For Scientific Purposes Only
Equestria Girls: For Scientific Purposes Only
In the fading light of the early evening, eight girls and one dog stood outside the darkened frame of Canterlot High School. Of course the school day had been over for quite a few hours now but the students gathered were more interested in the statue just outside the school’s main entrance. Or rather the base where the statue used to stand. While the absence of the statue was a blow to the school, the base was really what was important to them. It was the doorway through which one of their dear friends could come and visit them. Even if those visits had become few and far between lately.
So when Princess Twilight had told them via Sunset’s journal that she was going to stop by for a visit today they were all ecstatic Especially Pinkie Pie who immediately starting making plans of a “super amazing, ‘Welcome Back, Where Have You Been All This Time?!’ party”. Which more than exceeded everyone’s expectations. Which, of course, meant it was incredibly fun! But, unfortunately, it also meant that Sunset didn’t get much time to talk to Princess Twilight alone to go over the events of Camp Everfree and their changing magic in person. In fact she was just now finishing the story just before the purple girl had to return to Equestria.
“So you think your new magic might have something to do with these pendants?” she asked as she studied the small orange object adorned with Sunset’s Cutie Mark.
“It’s the best guess I have for now,” Sunset remarked as she took the necklace back and slipped it back on her neck. “I’m just not quite sure what connection they have to us yet or how they even got here.”
“Well it sounds a lot like how my friends and I originally got our Elements of Harmony necklaces,” Princess Twilight mused with her hand on her chin. “But we had to give up our necklaces to restore the Tree of Harmony.”
“Right but didn’t you say you got some sort of Rainbow Power in place of your original Harmony powers?” Sunset pointed out.
“We did although we haven’t really used them that much since then. In fact I think the last time I used them was to help all of you defeat the Sirens.”
“I think so too because I haven’t noticed any other rainbow themed Pony Ups since that time,” Sunset noted as she took a similar pose to Princess Twilight. She then shook her head to clear the thought. “But that’s a discussion for another time.”
“Right,” Princess Twilight agreed with a nod then smile sheepishly. “Sorry I wasn’t able to talk more about this with you but...well you know how Pinkie can be. Any Pinkie apparently.”
“Oh trust me, I know,” Sunset said with a slight shudder.
“You know, sometimes I wish I could see into her mind just to know how it works!”
“No! You really, really don’t!” the amber girl warned with another, bigger shudder.
Princess Twilight looked like she was about to say something else but then stopped herself and shook her head.
“You’re right, it’s not really a concern right now,” she admitted. “What is a concern is finding out more about those,” she pointed to Sunset’s necklace. “I’ll look up what I can and get back to you about it.”
“I’d appreciate that. And of course I’ll be trying to figure it out from this end,” Sunset informed her. “And while I know writing things down in the journal is the easiest way for you...maybe you could not be so much of a stranger in future?”
The other girl chuckled and gave a nervous smile. “I’ll try but you know how the life of a pony princess can be.”
“Actually, I don’t,” the redhead replied with a wink. “But I’ll take your word for it.”
Princess Twilight chuckled a bit then started to move forward for a hug but then quickly stopped.
“Um...you don’t still see other’s thoughts when you touch them, do you?” she asked.
“I’ve been working on it and I’ve got it pretty much under control,” Sunset explained then grinned just a bit. “Why? Afraid I’ll discover some deep, dark secret of yours?”
“No!” she replied, a bit too quickly, then returned the smile a bit. “It’s just rude to go poking around other ponies’, or people’s, minds without their permission.”
The amber girl chuckled then went for the hug herself, “Oh come here you!”
Princess Twilight eagerly returned the embrace and they both held it for a few seconds. Once they pulled away from each other they walked back to where the others were waiting for their own goodbye hugs. Out of all of them though, the first one the princess went for was the purple and green dog excitedly running back and forth between herself and her doppleganger.
“Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Twice the Twilight is always fun!” Spike cheered.
“I’m not sure how much my Spike would agree with that,” Princess Twilight giggled as she reached down picked him up.
She scratched behind his right ear which made his back leg kick the air a bit in pleasure.
“Oooh yeah! That’s the stuff,” he cooed. “Hey! You should bring your Spike next time! I could show him how to chase squirrels!”
