I sat in leg space of the car's front passenger seat. Sunset was driving, her eyelids drooping slightly. I couldn't see what was outside, it wouldn't do for a passerby to randomly look over and see a blue alien horse in the car's passenger seat. Hence my position on the floor. Occasionally however, whenever I bothered to look that is, I could see the taller buildings and lampposts, which were currently off.

"Could I borrow your phone?" I found myself asking.

What are you doing?! You're going to look like a creepy loser who doesn't trust their part-

I felt myself pause at the thought.

My lizard brain informed me that Sunset Shimmer was pretty.

"Uh... Why?" Sunset asked after a moment.

"I want to look at the local news." I responded dumbly.

Smooth.

"Oh." Sunset seemed to think. "Alright fine, here." she adjusted herself in her seat and pulled out her crimson and yellow adorned phone, with its ghost buster prop attachment and held it out for me.

"Thank you." I nodded gratefully as I took it with both hooves.

I quietly sat back down and scrolled through Sunset's phone, using the time to look at the local news.

The Butcher of Flagstaff!

Local Gang devastated by unknown Vigilante!

Federal Agents Swarm Flagstaff!

Disease Outbreak in Wuhan China!

Extraterrestrial Life discovered!

I tapped on a few articles, but the reactions to my endeavors were as one would expect. "Eek! Some lunatic massacred a the local drug cartel! Federal Agents swarm the city in response! Also aliens!"

Exactly as planned.

That wasn't to say their weren't holes in their stories. Namely, the Agents started flooding the area last night, just before, or very soon after my attack. Much too quickly to be in response to that event. I knew they were looking for me, but an article 'congratulated the Federal Agents for their swift response.'

What a joke.

The journalists had all the pieces they could conceivably get, but ignored a very major hole in their own story. Granted, the feds were probably feeding the media lines to say, but I didn't have any way to know that for certain. Ether way, it was very likely that someone would inevitably figure it out, probably a conspiracy theorist, but I would hopefully be long gone by the time anyone listened to them.

"So Sunset..." I started, half to keep the poor girl awake as she drove out of the city. "You said before you found me by my "thaumic field", could you tell me more about that?"

The redhead jumped slightly in her seat, not having expected my outburst, but swiftly composed herself.

"Really? You want to hear about that?" she asked.

"I do." I nodded. "For multiple reasons. To keep you awake for one, to listen to my 'new student's' work for another... And I might have an idea for something."

"Oh." Sunset stated simply, thinking it over. "I'll be honest, I didn't expect you to ask so many questions..."

"Didn't Celestia ask you anything?" I asked, feeling an ear cock itself in confusion.

"Only how I was doing and if I was making friends."

Yeah Sunny, because she was trying to teach you the same thing I am.

How not to be such a total bitch.

"I see." I quietly said. "While I could probably rant for hours about Celestia's flaws, I'd rather hear about thaumic fields and how they can be detected."

"What is there to say? Thaumic fields are pretty basic knowledge."

"Lu-" I started, but then realized I was about to refer to 'myself' in the third person. "I don't have modern knowledge of magic remember? Most of my technical knowledge is Human based."

"Er... Right." Sunset relented. "Thaumic fields is the projection of mana from a source, kinda like the electromagnetic field coming off a magnet, only with people like you and me."

"Then judging by your comments earlier, I assume these fields can be varying strengths?" I asked.

"Uh... Yeah. You're like super strong magnet. A compass with a thaumic component would try to always point towards you... Until a few days ago that is."

"Celestia." I grimly stated.

"Right." Sunset nodded in reply. "Which is massively screwing around with the fields. You mentioned about how they had already found you, but with Celestia around they might not have the ability to trace your location."

"Maybe..." I admitted. "But I don't trust only having one other source of interference. No I have a different idea. Is it possible to suppress your own field? If we keep with the metaphor, to 'turn off the magnet'?"

Sunset quietly chewed on her lip as she turned the car's wheel. The weight of the car shifted slightly.

"Maybe?" she answered uncertainly. "I don't think there's been any studies about that..." she admitted.

"Hmm..." I hummed in thought.

That was disconcerting... But not insurmountable. It just meant I would have to figure it out myself.

If my hypothesis that 'magic' was the same thing as quantum particles, then what little Humanity did know could come in handy... Namely, the double slit experiment.

If, by looking into a box that only had eye holes and two slits in it, you could observe if light particles landed on the bottom of the box like a stream or a wave. But, the very act of observing the light particles changed the result of the experiment. Light is, until observed, in a superposition of both a stream and a wave of light particles. That would mean that observation, and therefore consciousness had a correlation with the quantum particles that affected the particles of light.

Did that also mean, by some method, I could 'quieten' my mind to suppress my own thaumic field?

I scrolled briefly through the phone's home screen, looking for the app she claimed she made.

"Where's your thaumic app?" I asked "I have a theory."

Sunset glanced in my direction with an uncertain look written across her features, but nevertheless reached over and swiftly navigated her own phone to tap on an the screen.

"There." she said. I turned the phone back around.

The phone's screen was now black, but depicted a radioactive green circle pattern that had a single arrow emanating from its center. The arrow was pointing downward.

Directly in my direction if the phone was laying flat.

I started to rotate the phone as Sunset went back to driving. As I rotated the phone, the arrow moved along the circle, always keeping its point directed at me.

Ok, how did one suppress their own consciousness? What even did that mean? Did that mean shutting down everything except base instincts? Or did it mean things like wants and ambitions?

"Uh oh... Looks like the police are checking vehicles leaving the city." Sunset stated, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Can you turn around? They might have thaumic sensors looking for me." I asked.

