//------------------------------// // Equestria Girls: Another Option // Story: Equestria Girls: Another Option // by Blackbird2 //------------------------------// Equestria Girls: Another Option Once everyone was over the initial weirdness of having two Twilights around, they finished up their picnic and headed over to Sugarcube Corner for a post picnic desert at Pinkie’s insistence. Despite the fact that they already had plenty of desert with them. It made them wonder just where the bouncy pink girl put it all. Although the weirdness had passed, it was still plenty awkward to have the two similar looking girls around each other. Though they kept their distance within the group they still cast cautious, sideways glances at each other. Something they continued to do even as the group walked into the coffee house. Princess Twilight was the first one to break the stares as she placed a hand on Sunset Shimmer’s shoulder. The pony-turned-human gave her a confused look but Twilight merely nodded to an empty booth in the corner. Sunset gave her a slightly confused look but nodded anyway before she looked towards the rest of their friends. “You guys go ahead. Twilight,” she paused and considered the bespectacled double, “uh Princess Twilight and I have some, um, catching up to do.” “Okie Dokie Loki!” Pinkie cheered from her place already at the counter. The others nodded then lead the Twilight of this world to their usual spot while Sunset and the Equestrian Twilight sat on opposite sides of the booth. “So what’s up?” Sunset asked. “Well aside from...that,” Twilight remarked, motioning to her counterpart, “and everything else you guys apparently went through there is something else I wanted to talk to you about.” “Okay. And what’s that?” the other girl asked with a slightly confused look on her face. “Well...remember, um, the one letter you wrote to me awhile ago?” Twilight asked a bit sheepishly with a tiny blush appearing on her cheeks. That reaction was all Sunset needed to let her know exactly which letter she was talking about. Her own cheeks flushed a bright red as her eyes darted around to look at anything but Twilight. “Yeah that...joke I wrote you! Yep! That sure was a funny joke, wasn’t it?!” she ask with a very unconvincing laugh. Twilight just stared at her with a flat expression on her face. Sunset just groaned at her own lame answer and buried her face in her folded arms on the table. Maybe if she stayed there long enough Twilight would just disappear and she wouldn’t have to deal with yet another mistake she made. She popped her head back up, however, when she felt a warm, comforting hand being placed over hers. The sight of Twilight’s reassuring smile made her think that maybe this wouldn’t end as horribly as she thought. “It’s okay,” the princess told her softly. “It’s actually kind of flattering.” “Buuuut...?” Sunset drew out, knowing what was coming next. “However,” Twilight shot back with a slight smirk, “I’ve already got somepony else in my life right now.” “Of course you do,” the amber skinned girl sighed. Despite herself she still managed to smile a bit. “Let me guess, there’s a pony version of Flash in Equestria?” “Well...actually yes,” the purple girl replied after a second. “But that’s not who it is.” “Oh?” Sunset asked, arching an eyebrow. “Then who is it? I mean if you don’t mind me asking.” “Weeeellll...” Twilight stalled, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. “I’m not sure you’ll believe me if I tell you.” The other Equestrian girl crossed her arms over her chest. “Try me,” she said with a slight smirk. “It’s...uh...well...Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said in a very Fluttershy like manner. Despite the quiet tone Sunset still heard her and Twilight was right, she couldn’t believe it! “Rainbow Dash?!” she shouted in surprise. “What?!” the light blue girl called back in response to hearing her name. “Oh! Um...I was just telling Twilight about how you saved me from those vines during the motocross event!” Sunset quickly covered. “Yeah I was pretty awesome there!” Rainbow replied with a satisfied smirk. Sunset nodded then turned her attention back to Twilight who seemed rather annoyed by her unintended outburst. “Sorry,” the red and blonde haired girl replied. “But seriously, Rainbow Dash?!” “I know, I know. Trust me it took me by surprise too,” Twilight confessed. “But it’s been really nice actually.” “Okay you have to tell me how this happened!” Sunset prodded. “It’s not really that great a story,” Twilight cautioned with a shrug. “We were just in my castle’s library going over some Daring Do theories we had-” “Wait,” Sunset caught her, holding her hands up. “‘Daring Do’? As in the book series for fillies?” “Hey! Those books are written in such a way that grown mares can like them too!” Twilight snapped, jabbing a finger on the table for emphasis. “Okay okay,” the other girl remarked, throwing her hands up in defeat. She then tented them in front of her and rested her chin on them to look at her friend expectantly. “Go on...” Twilight rolled her eyes but continued anyway. “After talking for a bit we kinda ended up falling asleep against each other and when we woke up we realized it was kinda...nice,” she explained with a slight blush but then quickly frowned. “Well actually when we first woke up Rainbow Dash tossed me to the floor so she could go to her Wonderbolts training but after that we talked about it and thought it was nice. Then I took her to a play in Canterlot and...well we’ve kinda been going from there.” Sunset gave her a cheery smile. “It must be nice,” she sighed then shook her head a bit. “Though I still can’t see you with Rainbow Dash of all people. Er, ponies.” “Trust me, it surprised me too!” Twilight