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“Okay. We’re doing it.”
“Yep. And it’s gonna be awesome.”
“Of course it is! Awesome on top of awesome makes super-awesome!!”
Rainbow Dash scooted a couple of centimeters closer. Rainbow Dash responded with an even more plastered-on grin.
“Is it weird that we thought to do this?”
“What?! No way! Everyone’s gotta be curious. We’re just the only ones awesome enough to do it!”
Neither of them said anything.
“I’ve done this a bunch of times,” Rainbow Dash blurted.
“Oh, yeah! Me too! Kissing. Stuff. All the time!”
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash paused. “So. Let’s go for it!”
They did not move.
“See, I’m used to having hands?” Rainbow Dash ventured. “Girls tell me I’m really awesome all the time! But… I use my hands to, um, grab their hair… and stuff? So I’m not sure what to do with these hoof things.”
“Usually we use our wings.”
“Oh. Um.” Rainbow Dash looked back at her wings. “Yeah. I’ll just use the wings that I have to help me hook up. With myself.” She grinned widely. “This is my life right now.”
There was another long silence.
“You know what?” Rainbow Dash said, “you haven’t gotten a chance to fly enough. You know? Flying is awesome.”
“Oh, yeah! Let’s fly some more! I’ll race you!”
“Not if I race you, first!”
They both leapt into the air (one more awkwardly than the other), and then two rainbow streaks took off joyfully into the clouds.
The text message had simply said, “Found her! She’s willing to meet. Come to the gazebo at 7:00.” Sugarcoat arrived before 6:30. She was not nervous, but she was annoyed with herself for being nervous, which was a trick she’d learned long ago.
Trixie was not late, which slightly surprised Sugarcoat. She led the erstwhile pony, who wore a blindfold and rather garish clothes, down the path to the gazebo. It took longer than usual, presumably because it was hard to be a biped when one wasn’t used to it, so Sugarcoat watched them come. She did not have any sort of facial expression.
“Here you go!” Trixie announced proudly, shoving her guest forward and tearing off the blindfold. “It’s you!”
Sugarcoat sighed. “That is very clearly not me.”
“Oh look, how nice!” Suri Polomare exclaimed, taking in the world. “It’s like we’re all big monkeys.” She laughed. “Ohhhkay.”
“Okay yes, but see the thing isssssss I couldn’t actually find. Um. You.” Trixie still had the gall to look haughty even as she stumbled through her explanation. “But she’s close enough, right? She goes to Crystal Prep and everything!”
“Awww, c’mon,” Suri argued pleasantly. “You couldn’t possibly be saying I’m not good enough for you! Right?” She laughed again. “Ohhkay.”
Sugarcoat glowered. “I have not commented one way or another about whether or not you are ‘good enough.’ The point is, you’re not me, and the whole point was meeting myself.”
“Don’t worry about that nerdy old thing,” Suri assured her, simpering. “I don’t know who you are, but I promise I am way better at making out than you would be. Let’s get started.” She laughed. “Ohhkay.”
“Every time you say ‘ohhkay,’ I get twenty percent drier,” Sugarcoat said. She turned to Trixie. “I want my money back.”
“Whoa, hey, let’s not get irrational!” Trixie exclaimed. “Look, I’ll just… I’ll just take her back and, uh, if you give us a couple more days, we’ll be able to find you.”
Sugarcoat held the glare for a good three seconds, but she eventually nodded. “Fine. Just don’t…”
“Uh, hey,” Suri interrupted, “if you two monsters are done talking about boring monster stuff, let’s move on to more important things. Where’s this clothes store you said you were gonna take me to? I am not coming to some weird freak alternate universe without finding designs I can steal.”
Sugarcoat decided it was best to just leave Trixie to deal with this particular problem.
“Oh, byyeeee, sweetie!” Suri called after her. “It was soooo good to see you!”
Sugarcoat did not often give people the finger. She was glad about that, because it made moments like this feel important.
She wasn’t sure how it happened. It wasn’t on purpose, but it might have been subconscious or even legit magical somehow. Or maybe it was just a stupid coincidence. But whatever the cause, the park bench Sugarcoat decided was a good spot to mope was exactly on the path Applejack was mopily walking on.
The apple farmer stopped, frowned, then smiled. “Well, howdy, Sugarcoat.”
Sugarcoat glared, not feeling particularly keen on applying any friendship lessons. “You Rainbooms are really nice,” she commented. “Weird nice. Sketchy nice.”
“I think you been hanging around that Sour Sweet girl too much.”
“I’m just not used to it.” Sugarcoat patted the bench next to her. “You’re sad. That’s dumb; you shouldn’t be. Talk to me about it.”
Applejack blinked in surprise, then raised an eyebrow. “This ain’t a trick to get me to make out with you, is it?”
“I don’t trick people.”
Applejack considered that, then actually shrugged and sat down.
“Huh.” Sugarcoat found herself a bit nonplussed for a moment. “I didn’t really expect you to actually do it.”
“Eh, you and me don’t always see eye-to-eye, but at least you ain’t tiring to talk to. I don’t gotta twist myself in knots trying to figure out what you’re really saying.” Sugarcoat figured out who she was talking about, but before she could say anything, Applejack continued. “And you look sad, too, so might as well return the favor. That whole ‘learning about dating’ thing not going well?”
Sugarcoat frowned, trying hard, and mostly succeeding, to avoid seeing the conversation as some kind of chess game. “No. It was stupid, anyway. I think I was just having a crisis, because of graduation and everything.”
“Lord, I know it. Bam, everything changes. It’s hitting everybody; even Sunset and Pinkie can’t pretend it’s not happening, anymore.”
“Can’t stop everyone from just going their own ways.”
“Yup. And it ain’t right to try.”
The breeze that had been keeping things halfway pleasant died down. The sun suddenly felt unbearably hot.
“Are you staying around?” Sugarcoat asked out of genuine curiosity. “I know your family has that farm.”
“No, I’m going to college!” Applejack snapped defensively. “Agricultural science, thank you very much! Aw, c’mon, you ain’t looking down on me ‘cause you go to Crystal Prep and I’m just a farmer, are you?”
Sugarcoat felt no anger at the accusation; it had been so refreshingly straightforward. She really was spending too much time around Sour Sweet. “No. My family comes from farmers, too. And I think you’re the one being judgmental, right now.”
Applejack froze, then blushed and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” The sun fell behind a cloud; the coolness was nice. Applejack gave a gentle smile. “Uh… your family’s farmers, too? I thought your parents were professors or something.”
“My dad cut himself off from the family. He had to start over.”
“Cut himself off? Why would he do something like that?!”
“Because good sugar plantations are still pretty awful to their workers, and my family does not have good sugar plantations.” Sugarcoat couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice, not that she tried. “My dad couldn’t stand being a part of it. Told his parents as much right to their faces.”
Applejack looked stunned, and finally she said, “That was real good of your dad.”
“I know. Don’t get the wrong idea, though, he’s still pretty cutthroat. He did send me to Crystal Prep, after all.” She allowed herself a smug smile on his behalf. “I’m going to go into law, to try to do something about people like my grandparents.”
“...Got it all figured out, huh?”
