Twilight Sparkle tightly hugged her backpack as the school bell rang and her class was dismissed. She peeked her head through the open door and glanced from side to side, then darted across the hall and into the library. With her back to the wall, she quietly sidestepped until she found herself peacefully standing in the most secluded section filled with outdated encyclopedias.

“No one should be coming back here anytime soon,” she muttered to herself as she sat down and unzipped her bag.

From within she pulled out one of Sunset Shimmer’s boot socks that she managed to swipe from the locker room while her friend was otherwise distracted. “Jackpot,” she squeaked as she hugged onto it.

Twilight, what are you doing? she asked herself as she held the sock with her thumb and index finger. This is a tool meant to be used for research only. Put it away.

Her hand shook as she attempted to place it back into her backpack, then her other hand grabbed her wrist and pushed to no avail. Giving into temptation, she forcefully pressed the sock against her face and sniffed deeply. The scent filled her lungs and sent chills through her entire body. She then dragged the sock over her lips and down her neck, sliding it past the first button of her shirt and into the middle strap of her bra.

The sound of distant giggling broke Twilight’s concentration and she shook her head. The sudden urge to stuff the sock into her mouth crossed her mind, and she cringed. Come on, Twilight. Pull yourself together! she thought, scolding herself.

She removed the sock from her shirt and gave it one last whiff before stuffing it into her bag. “Okay. This is my free period. Time to get to work.”

Twilight stood up and then picked between her lips and teeth, pulling a small ball of lint from her mouth. She cringed and fell to her knees. This is getting out of hand, she thought.

I can’t make sense of any of this. Why is it that everytime I feel Sunset Shimmer near me, it’s almost as if I can taste her in the air. She makes my mouth water when she talks to me, and my stomach turns when she touches me. I can’t seem to remember when I started developing these feelings, but I do know that something strange is causing them. Only a week ago, I was unsure whether or not Sunset was someone I’d even be able to actually be friends with, and now I think she’s the most amazing creature ever to grace my existence with her flawless presence. This isn’t a crush. This is some kind of magic.

Everyday I go on like this, the pull is getting stronger. I feel myself getting bolder around her, and I know that sooner or later something dramatic is going to happen between us, especially now that I know she’s experiencing the same thing that I am. This has to be stopped… but I’m afraid that at this point a large part of me doesn’t want it to stop. Maybe if I can solve this, then…

Maybe I should just give in. Maybe the answer lies in lying with Sunset. Maybe I don’t care about an answer after all… Maybe she’s all I care about.

No! Come on Twilight! Keep a straight head and focus.

Twilight Sparkle walked into her makeshift laboratory provided by Celestia. She used it to conduct personal research projects during her free periods.

“Hey there, Spike.” Twilight pet her dog as she took a seat and pulled the sock from her bag.

She placed it on her desk and grabbed a modified multimeter, then began prodding it in multiple locations while carefully watching the gauges’ fluctuations. Nothing significant registered on her device. She lifted the sock and placed it beneath her nose, then touched herself with the measuring device. Once again, she was left disappointed.

“This doesn’t make any sense. There has to be some sort of magical reaction going on that isn’t detectable by conventional means. All the magic I’ve encountered before was a type of electromagnetic frequency with the potential of being extrapolated. If this is a new type of magic, then I won’t even know where to begin.” Twilight planted her head onto her desk and sobbed. “This is hopeless…”

“Aw, hey. Don’t give up so easily now,” Spike said as he stretched his hind legs. “So I take it you still got the hots for Sunset, and still can’t figure out why, huh?”

Twilight groaned and mumbled against her arm.

“Sorry, Twilight. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.” Spike stepped in a circle, then plopped down on his stomach.

Twilight leaned up with a sticky-note stuck to her forehead. “Thanks, Spike. I’ve already learned a lot about magic thanks to you, remember? It seems that it flows between points that are connected by invisible lines. The waveform of your magic matches Fluttershy’s perfectly, so in some way you guys are connected now. I wonder if when I was pulled into Sunset’s magical energy field, and grabbed her hand, if…” she trailed off.

“Hmm. If what?” Spike asked.

