her bed, and a corner shelving unit wedged between the wall and window held an alarm clock, a hairbrush, and a glasses case. Hinged on the wall on the other side of the bed was a wooden table top. With its foldable legs, one could lower it down and work from their bed, granting them a larger workspace than the room-standard desk offered. It was currently folded up against the wall, revealing a whiteboard and a mirror that had been screwed into its underside. Even at her best, Twilight couldn’t be so space-efficient in her organization. Sitting at her desk, Moondancer gave a small shrug. “If its color has not changed, then you have not been exposed to any sources of outside magic. It’s insulated against your magic and mine since we were the ones handling it but no one else’s. If any sort of magic came into contact with it, it would change color.” “I know.” Twilight rubbed her hooves into her face and fell back. The crystal zipped around Moondancer and hovered over Twilight. “I dreamed of Sunset. So why didn’t it detect the magic of the spell?” “I don’t know.” The aura around the crystal flickered and it fell onto the bed. Twilight frowned and nudged it with her hoof. “Obviously, there’s something I’m missing here.” “May I?” The crystal lit up pale pink and floated towards Moondancer. She looked it over and adjusted her glasses. “The thaumometer spell is still functional. I could ask somepony else to examine it and prove it would react to their magic, but then it would be useless as a baseline and we’d need to make another.” “It’s useless already,” Twilight muttered. “I kept it right next to my head. I would have taped it to my horn if I had to. Why didn’t it detect anything?” “A fair question.” The crystal floated back to Twilight and set down in front of her. “I could wager two possibilities. One, the source of this magic is actually you, and the crystal did not react to it for that reason.” Twilight sat up, a small frown on her face. “That’s impossible.” “Is it?” Moondancer held up a hoof. “Can you be absolutely certain you haven’t done anything subconsciously or by accident?” “No, but if I did it subconsciously or accidentally, how would I even know?” Twilight shook her head. “I can say with certainty that I have no idea how dream magic works. I’ve never looked up any books about it until all of this began in the first place. So if this is all my own doing, then I’m way smarter than I thought.” Moondancer nodded. “With that possibility ruled out, then there is only one viable alternative – the dreams aren’t magic.” “That…” Twilight looked up at the ceiling. “No.” “Why ‘no’?” “I can tell, this is something special.” “Pardon my bluntness, Twilight, but that is hardly reliable evidence to base a conclusion on.” “I know. But…” Twilight closed her eyes. “Moondancer, you haven’t had dreams like this. I can’t explain it, not in words.” “I have had exceptionally vivid dreams before.” “No, not the vividness. Everything about them feels… different.” She grunted. “I know, it sounds weak. But trust me, these aren’t normal dreams.” “You’re not even going to entertain the possibility?” “I have already and decided no.” “I see.” She heard Moondancer take a breath and her chair squeak. “Alright, start over. What do you know within a reliable degree of certainty?” Twilight lowered her head to look at Moondancer again. “Ever since the start of the school year, I’ve been having dreams about a mare named Sunset Shimmer. Her personality, personal history, and appearance are extremely consistent across multiple dreams.” She furrowed her brow. “I’ve done all I can to rule out the possibility of somepony else at the school being a stand-in for Sunset. Including asking them to meet with me directly. She seems too real a pony to be a figment of my imagination, but if she really exists, I’ve exhausted all possible means of investigating who she could be.” Moondancer nodded. “That is indeed a conundrum…” Twilight looked down at her hooves curled under herself. “I admit I can’t entirely dismiss the idea that this is all in my head. Even my feelings that this is something strange and distinct could be influenced by whatever neuroses are causing the dreams too. But I don’t think that’s the answer. I mean, even a crazy pony would recognize they’re going crazy, wouldn’t they?” “You’re not going crazy, Twilight. You’ve been acting like your normal self living your normal life for months. If these dreams were some symptom of a deeper mental problem, I’d expect it to have an effect on your behavior other than unusual dreams.” Moondancer tilted her head. “Though I’m hardly a psychologist or social expert. Lemon Hearts may have more insight there.” “I’ll ask her, maybe. What about you?” Twilight lifted her head. “Any ideas?” Moondancer leaned back in her chair and let her eyes wander. Twilight waited patiently as her friend thought for several seconds. “Well...if the cause is not