“Yup. College then law school. Been sure of it since I was a kid.” Sugarcoat shrugged. “After that, I’m less sure, but… I kind of think I’d like to end up back here. Maybe I’ll represent your farm against some big, mean, agri-business corporation.”
“...Maybe.” Applejack leaned back, looking up at the sky thoughtfully. “You’re pretty much the first person I’ve talked to who ain’t freaking out about what they want to ‘do.’ I was beginning to think I was the only one.”
“Ugh. Tell me about it. It’s not a hard question. ‘What do you want?’ If you should know anything, it’s that. But no one over at Crystal Prep has any idea. It’s baffling.”
They didn’t speak for a few moments. The air felt a little weird. “Where’s Rarity going to college?” Sugarcoat asked, because abrasive bluntness was the only means she had for addressing tension.
Applejack sputtered for a moment. “Uh. Real far away.”
“Thought so. Must be tough for you, huh? Your girlfriend leaving.”
“She ain’t my girlfriend,” Applejack replied, clearly out of automatic impulse.
“But you’re in love with her,” Sugarcoat pointed out. Applejack said nothing. “I think she’s in love with you, too.”
“We’re just real different people,” Applejack argued, almost plaintive. “She travels the world and probably isn’t gonna get married until she’s forty. And she’s leaving.”
“Uh huh.” Sugarcoat gazed over her glasses witheringly. “So, what I’ve pieced together is that she wants to be your girlfriend and you keep saying no, because you’re scared of holding her back, or something stupid like that. Aaaaaand you probably just came from another argument about it, and that’s why you looked so down. Am I right?”
Applejack’s return glare was burning. “Well, maybe I just don’t want to answer that question.”
“And meanwhile, she gets on yachts and flirts with boys who look exactly like you.”
“Wait, how did you…”
“She posted like a million pictures of him on her Instagram. I’m pretty sure she tagged you in all of them just to make sure you got jealous.”
“Ggh.” Applejack rolled her eyes and sighed. “Look. I don’t know how it seems from the outside, but whatever we have isn’t gonna last through college anyhow, so…”
“Excuses.”
Applejack huffed with offense. "Some excuses are true. She's... fancy. And there ain't nothing special about me."
Sugarcoat glared, unimpressed. "What time you got?" she asked.
"Huh?" Applejack raised her wrist. "No, this ain't a watch. It's my magic token thing that I use to turn on my rainbow superpowers that..." She trailed off, noticing Sugarcoat's smirk. "Well aren't you little miss proud of herself."
"It's just silly." Sugarcoat rested her elbows on the back of the bench, gazing at Applejack with something near contempt. “I thought we were in the same situation, but you get your girl and can’t even enjoy it? Whatever.”
“The same situation? My girl? What’re you…” Applejack frowned. “Uh, exactly how similar a situation are we talking about?”
“Very similar.”
“Oh.” Applejack nodded in realization. “Sunny Flare.”
“Sunny Flare.”
“Huh.” There were a few moments where Applejack’s expression shifted awkwardly, then she gave up whatever she was trying to do and shrugged. “I know us Rainbooms and Shadowbolts are friends and all now, but man. You sure can pick ‘em.”
“It doesn’t even matter,” Sugarcoat grunted. “She isn’t into me.”
“Did she say so?”
“...No.” Admitting that felt uncomfortable, and she wasn’t quite sure why. “But I know I’m not pretty or interesting enough for her. It’d be rude to make her have to say it out loud.”
“Rude?” Applejack asked, smirking. “You’re worried about someone being rude for saying something?” Sugarcoat had never seen an expression so delighted as Applejack’s when she said, “Sounds like you’re making excuses, now.”
Sugarcoat stared. “It’s too damn hot, today,” she remarked.
“That ain’t a denial.”
“Because you’re right.” Sugarcoat lifted her glasses and rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. “You know why I want to find myself and make out with her? Because she’s the only one I can think of who’d be truthful and mean. I want her to smack me down, so I can stop this… half-hoping.”
Applejack frowned, looking annoyingly kind and empathetic. “I get it, Sugarcube. I…”
“Ugh. If you can’t even get my name right, why am I even talking to you?” Sugarcoat stood and began to walk off angrily.
“Huh? Oh, wait, no! I meant… hold on!” Applejack sputtered. Sugarcoat stopped, looking back suspiciously. “Why you doing this? Why work so hard to make yourself feel bad?”
“Because I’m honest,” Sugarcoat snapped. “That’s kind of my thing. I thought you knew all about it.”
Applejack frowned. “Look, just…” She paused for a moment, then barreled through what she had to say. “I’m not always great at remembering this either, but part of being honest is accepting the good stuff, too.”
Sugarcoat regarded Applejack coldly. She nodded once. Then she turned away and walked off.
Maud answered the somber knock on her front door. “It’s you.”
“Yes,” Maud replied. “It’s me.”
“Please, come in.” Maud stepped aside and let Maud enter before closing the door behind her.
“I like how rocky your house is,” Maud commented. “I live in a cave.”
“You’ve given me something to aspire to.”
Maud nodded. “Should we get started? I don’t know how long it takes to have an encounter with oneself, but I left my rock stew on simmer, so I can’t leave it long.”
“Yes. Please come with me.” Maud led Maud into the bedroom. “Here it is.”
“Time to start, then.”
Maud nodded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small rock, which she placed on the mattress.
Maud, meanwhile, reached into her own pocket and pulled out an identical, small rock. She placed it abutting the first one.
They stood back and watched the two rocks.
“I can’t say I really get it,” Maud remarked. “But it’s nice to see them happy.”
Maud grunted in agreement.
Trixie’s text was less confident than the previous one. “Come to the gazebo at 5:30 today.” The immediate followup was even less confident: “Look, have an open mind, okay?”
So Sugarcoat was not surprised to see Trixie with a girl who clearly was not herself. The surprising part was that the girl was lying on her back, reading a book, while Trixie dragged her down the path by her ankles.
Partly out of pity for the straining Trixie, Sugarcoat left the gazebo and went to meet them.
“Oh!” Trixie exclaimed, still panting from exertion. “Hey! Yeah, so… hey! Look!” She took a step back and flared her arms out, presenting the reading girl like a game show prize. “It’s you!”
Sugarcoat glanced down at the girl. She looked a little bit like if a photonegative of Twilight Sparkle got left in someone’s pocket and then the pants went through several wash cycles. “Should I even say anything?”
“I know what you’re thinking, but look. She has glasses! And she’s all sardonic! She’s basically you. Right?”
The girl turned a page in her book.
“Okay. I can admit when I’ve done something unhelpful.” Trixie smacked a fist into her palm with conviction. “And so maybe bringing her here was almost unhelpful. You know, still helpful! But not as helpful as maybe it could have been.”
“Why is she lying down?” Sugarcoat asked, unable to hold the question in any longer.
“Because I’m reading,” the girl grunted, still looking at her book. “I’m not interrupting my learning just because of whatever nonsense this is. I’ll stand up when I’m done.” She fidgeted slightly, then relaxed. “Okay, fine, I’ll stand up when I’m done and when someone tells me how these stupid bodies are supposed to stand up.”
