Unintended Outcomes

by Stegtorn

In Which You Sit at a Library

“Twilight—”

She shakes her head, scowling and trotting toward you.

”How could you come in here after what you did to me?”

“Excuse me? What have I ever done to you?”

”I visited your hotel, and I saw you, with her, swapping spit.”

Fleur backs up against the wall, Twilight staring her down. Your teeth grind together as it clicks together. Of all the times for her to come by…

Fleur lets out a weak, nervous laugh, “Allow me to explain.”

”What is there to explain, are you going to say it was some sort of accident? I’m no fool you know.”

”No actually, you see. That was all my fault, Anonymous had nothing to do with it. I was the one who came onto him. This is all just a big mistake.”

”How can I believe that after what I saw?”

“Believe it or not that’s what happened. How can you really believe that I would cheat on you after coming all the way from Ponyville to see you? You know how many times I've come up here, only to be turned away at the gates? I would never cheat on you, and if I did I wouldn't come to Canterlot to do it. That’s just absurd. What happened was a mistake.”

She thinks for a moment, looking over the expression on your face. With crossed fingers you hope she buys it; it is the truth after all. Why wouldn't she believe the truth? Fleur shoots you a glance, and creeps away from Twilight.

”I’m going to go. I’m sorry for what I've done, Twilight. I hope you can forgive Anonymous.”

She exits with a nod, passing you with her head down. Twilight watches her leave with uncertainty in her eyes.

”I’m sorry, I may have over reacted.”

A quick and unsure laugh escapes your lungs.

“No worries, I’d expect you to be upset if you thought I was with someone else. Actually, I’d be concerned if you weren't.”

A quick smile flickers across her face. She trots toward you, not meeting your eyes.

”We haven’t spoken in so long.”

With some reluctance she hops up into your arms, her wings flapping briefly. You still aren’t used to those wings. Holding her again gives you some comfort, but it feels sort of foreign. Pushing that out of your mind you her let go.

“Come on, let’s get you outta here.”

She shies away from you, taking a few steps back.

”I’m sorry, I have so much to do here.”

“What’s the harm in taking a little break and coming to Ponyville?”

She looks shocked.

”That’s far too long to be away from Canterlot. I have way too much business. Meetings, lessons, studying.”

You try your best to swallow your emotions down and stay calm. Unsteady legs take you a few steps forward, but Twilight retreats further back.

“I’m sure Celestia would understand.”

She shakes her head, looking everywhere but into your eyes.

“You can’t even spare a day to spend with me? It’s been so long, don’t you think we need to catch up?”

She takes a shuddering breath and exhales.

”You have to face the facts.”

“What?”

”Can’t you see?”

She fights back tears, biting her lower lip.

”I…” she looks up at you wearily, “This won’t work.”

“What won’t work?”

Your fingers go cold again, chest getting heavy and breathing getting harder.

”I can’t go on knowing you’re suffering because of my responsibilities.”

“What do you mean? I’m not suffering,” you say, unconvincingly.

She shakes her head.

”You said it yourself, it’s been months since we’ve seen each other. And every time you visit you get turned away. What sort of relationship is that?”

Her eyes are damp, mouth hung open slightly, face scrunched up in order to prevent any burst of emotion. Your tongue doesn’t seem to work, you can’t form any response. It seems your brain just clocked out.

”I think it’s time we let go of each other,” she continues.

It takes you a second to process all that information, as simple as it is.

“We can work this out. We shouldn't give up so easily.”

”Seeing you with Fleur only proves my point. I can’t keep you to myself when I don’t even see you,” she continues, seemingly ignoring your comment.

“Forget about that, that was an accident.”

”Don’t make this any harder than it already is, Anonymous,” she coughs lightly, sniffling and looking up.“You know it’s the right thing to do.”

It’s nearly impossible to keep calm.

You hope your outward appearance isn't affected by the turmoil coursing through you. She gets close again.

”We will always be friends.”

Her half-hearted smile offers no comfort.

”We’ll stay in touch. We can be penpals.”

Penpals? You’ll be penpals. Three years, gone in the breeze. Simple as that. There’s nothing now. You know it’s gone, there’s no getting it back. You reach a cold hand out toward her, running it through her soft mane, across her warm fur. But you can’t find any solace in her touch anymore. Not now. She whispers an apology, hugging you tightly. Twilight kindly provides the fare for your ride home.

The train arrived on time and departed quickly. In a few hours you were in Ponyville again, carrying more than just your briefcase with you to the library. It’s dark when you arrive, the shelves have accumulated a fine layer of dust in your absence. Throwing down your luggage, you collapse into the couch, sitting alone in the dim, silent room for many hours.

Life in Ponyville is slow, painfully so. You haven't had any correspondence with Fleur or Twilight since you left Canterlot a month ago. Fleur never gave you her address. And you'd rather not think of Twilight. There is nothing to do, nothing to say. All you have now is some memories, and an empty house. While trying your best to relax and let time pass a knock comes to the door. Without much conviction you rise from your seat, moving slowly to the little round door like a withered old man. It's the mailmare; she gives you a big goofy grin and thrusts a letter into you hands before bouncing away.

You close the door, retreating back to your seat before looking at the letter. It's arrived from somewhere in Canterlot, but not the castle. You tear it open, curiosity driving you to quickly read over the short note inside. It's from Fleur, she's coming to visit Ponyville for awhile. A weak smile creeps across your face.

Comments

[That Dude]

Well written mate!
Might not have been the ending i was expecting, but that's probably because I have no foresight.
Loved it, and looking forward to future stories

[Stegtorn]

7861094

If only you were THE dude.

Either way, I appreciate your, like, opinion, man.

Have a young, handsome Jeff Bridges.

s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/5a/ac/a6/5aaca64915207b8e8cf9755816bb27e9.jpg

[That-Weeb]

Twilight is a cunt

[Peacekeeper]

Real feels bad man. Good story though

[King_Kratos]

Well done, my friend,

[Officer Hotpants]

Bittersweet little story. A good one, though.

[Thranx]

Such a bittersweet story, a little bit more to the bitter side though.

I'm genuinely pissed at Twilight. She doesn't want to disappoint Celestia, she should've stood up and said that she have a life outside being a princess and try to negotiate with Celestia with her princess duties. If she can't compromise with Celestia, then she should know that she should let Celestia go because she's controlling her life.

Instead, she still has that teacher-student relationship(though it feels like a puppy-master relationship on Twilight's part) with Celestia and expects that Anonymous would just let go all those three years that they have spent together bonding and start from scratch. I don't know what to do if I was him, all those years, nothing. Maybe I try to live a happier life without her to just annoy her out of spite by living a not-as-stressful life and trying to look happier than ever in front of her.

At least, he has Fleur now, maybe... maybe, he'll be happier with her.