//------------------------------//
// “I didn’t say stop.” 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

"What about this one?" the mare asked, holding up another dress.
"I'd rather go naked for the rest of my life than wear another dark cerise outfit. No thanks." Sugarcoat shook her head.
The crystal unicorn set the dress down and reached for another with her magic. "You make it sound like some terrible thing. Going without a dress is what most ponies do," she commented.
"Not where I'm from," Sugarcoat replied. She stopped herself from clarifying that she was actually talking about humans and that ponies did actually go naked there, but didn't speak or use magic or have a developed society. 
"Well, maybe you should be the one to try to bring some change." The mare presented her with another dress.
Sugarcoat shook her head again. "I'd rather not get expelled. And probably charged with something on top. Principal Cadence hasn't loosened the restrictions on the uniform policy that far. Not yet at least."
Grabbing yet another dress, the unicorn asked, "Did you mention Princess Cadence?" 
"Same name, different pony. Person. Sort of different." Sugarcoat adjusted her glasses as she stared unimpressed at the newly presented dress, then a thought occurred to her. "Have you ever seen a mare that looks just like me but with a cutie mark and more will to live, by chance?" she asked, briefly hopeful for an easy solution to her problems. 
"Sorry, I have not." The mare pulled up a set of a few different dresses, displaying them all to Sugarcoat to speed up the process.
Sugarcoat looked at each dress, and shook her head every time. "Don't worry about it." Her equine counterpart may very well not have existed, after all, and even if she did she could be as different from her as the two Twilights were from each other. For example, maybe Equestria's version of Sugarcoat was a good person. Pony.
"You are not used to shopping for clothes, are you?" asked the crystal mare, tapping Sugarcoat on the nose with the latest and still unacknowledged dress.
Sugarcoat shook herself, realising she'd zoned out. She looked at the dress, then motioned once more to move on to the next. "I'm not. I never really had to do it."
The mare frowned as she set down that dress too. "Didn't you say you always wore clothes, where you're from?" 
"I did. But I never had to choose them myself."
"Never?" The mare was evidently surprised. "How did you go dressing every day without ever having to choose what clothes to buy?" 
"I had a few identical sets of clothes I was forced to wear. Acquaintances' gifts were enough to cover for the few times I ever needed something else." Sugarcoat looked to the side. Then her brow curved. "Well, there was one time I had a chance to choose something myself. I just took the first thing they showed me." 
The other mare suppressed a chuckle at that, as she moved to the next batch of clothes.
"It's true. It's why I'm trying to go for something different this time. Something I wear because I want to wear it."
"And what are you looking for, exactly?"
"I have absolutely no idea. But none of these dresses make me feel anything when I see them. They're all the same to me." Sugarcoat looked at the tall pile of discarded options at her side. "Except for the cerise one, that one I actively dislike. Still, I'm sure they would all do what I need them for. I could have just picked one of them. But I'm tired of not caring about things. I want a dress that gives me a reason to choose it over the others."
The other mare pursed her lips. "Wait here just a second," she said, walking away and disappearing behind a corner. Then a moment later she reappeared, holding something in her magic. "What about this one?"