Twilight glanced up as gravity slowly peeled the sticky note off of her head, and she giggled, snatching it out of the air. On it was a crude drawing of a sphere of magic with a vast web of strings being emitted from the center. “If when I took her hand, some kind of magic within us may have fused and created some kind of hybrid point of magic.”

“I dunno, Twilight. I think maybe you just actually have the hots for Sunset, and you’re using all of this magic mumbo-jumbo as an excuse to deny your true feelings.” Spike nodded and grinned.

“Ugh, Spike! That’s not it and you know it!” Twilight buried her face into her arms and squeezed her eyes shut. “But still, I don’t know nearly enough about how magic works to even begin formulating these absurd hypotheses.”

Spike rolled his eyes and bit down on a toy bone, growling. “Well,” he said, muffled by his chew toy. “It sounds to me like you and Sunset are gonna have to work this one out together. Just explain the situation and I’m sure she’ll understand. She seems pretty nice.”

Twilight looked up and nodded with a slight smile. “Maybe you’re right. School’s about to let out, anyway. I should go catch up with her and let her know what I think.”

“Great!” Spike shouted.

“But what if when I see her, I can’t control myself and I…” Twilight gulped. “What if we both lose control. This is an intense magic, Spike. I’m not sure I have it in me to fight it for much longer.”

“Ew… if you two are gonna go all kissy-faces, count me out. Nap time.” Spike curled up and faced away.

“Gee, thanks a lot, Spike.” Twilight huffed and spun around in her chair. “Wish me luck…”

“Yeah yeah. Good luck.” Spike shooed her away.

Twilight stood up and brushed herself off, then headed out into the hallway. She walked towards the gymnasium and fixed her frazzled hair, then straightened her clothing out. Within moments, the bell rang and students flooded the hallways, and sure enough, Sunset appeared from the locker room door carrying her backpack over one shoulder.

Twilight licked her lips as she watched Sunset walking, her hair in a ponytail and dressed in gym shorts and a tight tee-shirt. “How was volleyball practice?” she asked as soon as Sunset was near enough to hear.

“Pretty good. Thanks,” Sunset said as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. “So… you ready to talk?”

Twilight’s legs grew weaker as she eyed Sunset’s glistening wrist, then the sweatband around her forearm. “Can I please… please… just one quick sni--” she stifled herself and cleared her throat. “Yes. Can I walk you home while we chat?”

Sunset blushed and glanced down at Twilight’s shoes. “Okay, sure.”

Twilight led the way through the hallway and to the front doors of the school. They each stepped outside and made their way down the stairs towards the street, where Sunset pointed.

“My place isn’t too far down the road from here. Just a few blocks.” Sunset stretched her back and cracked her neck. “Don’t you live in the opposite direction?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, but it’s alright since I take the bus anyway. I’ll walk with you and find a bus stop along the way.”

Sunset nodded as they walked side by side down the sidewalk. “So…”

“Right.” Twilight balled her fist and took a deep breath. “I was thinking that we’re both possessed by some kind of magical spell, or more specifically, a kind of force field within ourselves that is magnetically pulling us together in a magical sense.”

Sunset placed her fingers to her chin. “Okay? So what makes you think that?”

“Well you know, you inhaling my breath from the balloon and me sniffing your sock uncontrollably; it's almost as if we're trying to consume each other's essence.”

“Wait. You have my sock?” Sunset asked with a scowl.

“Yeah, sorry. I needed it to try and confirm a theory,” Twilight answered and blushed.

“But you couldn't, and now you have a new crackpot theory.” Sunset groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Look… It’s the only thing I really have to go on. I know I don’t know much about magic, but magic is all I’ve been devoting my research time towards. I’ve learned a little bit about it, and this is the only thing that makes even a little bit of sense right now.” Twilight nodded adjusted her glasses.

“Do you have any idea why it happened to us? Or how to fix it?” Sunset asked.

“I think something was triggered when you… when you saved me from myself, that night. I entered into a field of your magic, and my best guess is that it tethered itself to me somehow, and that our magical auras are being fused together,” Twilight explained. “I’m having a lot of trouble trying to measure anything regarding this phenomenon, and I’m not sure what the ultimate consequences will be if we let it carry on this way.”

Sunset shook her head and shrugged. “This all sounds like a lot of speculation. Do you have anything solid to go on?”