“I’m...not entirely sure he would like that,” she remarked as she set him back down. “But it would be interesting to see how you two would get along.”
With that rather apt statement, she turned to her own mirror image standing before her, this world’s Twilight Sparkle.
“Ready for another completely awkward hug?” she joked.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to them,” the other Twilight replied.
“I know what you mean.”
And as always the two nearly identical girls gave each other a rather fumbling hug. Part of it was because they were so similar they tried to both move the same way at the same time. But like the times before they quickly worked it out and held each other close.
“By the way, next time I’m here we can work out plans for-AAAAAHHH!” Princess Twilight started to whisper into Twilight’s ear but was quickly yanked away by the collar of her shirt.
“No robots!” Sunset nearly screamed in her face before she practically shoved her towards Fluttershy.
Unprepared for the sudden momentum, Princess Twilight nearly tripped over her own two feet but was caught by Fluttershy. A catch that turned into a rather awkward hug as the princess’s face ended up buried in the yellow girl’s ample chest.
“Oh-oh my!” Fluttershy cried out with a slight blush.
“Sorry! Sorry!” Princess Twilight mumbled as she pulled herself away.
“It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean to,” she said softly, part of her pink hair falling in front of her face.
Princess Twilight offered another apologetic smile before she shuffled off towards Applejack in embarrassment.
“Hope you’re not planin’ on hugging me like that,” Applejack joked.
“Me too,” Rarity added, giving Princess Twilight a rather suspicious look.
“I didn’t plan on hugging anypony like that!” the purple princess said in a quick, flustered tone.
“Oh you know Ah’m just joking,” the cowgirl remarked as she hugged the still shaken princess.
Princess Twilight recovered enough to return the hug. She also noticed that Applejack seemed rather tepid in her hug. Probably because she was trying not to hurt her with her newfound super strength. Which was another point she hadn’t had time to get into.
Oh well, maybe next time, she thought in dismay as she pulled back from Applejack and turned her attention to Rarity.
“It’s always nice to see you darling,” Rarity commented as she hugged Princess Twilight.
“You too,” she returned. “And again I’m sorry I’m not around more.”
“Oh pfft!” the other girl returned with a wave of her hand. “I understand the responsibilities of a princess come first. Though I have been meaning to ask you what do you wear as a princess? Actually I’ve been wondering what ponies wear in general. We just never seem to have enough time between all the magical hoopla to talk about them. You said my pony counterpart actually owns three clothing boutiques? How exactly does that work? How did she get the money and-hmph!”
Rarity’s musing were cut short by Applejack’s hand covering her mouth. She narrowed her eyes and glared at her girlfriend in annoyance. While she did stop talking with the hand over her mouth, she planned to do a little more talking of the chewing out variety once it was removed. That was until Applejack put her arms around her shoulders and drew her close, which led to her instinctually putting her arm around cowgirl’s waist. It was only then the Applejack’s hand fell.
“Ah’m sure she’d be happy to talk to you about that Rarity but she does have to get going after all,” she reminded her.
“Fine,” Rarity sighed and laid her head on the other girl’s shoulder.
Princess Twilight chuckled at the pair.
“Well it seems some things are consistent between universes,” she mused.
“Ooh! Like me?!” Pinkie asked, suddenly appearing in front of her face.
“Gah!” she screamed in surprise but then calmed down and smiled. “Oh yes Pinkie. You are definitely the same every time I see you.”
“Yay!” the pink girl cheered before pulling Princess Twilight into a nearly rib crushing hug.
“Too...tight! Can’t...breathe!” she gasped.
“Oops! Sorry!” Pinkie remarked as she let her friend go.
Princess Twilight took in a few deep breaths of sweet, sweet air before she gave Pinkie a lopsided grin.
“It’s...okay. I’m surprisingly used to stuff like that by now,” she reassured her.
“Oh good! Also I wanted to give you this!” Pinkie said as she pulled a small piece of paper from her pink puffy hair.
“What is it?” Princess Twilight asked as she looked over the note.
“It’s a recipe for a super sweet, super sugary drink I came up with awhile ago I thought you could give to your Pinkie!” she explained cheerfully.
“NO!” the other six girls screamed in horror.
Princess Twilight was taken aback by the response but experience with her Pinkie had told her that if the others reacted that strongly then she wanted no part of it. She just had to break the new gently to the hyperactive girl.