“Okay, look, seriously,” Trixie said, “we can find you. Just give us one more chance.”
“You already spent my money, didn’t you?”
“Never mind! It’ll be easy to find you. I’ll get my whole team working on this.”
“Ohhh,” Sugarcoat marveled, raising a sarcastic eyebrow. “Snips and Snails, huh?”
Trixie seethed. “And Snips and Snails!”
“Whatever. Look, this whole thing is seeming pretty stupid by this point anyway…”
“I agree!” the girl on the ground called up, turning another page in her book.
“No, come on!” Trixie argued. “I’m invested now! I’m actually getting kind of worried you’re dead.”
“Existential nightmares aren’t great selling points, Trixie.”
“Okay, fine, then: I sincerely want to help.” Sugarcoat was a little startled by the tone of Trixie’s voice, and she was even more startled when she looked up and saw the honesty in Trixie’s eyes. “I like helping people understand themselves. I’m always gonna be a great magician, of course, but… this job has made me think about majoring in psychology, becoming a counselor or something on the side. Let me just try, one more time. It matters.”
Sugarcoat wondered, for a split second, if she should pretend not to be moved by what Trixie said. She was already doing it, face stony and cold, before she decided not to. “Fine. But look, if you can’t find her, just stop trying and tell me straight up.”
“Won’t be a problem!” Trixie assured her. She put her hands on her hips and laughed with boisterous confidence. It very randomly occurred to Sugarcoat that Sunset was stupid for turning her down on that date, but she held it in.
“Fine. I’ll wait to hear from you.” She nodded once, turned around, and started walking off.
“Oh, uh hey, one thing!” Trixie called after her. “You don’t have, I dunno, a wheelbarrow or anything, do you?”
Sugarcoat stopped and looked back. She said nothing. She was beginning to feel frantic, and she really did not want it to show. She turned back and resumed walking away.
“That’s okay, I’ll just. Um. Yeah, never mind. I’ll see you.” She picked up the girl’s ankles and sighed. “It’s good for my core, I guess.”
There was no one in the world who'd rather spend time with Cinch than Cadance. Cinch was vicious, mean for no reason, demanding with no purpose, and harshly, deliberately ugly. But at least when you got sent to Cinch's principal office, you didn't have to look over at the wall and see Live, Laugh, Love staring back at you, mockingly.
Cadance sat down and sighed. Sugarcoat did have some sympathy: dealing with second-semester seniors must be frustrating. But that sympathy only made her more irritated: wouldn't it just be easier for everyone to avoid it as much as possible, then?
Cadance smiled prettily, but she had thankfully learned not to waste time with this particular student. "Your teachers are worried about you," she said. "From what I hear, your friends are worried about you. And I'm worried about you. You've caused disruptions in several classes, you've brought at least two other students to tears. I wanted to see if you would talk about whatever's going on."
Sugarcoat glared back at her sourly. "Can't you just punish me? I don't see why we have to have some big conversation."
Cadance tapped her desk idly with a manicured finger. "The only punishment I could give you that would matter is if I somehow kept you from graduating. And we both know I'm not going to do that."
"Huh." Sugarcoat chuckled. "So why shouldn't I just get up and leave?"
Cadance narrowed her eyes, and Sugarcoat realized it was the first time she had ever seen the principal exude anything but warmth. "Because as part of all this, you invaded my privacy by spying on my house last week, and I deserve an explanation why."
Sugarcoat stopped chuckling.
"As egregiously inappropriate as that behavior was, it happens to be the case that you couldn't have caused much actual harm, without the spy equipment you thankfully decided to leave behind. But you apparently think either you're subtle or I'm stupid, and in either case you need your opinion corrected."
Sugarcoat said nothing. She stupidly, flailingly try to think of a way to lie about Sunny Flare's involvement, but nothing even coherent came to mind.
Cadance sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I don't think of myself of the kind of principal who would ever say 'we can do this the easy way or the hard way,' but here we are. You can tell me what's going on, or you can clam up and force me to guess." She calmly sipped some coffee. "I'm a good guesser. Especially about love."
Sugarcoat stared down at her fists, both balled in her lap. She was squeezing very tightly. Her mind worked frantically for a few seconds and then just stopped. There was no way out.
She looked up at Cadance coldly. "I wanted to do something risky and exciting to be..." She didn't say the name, though she could have. She just chose not to. "...to be the kind of person that someone likes." She glanced away at nothing. "I can't apologize under these circumstances and have it sound sincere. But I am relieved I didn't actually see anything private, because I would feel bad about that."
"Well. I appreciate it." Cadance outright glared, at this point. "Sometimes, even insincere apologies are nice, though."
Sugarcoat squeezed her fists so hard, she thought they might explode. "I'm sorry."
Cadance nodded. "Thank you." She exhaled, and the iciness drained out of her like steam. "You do know you could have talked to me about this, right?"
Sugarcoat scowled, and it was comfortable. "I'm not asking someone for gay advice who can't even make a single gay friend."
Cadance sighed and rested her chin in her hand. "Aha. You were eavesdropping at Twilight's slumber party."
Sugarcoat went silent again.
"Sometimes, even if it's insincere, it's nice."
She couldn't even be angry anymore. "I'm sorry for that, too."
"Thanks. It's for the best, because I won't have to explain." Cadance nodded to the sign on her desk: Don't talk to me until I've had my coffee! "See that?"
"It's hard to miss."
"Well, I like it. I think it's funny." She shrugged blithely. "Because I'm super basic."
Sugarcoat blinked. "Uh."
"I resisted it for a while, but everything was just lousy. I hate foreign movies and experimental music and weird TV shows. I want to get married in my mid-twenties, with a big expensive white dress and a father-daughter dance and cute little take-home knick-knacks for all the guests. I am the kind of person who invites her extra-dimensional clone over and ends up looking at baby pictures all night. And 'all night' means 'until ten pm' because that's when I turn into a pumpkin, and yes, I'm also the kind of person who uses the phrase 'turn into a pumpkin.'"
She sighed. "I never even really understood why I was supposed to be ashamed of all that. I don't look down on anyone who's different. But when I realized it, I felt deficient somehow. I tried to be different, and it was just... annoying and anxiety-provoking. Because I am basic. I'm happy that way." She frowned kindly. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Sugarcoat glared down at her lap; her lips and throat felt dry. "This is your big advice?" she grunted.
She glared up at her principal. She hoped she wasn't letting any tears out, but her eyes had started watering and it probably had hit the point of no return and she hated that. "Your big advice is to learn to accept the way I am? I'm just stuck like this and it'd only make me miserable if I tried to change?"
"No!" Cadance gasped, looking horrified. "Of course not! I'm saying that being basic is something people might look down on, but it's something I'm choosing. I..."
"Oh, okay then, thanks," Sugarcoat snapped. "I'll just choose to be my dumb, boring self. Thanks. I already knew that. I know what the truth is. You don't need to explain it to me like I'm a kid."
"No, Sugarcoat, I..."
Sugarcoat stood up. "I'm leaving." She stormed to the door. "Expel me if you want to. But I'm going."
Cadance maybe said something else, but she wasn't listening anymore.
