The café didn't appear to have the usual quantity of customers it was accustomed to on the weekends, and yet, this little hiccup didn't seem to affect the place's mood in the slightest. It was still an overall nice place to spend and afternoon from the looks of it with the waitresses still doing their best to be as friendly as they could to their customers, and with the few customers here looking as though they were largely enjoying themselves. However, comfortably nestled in a small corner booth, were two girls sitting opposite one another who, at a glance, could easily have been mistaken for twin sisters. Aside from the obvious difference of their outfits, however, one wore glasses and held her hair up in a ponytail. Both girls seemed a little hesitant to be here, nervously giggling every once in a while as they tried to think of something to say.
"So..." one started.
"So..." the spectacled one added.
Eventually, the one without glasses sighed.
"You know...we really should try and say something."
As before, the other one laughed a little.
"Yeah...it's just...I've never talked with an otherworldly doppelganger before...or a Princess for that matter."
The ex-unicorn across from her smiled wider.
"Don't let the royal title bother you. Just...just talk to me like you would anybody else."
The human Twilight nodded back.
"Okay...so...um...how are things?"
The Princess leaned back into her chair, considering that.
"Things are going good. Truth be told, I've been wanting to come over and talk to you for some time now, but...well...a lot of crazy stuff tends to happen in Equestria. Guess I got side-tracked."
Adjusting her glasses, the other Twilight gave a look of understanding.
"I can relate. It really feels like things have been pretty hectic over on this side since I started going to Canterlot High."
Leaning forward again, the Equestrian offered a warm smile.
"Don't worry about it. The girls there are good to be around. Whatever trouble comes along, they'll help."
For a time, there was simply an air of calm between the two girls. But, at the end of it, the native earthling began to ask a question that, perhaps, they should have started off with.
"So...what do we call each other?"
Princess Twilight raised an eyebrow, prompting the other one to elaborate.
"I mean...I know we're both Twilights. But if we ever have one of these get-togethers and someone else is here, it might be worth thinking of something else to call each other."
The young royal giggled.
"Good point. As soon as they addressed us, we'd both look to them and wait for them to clarify which one they were talking about."
The two shared a laugh over that, and when it died down, the thinking began.
"Do you have a nickname?" the human Twilight asked.
Her opposite number nodded.
"Yep. Twi."
"Ugh, they call me that too!" the CHS student remarked.
"Okay...how about we just stick with Po-Twilight and Hu-Twilight for now?" the Princess asked.
Considering that, Hu-Twilight nodded.
"Sure...that works."
Po-Twilight sighed.
"Good...so..."
Then, she gained a somewhat hesitant look.
"We never really talked about it but...are you okay? From what I've heard, you've had a few bad encounters with magic here."
Hu-Twilight grimaced, but nevertheless nodded to that.
"Yeah, it's...it's been tough. The girls have been really understanding and forgiving, but...it's still hard to think about."
Slowly, she looked up to Po-Twilight.
"I'm sure it must be strange, hearing about some version of yourself getting involved with dark magic like that."
In spite of how she might have predicted, Hu-twilight was surprised to find Po-Twilight actually laughing.
"Not as strange as you might think. I had a pretty bad encounter with it myself a long time ago, back in the Crystal Empire."
This time, it was Hu-Twilight's turn to look confused.
"Where?"
After a few awkward moments, Po-Twilight just shrugged her shoulders.
"Right, forgot you don't have one of those here. It's where Cadence and Shining rule."
That caught Hu-Twilight off-guard.
"Wait...my...I mean...our brother and Cadence are living together?"
Again, Po-Twilight nodded.
"Sure. They're married."
As soon as she'd said that, Hu-Twilight's eyes widened, and her mouth began to hang open for an incredibly long stretch of time. Looking to this, Po-Twilight realised just what she'd done.
"Ah...I take it they're not married here?"
Hu-Twilight said nothing, just slowly shaking her head, leading to a great deal of discomfort on Po-Twilight's part.
"In that case...er...sorry?"
Shaking herself out of her trance-like state, Hu-Twilight frowned somewhat.
"Well...what else is different between them over there?"
Realising it might be best to hold her tongue on that one, Po-Twilight just looked away, nervously scratching the back of her head.
"Oh...um...not much?"
But even doing this was not enough, as the Princess could feel Hu-Twilight's gaze pricing into her. Eventually, and also inevitably, Po-Twilight relented.
"Well...they may also have...um...a baby?"
Hu-Twilight blinked slowly, then, in a move that probably should have been seen a mile away, broke out into the biggest smile Po-Twilight had seen outside of Pinkie Pie.
"OH MY GOD!!!"
Immediately, however, she realised that everyone else in the café was looking at her after that outburst, leading to an expected degree of apologetic-looking expressions on her part. But, after sitting back down, she leant forward, beginning to ask her Equestrian counterpart a barrage of eager questions.
