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// 2. Cautious Entry 
// Story: I Felt, Therefore I Was 
// by Cynical 
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The Journal of Twilight Sparkle – 17th October 1007

Research has been progressing slowly. It is hard to find ponies that are willing to answer these questions and harder to find a book which contains the answers that I am seeking. I could well just ask my mentor or her sister; but this is my own project and I would like to complete it without turning to the two of them for help.

I should probably explain what I’ve been trying to research. Myself and my assistant have been searching through this library and the streets of the local town, looking for answers for the question on just what exactly feelings are; a search which is proving somewhat fruitless at the moment as I have previously explained. A general average was produced, saying that feelings could not be explained, only felt, first-hoof.

I myself know this to be a mistruth, but my research requires me to see just what the public thinks a feeling is. My next stage in the research is going to be looking at the true definition of feelings and what exactly causes them, a fact which I shall provide an explanation on now. The pony brain – or any brain – is a wonderful miracle of biological happenstance. It contains billions upon billions of synapses and receptors, each pertaining to a base control upon the body.

Somewhere within those billions and billions, there is a combination, maybe more, that corresponds to ‘happy’. There is a combination that matches the emotion ‘sad’. There may well be a combination which matches the feeling of ‘love’. Once these patterns have been recognised or derived from patterns, it should be relatively simple to create a spell which can influence these patterns and their order.

Once again, my assistant has been more than willing to volunteer for these tests. I am worried about them though… this is magic of the sort that not even I understand, yet they have been more than eager to offer themselves up as living bait for the shark-infested waters of magic that I am exploring.

I shall have to think of a solution to this problem in due course.

To the success of the project,
Twilight Sparkle.