“That’s...really nice but I’m still not entirely sure if things from this world will carry over to mine,” she said as she handed the note back.
It wasn’t a complete lie so she hoped it worked.
“Awww!” Pinkie pouted as she took the note back. “Oh well. I could always write it down in Sunset’s journal for you!”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Sunset muttered.
“Wait if your journal passed through the portal then wouldn’t that mean-mmph!” Twilight had started but was stopped when both Sunset’s and Applejack’s hands covered her mouth.
Princess Twilight giggled at her double’s misfortune before she turned to the last member of the group, Rainbow Dash. She took a deep breath to calm her rising nerves before she reached out and put her hands on the blue girl’s shoulders, which seemed to catch her off guard.
“Uuuh...Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked in confusion.
“And Rainbow Dash,” Princess Twilight started, giving her a rather...unusual look. “I’m sorry.”
Now she was completely lost.
“‘Sorry’? Sorry for w-hmmph!”
This time it wasn’t a hand that was planted over a mouth that cut off a sentence but rather a pair of lips. Rainbow Dash stood stock still and wide eyed as Princess Twilight planted a long and surprisingly tender kiss on her. Her look was reflected in that others as they stared on in stunned silence as well. At least until this world’s Twilight leaned over to Sunset.
“Is-is that what I look like when I kiss you?” she whispered into her ear.
“Dunno. I’ve never been on this side of it,” Sunset whispered back.
After nearly a minute Princess Twilight broke the kiss with a slight “smack” sound. An amused expression then crossed her face.
“Huh. So that’s what it feels like,” she remarked then let go of the still wide eyed Rainbow and turned to the group once last time. “Well...bye!”
She then quickly ran through the portal back to Equestria, leaving them all to ponder what the heck just happened! And the more they thought about it the more amused they started to become. Especially since Rainbow’s face was still frozen in a state of shock.
“Hey Rainbow! You know how you called me ‘Twisexual’ well it looks you’re...um...uh...wait hold on I have something for this,” Sunset muttered as she tapped her chin in thought.
“Don’t worry about it Sugarcube,” Applejack told her as she placed a comforting hand on Sunset’s shoulder and grinned. “Ah think her expression says it all. Right Rainbow?”
She looked back to her friend who was still standing there in wide-eyed silence.
“Uh, Rainbow Dash?” Applejack asked again, this time a bit more concerned.
“She hasn’t blinked in nearly a minute,” Fluttershy pointed out.
“HEY RAINBOW DASH!!!” Pinkie yelled right into the blue girl’s right ear.
“AAAAAHHHHH!!!” Rainbow screamed as she was very harshly brought out of her trance.
“Are you okay darling?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I was just...taken off guard,” she explained. “She’s a surprisingly good kisser.”
“Well then that’s something else they have in common,” Sunset said with a knowing smirk.
“Sunset!” Twilight scolded with a bright red blush.
“Reeeeeaally?” Rainbow Dash mused as she rubbed her chin and stared intently at Twilight.
“Don’t even think about it,” Sunset warned her as she stepped protectively in front of her girlfriend.
( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - )
As she stepped out of the portal, Twilight couldn’t help but smile just a bit. Maybe that wasn’t the most...ethical way to collect her data but it was the most fun. And now all she had to do to complete her research was find-
“Rainbow Dash!” she cried out in a slight panic when she finally noticed the blue Pegasus hovering just above her. “Wh-where did you come from?!”
“I’ve been here,” she responded flatly.
“Oh. Well...why are you here?” Twilight asked with a bit of a nervous grin.
“Because it’s time for this book club thing you set up a week ago?” Rainbow asked back, her confusion and concern starting to grow.
“Book club?” the princess asked before it finally clicked in her mind. “Oh right! The book club! Sorry I guess I forgot.”
“You? You forgot something? Something about books? That you yourself set up?!” the other mare remarked in an almost panicked tone. “Are you sure you’re alright?!”
Rainbow flew over to put a hoof on Twilight’s forehead to check for a fever, but the Alicorn pushed her away with her forehoof.
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “I just...got caught up doing something in the other world. You know...cause...they also have a Pinkie and you know how they can be!”
