//------------------------------//
// Suit Yourself 
// Story: Magical Curiosity 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

Back in Ponyville….


“...and this is Carousel Boutique!” Rare exclaimed, motioning a flamboyant hoof towards it.
Rarity grinned, eyes sparkling as she beheld the structure before her.
There it was, the boutique, shining under the radiant sun.
“I...I’ve never dreamed I’d own a boutique like this someday!” Rarity yelled, putting a hoof to her cheek.
“Really, now?” Rare asked, a bit surprised.
Rarity flicked her head. “Well, if we’re being technical about, I have the ambition of owning a boutique, but it’s usually the kind of thing that you’d only be able to do down the line in life. I mean, I haven’t even graduated from high school yet...”, pawing on the ground, “then you have college after that; juggling between studies and the pressures of owning a business—nay, a fashion empire—would stress me to the extreme!”
Rare smiled, half-closing her eyes. “Then why not relax and step inside?” With her magic, she glowed the door open.
And Rarity was treated to a familiar yet unfamiliar sight. The pink walls and floor, the full-legnth mirrors, the mixture of perfumes pervading the air, the racks of dresses—
That’s what she took notice of. She did not smile, she did not frown. She just looked at it, coming closer to the racks to inspect the dresses, first with her hoof and then, a bit cautiously, with her magic as she glowed parts of the dress this way and that.
They were not tall. None of them were tall. Instead, they looked like elegant curved rectangles of fabric and beauty.
“These are dresses for ponies, huh?” Rarity blathered, tilting her head to the side as she held up a rather short sleeve—one of four sleeves.
Rare made a posh giggle and went to her side. “What do you think?”
Rarity turned to her other self and let go of the dress. “They look nice...for pony dresses.” Turning red at probably embarrassing herself in front of her self: “You’re the one who’s more knowledgeable here, so I completely have no idea what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything about these dresses,” Rare replied, nudging her head towards the carousel-like platform sided by three mirrors, “when you can wear these dresses, hm?”
Rarity jumped in place. “That would be delightful!”
So, she walked up to the dressing platform and saw Rare levitate a dress from the rack. The latter trotted up to her side and, after a minute of fitting and telling her to stay still, it was done.
Rarity looked at herself in the mirror, regarding the dress donned on her form. The pink, purple and yellow on it; the scarf-like features around her neck; the separate tiara on her head and in front of her horn….
“Fits like a button, doesn’t it?” Rare said, batting her eyelashes.
Rarity, with jaw hanging, nodded her head. “Why, y-yes!”
“That’s because Fluttershy actually made that dress for me,” Rare said, receiving a look of surprise from Rarity. “Kind of. I started the dress, but she finished it. It’s a long story.”
“Really? How generous of her!”
Rarity laughed at that, making her other self confused. “Considering who we are….”
“What do you mean by—oh.” Then, she snickered along before turning back to the mirror to adore herself with that dress. “I’m...fascinated. I’ve never seen a horse dressed up before, but to see an elegant unicorn such as myself graced like this...it’s smashing!”
Rare nodded and placed a firm hoof on her shoulder, giving her a gentle look. “I’m glad you like it, darling.”
The two Rarities broke out into a hug.
Rare chuckled. “That’s just one dress, though. What about I show you a couple more?”
“Absolutely!” Rarity replied, shaking her head up and down fast as she got out of the embrace..
Rare raised her hoof. “But first, some snacks are in order.”
With that, Rare trotted to the kitchen, having Rarity follow her there.
Inside, it was quite barebones comapared to the lavishness of the boutique’s main room, but Rarity did not question it—at least the shelves’ handles were made of bronze if her eyes did not deceive her.
She saw Rare hum to herself a tune as she poured hot tea from a fancy teapot. She then levitated a couple biscuits with some jam and cream on to it. The Rarities then sat down at the table, teacups ready.
