The Choice

“Something's bothering you, Sunset, darling,” Rarity said, examining the sewing machine without looking up.

“Hm?” Sunset blinked. The two of them were sitting in Home Ec. Sewing was on the agenda at this point in the semester. Needless to say, Rarity was excelling at this part of the course. Sunset herself muddled along as best she could, but she was only passing by the skin of her teeth.

Today was even worse. Even though Pinkie had managed to cheer her up for a while, by third period her brain was back to obsessing over her nightmare. She became so distracted by her thoughts that she managed to somehow snag her sewing machine thread in the mechanism for the needle and wound up jamming the whole thing. Rarity was helping her out by disentangling it.

“You're brooding,” Rarity answered. She grabbed a loose end of the thread and gave it a sharp tug. The thread moved slightly before another knot tightened. Rarity frowned. “Hmmm. This is going to be a bit trickier than I thought. Anyway, as I was saying, you're brooding again.”

“I am not,” Sunset protested. “It's just... I had a bad night.”

Rarity looked at her friend over her glasses. “The nightmare again?”

Sunset shook her head. “Not that one. But, yeah, a nightmare.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” Rarity said sincerely. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not yet,” Sunset answered. “Maybe later when we're all together. I'm not sure how to describe it. You know how it is with nightmares.”

“Oh yes,” Rarity said, turning her attention back to the sewing machine. She began fiddling with the stubborn knot that had formed. “But, if you don't mind some advice, don't let it consume your waking moments either.”

“Don't worry, I'm not.”

Rarity looked back at Sunset, one eyebrow quirked in a manner that Applejack would have been proud of. Sunset felt herself beginning to blush.

“What?” she asked.

“As I said, you're brooding. And we've been friends long enough for me to notice that you only brood like this when you have some sort of problem that you can't get a grip on.” Rarity turned back to the sewing machine. “Ah ha!”

She fiddled with the thread, while still talking to Sunset. “Understand I'm only saying this because I care about you, darling. You have a tendency to shoulder anything that is bothering you all alone until you run yourself ragged. Then you get frustrated, then your temper tends to get the better of you, and then – ”

“I get your point, Rarity.” Irritation crept into Sunset's voice.

“Not quite,” Rarity said kindly. She grabbed one end of the thread and began to pull. “My point is simply this. Tell us what's bothering you, and let us help you before frustration sets in. A little help from us in the right place – ”

Rarity smiled and, with a flourish, pulled the thread, unbroken, from the mechanism. “And voila! Problem solved!”

Sunset sat down at the machine. She put her foot on the pedal and smiled as the machine revved to life. “You did it!”

“Not yet, I haven't,” Rarity smirked. “We'll deal with that later.”

Sunset blinked and looked at her. “Rarity, I – ”

The bell rang, interrupting her. Rarity grabbed her bag from the next machine over. “We'll talk at lunch. Don't be late!”

“Rarity, wait!”

But Rarity had already disappeared into the hall. Sunset grabbed her backpack and headed to her next class. As she walked down the hall, she thought about what Rarity had said.

She's right. I don't have to do everything on my own anymore. Sunset frowned. But, if I tell them what's really bothering me about the nightmare, they may not understand. Or worse.

Sunset stopped at her locker. She opened it, taking out her history book. She paused and looked at it for a moment, before opening it and riffling through the pages. She sighed again and put it in her backpack. As she did, she felt the other book. The one she never let off her person. She pulled the book out and looked at the yellow and red sunburst on the cover.

Before I tell them, maybe I need to get the perspective of somepony on the other side.

Dear Princess Twilight,

I wish this was a social call. I have a problem and I'm not sure what to do about it.

I've been having nightmares, Twilight. Nightmares where the government gets curious about the magic and detains me and our friends, trying to figure out how to weaponize it. On top of that, they always end with a full scale invasion of Equestria. I know it's unlikely, and I'm sure that if an invasion from over here were to occur, you, your friends, and the other princesses could probably find a way to repel it. Hell, I'm even sure that if I was able to get a message to you, you could just close the portal from your side before things got out of hand.

But here's the thing, Twilight, I can't shake the fear. No, it's not just fear. It's terror. I'm terrified. *Ever since I came to this world, I've tried to understand how it works. And more and more, I've noticed that it kind of... well... doesn't.*

I've come to accept that war is part of this world's culture. I don't really understand why it is, but I accept it as the way things are, and honestly, given some of the things that happen around the world, I can also see the necessity. But there's a lot of other things that just don't sit right with me. They're making headway on a lot of them, but there's just as many people committed to keeping things as they are, no matter who gets hurt in the process.

And the thing that really scares me is their capacity to let their paranoia and mistrust take over. Right now, there seems to be this underlying message in everything from the media, to the news, to simple household conveniences that you can't trust anyone. That the safest thing to do is never leave your room and keep interactions with others to a minimum. It goes against everything you've taught me. Why would they insist that isolation is the only way to live? Why is it that so many people are perfectly content to never interact with anyone except on the most superficial level?

I've had both Pinkie and Rarity insist that I tell them and the others about my nightmare and why it's bothering me. And I want to. I want to so much. But, they're humans and they have the same potential for paranoia and mistrust that all humans – and all ponies – do. I'm worried that expressing my fears will cause them to misunderstand. To not see why I'm scared.

I love this world, Twilight. It's become more of a home to me than Equestria ever was. And while Equestria will always be dear to me, I don't want anything to happen to my home here. I don't want anything to happen to my friends. And I don't want anyone finding a way to use the magic in a manner it shouldn't be. We've seen that happen twice now. And if it ends up in the hands of someone who can't be talked down like this world's Twilight was, we don't have the Elements of Harmony to defend against them. If the government realizes what's going on here, and decides to do something about it, not only will the seven of us probably end up in some lab for the rest of our lives, but sooner or later, they'll figure out how to make the magic work for them. And then...

... I'm convinced it will tear this world and Equestria apart.

So, I guess what I'm asking is this: What should I do? Do I tell our friends what's really scaring me, no matter how irrational it may sound? Am I just being paranoid myself? Please, Twilight, I need your advice.

Anxiously waiting,

Sunset Shimmer