The cover was very simple. A white thing, with no name scribbled on the front. Louis opened it and looked inside. Rows of tiny script lined each page, all of it in a strange language. "I have no idea what this is, but it's not English."

Sandra pursed her lips tightly. "Any ideas, Jay?" She called towards the bedroom where Jay slept. "It came from the hat." She pointed up at the hat still quite stuck on her head. "Which is alive, I think, maybe?"

Jay did not reply immediately. After a moment, she peeked out from the bedroom. "What time is it?" She scratched at her face gently. "Something is wrong with your hair. You should fix it."

Sandra narrowed her eyes. "I have a hat stuck on it. I could brush the parts not covered, at best. Come here. It's the middle of the day! When did you even go to sleep?"

Jay stumbled out, a bit of drool trailing from the corner of her mouth. "Not a clue. Oh, hey Louis." She waved at him without any enthusiasm. "How are you, fine fellow?" That was when she actually saw a clock. "Liar. It's still morning, a foul time I don't belong awake in."

Louis smirked at that. "Not an early riser, then?" He stepped away from the book to shake hands with Jay. "Never had much use for that myself. So, Jay, this book."

Jay finished the shake, then scooted around Louis for a look at that mystery tome. "Where'd that come from, little ponies?"

Sandra scratched at her head idly. "Jim, actually. It's Jacob's hat, so the assumption is that it's, um, well, Jacob's. He wants us to read it."

Jay snorted grandly at that. "That trickster? Ha! I bet he wants us to crack that silly thing open and not learn anything we can actually use." She walked past it towards the kitchen. "And honestly, I could use some breakfast first. Is there any of that bagel left?"

Louis narrowed his eyes as he followed after Jay. "This looks like a very important book to me. Important, or dangerous. Both remains an option. You can't just ignore it because you don't want to read it."

Jay scoffed grandly as she munched on the bagel that was previously in the toaster. "Trust me, this is Jacob's style of magic. It'll be something too weird to use. Half the stuff he talks about sounds more like philosophy than anything. You won't have a single problem with it."

Sandra fluttered up to look over the table, peeking at the words. "I can't read this either. Like it's encoded or something." Despite that, the more she looked at it, the more it made some strange sense. "Mmm." She sat at the table and drew the book closer. "No, I think I can understand this. It's like a second language, but not."

Jay sighed as she was back in the kitchen, preparing herself a cup of coffee. "Yeah, it'll be like that. Just don't fry your brain trying. I like my ponies bright eyed." She returned with the mug cradled in her hands. "More in the pot if either of you want some."

Louis chuckled softly at that. "Maybe a little, it's been a long night for me." He turned his attention to Sandra. "You sure you should be reading that? We don't know what it is."

Sandra waved that off as she sat up straighter. "It's only a book, and Jacob made it clear I have his hat. The hat is keeping an eye on us, maybe." She glanced up at the hat she could just see the rim of. "I think it's friendly." She flipped to the next page. "I feel like this is going on about some 'mental flex', which are two words that don't belong together."

Jay took a sip of her coffee. "You got that right. Sounds like hocus pocus nonsense to me."

Sandra made a point to look away from the book towards Jay. "So what if I read this and gain magical powers?"

Jay put a hand down on Sandra's head, which was her hat for the time being. "Unlikely. Even if that was a book meant to awaken people, your brain's busy being a cute pony. You're not going to stir to the truths of the universe."

Louis watched the pair with mild interest. "Am I missing something here?" He pointed at the book. "That thing, it could make you into a wizard? Is that it?"

Sandra flicked to the next page. "I thought only unicorns did any magic even a little like a mage, and I have wings, not a horn." Being a human at that moment, she had neither. "So I should be safe."

Jay laughed. "Yeah, Sandra's magic isn't a mage's, but it's still a sort of magic. Every human has potential for magic, but so few ever figure out how to do anything with it. Most just sleep through life, not even knowing there's another side." She shrugged at the idea. "Be happy, little ponies. At least you're not doing that."

Louis folded his arms as he watched Jay carefully. "You're talking about magic being real, then? Like this is some book to teach me to turn a man into a frog?"

Jay waved him off with a huff. "Pfft, don't be ridiculous. Even if it worked, you'd be lucky if you learned to see things you shouldn't be seeing. Turning stuff into other things? That comes way later." She sat at her computer. "You think that's easy?"

Sandra nibbled at her lip before going back to reading. "Okay, so, something like this book, um, might be trying to poke me, the inside me, into waking up." She flipped to the next page. "But I'm already not sleeping, you just said. I'm awake, but I'm a waking pony, not a mage. Is that the gist of it?"