“So,” Rarity began, tapping her forehooves in anxiety, “how are you?”
“Very swell!” Rare answered in high-pitched joy. “Last night, I went gem-hunting in the local caves with Maud and Spike.”
“Gem-hunting?” Rarity repeated, half-rocked to the back of her chair. “You...actually go to the caves? There are caves here?!”
“Mm-hmm!” Rare smiled, then sipped her tea. “Where else do I get my gems from?”
Needless to say, Rarity was flabbergasted. Her cracked and open mouth said it all.
“Well, other than delivery since Saddle Lake could never cough up pearls but—pfft!—nothing beats the diamonds you pry with your own hooves!”
Rarity sipped her tea. “You’re lucky to live in a mineral-rich town! You must be raking in hundreds of dollars per week—ah, I mean, bits!”
Rare shook her head, waving her teacup as it glowed in her blue aura. “A good number of the dresses I make go for free!—if not free, then at a bargain.”
Rarity’s smile disappeared, replaced with a thoughtful expression. “How are you able to sustain your business?”
“By being trustworthy and letting my clients do the promoting for me!” Rare replied, blinking fast. “Positive word of mouth is the best form of advertisement, after all.”
“True, true,” with Rarity tapping her chin, “but, what about your expenses? How much do you have to pay to keep it running? The water, the electricity, for example? What about maintaining your sewing machines—do you even have sewing machines or is that magic, too?”
Rare laughed a bit. “Darling, I don’t know if you pay exorbitant prices to maintain a business over there, but here, a lot of the necessities and amenities are provded for. The Princesses pay for a good fraction of the upkeep, so I have to hoof only...say, a fifth of the bill.”
Rarity dropped her jaw. Then, wanting to alter the subject a little: “How do you live with your Princesses?”
“Pretty well, actually,” Rare said. “I’m friends with one myself.”
Which prompted the both of them to laugh.
When Rare finished her round of humor, she said, “Though, I do say, your world’s idea of governance is...intriguing. Electing a national head of state every four years with a chance for another term?”
“Why, I’m surprised that you’re still under a monarchy,” Rare blabbed.
“Diarchy,” Rare corrected. “Two princesses, remember?”
Rarity furrowed her brows and then scratched her brows. “Wait, aren’t there five, with the baby and all?”
Rare cleared her throat. “Princess Cadance rules over the Crystal Empire only, Flurry Heart is the heiress of the Crystal Empire so she isn’t really a princess now, and Twilight is...” and took a bite of her jam biscuit, “let’s say a back-end princess. She only does behind-the-scenes work for Ponyville and nearby towns with all the special diplomacy and international talks conducted outside of Equestria—anyway, she’s already swamped with her responsibility as head mare over the School of Friendship lately, and, besides—“ sipped her tea again “—she doesn’t see herself on the same level as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
“Good point.” And then, giving Rarity a weird look, “Seriously, though...you’ve never heard of republics and democracies on a massive scale?”
“Oh, we’ve heard of them in history class back when I was a foal,” Rare said. “Before the three pony tribes were united, the Earth ponies formed the Earth Pony Confederation—and it serves as the prime example for why democracy as we know it is flawed.”
Rarity was left with a twithing eye. “Wha…?”
Citing the points with her hoof, Rare continued: “What if there’s a bill or an article that obviously needs to be passed but it must first go through this house or that chamber?” After taking a sip of her tea again, pushing the biscuits aside this time, “What if the average pony doesn’t have enough knowledge of the political system? That would be populism, not democracy—an uneducated and gullible public that would quickly revert to a monarchy or, worse, a dictatorship. Also, if laws are made by the majority, then we might as well be ruled under their tyranny and the minority might as well be coerced and kiss their freedoms and rights goodbye...ooh! And, there’s this other thing about it….”
As Rarity blanked out from all the information she was receiving, queitly sipping her tea as her eye kept twitching, as her mouth quivered and as her hooves rocked.