confessed. “But you never know what your heart’s gonna want.” “Tell me about it,” Sunset muttered as she slumped onto the table and buried her face in her crossed arms. Twilight’s eyebrows arched up when she realized how that sounded. Especially in this situation. “Sorry,” she apologized quietly. “It’s fine,” Sunset sighed as she lifted her head up. “I’m just not sure what I’m going to do now is all.” “Well it occurs to me that you do have another Twilight in the group now,” she remarked, pointing a finger at her doppleganger. The fiery haired girl again quirked an eyebrow at the suggestion. “Are you...trying to set me up with your counterpart?” she asked. “No!” Twilight quickly answered but then cocked her head a bit. “Yes? Maybe? I don’t know! I’m still new to this whole relationship thing!” “I just don’t think it’s fair to use her to replace you,” Sunset reasoned. “I mean we barely know anything about her other than she’s kinda like you but with cute glasses.” “‘Cute glasses’?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow of her own. The other human pony blinked in surprised. “Did...I say that part out loud?” she asked with an embarrassed grin. Twilight nodded with a grin of her own. “Sounds like you’re already interested in her. So why don’t you just go talk to her. I’m sure she’s an interesting enough pony...person on her own. And if she is anything like how I used to be then she’s going to need some friends.” “Well...” Sunset mused as she twisted around to look at the group. “She definitely chose the right ones.” “Very true. But there is one thing she’ll have that I never did.” Sunset turned back around to face her. “What’s that?” “You,” Twilight said softly as she placed her hands over Sunset’s. A bit of a silence over came the two as she just sat there and blushed over Twilight’s kind words and touch. After a few seconds she finally found her voice to speak up again. “Wow. Um, really not helping with the crush thing there,” she stammered as her aqua green eyes turned away. “Oh. Sorry!” Twilight squeaked and nervously played with one of the long strains of hair near her cheek. “It’s-it’s fine. Just...I...” Sunset continued to stammer, trying to regain her composure. “Excuse me,” another, very familiar, voice spoke up to thankfully break the tension. They both looked up to see the human Twilight standing before them. She pushed her glasses back up on her nose before she started to reach out towards her Equestrian counterpart. “I’m sorry but I just have to,” she stated rather quickly just before touching the other Twilight’s forehead. She then reeled backwards and tensed up as if waiting for something horrible to happen. Twilight and Sunset gave each other confused looks before Sunset just shrugged. “What was that?!” Twilight asked of her double. “I just wanted to see if the theory was true,” the human Twilight answered. “What theory?” “Well there’s a theory that if you meet yourself from another time if the two were to ever touch they could erase each other from existence,” she explained. “So your whole plan was to just come over here and touch me?!” Princess Twilight snapped. “That’s not very scientific!” “Not to mention extremely reckless!” Sunset added. “Didn’t we just get finished dealing with problems you created by acting without thinking things through?!” “Sorry! I’m sorry,” the other Twilight said as she nervously grabbed her arm and ducked her head away, looking like she was on the verge of tears. “No. No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Sunset said as she stood up and placed two comforting hands on her shoulders. “I didn’t mean to yell but you’ve got to learn to be more careful with this stuff. There’s nothing wrong with learning but you can’t just go off half-cocked like that.” “Trust me, I know exactly what she means. I’ve gotten myself into plenty of trouble by being too excited to learn something and not thinking it through all the way,” Princess Twilight told her other self. “Plus I’ve met my future self and when I touched her there was no problem.” “Wait, what?” Sunset asked flatly. “You have?!” human Twilight asked eagerly and pushed past Sunset. She then sat down across from her double with a bright smile on her face. “Tell me all about it!” “Well there’s not much to tell really. Actually when I think about it, it’s really kind of silly,” Princess Twilight remarked. “You see there was this spell and-” “There’s a time travel spell?!” the bespectacled girl asked excitedly. “Well..yes,” the other purple girl nodded. “Okay I think you two need some time alone so I’m going to go...over there now,” Sunset remarked, pointing to no place in particular. Neither Twilight seemed to be paying attention to her at that point as the princess had fully launched into recounting her tale and the schoolgirl eagerly lapped up every bit of detail about it. Sunset let out a soft chuckle and shook her head as she started to walk off. She paused halfway back towards the group, though, as she wasn’t ready to rejoin them just quite yet. But she also didn’t want to be the weirdo just standing in the middle of the coffee shop. Thankfully she spotted a booth near her where Octavia and Vinyl were both sitting on one side and thus left the other chair open for her. “You girls don’t mind if I sit here real quick do you?” she asked even as she ducked into the booth. “Oh of course not dear,” Octavia said. “Thanks,” Sunset sighed then propped her chin on her hands. “What’s wrong?” the grey girl asked in concern. “I’m just...dealing with a lot of stuff,” she remarked. “What kind of ‘stuff’?” Octavia pressed. “Romantic stuff.” “Ah. That can be a bit difficult.” Out of the corner of her eye Sunset noticed Vinyl nodded her head up and down. “Is she agreeing