"Uh..." Sunset turned in her seat, looking around. "No, doesn't look like it. Doesn't look like anyone was expecting them."

"How long is the line?" I asked, feeling my ears pressing themselves against my head.

"Looks like they're sweeping a handheld over vehicles. Taking a minute for each vehicle. I'd bet those are crude thaumic trackers if what you were saying is right."

"Fuck." I cursed softly.

"Can't you just vanish? Like you did to get into the car?" Sunset asked.

"No... Too many eyes, and if they have thaumic trackers they'd probably pick me up." I bit my lip in worry.

The car rolled forward.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

There had to be a way around this!

They obviously knew I was still in the city and that I was capable of hiding in vehicles!

How else could a runaway flee the Mojave so quickly?!

Can't run, I won't fight, especially with so many innocent people around... It had to be possible to get by this! I wasn't going back into Celetia's hooves bound and gagged by fat men who ate donuts for a living!

But how?

Damnit Luna, you were just working on a solution! Just fucking hide!

The car rolled forward.

Yeah, hide in the clean car as a super magnet!

Do you have any other options?!

I glanced over to Sunset.

She was wearing a jacket.

"Sunset... How many layers of clothing are you wearing?" I asked as calmly as I could.

The girl shook her head and looked at me as if I just grew a second head.

"Is- Is now really the time to ask about what I'm wearing?!" she exclaimed quietly.

"What? No!" I replied. "I need something to hide under!"

I felt my face heat up in embarrassment.

My lizard brain informed me once again that she was pretty.

I pushed the thought down as hard as I could.

Too young, too full of herself, and not the time!

"Oh is that all?" Sunset sighed, seemingly relieved. "Here." she reached into the back seat and pulled a folded blanket into the passenger seat proper.

"That'll work thank you." I said as I eagerly took the blanket and started unfolding it.

"Here, use this too." Sunset said as she unzipped her jacket and pulled it off.

"Pile it on top of the blanket when I'm underneath." I stated, now crumpling the blanket in an effort to hide its true volume. I then started to tuck the now crumpled blanket underneath, trying to deliberately make it look like a mess so a casual glance wouldn't notice that it could be hiding a space underneath.

The car rolled forward.

I felt a metal plate scrap against the hard plastic.

Wasn't the armor a magical artifact?

Shit! It had been summoned into existence that fateful night!

I reached into the knowledge left to me of all the spells I had cast the night of my duel with Celestia, and dismissed the shadows that formed the armor.

The hard scrapping stopped.

I felt the weight of Sunset's jacket fall over the blanket that now fully kept me from view.

Ok... How did one suppress their magic? What made up a person's mind and soul?

Heh... For thousands of years, both Humans and Ponies have been asking that question and I had to answer it in minutes.

The thought that Sunset was pretty crossed my mind again. Or rather, how I handled that thought.

Maybe... I didn't have to.

The car rolled forward.

I grabbed hold of my rising panic and shoved it into a steel box in my mind.

I grabbed hold of my analyzing nature and put that into another box.

The stress of my past week? Into a box.

My anger at Celestia? Into a box.

The disgust I felt at myself? Box.

Box.

Shut up, we both know you'll find your way out eventually.

My annoyance at the Other? Box.

The hopelessness of a dead end job? Box.

The loneliness? Box.

The car rolled forward.

Box.

Box.

Box.

Box.

Box.

Box.

Bo-

Nothing rose to demand my attention.

The car rolled forward.

Everything was in a box.

"Good morning officer!" Sunset chirped nearby. "What's with all the fuss?"

"Mornin' Miss." A gruff voice called from the same direction as Sunset. "Dangerous terrorist is on the loose and the feds are having us search every vehicle leaving the area."

"But you haven't been searching the cars? You just wave your phones over them and let them pass."

"Naw Miss. Feds told us that the terrorist might've gotten into some nuclear material. They provided this here Geiger counter to help us look for 'im."

"Oh. Well then scan away officer, I don't have any radioactive materials on me."

"Much obliged Miss."

Footsteps scrapped over blacktop.

"Take your time." Sunset said coolly.

Was it working? Was-

Box.

...

...

...

...

"Alright Miss, you're free to go." the gruff voice stated.

"Thank you officer, good luck finding that terrorist." Sunset chirped happily.

"Thank ye Miss. Ain't expecting to though. Feds are really itching to find that psycho that murdered that gang. They're tying up the city tighter than a turkey on Thanksgiving."

"Hey, just means you get paid to do nothing all day." Sunset replied.

"Fair enough. It's not too hot out here anymore... Have a good day Miss!"

"You too!" Sunset chirped.

The car rolled forward, and didn't stop.

The quiet whir of the window rolling up sounded.

"Don't come out yet, we're not out of range of their 'Geiger counters'." Sunset commented casually. "What a load of shit. Bet that pig has never even seen a real Geiger counter..." The girl trailed off.

The car began to pick up speed, and we left the city on the edge of the Mojave behind.

Bit of an explanation, I'm using the "magicless state of mind" as an allegory for depression. Especially depression caused by chronic bottling up your emotions. Obviously you don't feel your emotions, you're bottling them up after all, but it can feel like you stop being a person. Which is where the thaumic theory comes in. If you stop feeling like a person, you stop projecting a thaumic field.

No, before you ask. DO NOT DO THIS. It's not healthy!

Speaking as someone who dealt with early childhood trauma by just ignoring my emotions, seriously don't do it. Short term use sucks, long term use will seriously fuck you up.

I'll admit I'm only passingly familiar with quantum theory, but there's a few reasons I'm bringing it up. Giving Luna a way to escape is one, but also because I wanted to tie the worlds of magic and science together in a way that could be understood.