magical, nor psychological...perhaps it is something scientific.” Twilight’s ears perked. “Scientific?” Moondancer turned her eyes her way. “You recall I told you that my thesis concerns Hoofenberg’s uncertainty principle?” Twilight blinked. “...Yes. Those are words you have said before.” “I know. It’s rather difficult to explain without going into detail.” Moondancer held up a hoof. “The point is, it’s part of quantum mechanics. You know what that is, right?” “A very confusing and complex field of physics?” “Yes, that is absolutely correct.” Moondancer’s eyes gleamed. “But it’s a fascinating field of study as well. It’s like trying to figure out the rules to a game as you play, but the game is existence itself. And–” “Pardon me.” Twilight held up a hoof. “What does that have to do with Sunset Shimmer?” Moondancer composed herself and lightly coughed. “Yes. I was getting to that. One of the cornerstone principles of quantum mechanics is the idea of entanglement: two objects being able to affect each other at great distances, or seeming to affect each other, without any form of apparent connection between them.” Twilight’s mouth cracked open as she pondered the idea. “How?” “We don’t know.” Moondancer held up her hooves. “We have ideas on how it is caused, and there’s some experiments on how to induce an entanglement effect that have not been verified or reproduced yet. But even though we don’t know how it happens, we’ve proven that it does happen.” “Right.” Twilight slowly nodded. “You think maybe somehow, Sunset and I became entangled?” “That’s impossible.” Twilight’s ears flattened and she slumped to the bed. “What?” “Entanglement is only possible on extremely small particles. It has never been observed on merely larger clusters of particles, nevermind a living creature. But even so, entanglement only accounts for correlation between the changes in states of the particles. It’s impossible for any form of information exchange to occur between them. If they were doing so, they would need to send information so fast that we couldn’t detect it, faster than the speed of light.” “This is making my brain hurt…” Twilight reached a hoof up to rub her forehead. “If entanglement isn’t the explanation, why did you suggest it?” Moondancer sighed softly. “I didn’t. I brought it up as a matter of discussion, in order to make a point. To that point, while we don’t know how quantum entanglement occurs, or why, we are certain it is real. On the one hoof, this means that one must understand that some things that are true may have an explanation that lies outside the current bounds of our knowledge. And on the other hoof, if one is presented with such a thing, they must not be dissuaded from seeking that explanation.” Twilight took a breath and lowered her hoof. “So, you’re saying that whatever is happening with me and Sunset, it is real, and it does have an explanation. I just need to try harder to figure it out.” “Precisely.” Moondancer gave a small smile and a sharp nod. “That’s not as encouraging as I think you meant it to be.” Moondancer’s smile faded. ‘Perhaps not. I meant it more in the way of ‘don’t give up’.” “That’s hard when you’ve exhausted every possible explanation.” “I find that unlikely.” Moondancer stood from her chair and approached Twilight. “No offense, but you can’t have explored every possible explanation. If you had, you would be closer to an answer by now. There must be some scrap of evidence you’ve overlooked that is the key to getting answers.” “Maybe…” Twilight sighed and jumped down from the bed. “Thank you for your help. I suppose it can’t hurt to keep the thaumometer near the bed in case it decides to go off.” “I see no harm in that.” Moondancer looked at the clock on her wall. “If you’re feeling better about things now, I have somewhere to be soon.” “Oh!” Twilight looked at the clock and gasped. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you from something!” “You haven’t, yet. I intended to leave in three minutes.” Moondancer moved to her closet and swung the door open. She pulled out a wool red and violent scarf and a set of matching socks. Twilight looked out the window to the trees. With autumn only a few weeks old, they still had most of their leaves and only a few had started to change color. “It’s not that chilly out.” “It’s not for outside, it’s for the arena.” Moondancer lifted a saddle bag out of the closet and dropped her clothing into it. “I’m going ice skating with Luster Dawn.” “Ice skating?” Twilight’s eyebrows lifted. “I didn’t know she skated. Or you.” “We do. We head down to the rink now and then.” Moondancer looked back into the closet and a quartet of white ice skates with rubber guards on the blades floated out to her.  “Oh...good.” Twilight smiled. “Good. Sounds fun.” Moondancer dropped the skates in her other saddle bag and looked up at Twilight. “Not to be rude, but if we’re done, I’d like to lock up and go.” She moved to her desk and opened a drawer to take out more belongings. “Yes, of course. On my way out.” Twilight climbed off the bed, picked up the thaumometer in her magic, and walked to the door. Out in the hall she watched Moondancer step out and retrieve a key from her bags. Twilight bit her lip as the key turned and the latch clicked. Luster and I haven’t really talked outside of class since we made up. At least now I know she has somepony to hang out with besides me. But we could do these sorts of things too. I think. She’s never asked me to go skating, or to do anything really. She furrowed her brow. Have I ever even asked her to do anything outside of school-related things? She thought back. “Have a good afternoon.” Moondancer’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts and Twilight watched her walk down the hall. “Could I come?” “Hm?” Moondancer looked back at her. “I didn’t know you skated.” Twilight trotted up to her. “I don’t, actually. But maybe they have spares I could use?” She rubbed her neck. “I’d kind of just like to see Luster. We’re still smoothing things over, I think.” “I see.” Moondancer nodded. “I can’t speak for how she’ll react, but I have no objections.” “Great! Um, just let me run up to my room and put this back and I’ll see you outside!” Twilight ran down the hall to the stairwells, the thaumometer crystal hovering beside her. “Grab something warm to wear!” Moondancer called back at her. “And hurry, we have a long way to walk!” Twilight frowned as she climbed the stairs. ‘A long way’? Where’s the rink? “This is where you go ice skating?” Twilight tilted her head and stared. The sign overhead read ‘Canterlot Winter Recreations Arena’. But the fact that it was in front of a large cave entrance into the mountains of Canterlot baffled her. “Yes.” Moondancer kept walking as Twilight stopped to consider the sign. “The mountain is a naturally colder environment, so it’s easier to keep the ice rinks frozen. And they can tap into Canterlot’s water systems for the ice.” “Makes sense.” Twilight pulled her deep purple scarf tighter around her neck and followed Moondancer inside. The cave was distinctly artificial; it narrowed into a straight-angled hallway soon after the entrance, though still wide enough for crowds to move through easily. Shining crystals embedded in the ceiling lit the way as the path began to curve down and to the left, and then turned into a wide staircase. Twilight felt the air growing colder as she descended the steps. She let out a breath and watched the puff of vapor disperse. The stairs emerged into a brightly lit cavern. Small streams of water ran down inlets in the walls and over growths of colored crystals, creating scenery from the cave’s natural features. A few vending machines and magazine racks lay against one wall, and rows of seats formed two aisles down the room’s length. The back wall had a counter with an attendant reading a newspaper. Passageways branched off with signs next to them; Twilight saw a locker room, a cafeteria, and signs indicating they led to an ice rink with a specific use. “There she is.” Moondancer pointed a hoof across the room. Luster sat in a cushioned red chair, peering at a magazine in her lap. A set of faded and worn red skates sat on the floor by her hooves, and she was wearing a thick yellow vest. Twilight smiled and waved. “Luster!” Luster raised her head and smiled; Twilight noticed her smile flicker for a moment, but it didn’t fade. “Twilight, Moondancer! Hey.” She set the magazine down on the table in front of her and hopped out of the chair. “Hello.” Moondancer nodded as the two came closer. “I hope you don’t mind, Twilight wanted to come.” Luster’s eyebrows raised but she shook her head. “I didn’t expect to see her calling to me, but no, this is fine.” She turned to Twilight. “I didn’t know you skated.” “I don’t.” Twilight coughed. “I mean, I didn’t, before. But I am going to. Now. Soon. I’m going to try, anyway.” She grinned widely. “Here”. Moondancer pulled her purse out of her saddle bags and looked through it. “The attendant will loan you a set of skates.” She held four bits out towards Twilight. “Oh.” Twilight winced. “I didn’t realize the rentals would cost money. Of course they would. Sorry.” “It’s fine. Go, grab some skates. I have to lock up my bags.” The magic aura shifted shades as Twilight took the offered bits and approached the counter. She heard Luster’s voice behind her. “You wouldn’t need to rent a locker if you just brought what you needed with you.” Twilight glanced to the side and watched Luster and Moondancer enter the locker room. “I like to be prepared. Never know.” Twilight turned back to the counter ahead of her and stepped closer. A mare with a curled brown mane and pale white coat sat reading a newspaper. Behind her were rows of shelves with skates, pads, helmets, and other equipment in them. “Excuse me?” The mare