“...and if it’s four years, is that long enough to do what you want to do, especially with such a slow process? Wait...you’re not listening, are you?”
Rariy then nodded, putting her cup of tea back to the table and her face back to relative stability. “I-I...I didn’t expect a unicorn to give me a political lecture.”
Rare shifted her eyes here and there. “Well, I don’t despise voting a leader into power—certainly not the Princesses since they allow elections in towns and cities like Manehattan, Vanhoover...Ponyville, too, since you’ve passed by the mayor’s town hall on the way here.”
“Y-Yes, I l-like that,” Rarity stuttered, her tongue about to be tied. “But...sorry, but, when I read things like The Golden Sail, those fantasy novels...it always seems—“
“Dumbed down?” Rare asked with a miffed frown.
“How did you know?”
Rare checked her hooves, seeing if they needed clipping. “Because all those weird and strange creatures in those tales aren’t given much of a voice other than, ‘Fight me!’ or ‘Save me!’ or ‘Listen to me!’”
Rarity tried to hold in a snicker since the unicorn in front of her was certainly a weird and strange creature. “Well, s-sorry, but...yeah.”
Rare cocked her head, levitating a cream biscuit to her mouth. “Of course, a creature that you’ve always seen in works of fiction suddenly popping up in real life...that would make you temporarily forget that we’re not just characters, hm?”
Rarity chuckled, blushing. “Yeah...just have to keep remembering that you actually have histories, lives, dreams, chock full of personality….”
“Which could be hard to remember at first since unicorns and other fantastical creatures aren’t your, hm, cup of tea for the moment?” With that, she downed her remaining tea.
Rarity replied with downing her tea, too.
“Though, may I hear your side of the political argument?” Rare asked, leaning closer with one ear bent in. “Chatting with my clientele has given me quite the offering of opinions and beliefs.”
“Oh, ah...” Rarity gulped, eyes darting around to find anything resembling a good rebuttal, “what if the king or queen doesn’t like you? He just makes up the laws, and he could decree you to death and it’d be legal because...he’s the leader.”
“Good point,” Rare replied with a single nod. “Half of what I’ve said can be rendered moot if they can find a way to speed up the democratic processes. On your point, though: That is why we encourage screening and background checking for any would-be successor to the Princesses...not that they would need to be succeeded, considering how they’ve lasted for so long.”
“Yeah...what with your immortal princesses….” Then, a thought struck her. She straightened herself up on her chair and asked, “Where’s your Sweetie Belle?”
Rare glanced out the window. “She’s at the CMC clubhouse.”
“They live in Canterlot?” Rarity asked further, puzzled.
“Uh, no.” Rare spun a hoof around, twirling her curly mane. “They all live here.”  Levitating another biscuit to herself, “What does ‘CMC’ mean in your world?”
“The Canterlot Movie Club,” was Rarity’s curt reply.
“Well, now!” Rare smiled, putting her head back out the table. “Our CMC stands for the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’.”
“You mean the symbols on our flanks?” Rarity said, glancing at her three diamond-cutie mark.
“Mm-hmm!” Once again, Rare nodded. “They started out quite young when they did not have their cutie marks—which means they had not found out their destiny in life yet. One day, they got it all together, and they realized that their goal in life is to help other ponies and even other creatures with their own destinies!”



Contrary to what Rare said, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were currently not helping other ponies and other creatures with their own destinies. Instead, they were taking a break by hanging out with Zipporwhill inside their clubhouse.
“Is it something you can burn?” Apple Bloom asked, sitting down on the wooden floor with Scootaloo and Zipporwhill while Sweetie Belle sat across the space, close to the far wall where hung the pictures of the many they’ve helped through the years.
“You can burn it!” Sweetie replied, tapping the floorboard in exitement. “Two more questions!”
Scootaloo raised her hoof, flapping her wings. “Can you make it out of trees?”