“I give up! You win, you win!!”
Vignette Valencia rolled away from her opponent, hugging her injured arm close to her body. For a moment, she just lay on the basement floor, panting, gingerly bending her elbow to make sure it wasn’t dislocated.
“Yes!!” a woman’s voice screeched. The camera smoothly and professionally panned over to show Vignette Valencia, wild and frantic in her victory. Despite the bruises and bloody nose, she looked great.
“I did it!” She screamed into the camera. “I am finally myself! But! Better!!!”
Like a camera flash, she instantly switched to a charming smile. “Hey y’all, make sure to like and subscribe! Byeeeeeee!”
Sugarcoat was desperate, frustrated, and dismayed, a fact that almost registered in her facial expression. This whole meeting herself thing was quickly becoming more annoying than anything else, and none of her subsequent attempts were working well. She had spent the afternoon demanding that Sour Sweet say nice things about her, and all she’d received were sincere compliments. The world was truly upside-down.
So it was partly strategic and partly emotional that she stormed up to Sunset Shimmer and fixed her with a withering glare. “What you think is kindness is actually condescension, because you were born with every advantage anyone needs to be liked by other people, and you lack perspective on how the world is challenging for others.”
Sunset, frozen, stared at Sugarcoat. She slowly finished putting the sushi down on her customer’s table. “Yeaaaah, I don’t think this is really the time or the place.”
“See? I didn’t even know that.”
“Gahhhh.” Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose. “I can take a break in ten minutes, maybe. Meet me out front.”
“And you get breaks at work.” Sugarcoat shook her head in disdain and left the restaurant.
It was almost exactly ten minutes later when Sunset came out. Sugarcoat spent the time sitting quietly and looking at her phone. She looked down at the text she’d gotten from Sunny Flare an hour earlier. It didn’t even say anything hurtful or shocking or noteworthy. It was just a text from Sunny Flare.
Sugarcoat almost cried. It was the stupidest thing. She just got this idea in her head that she wouldn’t be getting these for much longer. The Sunny texts would slowly trail off and there would be a final one, totally mundane. And then that would be it.
Sunset emerged from the restaurant doing a great impression of a person who was not upset. She walked right up to Sugarcoat and looked about ready to launch into a tirade, but then she caught herself (of course) and made a clear decision to approach this reasonably. “What,” she asked calmly, “are you doing here?”
“I’m trying to make you mad. Did it work?”
“Really more confused than anything.”
“Damn it. Hold on, I’m going to insult your band, just give me a second to come up with the right wording…”
“Sugarcoat…” Sunset rolled her eyes almost as well as a Crystal Prep student. “Seriously, is this, like, a real call for help, or can I ignore this?”
Sugarcoat grimaced, then held her bare arm out. “Here. Touch me. Do your weird magic thing.”
Sunset started back. “What? Why? I…”
“You’ll learn everything about me. But then you have to be mean about it. I’m not letting you read my brain without being mean about it after.” She glowered over the rims of her glasses. “I meant what I said before. Everything’s so easy for you. You have no idea how hard it is, even though friendship is such a big deal for you. Doesn’t that make you mad?”
Sunset took a very slow, deep breath. “You are telling me I don’t know how other people feel. To goad me into using my superpower. Which allows me to know how other people feel.”
Sugarcoat lowered her arm.
“I’m leaning to the side of ‘sincere cry for help,’” Sunset continued. “Look. I really have to get back to work. And later tonight I’m going to be busy introducing Flash to Photo Finish…”
“Uggggh,” Sugarcoat moaned. “We get it. You’re popular. You have a billion friends who are all great and everyone’s going to love each other and be best friends forever.”
“That’s not the point!” Sunset snarled so suddenly and so frighteningly that Sugarcoat involuntarily jumped back.
Sunset froze, then took a shaky breath, running a hand through her hair. “I’m sorry. I… really didn’t mean to yell.”
Sugarcoat didn’t reply.
“Look, I’m scared, okay?” Sunset was being annoyingly perfect at the timing and delivery of her sincere emotional openness. “I don’t want to lose the people who’re important to me, and I don’t know how that can happen after the end of this year. If I have a network, and everyone knows everyone, then... “ She trailed off, slouching her shoulders. “I know it’s dumb. But I can’t think of anything else. You get it, right?”
“...I do.” Sugarcoat crossed her arms, feeling awkward about what to do with her hands all of a sudden. “My solution is to make myself stop thinking they’re important.”
Sunset laughed bitterly. “Yeeahh. That’s a popular strategy, I think. It won’t work.”
“Your friends love you,” Sugarcoat said.
She felt about as surprised as Sunset looked when she realized the words that had come out of her mouth. She couldn’t hide the blush beginning to spread. “Well, they do. You know they do.”
“Yeah. I do.”
“Well?” Sugarcoat raised her eyebrow.
Sunset stared. “That simple, huh?”
“Also you share a literal magical connection, but that’s not the important part.”
Sunset smiled wanly. “Huh. I… gotta say, I was not expecting you to make me feel better.”
“I can be hard to get along with, but my bluntness is useful sometimes.”
Sunset’s smile stopped being wan and started being outright sunny. “Your friends love you, too.”
Sugarcoat snickered, proud of herself for being able to turn it self-effacing: “My friends are people like Sour Sweet and Indigo Zap. It’s a liiiiittle different for me.”
Sunset frowned, but Sugarcoat kept going too quickly for her to reply. “And your network thing isn’t even failing. Lemon Zest has already hung out with Wallflower twice. Introduce me to Su-Z sometime, will you?”
“Huh. You seem like more of a K-Lo fan.”
“Overrated.” She hung her head; this was enough stalling. “I’m. Sorry. I came and bothered you at work.”
Sunset put her hands on her hips and tilted her head with concern. “Well, I won’t say it’s fine, but I get your freak-out. Uh, but we didn’t even really talk about…”
“I’m okay,” Sugarcoat interrupted. There was an uncomfortable pause. “Just… keep inviting me to sleepovers if any more happen. That was fun, a couple of weeks ago.”
She tried her best to smile warmly and it probably looked terrible. She turned around and walked away as quickly as she could.
“Your friends really do love you,” Sunset called after her, stopping her cold. “I can tell.”
Sugarcoat actually did start to cry then. But she didn’t turn around and she didn’t say anything back. She wanted Sunset to think she felt better after talking to her. It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it was what Sunset deserved.
But then something weird happened, the next day. Sour Sweet knew. Somehow, Sour Sweet of all people had the empathy and concern to realize something was wrong.
And then Indigo noticed. Indigo, who was so single-mindedly competitive she’d once tried to wrestle a giant sea turtle, put her hand on Sugarcoat’s shoulder.
And then Twilight texted her. Twilight. Antisocial, nose-in-book Twilight. It was madness.
(Lemon Zest did not notice anything, but Sugarcoat suspected she was high, so she could be forgiven.)
So when Sunny led them all into Sugarcoat’s house for an impromptu “cheer up!” party, it was almost too much to take. She had never cried in front of her friends before, never. And even though Pinkie was there for some reason (probably recruited to handle the party aspects of the little party), she felt no shame. They sat with her and didn’t ask what was wrong and it was weird how perfect it was.