with you or just bobbing along to the music?” she asked. “Honestly I can’t even tell anymore,” Octavia said with a sigh. “So what’s your problem, if you don’t mind me asking?” “Well it’s just...” Sunset paused and looked at her friend. “Okay first off all if I say I have a crush on a girl, is that going to be a problem for you?” “For me?” Octavia asked with a knowing smirk. “Not at all.” “Okay,” the other girl nodded. “Well I had a crush on one girl but there was no way it was going to work out. But then this other girl comes along who’s almost exactly like the first girl but I don’t now if 1) she’ll even feel that same way about another girl and 2) if I’m just using her to replace the first girl which doesn’t feel fair to her!” She finished her brief summary with a tired sigh. “Did that make any sense?” Octavia stared at her for a few seconds. “Ssssooome...I think...?” the cello player replied with a shrug. “Great,” Sunset muttered and laid her head on the table. “You’re chasing a dream,” Vinyl suddenly spoke up as she lowered her headphones. Sunset blinked and looked up at her then towards Octavia. “Did she just talk?” she asked in disbelief. “Oh she does that,” Octavia explained with a dismissive wave. “She thinks if she doesn’t talk much that when she does it’ll have some ‘profound impact’. At least that’s how she is at school. In private it’s another matter all together.” “Well I’m talking now so shhh!” Vinyl ordered, going so far as to holding a finger up to her lips. Octavia just rolled her eyes but remained silent. “Anyway as I was saying, you’re chasing a dream,” Vinyl repeated herself. “Isn’t that usually good thing?” Sunset countered. “Only when you’re, like, trying to accomplish something. When it comes to love, it’s a totally different song.” “Really with the musical metaphors?” Octavia chided. “I said ‘shush’!” Vinyl scolded her back then turned her attention to Sunset again. “Look I get where you’re coming from, I’ve been there too. I built someone up in my mind so much that there was no way they could have lived up to those expectations. And they didn’t. But you know what did happen?” Sunset shook her head. “They ended up being more awesome than I imagined!” she cheered. “So all that fussing and worried I did ended up being totally pointless. And that’s the big secret with love, it doesn’t make any sense at all! So don’t try to understand it just go for it! Sure you might get burned for it but wouldn’t you rather say you tried and failed rather than not try at all out of fear?” Sunset blinked a bit as she processed that information. “Huh,” she mused. “You’re right.” “Yep. Also tiddies are pretty cool,” Vinyl added with a wicked smirk. She then let out a loud yelp of pain as Octavia smacked her on the back of her head hard enough to knock off her ever-present purple shades. “Ow! What was that for?!” she growled as she glared at Octavia while rubbing the sore spot on her head. “For someone who doesn’t like to talk that much in public you always seem to say one word too many!” Octavia remarked. Sunset chuckled softly at the pair. “Actually despite that last remark that was a big help. Thanks,” she smiled. “Hey anytime,” Vinyl said as she put her shades back one then brought her headphones up to her ears again. “Aaaaand she’s gone,” Octavia noted. “But really dear if you ever do need to talk we’re here for you. You’ve got quite a few friends at CHS now that you’ve turned yourself around. And saved us all from world destroying magic. Again.” “Yeah hopefully that part won’t happen again anytime soon,” Sunset mused then looked over at her group of main friends. “But you’re right. I do have a pretty great group of friends.” She stood up to go join said friends when Applejack suddenly shouted across the coffeehouse. “Hey Twilight!” “Yes?” both Twilights asked, looking back at the cowgirl. “Uh...Princess Twilight,” she clarified. “Come here, we want to show you something!” “Oh okay! Just a second!” she called back then looked at her twin. “Is there anything else you want to ask?” “Tons but it can wait,” the other Twilight said with a smile. Princess Twilight smiled back then stood up and made her way over to her other group of friends. As she did she spotted Sunset standing near the other booth and gave her a discrete head nod towards her human counterpart. Sunset nodded and flashed a quick wink before she went back to the corner booth and took the seat across from the human Twilight. “So...how you holding up?” she asked. “I think I’m doing better,” she answered. “Talking to that other Twilight really helped put that whole ‘magic of friendship’ thing into perspective. I still want to know more about it but I’m willing to take my time and be cautious now.” She cast Sunset a knowing smile at that last comment. One that the dual haired girl was more than happy to return. “Good to know,” she nodded. “And while I may not be as well versed in it as Twilight I’ve learned a few things about friendship magic that I can pass along. I did use it to beat you after all.” “Is everyone going to keep bringing that back up?” Twilight asked, sinking into her chair a bit. “Trust me, you get used do it,” Sunset laughed a bit. “I don’t know. After everything I did how can anyone at this school accept me. How can...” she paused and looked back at the group with the other Twilight, “they accept me?” “Because,” Sunset started as she placed two comforting hands over Twilight’s, “they’re some of the most gracious, forgiving people you will ever meet. Now you will have to get used to them cause they are a little weird.” She paused to watch as her friends shared a laugh and a bright, beaming smile spread over her face. “But I wouldn’t trade them for anything in this world or the other.” The End.