Apple Bloom punched her on the shoulder. “We already asked that—“
“One more question!” Sweetie announced.
Apple Bloom groaned.
Zipporwhill flew up to the air, her tiara and glasses staying on her head. “Ooh! It’s a stick!”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gave this filly looks of sheer dread and sheer hope that she was somehow correct.
Sweetie closed her eyes.
Shook her head. “Close, but not quite. I was thinking of paper.”
Apple Bloom groaned again and so did Scootaloo. Zipporwhill celebrated having a close answer by zipping around the room.
Then, a knock on the door.
“Who is it?!” Scootaloo yelled, whirling around to face the door.
“It’s me!” Applejack yelled from outside.
“Sis’!” Apple Bloom cried out as she ran to open the door.
And saw two Applejacks side-by-side.
The Crusaders and Zipporwhill blinked.
They screamed, embracing each other while Apple Bloom stood between her friends and her sister’s other self. “Changeling!”
AJ raised her brow. “What’s a—“
The little filly galloped and bucked her, knocking AJ a meter out the door, almost enough to make her fall off the clubhouse.
“Apple Bloom!” Applejack yelled, trotting up to her with a scolding voice. “What’d I tell you ‘bout hurtin’ random strangers?”
“You call that a ‘random stranger’?!” Apple Bloom yelled back, pointing at a recovering AJ rubbing her head and retrieving her hat from the floor.
Applejack sighed and placed a hoof on her head. “I’ll cut straight to the chase.” She helped AJ up, wobbling around on her four hooves. “Fillies, meet Applejack!”
Those fillies bent their heads, all saying “Uh...” together in bewilderment.
“Huh-huh!” Applejack rolled her eyes, smiling. She slapped her other self on the back of her head. “Ya’ see, this is Applejack but she’s from an al’ernate world where a lot o’ things are the same but they’re tall and walk on two legs, and they got fancy technology, too.”
Scootaloo scratched her chin. “So...you have a twin from another world?”
AJ shook her head, keeping up that smile. “I’m not really her twin! Just...kinda’ the same.”
“Technology, you say?” Apple Bloom asked. Then, bouncing up to her: “Are you from outer space?!”
“Fighting aliens and saving princes from other planets?!” Sweetie shouted.
“I know you have laser guns that go pew, pew, pew!” Scootaloo yelled. “I’m sure of it!”
The smile on AJ’s face still survived. “Uh...what, now?”
And the fillies gathered around her, even Zipporwhill who instead flew around her.
In shame, Applejack covered her face with her hat.



The Applejacks walked through Sweet Apple Acres, those two now more distinguishable due to AJ having a ruffled mane and a disheveled tail. They trotted on a fenced dirt path; past the fences stood hundreds of apple trees in straight rows, covering plains and hills as far as the eye could see. Everywhere they went in the farm was the unescapable smell of fresh apples.
“How’s Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked, upbeat.
“She’s...uh, great.” AJ grimaced. “She’s also young. A lot younger than I thought she’d be.”
Applejack turned to her. “Why? How old is she in your world?”
“Old enough to be a freshman, that is.”
“So, high school?” She looked up to the sky dreamily. “Our AB’s still in elementary! A cute little bundle of joy, if ya’ ask me!”
“Um...I am you, right?” AJ asked, pointing at herself and then finding out that it was not easy to walk with three legs. “Or, isn’t it clear or...what?”
Applejack chuckled at the other’s expense. “I think Twilight’s made it clear. Same names, somewhat same looks and histories, similar...everything!” She tipped her hat at her. “But different, too.”
AJ widened her eyes. “That’s great an’ all, but...that’s a can o’ worms some philosopher or somebody’s gonna crack open sooner or later.”
“But that’s what it is and there’s no denyin’ it,” Applejack said. Then, she wrapped a hoof around her neck. “Know what, sis’?”
“Sis’?” AJ mouthed back, wondering.