lifted her head, and then smiled and stood up straight. “Hello! What can I help you with?” “I need a set of skates, please.” Twilight slid the bits Moondancer had given her on the counter. “Certainly.” The attendant took the offered bits in an aura of light blue magic and stepped down from her chair. “What size shoe are you?” “Four.” The attendant gently hummed to herself as she walked to the shelves. She lifted a set of four skates from a shelf and then came back to the counter. She unclipped a small red token with a number on it from one of the skates and then held them out to Twilight. “Bring them back before you leave to receive a fifty percent refund.” “Thank you.” Twilight gave a polite nod, took the skates in her magic, and turned to head to the locker room. She looked at the skates she had been given: they were dull yellow, one of them had a lace that didn’t match the others, and all four had clearly seen their share of use with cracks and tears in the material. But they were still in one piece, and the blades looked sharp at least. She passed the door to the lockers and followed the short hallway to the left. “You could have asked me.” She stopped in place at the sound of the voice. Luster? “She sprang it on me at the last moment. I didn’t think you would mind.” “I don’t. Just, could have asked. I thought it would just be the two of us like usual.” Twilight slumped. Of course. What was I thinking? I pretty much invited myself to something they had planned together. Way to go, Twilight. She slapped a hoof to her face and grunted. I should just go home… no, then they’ll wonder where I went and I’d have to explain it if they asked tomorrow. She took a breath. Make the best of this for them, then. She put on a small smile and walked around the wall. “Hey, got my skates.” Rows of lockers and benches stretched before her. A few hooves down, Moondancer put her bags into a locker, removed a key from a hook on the inside of the door, and then shut the door.  Sitting on the bench, Luster looked at Twilight and waved. “We’re just about done here.” “Good.” Twilight waited as the two picked up their skates and joined her at the door, and then swept a hoof back the way she had come. “Lead on.” She let herself drift behind the two as they returned to the lobby and moved towards the passageway with a sign marking it for skating. The passage quickly gave way to a set of stairs down. As they descended, Twilight felt the air grow even colder and she re-wrapped her scarf to cover herself better. The short path at the end of the stairs opened onto a large ice rink. A few dozen ponies, many of them with foals, were already on the ice. The circumference of the rink was surrounded by a barrier with chairs and benches behind them. The walls of the cavern curved overhead, more crystals embedded in it to emit light, as well as non-luminous colored crystals to provide decoration. Moondancer and Luster stopped by the entrance to the rink and sat down to pull on their skates. Luster lifted her head to look out. “More ponies here than last time.” “Colder weather is coming closer, time to brush up,” Moondancer replied. Twilight glanced to the side where there was an opening to the seating area around the rink. “I’m gonna have a seat and work up my courage to give it a try. You two have fun.” She put a hoof on the short step to pull herself up. “You sure?” Luster asked. “We could help you learn.” “I’m sure.” Twilight looked back at her and nodded. “Just, having second thoughts, maybe. I’ll come out when I’m ready.” “Alright.” Moondancer stood up and finished lacing up her skates. “See you out there.” She stepped onto the ice and with a few movements of her hooves had slid away. Luster moved into the rink as well and turned to Twilight. She smiled and nodded before skating off. Alone, Twilight set her skates on the floor and sat on the bench, her ears flat and her eyes staring at the floor. “Why did I have to do this?” she groaned and rubbed her face. “I pride myself on being such a good friend to Luster, and then we have one argument and I’m totally fumbling about how to get on her good side again.” She lifted her head and propped her chin on a hoof. She saw Moondancer and Luster circling the far side of the rink, side by side. Moondancer was saying something, and after a moment Luster smiled and laughed. I had no business butting in. Twilight turned away from them to watch some mare who was showing her foal how to stay balanced on their skates. I’ve no idea how to skate, I’ve never had any sense of balance. And this is their time together. She looked at her skates in front of the bench. I should at least pretend I’m trying to learn. But they’d see me and try to help. She leaned back and raised her eyes to the rink. “Maybe I’m just overthinking this… I mean, if Moondancer didn’t want me to come, she’d just say so, right? But then Luster…” Twilight glanced at the hallway and thought back to when she had entered the locker room. “Luster would be too nice to say otherwise. Especially with us just having made up. But I can’t just ask her if I should go now.