Later, they ate the cake Pinkie brought (Sugarcoat didn’t have the energy to refuse it), and Sugarcoat regarded her friends almost wistfully. “Sunset told you I was upset, didn’t she?” she asked.
“Um, Sunset told me,” Twilight said. “But she didn’t tell anyone else.”
Sugarcoat believed her. “Sorry if I worried everyone,” she said.
“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Lemon Zest assured her. “It’s a weird time for everyone.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it, Cougar Float!” Pinkie chirped.
Sugarcoat regarded her. “You can stop doing that. I don’t think your rapping in the Dance Magic video was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, anymore.”
“Yeah?” Pinkie grinned wildly.
“Yeah. I saw your yacht video.”
She only got a few seconds to gloat before she was hit in the face by some cake icing.
“Lord, and they just kept coming up with distractions all night?” Applejack guffawed, shaking her head. “Leave it to Rainbow to go to all that trouble and not be able to follow through.”
“I know!” Rarity agreed, delighted. “Ahem. But, I think it’s a bit of a sensitive subject for her, so we should be careful not to make fun of her for it. Oh, and of course, we shouldn’t talk about it in front of Sunset.”
“Uh yeah, I was gonna ask about that. All this is going on behind Sunset’s back? I dunno I like that.”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Rarity assured her. “Sunset is… ambivalent. She knows something is happening, and as long as she doesn’t know more than that, she can ignore it. She’s told me as much.”
“Hmm,” Applejack mused. “Well, fine. Still feels weird, though.”
“Oh?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Using the portal behind Sunset’s back, or what Rainbow was doing?”
“Um. Well… both, I guess.”
“So, you wouldn’t want to do what she did?” Rarity asked primly. “Meet yourself for a… tryst?”
“Gah, no! Of course not.”
“I see.” Rarity crossed her arms, putting a finger to her chin in thought. “Just for clarity: when you say you wouldn’t want to, are you saying that you have no particular desire to have a tryst with yourself? Or are you saying you actively want to not have a tryst with yourself?”
Applejack froze, then raised an eyebrow. “Uhmmm…”
“In other words, you don’t want to, meaning you could take it or leave it? Or you would prefer not…?”
“Rares, you better not be asking this why I think you’re asking this.”
“Why, not at all!” Rarity gasped. “I would never suggest anything so gauche! Just. If you happened to be okay with it, and when it was going on, I happened to be nearby, then…”
“Nope.”
“Ah. Yes.” Rarity frowned thoughtfully. “...Nope meaning no not ever, or nope meaning…”
“Nope!!”
“Nope meaning nope. I see.” Rarity sighed. “...So…”
“NOPE!”
After two full days, Trixie called her. Not a text, an actual call. Sugarcoat answered it, a little nonplussed. “Hello?”
“We found her!!” Trixie exclaimed. “She was in the Crystal Empire! The Crystal Empire, Sugarcoat!”
“I don’t know what that means. This is really her, though?”
“We’re certain. And she wants to meet! The usual place, tomorrow at noon.”
“Noon? I’ll have to skip class.”
“...and?”
“And I’m a second semester senior, so noon sounds great.” She hung up without waiting for a goodbye. It was rude, she realized a second later, but she was just too agitated to care.
Sugarcoat didn’t recognize herself at first. She wasn’t wearing a blindfold, and she was just glowering at Trixie as the two of them approached the gazebo. The look on her face was very familiar, and the basic traits were the same, but everything else was shockingly different.
She wore a tight, intimidating business suit, and her hair was straight and combed back, draping like a curtain down her back. Her glasses were pert and sharp, and her demeanor was icy. As she approached, it became clear she was wearing light, classy make-up. Sugarcoat began to feel very much in over her head about this whole making out with herself thing.
Sugarcoat was taller than herself because of the high heels she was wearing, so she stared her down as she approached. She stopped in front of herself, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “You’re me,” she commented.
“Uh.” Sugarcoat coughed. “I am you.”
“Ugh,” Sugarcoat grunted, rolling her eyes. “Look at you. I have a literal pony tail, and even I think you’re overdoing it with the ponytails.”
“Um.”
“Yeah, so let me get this out of the way: I am not going to make out with you.”
Sugarcoat blinked in surprise, pulling self-consciously at one of her ponytails. “You’re not?”
“Of course not! What are you, fourteen?”
“I’m eighteen.”
“Oh, well that explains it.” She brushed nonexistent lint off her suit and sneered. “I remember being eighteen.”
She stepped to one side and then to the other, taking in her counterpart from different angles. “I came because I was curious: why in Equestria would I possibly want to do this ridiculous thing? But now I get it. It’s because in weirdo human world, I’m just eighteen again. An idiot.”
“I’m not an idiot,” Sugarcoat grunted, feeling kind of like an idiot. “It was important.”
Sugarcoat laughed in response, a response clearly carefully formed to be cutting, which did not in any way limit its effectiveness. “Let me give you a little tip. Something I’ve wanted to tell my eighteen year-old self a long time, actually.” She leaned forward. “Everything you think is important right now? Isn’t.”
Sugarcoat opened her mouth to argue, but she was cut off. “Oh, I know it feels important. I absolutely have to beat that camp across the lake! I need to be valedictorian! The world will completely end if ever get less than an A plus in a single college course! But the truth is? The harsh truth? You will not care five seconds after each of these things is over. It’s all. Pointless.”
“But…”
“Your entire life right now is just wasted effort, just meaningless victory after meaningless victory, and you’ll look back and regret all the time you wasted on nonsense. Everything you care about, everything, is absolutely not important at all.”
“But what about my friends?”
Sugarcoat froze. Her face shifted from icy disdain to confusion. “Huh?”
“What about my friends? They’re not pointless.”
Sugarcoat somehow looked even more confused. She took a step back, looking far shorter than she had a second ago. “Wait, how old did you say you were, again?”
“Eighteen.”
“And you… have friends already? You actually put up with other ponies?”
“Well, not ponies. But yeah. They get on my nerves sometimes, but they’re my friends.”
Sugarcoat frowned, looking genuinely sad. “Well. I don’t do this a lot, but I’m taking back what I said before. It looks like you do have some important things in your life. I’m glad you were able to get there.”
“It kinda took some magic explosions and the avatar of empathy,” Sugarcoat explained, fiddling awkwardly with her handbag. "You... got there, too?"
"It took a long time. A lot of stubborn, angry, bitter years. But yeah. I got there." She sighed wistfully. "I guess I shouldn't have launched into a whole big criticism of you. It's... surprising how deeply you get motivated to chew out your younger self when you get the chance. I got carried away."
Sugarcoat considered that. "I encouraged a classmate to become a hell demon. If I ever find a way to go back in time and yell at myself for that, I'll let you know."
Sugarcoat grinned, looking oddly youthful despite her sharp suit and hair. She was almost certainly not nearly as much older as she was acting. "Thanks. I'm happy for you."
“I’m happy for you, too.” Sugarcoat replied, sincere.
The other Sugarcoat turned to Trixie, who looked vaguely disappointed they had not been making out. “I think we’re done. Time to go home, now.”