There was a sudden shift in Twilight’s tone that caught Rainbow’s curiosity. A kind of nervous tone that usually means somepony is trying to hide something they did wrong by being too casual. It was a tone she had used quite a bit in her youth. And… some in her adulthood.
“Okay, what really happened?” she asked as she landed and started intently into Twilight’s eyes.
“Nothing! Nothing happened! Just a Pinkie party that’s all!” Twilight said quickly.
Too quickly. And her tone was becoming more erratic. She definitely did something.
“Twilight,” Rainbow pressed, leaning closer to her.
The princess backed up a bit but found her resolve quickly writhing under her marefriend’s probing glare. There was something about the intensity in those magenta eyes that pierced her right to her soul.
“Okay fine! I kissed the other Rainbow Dash!” the finally blurted out.
“You WHAT?!?!” Rainbow bellowed incredulously.
“I kissed the other Rainbow Dash!” Twilight repeated. “But it was for scientific purposes only I swear!”
“And what possible scientific purpose could there be to that?!” the Pegasus demanded, nearly smashing her muzzle against Twilight’s.
“I wanted to see what the difference between kissing a human and kissing a pony was,” the princess quickly, desperately explained.
Rainbow blinked and for a moment her angry expression was replaced with one of understanding and curiosity.
“Okay that...kinda makes sense,” she relented but her brows quickly furrowed again. “But that doesn’t excuse the fact that you cheated on me!”
“Technically I didn’t since the girl was still you, just another version of you,” Twilight pointed out.
Again the Pegasus’s expression changed with a blink. This time to one of thoughtful expression.
“Okay that doesn’t sound quite right but I don’t know enough about different species counterparts to make an argument against it,” she relented. “All I know is that I’m still upset with you!”
“Look at is this way,” Twilight started as she reached up and put a loving hoof on Rainbow’s cheek. “Out of all of the counterparts there I choose to kiss yours because that’s how much I love you.”
Rainbow’s expression softened and her mouth slowly curled up into a smile as she placed a hoof on Twilight’s foreleg.
“You know it’s kinda not fair that you can pull this sappy stuff and win me over like this,” she jokingly protested.
“So you forgive me?” Twilight asked hopefully.
“Yeah, yeah just don’t make a habit of kissing alternate version me, okay?” she requested. “I’d hate to have to go over there and kick my own butt.”
“Well I’m sure nopony wants that,” the princess remarked as she pulled her hoof away and rolled her eyes. “I mean who really wants to see two Rainbow Dashes rolling around on the ground, pulling at each other’s hair and clothes, winding up in a pool-”
“Pool? Who said anything about a pool?”
“Um what?” Twilight asked, her eyes wide.
Rainbow’s brows narrowed once more. “Twilight have you been thinking about something like that before?”
“Me? Thinking? Nah! Not at all! I just...” she paused and looked down at the back of her naked foreleg. “Oh look at the time! Better go get the book club started!”
With that Twilight launched herself into the air and flew out of the room as quickly as her wings would carry her.
“Hey! You know I can fly faster than you! Get back here Twilight Sparkle!” Rainbow Dash yelled after her as she shook a hoof in frustration.
The End
Author's Note
Okay so this was kind of a silly idea that came to me awhile ago. Not really sure why but it’s been nagging me enough to finally write it out. And it was a fun thing to do. We all know Twilight’s scientific curiosity can get the better of her sometimes so I figured why not in something like comparing and contrasting kissing between ponies and humans? And since this does take place in my semi-series she’s obviously gonna go with Rainbow Dash. Which I’m sure won’t help dispel those rumors about her at all! Hah hah, high school.
And yes this does follow up on “The Clockwork Pony” and my own Equestria Girls fics. Not so much so that I don’t think it’ll be too confusing if you’re reading this for the first time but if you’ve read the other stories you can appreciate it more. The main thing are the ships which speak for themselves here and you’ll just have to deal with them being pre-established.
Didn’t mean to sound standoffish there but it’s amazing how much some people get upset about ships already being part of a fic. I don’t get it.
Anyway, if anyone’s curious I see this book club Twilight started as having Twilight, Rainbow, Starlight, Trixie, Tik Tok, Ditzy and Lyra as it’s members. That way there’s seven of them and they can all set around The Cutie Map to discuss whatever book they’re reading at the time. I might do a quick story about that at some point. Just not sure right now. Anyone interested in seeing that?