Jay rolled her eyes grandly. "Pretty much. Being a little pony's easier. Even if you think your way around to believing the impossible, your head and heart are still so cute and round."

Sandra rolled her eyes. "My heart, nor my head, is rounded than usual." She reached a part, a puzzle, or more like a riddle? She squinted and flipped back a few pages, then forwards again. "Mm. But, if you did that, then this." she flipped back one page. "That'd contradict each other."

Louis didn't like the sound of that. "Jay, don't mess with Sandra's head."

Jay just laughed at that. "I'm not the one that gave her that book. Put it down, little pony. You're better off without it."

Sandra grinned in an awkward way. "Um, it's pretty interesting, actually." She pointed to a line. "This bit about chakras?" She hummed softly. "He went on and on about it." She turned to the next page slowly. "It's just this one part that doesn't fit with the others." She frowned at it, considering it with increasing gravity. "Mmm."

Louis held up his hands. "I'm getting you some water. Drink something, clear your head."

Jay narrowed her eyes as she watched Sandra read. "Shouldn't be making sense to you."

"And it isn't, unless?" She inclined her head. "Unless you took." Her words slurred off as she mentally put the pieces together. Sandra flicked through the pages of the book as a flow of logic built in her mind. Some parts she only saw in a brief glimpse before they passed into history. There was a sequence to this, something she could follow.

"I knew a good book would help!" Jim leaned in over her shoulder from behind.

Sandra jumped at his sudden presence. "Why are you here when I'm awake?"

"You aren't awake." He pointed to where Sandra was slumped over the book, quite passed out. "You're dreaming again."

Sandra gawked at that. "Oh, darn it!" She turned back to Jim. "How do I get out of here?"

"I'm not the one in charge of these things." Jim waved a hoof over her shoulder. "I just like taking credit for things, since, y'know, I'm your special hat now. It's your dream, you decide when to wake up. Still, good job. You worked out the first paradox in good time. We were sure it'd take you a few weeks, but you gobbled that right up, you hungry little horse."

Sandra raised an eyebrow at that. "What does that mean?"

Jim lifted off of her back and transformed into their more human form. "Oh, we had our doubts about you, Sandra. The glow of potential was there, but it so often is, never to actually light into a real fire." He spread his fingers in the air in a mock explosion. "Color us completely interested. So, congratulations."

Sandra rubbed at her forehead slowly. "Um, thank you?" She let out a soft breath. "So, what now? What happens if I'm a mage?"

"You aren't." He prodded her in the center of her chest. "You're a pony. Doesn't mean you can't learn things. That's why you read the book."

Sandra snapped her fingers. "Right! So what comes next? There has to be more to it."

"Of course!" He jabbed a finger at her forehead. "Now, keep working on that. You can't sleep all day." With that, he vanished again.

Sandra sat up in a sudden motion, Louis at her side with a worried expression. "Sorry! I passed out for a bit there. Guess I was tired." She giggled nervously and took the water he offered. She gulped down the liquid greedily. "I'll be fine." She slapped down the empty glass. "So, how was work?"

Louis blurts into laughter. "You ask about that, now? It was fine." He draws her into a hug. "But compared to you randomly passing out, pretty unimportant. Are you feeling better?"

Sandra hugged him back tightly. "Never better!" She pushed herself back into the book. "But it looks like I'm going to be up all night, working through this thing."

His hand came down on the book, blocking some of the letters. "You don't have to. Why don't you stream? I bet they miss you."

While part of her really wanted to see what came next, the thought of streaming did sound very nice. "I suppose you're right." She got up and headed for her computer, a little bounce in her step.

"Good plan." Jay remarked from the other side of the room. "Get all those lousy thoughts out of your head before they start going in circles."

Louis took the book off the table, sitting down with it. With a soft thump, he closed it without trying to read it himself. "Maybe today you could play a new game? They love it when you start a new one."

Sandra laughed softly as she logged in. "It would be something different. Hey my herdmates!" She looked at her list of games and spoke to her streaming audience, "We have a thousand options here! I should really go easy on those sales. Which will be our game of the day?!"

She cycled through her options, narrating for the silent watchers. "Hmm, they don't care about simulators, so that's out. We tried fighting games, but, mm, those are fun, but hard for streaming." She settled on a dating simulator that involved finding true love with a house. "This is such a silly idea, it has to be great!"

As the game loaded, she considered its premise. "Oh, right, a hundred little dates with a house. Why does a house need romance? Will the house bake you cookies?" She started the game with a snicker. "I can't wait to see how bad this one is."

Author's Note

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