“No.” Twilight sighed. “Like I said, this is just my best guess based on what I’ve seen so far. I suppose it really doesn’t matter if I can’t arrive at anything conclusive. I’m afraid I just don’t have the equipment needed to take the proper measurements. I’m not sure that equipment even exists at all…”

Sunset rubbed her eyes and groaned loudly. “Well this was a waste of time.”

Twilight looked down and stopped walking. “You’re right…”

Sunset paused and glanced back, her heart instantly shattering as she saw a teardrop sliding down Twilight’s cheek. “Whoa, wait. I’m sorry, Twilight. You have more information than I ever would have gathered, and at least it’s a starting point to figuring this out.”

“But it isn’t enough. I don’t know how much time we… have…” Twilight gulped as Sunset’s finger brushed the tear from her face. “...left.”

Twilight closed her eyes and leaned into Sunset’s hand, nuzzling her wrist. “This is too much,” she said with bated breath. “I’m not going to be able to control myself.”

Sunset stepped forward and pulled Twilight’s head against her chest, then pressed her face into her hair and inhaled deeply. “So don’t.”

“Oh my,” Twilight said with a tremble as she found her face pressed against Sunset’s ample chest, her mouth watering. “N-not here on the street corner…”

Sunset reached down and lifted Twilight’s chin until they were face to face. They locked eyes and their minds went blank, their noses inching closer and closer together, until their lips touched.

Sunset’s hands shook as she reached up behind Twilight’s head and pulled her face against her own, parting her lips and pushing her tongue into Twilight’s mouth.

“Mhmm,” Twilight moaned with a giggle as she greeted Sunset’s tongue with her own.

Any sense of gracefulness was absent from their kiss as lustful passion overtook their bodies. Sunset ran her fingers through her friend’s hair and grasped onto it, pulling her head back as she lapped away in Twilight’s open mouth. Twilight tilted her head and ran her tongue against Sunset’s teeth as her hands tightly squeezed her rear end.

Honk honk, a passing car stopped at the corner and beeped its horn.

Twilight and Sunset each came to their senses and backed away from each other, their faces wet and glistening.

“Right on!” a pink girl with neon green and yellow hair shouted from the passenger seat of a white car, while a white girl with electric blue hair gave a big thumbs up, then drove off.

Sunset hid her face and bit her lip, her heart racing. “What just happened?”

“I… I don’t know. How could we let ourself just lose control like that?” Twilight wiped her mouth and shivered beneath the warm sunlight.

Sunset wiped the wetness from her lips with two fingers, then stuck them in her mouth, her eyes widening and losing focus. A wobbly smile slid onto Twilight’s face as she watched Sunset licking her own fingers, then she rapidly shook her head back and forth.

“Snap out of it!” she shouted.

Sunset wiped her fingers on her shirt and shook her head. “Twilight… it’s almost scary how badly I want you right now.”

“I know,” Twilight said. “How is it possible to want something so bad but at the same time want it to go away? I’m so confused.”

“I’m not sure, but…” Sunset blushed and looked up towards the sky. “I’m not sure that I want it to go away anymore.”

Twilight huffed and covered her face with her hands. “Me neither…”

Sunset chuckled and rubbed her chin. “So then… how about you come over to my place and we work this mess out together? Who knows, maybe once we let it all out, the spell, or magic, or whatever will be broken and we can go back to normal.”

Twilight coyly grinned and dug the toe of her shoe into the ground. “I doubt that it’ll do anything but make our situation worse… but I really can’t say no right now. Let’s do it!”

“Yes!” Sunset jumped up with her fist in the air. “Come on, we’re almost there!”

Sunset Shimmer grabbed Twilight’s hand and dragged her down the street towards a small but luxurious looking apartment complex. Sunset led her through a gate and into one of the buildings after punching in a security code.

“You live here?” Twilight asked, her eyes locked on Sunset’s hand the whole time.

“Yes I do.” Sunset offered a smile as they jogged up the stairs. “I brought over a sack of gold coins from Equestria, and it was worth a heck of a lot more here than there. So I went back and emptied my vault. I’m pretty well off for the time being.”

Twilight’s mind wandered. “Equestria…”

“Home sweet home,” Sunset said as she unlocked her door and nudged Twilight inside. “Allow me to give you the grand tour.”