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m never going to get the hang of this.” She heard a small thump in front of her. “Hey.” She opened her eyes and saw Luster looking at her from the other side of the barricade. A moment later Moondancer slid up next to her. Twilight smiled. “Hey. What’s up?” Luster and Moondancer shared a look before Moondancer spoke. “We wanted to know what you’re moping about.” “What?” Twilight forced a laugh and waved a hoof. “I’m not moping about anything.” “You’re staring at the ground and into space talking to yourself.” Luster shrugged. “That’s usually how it looks.” She slumped. “You saw that, huh?” “And I also heard you grunt when you came into the lockers, so I figured that meant you heard me.” She slumped further. “I’m not good at hiding this stuff, I guess.” “You’re not, no.” Moondancer said calmly. “What’s wrong?” Twilight sat up again. “I’m sorry if I’m intruding on you two. I just thought, Luster and I don’t do much together outside of school, and with us over the argument, maybe we should. But I didn’t realize when I asked to come that this was something you two do, and I was stepping over it.” Luster gently scoffed. “Do you know why I was confused over you being here? Because Moondancer had mentioned that none of you girls skate. That’s why she always came here alone.” Moondancer nodded. “Luster is the better skater between us, so I asked if she could help you learn. She’s never tried to teach another pony how to skate, before.” “So… you two thought I was expecting lessons or something,” Twilight said. “That’s all.” The two mares on the ice nodded. Twilight breathed deeply. “Well, that confirms it. I was overthinking.” “If you want to go, that’s fine,” Moondancer said. “Or,” Luster quickly added, “if you want to stay and have me show you some stuff, that’s fine, too. I don’t mind. Really.” Twilight looked at her skates again. “...Alright. But don’t be surprised when I blow it.” The laces knotting the set together glowed pink and untied, and she began pulling one on. “I won’t be. Took me a long time to get good at it, too,” Luster said gently. Twilight laced up her first skate and wiggled her hoof to make sure it was secure. “Sorry I made our first outing together a downer.” “Don’t be, that makes it even more of a downer.” Twilight caught a bit of humor in Luster’s voice and smiled. Luster continued, “you told me that we’ll be back to normal as friends when we start acting normal around each other again and don’t apologize to each other constantly. How about we expand that definition to include not sitting alone and angsting over how we treat each other?” “Good idea.” Twilight chuckled. “And we are back to normal. This is nothing, it’s just me.” “I hope so.” Moondancer said firmly. “I’m not going to mediate you two or try to get between you if you argue again. Please don’t put me in that position.” Twilight stilled in the process of tying the laces of her next skate. “What?” She looked up. “She’s exaggerating.” Luster rolled her eyes and gave a small glare at her other friend. “We came here during that time we weren’t talking and I may have vented about it. Nothing bad, honest.” She looked back at Twilight and shook her head as she spoke. “Just, you know, I needed to get stuff off my chest.” “I believe you. I understand, I’ve been there.” Twilight went back to her skates. Moondancer nodded. “I just meant that I’d prefer not to have to pick and choose sides if my friends aren’t getting along. I’m here to listen and help if you want it, but I’m not going to be torn between loyalties.” “And we’ll never make you feel that way,” Luster vowed. “I appreciate that you were willing to listen.” “She never said a word to me.” Twilight pulled on her last skate as she spoke and got to her hooves, wobbling a bit as she tied the laces. “I didn’t know you two were still talking, or that you two did this together. But I’m glad you had somepony else if you weren’t talking to me.” “She did. I’m always there for friends.” Moondancer adjusted her glasses. “Now, step onto the ice. Carefully.” Twilight turned and carefully stepped towards the entrance to the rink. She moved one hoof at a time, slowly at first and then a little faster as she got more confident in her balance. When she reached the edge where the ice began she stopped and looked out. “Don’t laugh if I fall on my flank.” “Oh, we will. Hard.” Luster smirked. As she spoke, though, she moved closer to Twilight and held up a hoof. “Come on, once you've got a comfortable balance, it’s easy to get moving.” Twilight took her offered hoof and stepped onto the ice. “By the way, what she said goes for me too, you know.” “Hm?” Twilight looked Luster in the eye. “If you need to talk