"Huh?" Trixie shook her head. "No no no. You haven't talked about cutie marks yet. You need to do that."
"Cutie marks?" Sugarcoat glared. "Why would we talk about that?"
"Yeah," Sugarcoat agreed, also glaring. "Is this because of those kids? I think we can skip the protocol set by twelve year-olds."
"No," Trixie insisted, "you just need to talk about cutie marks. I can tell these things."
Sugarcoat sighed, slicking back her immaculate hair. "Ugh, fine. But what would we even talk about? Is your cutie mark different from mine?"
"I don't have a cutie mark."
That caught Sugarcoat up. She blinked in surprise. "You don't have your cutie mark yet?"
"We don't get those. And please bear with me during this conversation. You cannot have perspective on how stupid the phrase 'cutie mark' is if you're not used to it."
Sugarcoat considered that. "Fair enough." She reached into her suit pocket and pulled out an expensive-looking, gold pocketwatch. "This appeared in my clothes when I came through the portal. Please don't ask me about the metaphysics; I don't know." She held out the watch; on the cover was an intricate etching of a striped firecracker with two large sparkles. "This is my cutie mark."
Sugarcoat frowned. "I recognize that. This was a design on a hairpin I used to have. I really liked it."
"Well, there you go," Sugarcoat replied, sliding the watch back into her pocket. "You do have one; it's just not on your body."
Sugarcoat shuddered. "I've decided not to think too hard about the fact that my mystical, personal symbol was designed by some corporation and then sold to me at a Hot Topic. So what's the story? How'd you get it?"
"I was visiting my father on campus one day, and I saw that there was a student debate tournament scheduled for that afternoon. I walked right up and insisted they let me participate, even though I wasn't a student and I was ten. I think they all thought it was very adorable and hilarious, so they let me in."
Sugarcoat could feel herself smirking. "And you won?"
"What do you think?" Sugarcoat smirked back. "I demolished them. By the end of it, I was the only contestant who wasn't in tears."
"Huh." Sugarcoat considered that. "So your special talent is... making everyone cry?"
Sugarcoat played idly with the sleeve of her business coat, a gesture that was not familiar at all. "Well. There was a righteous element to it, too. My opponent in the finals was a unicorn who I'm fairly sure was a racist." She paused, then sighed. "Ugh, I don't want to have to explain all that to you. Basically, I'm an earth pony, which means I don't have a horn or wings. And even though earth ponies dominate academia and the physical sciences, we're still seen as rubes by certain unicorns. The mark appeared when I beat her." She looked away, stony-bashful, and that was a familiar gesture. "But yes. At the time, I thought it was just about being able to make ponies cry, and I was very proud of that. Ugh, I was insufferable."
"But it actually means something different?" Sugarcoat asked, resenting the hopefulness in her tone. "I used to like that hairclip because the firecracker looks harmless and innocent, but it's actually dangerous. Or since you were debating, maybe it just means you can formulate arguments well?"
"Maybe?" Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't ever really think about it."
Sugarcoat stared at herself, perplexed. Every time she thought she understood magic ponies, she ended up more surprised. "How could you not care? It's your special thing. It's what you're going to be best at. The only thing. That sounds worth thinking about to me!"
"...Wait." The disbelieving giggle in the erstwhile pony's voice was absolutely cutting and infuriating. "You couldn't possibly actually think that's how it works. Do you really believe I go around thinking my entire life is determined by a picture appearing on my flank when I was ten?"
"Well, it's true," Sugarcoat insisted, coldly. "So yes, I did think that would be the way you think about it."
"That's how kids think about it." her counterpart snapped. "I guess it's an important stage of development, or whatever, but once you get it, it doesn't matter. If ponies were limited by their cutie marks, it... I can't think of anything more depressing."
"Oh, so I guess it all just doesn't matter, huh?" Sugarcoat could feel an iciness in her fingers and chest. It was comfortable. It was nice. "I guess anyone can do anything, right? It doesn't matter what's true about them."
"Uhh." Pony Sugarcoat glanced at Trixie, then back at herself. "You're being really defensive about this."
"Because it's the truth!" Sugarcoat snapped. "It might be nice to pretend you're not a firecracker, but you are. If I'm boring and ugly, and all I'm good for is making everyone cry, then it doesn't do anyone any good if I go around lying to myself about it!"
There was a pause, and Sugarcoat realized she had been yelling. "Ah," her doppelganger said. "That's why you're defensive of it. Because you can't think of anything more depressing, either. And wrecking your hopes was the whole reason you wanted me to come here."
"I told you it'd be a good idea to talk about cutie marks," Trixie remarked.
Sugarcoat turned her head to look at Trixie, which was useful both because it allowed her to stop thinking about herself and because this chick was absolutely infuriating. She could have walked right up to her. She could have started talking, making it up as she was going, confident it'd be perfect anyway.
"None of this Equestria stuff is going to make her like you," she could have said. Trixie was obviously not over Sunset; she'd clearly asked her out much more recently than Wallflower or Rainbow. It would all be very easy. "Do you actually believe you're good enough for her? You think you can compete with people like K-Lo, people who are actually talented, who aren't reduced to doing terrible magic shows in community centers? Ugh, do you actually think she ever even thinks about you? You do know you're just part of that 'friend network' she has. No one wants you around except to laugh at you. God, it's just embarrassing. Or is that the point? You know what everyone says about you, and you get off on it, or something? Gross. Don't drag Sunset into your sick little stuff."
She didn't say any of that. She didn't say anything. Whatever thrill she thought she'd get from even imagining it never came; instead, she just felt nauseated and sad. The truth was: Trixie made her look like a coward by comparison. The truth was: she didn't want to be cruel, because it would only make her friends disappointed in her if they knew.
"Shush," she said to herself. She talked over to the nearby bench and plopped herself down. "Just... shush. I'll say it. Just wait a moment."
It was more than one moment, but both Trixie and the Equestrian were patient. Finally, Sugarcoat raised up her head. "I wanted to meet you so you could set me straight. You would just tell me the truth about myself so I could stop... hoping."
"But?"
"But. That was my logical flaw. Hoping isn't about what I am. Hoping is about what I will be. And there is no 'truth' about that, because it hasn't happened yet."
She felt a strangely gentle hand on her shoulder. "My cutie mark did mean something when I was ten. That was me, and I have to be honest with myself about that. But that's not the same thing as pretending that's all I can ever be. You've got to just decide what you want to be, and if you fail, then you fail. Anything else..."
"...Would be dishonest." Sugarcoat groaned, slapping a palm against her face. "This is exactly what someone really annoying was trying to say to me recently. Now I'm going to have to go apologize to her again."
There was the quick sound of a pocketwatch opening and closing again. "Don't get too caught up about it. Graduating sucks for everyone. Your friends will help." Sugarcoat stood, nudging Trixie with her elbow. "Come on, I really have to get home."
"Oh, already?" Trixie smiled shamelessly. "Well, I trust you're satisfied with your Mirror Match Inc,. experience?"
Sugarcoat couldn't do much in response but nod, but the sentiment seemed to get through. She watched the magician leading herself away, and she felt dazed. But before they got too far, the other Sugarcoat stopped Trixie and looked back. “Oh! I am super non-binary, by the way. Are you?"