"Boy or girl? What's their name? What are they like? Tell me everything!"
Now, given that this was a personal favourite topic of conversation for her, Po-Twilight soon matched her companion smile-for-smile, leaning forward and giving the desired explanation.
"Her name is Flurry Heart, and believe me, she is just the sweetest little filly you could ever know! She just so happy, and when she hugs her little toy snail, it's just the most adorable thing in the world!"
Hu-Twilight had to contain herself to keep from letting out the biggest "squee" in human history, but, thankfully, she was able to get herself under control, and began to speak in a calmer fashion soon afterwards.
"That settles it! Next time I'm on vacation, I'm heading over to Equestria and you are showing me that baby!"
Po-Twilight giggled.
"I'd be delighted. Might take a bit of explaining to Shining and Cadence that there's two of me giving them a visit, but I think we can squeeze it in."
Hu-Twilight nodded, then leaned back into her side of things, putting on a mischievous smirk that most wouldn't think a Twilight was capable of.
"Guess I need to start work on getting those two together here too."
To that, Po-Twilight let out a brief gasp.
"Twilight! Using knowledge of another world to influence and change things in your own just so you can get Shining and Cadence together?"
Hu-Twilight considered that, for about a second.
"Yep, pretty much."
After blinking a few times, Po-Twilight matched her smirk.
"Tell me more."
As had happened a few times before, the two shared a laugh, and it was during this time that, at last, their order had arrived. A young-looking waitress walked up to their table, smiling at both of them, before laying down a plate of salad in front of them. Both girls smiled back to her, and after watching her walk off again, Hu-Twilight broke the silence between them.
"Hope you don't mind. I wasn't sure what you liked to eat."
But Po-Twilight shook her head.
"Don't worry about it. I'm a pony most of the time, so sticking with vegetarian stuff was probably smart."
The two paused there for a moment, taking a few bites of their respective meals, after which it was Po-Twilight's turn to speak up again.
"So...I hear you have a special someone?"
Hearing that, and the inquisitive look her royal friend was giving her, Hu-Twilight couldn't help but blush.
"Yeah. His name's Timber. I think you'd like him."
Po-Twilight nodded.
"If you like him I'm sure I would too."
Hu-Twilight considered that for a moment.
"Oh yeah...you dated Flash for a while, right?"
Po-Twilight sighed.
"Well...it was a bit of an on-and-off thing. But yeah, we were together."
She looked to her human companion.
"How's he doing?"
Hu-Twilight misled to her.
"He's doing well. He and Sunset are pretty much the hot couple at CHS right now. It's kinda hard to believe the two ever broke up."
Po-Twilight chuckled.
"Trust me, it was complicated. But..."
A warm smile touched her lips.
"...but I'm glad they're still working out together."
After looking at her for a time, Hu-Twilight started to gain a somewhat curious look to her.
"Did you ever wonder why your first crush was on a species you don't even have in Equestria?"
Hearing that, Po-twilight laughed once more.
"Trust me, I thought about it a bit too hard back in the day. Even put Flash through an experiment over it. Didn't really go well though."
Hu-Twilight nodded, looking a touch incredulous as she did so.
“I know...I was there, remember?”
Realisation crossed Po-Twilight’s face, and she chuckled nervously.
“Oh...right...sorry about that.”
Hu-Twilight’s expression made it obvious that it wasn’t something that bothered her all that much, but then, as she thought on all of this, she then started to bear a small smile of her own.
"You know...it's kind of fascinating."
Po-Twilight looked to her.
"What is?"
"Well...anyone would look at us, hear we're parallel universe versions of each other, and maybe think we'd be duplicates in our personality, but...I don't think we are."
Staring at her for a time, Po-Twilight smiled.
"You're not wrong. The core of who we are might be there, but...yeah...we're different people."
Hu-Twilight nodded, resuming her smile.
"I'm...I'm pretty okay with that."
Po-Twilight nodded back.
"Well...here's to not having an exact copy of ourselves running around."
Chuckling, Hu-Twilight took a glass of water, as did Po-Twilight, and together, they clinked them against one another. After taking a sip of water at the same time, the girls sat in silence for a while, only for Po-Twilight to then ask what had, apparently, been on her mind for some time.
"So...when did you first realise you needed glasses?"
Adjusting said glasses, Hu-Twilight began to explain.
"Well...it began when I was little. I had a nasty habit of bumping into stuff a lot. And...well...also people."
Letting that information sink in, Po-Twilight started twirling some of her hair in her finger.
"In that case...maybe we are more similar than I thought."
Hu-Twilight tilted her head in confusion, and after a few moments, Po-Twilight began to speak, looking very embarrassed as she did so.
"How do you think I first met Flash?"