“If ya’ told me all those years ago that I’d become one of those mystical Elements of Harmony, save Equestria too many times to count, and be an ambassador of friendship sent around by a crystal map inside a crystal castle, I’d have given you a mug of cider on the house.”
AJ recoiled. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s my way of helpin’ ya’,” Applejack said, winking and tipping her hat again. “When it’s cider season, o’ course. Otherwise—apple juice’s on the house.”
That thread of talk done, AJ took the opportunity to revel in the apple tree fields. “I’m still amazed...that there’s a horse runnin’ a farm and that horse is me but it ain’t exactly me.”
“You’re bringin’ home the ‘no-magic’ feel there,” Applejack said. “’Sides, what do horses do where you come from?”
AJ gulped, stuttering and stammering before getting out, “They...don’t do much. Not as much as you do now. They can neigh an’ whinny but don’t speak words, they can push an’ pull but don’t ask why, they can work an’ eat an’ love and that’s all there is to it for ‘em. We did use ‘em lots until ‘bout a century ago—had to do with wars an’ not havin’ cars—but now, most o’ the time, it’s just us takin’ care of them in the farm.” Scratching her head, “A little bit of horse racin’ here an’ there and there’s the carriage we ride, too, but that’s it for a pony in our world.”
“...so nothin’ like us?” Applejack cut in with a raised hoof, still able to walk. “No language, no societies, that kind o’ thing?”
“Not on your level.”
Applejack looked to the sky wistfully. “Topsy-turvy, huh? Here, ponies rule; there, ponies...don’t.”
AJ let her eyes falter a little. “Look. I’m sorry if I made ya’ feel a bit...sad, inferior, weird, or whatever, but that’s how it is.”
Applejack then placed her hoof on her other self’s hat, smiling. “No need to apologize. I’m not the kind of pony who’d ask you to hide from me.” She chuckled. “Actually, you got me itchin’ to know more on how we’re farin’ there!”
“And you got me itchin’ to know more on how ponies do everything here!”
Applejack shot a hoof across the air before her. “I’d be more than proud to tell you that!”
A poof! and Discord appeared before them, spinning two yo-yo’s around while wearing shades upside-down.
The two Applejacks jumped back, yelling “Discord?!” at the same time.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said with a dismissive wave of a claw. He took a giant nail cutter and slung it on his shoulder. “Those Twilights are driving me insane! I had to give away Spike, even if it’s just for half an hour! Aren’t they content with having one Spike?!”
The Applejacks watched as Discord solemnly walked back to the barn, cutting the strings of the yo-yo’s with his nail cutter.



Back inside the castle, three unicorns and one alicorn walked back inside the library. The portal was still off, the books were in place, and Spike the dragon was busy reading a couple of POWER comics at a table.
“Hey, Spike!” Sparkle greeted, beaming. 
Spike looked up from his comic. “Hey, what’s...up?” He closed the book, fully sensing the two Twilights at the door. “Twilight, c-can you explain why there’s another you and the other one doesn’t have wings?”
Sparkle grinned, nudging Sci-Twi into a self-conscious grin. “This is my other self from across the mirror!” Pausing for dramatic effect, “Spike, meet Twilight Sparkle, but you can call her Sci-Twi!”
Spike looked at Sci-Twi.
Who was waving at him nervously. “H-Hi! It’s great meeting…my pet’s other self.”
Then, her Spike popped out of her bag, who then fell to the floor.
A few gasps, and Spike got out of his chair and ran to his other self to pull him up. “Here ya’ go, buddy!”
Sparkle let out a mumble. Then: “Spike, what about we call you, ‘Dragon’ and then we call Sci-Twi’s Spike...just ‘Spike’?”
Sparkle’s Spike smile at the sprightly idea. “Heh! It’d be great to be called ‘Mr. the Dragon’ again!” Then, adopting “Dragon” as his name for now and looking at Spike: “And how are you?”