Sugarcoat blinked, completely bemused. "I have no idea. I've never thought about it."
"Well, just a piece of data. Good luck, kid."
Applejack froze in surprise when she saw Sugarcoat sitting on the hood of her old pickup truck, playing with their phone. Sugarcoat waved, and Applejack confusedly walked closer. “Uh. Ain’t you supposed to be in school?”
“Eh.” Sugarcoat hopped off the truck and brushed off the seat of their jeans. “I’m glad I guessed right, which one was yours,” they said, gesturing around the high school’s parking lot. “It seemed like an educated guess, but I still wasn’t sure.”
Applejack still looked confused. “You’ve just been waiting here? For me?”
“Yes. I wanted to talk to you.”
“Well, you’re lucky I had a free period, or else there’d be a million kids all walking around. What do you need?”
Sugarcoat felt bashful. This was perhaps the most alien feeling they could possibly have, but they couldn’t deny it: bashfulness. “Well, first, I’m trying out they/them pronouns. I don't know how I'm going to end up feeling about it, but. So. yeah. Trying for now.”
“Well… all right, then. I’m probably not gonna be calling you a pronoun in this conversation, though, so…”
“Still.” They looked skeptically at Applejack, who nodded warmly. “Okay. Second thing is, I just finally met myself.”
“Yeah? How was it?”
“...weird.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Yeah.” Sugarcoat rubbed the back of their neck nervously. “I liked them, and I recognized parts of myself in them. They helped me realize some things I really needed. But when I look back on the whole interaction, there's a whole lot about them I didn't get. They carried a pocketwatch, like a weirdo. It didn’t feel like talking to me, at all.” They paused. “I more feel that way, uh. Talking to you.”
They decided not to let Applejack respond and to just keep talking. "We haven’t talked much, but when we do, I… always feel better. I think it’s because we have a lot of things in common, and well, the things we share are. Um. Things about myself that I like. If I got to choose, I'd want you to be my mirror match. Not them.”
Applejack blinked, touching her fingers to her chest. “These are dang flattering and nice things you’re saying.”
“Thank you. So I just wanted to stop by and… say I wanted to be friends. The kind that try to stay in touch even when we’re at different colleges. It might not work out, and it might not be what you want, but… well, it’s what I want, and I felt like I should tell you.”
“Gosh.” Applejack thought seriously for a moment, then smiled again. “I’d love that, Sugarcoat. I get what you’re saying about having things in common. It’d be great to stay friends.”
Sugarcoat smiled in a way that felt odd and sincere. “Oh. But you have to do one thing, first.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“Tell Rarity you’re in love with her, and you want to keep dating.”
“Gahh!!” Applejack barked, literally jumping backwards. “Wha… what’re you…”
“It’s the truth,” Sugarcoat stated plainly.
Applejack looked stunned into silence. She crossed her arms and regarded Sugarcoat suspiciously. “Well, you gotta tell Sunny Flare you’re in love with her.”
“I’m going to.” Sugarcoat felt tall and strong, like they had as many muscles as Applejack had. “This evening.” They nodded firmly. “She doesn’t love me back, I know that. But my feelings are my feelings. I have to be honest about them.”
Applejack twiddled her fingers anxiously, but she was still standing firm. “...yeah. Yeah, fine. I’ll do it.”
“Good.” Sugarcoat smirked. “I’ll text you later? I have to go psych myself up.”
“...yeah. Lord, me too, apparently.”
Sugarcoat gave her a sly thumbs-up and started walking out of the parking lot. They paused and glanced over at the school building, and then, on complete impulse, they took out their phone and sent a text to Trixie. “Try asking Sunset out again in a couple of months, when she’s not so anxious about graduation.”
Then, feeling almost stupidly gleeful, they resumed walking.
Poses were not second-nature to Sunny Flare. Every time, they were considered, constructed. She would not be so good at them otherwise.
So, she was certain, even in this bizarre, lanky body, that she was standing just the perfect way when her counterpart finally noticed her. This teenage Sunny’s mouth fell open, of course, but then she immediately recovered and walked over with a perfect stride herself, of course.
“Well,” she said, ignoring the confused looks of her schoolmates. “Are you who I think you are, dearie?”
“The very same, dearie,” Sunny replied, grinning.
“It’s delightful to see you, of course, but to what do I owe this honor? And how did you even find me?”
“Oh, finding you was simple: I simply asked someone what the classiest place they knew was, and then, after I got there, I asked someone there what the classiest place they knew was. It only took three iterations to make my way here.” She crossed her arms, smirking. “As for why I’m here, I’m afraid it’s a bit of a misunderstanding. I thought my partner was being kidnapped, because what else would one think when two hooligans barge in and slap a blindfold on someone? So I followed them, and when I realized it was just some sort of mirror-meeting, I decided I might as well go looking for myself.”
“You found her!” Sunny replied, twirling like a model. “Although, when you say ‘partner,’ you…”
“I mean ‘partner,’” Sunny clarified, accenting the word so there could be no doubt about its meaning.
“Hmmm. Well, I must admit I’m a bit put off. Don’t tell me I’ve settled down already!” Sunny sighed. “How disappointing that any version of me would be so dull.”
“Oh, it's so adorable,” Sunny replied, smiling like a coyote. “You do look a few years younger than me. I suppose I shouldn’t expect you not to be a bit immature.”
“Hah!” Sunny said, smiling back like an alligator. “I guess it isn’t surprising someone as old as you would prefer boredom to fun and excitement.” She sniffed haughtily. “It’s perfectly reasonable for me to enjoy myself with some frivolous fun, now and again. One must enjoy one’s youth!”
Sunny paused for a moment before letting out a laugh. She genuinely hadn’t meant to; the game she had been playing with herself was an absolute blast, but this silly, undignified laugh just slipped out. She relaxed, the character broken. “You… really think that’s true, don’t you?”
The other Sunny was still playing, raising an eyebrow skeptically. “Of course I do.”
Sunny laughed again, her genuine, actual laugh. “I envy you, truly. It’s going to completely blindside you.”
Sunny frowned and picked uncomfortably at her school uniform, clearly sensing something was wrong. “What are you talking about?”
“You actually think this frivolous, meaningless nonsense is what you want. Just whiling away the time until things somehow magically become serious.” She leaned forward, smirking. “You have no. Idea. Excitement? Diversion? Dearie.”
She leaned very close, almost seductively. “Just you wait. Wait for the day when someone says to you that they love you, plain and stark, and you just know without even thinking about it that it’s the. Honest. Truth. You won’t see it coming, but when it happens…” She trailed off, almost breathless. “When it happens, you’ll know what excitement really is.”
Grinning, she kissed herself on both cheeks. “I should probably get back home to Equestria, dearie. It’s been so nice talking with you.”
The last vision she had of her counterpart was a shocked, gaping expression. She turned and slinked away, musing with pride that she’d won the game, after all.
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This was fun, I liked it. I'm happy things didn't go the way I thought they were going to.
A Taocragus sounds like a creature from D&D!