to me about anything – even about something I did – you can. I’d like to be the kind of friend you can be open about things with. And if you want somepony to hang out with and talk to and get help, you can ask me about that any time, too.” Luster slowly smiled. “Thank you, Twilight. I knew all of that already. But I still appreciate you saying it.” She slid back and let Twilight’s hoof drop to the ice. “Okay, once you’re steady, say so and we’ll start moving. We’ll aim for one lap around the rink without you falling, okay?” Twilight yawned and lifted her head, and saw a blank white void outside the windows of the Royal Archives. She blinked and stood up straight at the table. Again, so soon? “Sunset!” “Twilight?” She turned her head and looked up at the balcony overlooking the study area. She heard Sunset’s hooves running before the familiar orange unicorn poked her head over the side. “Where were you?” Twilight asked, running towards the stairs. “What?” Sunset turned when Twilight reached the top of the stairs and faced her. “Why didn’t you meet me?” Twilight stamped a hoof and glared. “I felt like an idiot!” Sunset gaped. “I was there! I waited until the first bell rang!” “The tree by the dorms?” “Yes!” “No!” Twilight furiously shook her head. “I was waiting there too, and you didn’t show up! Don’t lie to me!” “Why would I lie?” Sunset stepped closer to her and glared. “Don’t pin this on me!” “I will, because you weren’t there!” Twilight snapped. She stared at Sunset and felt her expression soften. “I thought we could finally meet for real. I want to meet you, talk to you, find out more about you! But not in dreams anymore!” Twilight swallowed. “Don’t you want to meet me, too?” Sunset looked confused. “Sure, I guess.” “What do you mean ‘sure’?” Twilight gaped. “I think of you as a friend, and right now a friend is avoiding me! Don’t you care about that? About finding out what’s happening with us?” “Of course I care! How can I not?” Sunset took a few steps away, looking around the shelves. “You think I like having dreams about some crazy mare who thinks I don’t exist or something? I don’t, but it’s gonna keep happening and now she’s asking me questions about my ‘real life’ or something, and that kind of freaks me out. So yeah, let’s figure this out and stop it, hm?” “....What? None of that makes any sense!” Twilight stomped away towards the shelves, then turned back and thrust a hoof towards Sunset. “All I know is that one of us knows what’s going on here, and it isn’t me, so that leaves one option!” “Good luck with that, because I don’t know either!” Sunset threw her hooves up and sat on the floor. “I’ve told my friends about this and they have no idea what I’m talking about. Heck, after you asked me to meet, I even talked to the Princess about this. Spoiler alert – she doesn’t have any ideas, either.” Twilight jerked. “You talked to the Princess?” “That’s what I said,” Sunset held up her hooves. “What else was I supposed to do?” “That…” Twilight looked around the shelves, her eyes darting around. “She has to know...unless she knows it’s about me and was trying to...but then she would have said so, wouldn’t she?” She groaned and began pacing. “I’m confused.” “Yeah, you and me both.” She heard Sunset huff. “Clearly something strange is going on and neither of us understands it, so what do you want from me? I’ve asked my friends, I’ve looked at books on the subject, and then I asked the Princess. So what do we do now? There’s nopony in Equestria who knows more about dream magic than Princess Luna, so if she doesn’t know, who would?” “I don’t know! I’m missing something, but I can’t figure–” Twilight stopped in place. She snapped her head to the side and stared at Sunset. “What did you say?” Sunset glanced at her. “What?” Twilight rushed towards her. “Repeat what you just said!” Sunset backed up, looking at her cautiously. “I said nopony in Equestria knows more about dream magic than the Princess, so if she–” “No!” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Word for word, repeat what–” As she spoke, she instinctively reached out to shake Sunset by the shoulders. As her hooves touched Sunset’s fur, a jolt of energy pulsed through them and the two screamed. Twilight thrashed, felt herself fall, and hit the floor with a hard thud. She writhed under her sheet until she was freed, laying on her back on the floor and staring up at the ceiling. Her chest heaved and she felt her fur sticking to her body with sweat. “Twilight?” She heard Twinkleshine’s voice come from the darkness, sleepy and confused. “You okay?” Twilight nodded, then registered Twinkleshine may not be able to see her. “I’m fine.” She tried to stand but her body refused to move; she felt exhausted. “Just…Sunset…” “Sunset? What’d she do?” “She said she asked... Princess Luna for advice.” She heard Twinkleshine murmur and scratch herself. “Who the hay is that?” “...I don’t know…”