Spike smiled. “Never better!” He held out his hand—no, his claw. “Clawshake?”
Dragon then shook his claw before dragging him back to his table. “First thing of the day: Wanna read some comics?”
“Yeah!”
With the dragons busy, Sunset and Starlight went to their own separate table to chat personally. This left the two Twilights trotting to another table, this one closer to both the portal and the bookshelves at the wall.
“It’s just wonderful!” Sci-Twi remarked, levitating a random book to the surface. “We’ve all known that your land’s magical and all, but nothing beats living here!”
Sparkle balked at that. “Uh-huh!”
Then, Sci-Twi leaned in. “How are your adventures in this world? How often do you do those journeys across Equestria and beyond, searching for stuff and forging friendships along the way?”
Sparkle crossed her forehooves. “Every week. There’s always a pony or someone else in need, a mission from the cutie map to solve a friendship problem for, or just a beast to defeat with the magic of friendship.
Sci-Twi giggled opening the book and flipping the pages with her magic. “Eh, how does friendship work with defeating your enemies?”
“It’s not supposed to,“ Sparkle said. “At least, principally speaking, but since magic is an energy you can use, you can turn even friendship magic into a weapon.”
“But, why—“
“That’s when we were still getting the hang of this whole Elements thing,” Sparkle said, feeling a little nervous at cutting her own self’s train of thought. “It took us some time to realize that harmony doesn’t always like beating your enemies ‘cause why do that when you can make up?”
And then, Sparkle levitated more books to the table.
Sci-Twi looked over them. “Principles of Magic? Modern Spellcasting? Magical Mysteries & Practical Potions? Even a Magical Compendium?!”
“That’s from volume one to thirty-six,” Twi said smugly, crossing her forehooves again and then closing her eyes this time.“I got volumes thirty-seven to seventy-two as well!”
Sci-Twi gulped, sweating as she drank in these writings of magic. “Wow...this is a lot of material!”
“Magic’s been an inherent part of our world since the beginning of time,” Sparkle said, opening up Modern Spellcasting, “so there was plenty of time for sorcerers, wizards, and mages to study its many fields and expand on them.”
“A-And your talent is magic!” Sci-Twi said, pointing at Sparkle’s cutie mark.
The princess blushed. “It’s not like I should brag, but I may have made a couple contributions to Canterlot Library….”
Sci-Twi lowered her glasses. “You’re also a prominent wizard who does wizarding stuff?”
“Not really,” Sparkle said, her smugness disappearing. “While I do have time to conduct experiments and open up the study of magic, I also need to set aside that time for my royal duties as the Princess of Friendship. It’s, uh...it’s a matter of balancing work and life, especially when the fate of Equestria rests on your work.”
Sci-Twi smiled.
“Honestly?” Sparkle turned to her, still lacking that smugness moments before. “A part of me’s jealous of you.”
Sci-Twi almost fell out of her chair. “What?!”
“It’s obvious.” She made a flat, hopeful smile. “You’re still a student. You still have time to go around and have fun whenever you want to. I mean, I still get to hang around with my friends—I’ve advanced enough in scheduling that I can always find some space per day,” and chuckled, remembering that she had scheduled this very minute as well “—but, there’s all this pressure on my shoulders. One misstep, and we’d have another worst-case scenario in our hooves.”
“Like right now?” asked Pinkie sitting beside her.
And the two Twilights yelled and hugged each other in fear.
Pinkie wagged a spoon around with her hoof. “Come on, girls! There’s a big electric swarm of something-somethings attacking Ponyville!”
“Again?” Sparkle asked. Then, bringing Sci-Twi with her, they ran out of the room with Sunset and Starlight.
Leaving the two Spikes to shrug their shoulders.
“Don’t worry!” Dragon said. “They’ll be done before you know it.”
“Tell me about it,” Spike replied.
They continued reading their comic books.