The italic versions of other awkward liasions are utterly delightful. Maud with Maud made me laugh out loud. Vignette Valencia was intensely annoying, which shows how well you wrote her too. Rarity's conversation with Applejack about it was beautifully awkward.
And then the perfect moments keep coming. Hilarity like
immediately followed by heart-piercing clarity like
Very satisfying reading. It caught me by surprise that you didn't show the actual conversation the whole fic's been building up to, but that excellent little scene at the end made it unnecessary.
I love how you dealt with not just the humans' angst about imminent graduation and social separation, but also the core difference between the pony and human worlds, that the pony versions of people are generally older and further along in their life. That actually guides a vast amount of this fic, doesn't it?
(I'm not sure the ponies should actually come through the mirror as adults. Twilight was an alicorn princess and came through as a gangly teenage girl. But that can probably be handwaved.)
You might well be in with a good shot in the contest too. It's arguable whether the meeting of Sugarcoat and Sugarcoat is actually particularly a focus, but the other incidental liaisons, and just the key theme and motif, I think might stand you in good stead. Thanks for the great fic, and best of luck in the judging!
Well, this I found fun; thanks for writing. :)
Nice fic, I really enjoyed those interactions. And don't worry, nobody will tell Sunset about it.
*Sunset Shimmer behind me breathing heavily*
I like to think friendships strong enough to power rainbow lasers can endure the group going to different colleges. Especially with videoconferencing.
Legitimately brilliant exchange there.
Given that the human world's population is probably an order of magnitude greater than Equestria's, it's possible that pony Sugarcoat was never born.
Oh hey, one will actually have training!
Still not wrong.
Oh, this was brilliant from start to finish. You write some outstanding Shadowbolts, to say nothing of everyone else. Sugarcoat is an especially interesting mindspace to occupy, given how antithetical they are to most characters in this franchise. Great work. Thank you for it, and best of luck in the judging.
This was lovely. And I think Sugarcoat is about to be very pleasantly surprised.
I do wonder how the “meeting” between the two Cadances and Shining Armors went
Teenage awkwardness
Of all the contest entries:
I've read so far--including my own--I like this one best. Fantastically done all around!
Mike
Wonderful! You write amazing Shadowbolts, and it's warming seeing them get closer as they learn this whole 'friendship' thing. They're good kids, they'll be okay.
And the other people having their awkward meetups were great. Vignette vs Valencia... how could it have gone any other way? And Boulder/Boulder. That's got to be a first as far as romance tags go...
And then just the pure heartwarming truths. Loved this story. Thank you.
I love this method of finding someone.
First off, Sugarcoat is my favorite Shadowbolt, so this appealed to me immediately. They need more stories about them! (Bonus points for making Sugarcoat non-binary, that was an unexpected but interesting little detail.)
So, yeah. This was a great mix of humor with seriousness, and lots of heart. Sugarcoat's perspective is excellent, and all of the other girls are wonderfully presented as well. (Another little thing I liked was Sunset's temper flaring, a reminder that as much as she is reformed and trying to be and do good, she's got a lot of fire in her!)
All in all, a great read. I'm wishing you luck and success in the contest!
10490157
You wouldn't if you knew how boring it turned out to be.
10491413
O&O game session followed by cheesy generic romance movie?
10491497
They show each other baby pictures of Flurry.
10491497
O&O session with in-character flirting that reaches truly unprecedented levels of dorky cheese.
The Shinings, in a desperate attempt to salvage the evening, broke out a heavily houseruled and improved Tome of Sensual Myth (the original had a few good ideas but was wildly overhyped) and tried to give it a go. Cadance was very much still Basic in character until they found a cursed corrupting amulet and...
You had me at BouldBould.
I strongly encourage everybody to not look at Sugarcoat's fingers in the image there.
This was a great story! I see you're following Aragon's advice about an eyecatching description for what's actually a character analysis story. This was a great look at Sugarcoat's character and how they deal with graduation blues, and as always, the side bits with other characters were fantastic too.
And to think that this wasn't even the best part of that scene.
It was well worth the wait for the story to build up to Mirror Match Inc. to see what they've been up to.
I loved this. I think this might be my favorite of the contest stories so far. I love stories that jump straight into a character's head and show the reader how the world looks from their perspective, and this did that wonderfully. Thank you for this.
This was actually legit interesting to read, and definitely caught me by surprise with a thing or two. Bravo.
This was excellent. Thank you.
This has some of the best characterization of Equestria Girls characters I've ever seen, and that's saying something. I love this.
Okay, what. This is nuts. I cannot believe a story with *this* premise is so absolutely heartfelt and clever. Like, you are playing 4D chess with some of these jokes, I can't even. The entire premise of self-identity and the characterizations, and all the emotional payoffs, and just ugh it's so good. Your prose is divine and had me reading more and more as I went and I outright had to stop several times because I was laughing too hard.
Also, this will never not make me laugh:
I'm just absolutely in love with this story. You can consider me a massive fan now. Just, oh my gosh take all my praise.
Thank you for the amazing read.
what in the crap is a "taocraguS"? LITERALLY UNREADABLE
by the way, i really love the structure here with these little vignettes of how the other characters react to the worldbuildling premise. i may have to steal it for a future idea of mine, though i doubt i will be able to do it with such skill.
we tell ourselves stories in order to live
i want to groan at this but i cannot
nice
a deep character background based off a single name, ugh, fantastic stuff
canon, sadly! as much as i love RariJack
a vital part of the unhealthy and unstable RariJack dynamic, very nice
really adored this section. i never bothered to even think about the Shadowbolts as characters with depth before reading this story, and there's a lot that can be done with fleshing them out and contrasting them with our familiar Mane Six archetypes
this was my absolute favorite vignette by a mile! such perfection. i can't pick out particular lines i enjoyed because i loved every line so much. i am biased, though.
ooh, burn on Moondancer!
double burn!
hahaha perfect!
yessssss
ugh, perfect! i forgot just how good this Trixie is (she is very, very good and i love her)
really makes you think
oh hey, her special talent!
oof, burn
and big oof on Cadance's part! a bit too eager to apply her recently learned life lesson, been there!
this was unexpected but yeah, i kinda see it!
oof!
callback! and connection, very nice
hahaha, oh Rarity! perfection
nice to see the time difference headcanon at play here. it's a great way to comment on the different developments of these counterparts and it is used so well in this section
yeah, lots of existential angst to be had there! the weird implications of the EqG worldbuilding really are a fertile field for that kind of thing
i really liked this, underscoring how this pairing echoes RariJack. a poignant way to end such an expertly crafted character piece. loved every word!
Came because this is Similar to: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/546113/the-dream-armageddon-of-nihilist-remember-to-insert-cool-made-up-name-here
Such good dialogue and stuff! Just read it all in a rush, and I'd just be repeating others about how great this story is, so I just have questions, sorry!
I also was worried that Pony!Sugarcoat was like a spy or something. But that's usually Wallflower.
How did Cadence figure out the spying? I guess the gear was the main clue, however she found it.
Who's Trixie's contact on the other side??
That epilogue was great! Using the parallels as a sly conclusion!
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Typo:
“I’m happy for you, too” > “I’m happy for you, too.”