Graph Theory

by stillinbeta

8 - Home

“More tea?” Celestia held the delicate teapot in her golden magic.

Twilight looked at her teacup. It was still half full.

“No thank you,” she said.

Celestia’s ever-present smile faltered.

Most ponies wouldn’t have noticed, but Twilight had been around Celestia all her life. She knew concern when she saw it.

“Twilight, is something wrong? You’ve scarcely touched your tea.”

“Sorry, Princess. I’ve just... got a lot on my mind right now.”

“We are here to chat, Twilight. I’m always happy to listen.”

Twilight did know that. Celestia constantly reminded her that there need be no secrets between them. And yet, every time something like this came up, Twilight was sure this was the exception. From the missing friendship reports to the botched dinner party, it always just seemed easier to avoid having these conversations with Celestia.

Maybe it was time to try a different approach, then.

Twilight looked up from her teacup. “Celestia?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Has a Princess ever abdicated her throne?”

The ensuing silence gave Twilight plenty of time to doubt her decision. She could’ve handled this by herself. There was no need to go bothering the Princess. Now Celestia would be worried, or even worse, disappointed in her.

Nopony had asked Twilight if she wished to become a Princess, but neither could anypony claim she didn’t give it her all. Would Celestia think she was ungrateful? Lazy?

At last, mercifully, Celestia answered. “You’re a scholar of history, Twilight. So I suspect you’ve already done your research.”

Celestia frowned and this time it was no subtle lapse in smile. Somepony who’d never met her before would’ve seen she was bothered by this. To Twilight, though, she didn’t look angry, or disappointed, or anything of the sort. She just looked... sad.

“I suspected it wasn’t the sort of thing you would want history to remember, even if it had happened.”

“Very perceptive, Twilight.”

“Thank you.”

The two of them had said similar things to each other thousands of times over the years together. Yet, the distance between them had never been wider.

Twilight fidgeted with her teacup, the handle shimmering in her magic.

“Would I be correct in assuming that this is not a purely academic question?”

A beat. Twilight could still back out. A thousand excuses came to mind, some of which might even work. Everything could just go back to normal.

“It isn’t, no.”

“I see.” Celestia took another sip of tea. Her poise was as perfect as ever. “Tell me, Twilight, where did I go wrong?”

Go wrong? Celestia? What?

“Did I give you too much responsibility? Do you not feel supported? Is the travel too much?”

Oh, she thought... Oh!

“Oh, no no no no, Princess! The job is fine! I love helping ponies, I love seeing Equestia, and you’ve been with me every step of the way. It’s hard, probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I can do it.”

“But?”

“I’m...”

Deep breaths. Count to three.

“I’m thinking of moving to the human world.”

Celestia almost dropped her teacup. Her magic faltered for a second before once again grabbing the delicate china.

“I must say, Twilight, even after all these years you still manage to surprise me.”

“I’m... I’m sorry Celestia. I don’t want to leave, or hurt anypony. But I think I have to do this.”

“I’ve always trusted your judgement, Twilight. You know that. But i... what is calling you through the mirror?”

“It’s... well, it’s love.”

“Ah.” Celestia gave one of her trademark knowing smiles. “Tell me, is it Sunset?”

“Uhm. Yes, yes it is. How did you know?”

“You aren’t as subtle as you think, Twilight. You blush every time you talk about her.”

“O-oh.”

“I do wonder, though. Can Sunset not move to Ponyville?”

“She could, maybe. But, uh, it isn’t just her.”

“Oh?”

Twilight scratched her neck with a free hoof. “I’m dating the mirror world’s Fluttershy too. We, uh, both are.”

“Oh that’s wonderful! Starting your own herd?”

“My own what? Wait, you’re not upset?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Why would I be upset?”

“Well dating more than one pony... or person, isn’t exactly common. I was worried you’d think I was depraved or something.”

“Perhaps it’s not common in this century.” In a flash of golden magic, a worn tome appeared before Twilight. “Time was, herds were the most common form of relationship in Equestria. I always figured this whole monogamy thing was a fad.”

Twilight opened the book offered to her. “A Young Mare’s Guide to Founding a Herd, by Chrysanthemum Bloom.”

“She was a very gifted matchmaker. Chrysanthemums were once considered the most romantic flowers because of her.”

Twilight scarcely registered Celestia, she was scanning the book in front of her rapidly. How had she missed this?

“Twilight.”

Celestia’s voice was gentle but firm, likely honed after years of needing to tear her out of a book.

“Yes?”

“I am not going to tell you what you should do with your life. As I have told you, I trust your judgement. However, you should not make this decision lightly. You have saved Equestria countless times and improved the lives of many, many ponies. Our world is a better place for having you.”

“I... I understand. I promise I will think it over very carefully.”

The two sat in companionable silence, until eventually Celestia rose.

“It is time for me to lower the sun. Shall I see you next week?”

Twilight rose to walk Celestia out, gently nuzzling her..

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

---

Twilight could’ve teleported home but flying helped her think. Celestia had given her a lot to think about. The fall air was bracing, but she hardly noticed over the heated debate raging within. She sailed high above a rapidly darkening Equestria, lost in thought.

Surely a princess’s first duty was to her subjects, a part of her argued. She helped keep Equestria safe, happy, and well, friendly. She had reformed villains, vanquished foes, and brought countless ponies closer together. Who was she to deny her country that, just for the sake of her own personal happiness?

She was a pony, said another part. She was entitled to her own happiness, her own goals and ambitions. She was not a piece of public property to be utilised for the greatest public good. Her happiness mattered too, and Sunset and Fluttershy made her incredibly happy. This was the next logical step in their relationship and she wanted to take it.

What about your friends here, said a third. What kind of Princess of Friendship abandons her closest friends to live with two people she’d been dating for scarcely a year? Those friendships had quite literally changed the world, Would she really just throw them away?

She was so deep in thought that she nearly overshot Ponyville entirely. Grumbling, she landed on the balcony of her depressingly empty castle. Spike was on a diplomatic mission to the dragon lands and Starlight had moved out weeks ago. So it was really just her. Her and her fragmented thoughts.

She wandered the identical halls, hoofsteps echoing on the hard crystal floors. When she had first moved in she had always thought there was somepony behind her. It took a few weeks of glancing over her shoulder, but eventually she realised she was completely alone. Just as she was now.

Twilight’s bedroom was a grand, impressive space. In the center lay a massive bed befitting a princess, plus maybe a consort or two. It, like the rest of her castle, was empty.

Twilight laid on her bed, spread-griffin, still arguing with herself. She wasn’t getting anywhere like this.

Almost instinctually, she reached into the drawer in her bedside table and pulled out the journal. She summoned a quill and inkwell in a flash of magenta, put quill to page, and... nothing.

What could she write?

“I want to abdicate my throne for you.”

“I want to leave behind all my friends and my entire world to be with you two.”

“Let’s get married and run away together.”

Silly, silly Twilight. She didn’t want to foist her burdens on Sunset and Fluttershy. They were probably having a lovely evening in together, cuddling on Sunset’s terrible couch, watching a movie...

Instead she wrote:

I love you both, and I miss you.

Twilight flopped back on her bed, vanishing the inkwell and quill. She stared at the kaleidoscopic crystal ceiling, willing it to impart some hint, some solution she hadn’t considered. Unfortunately it was just crystal, and all it imparted was a faint purple glow and a blurry reflection of a distressed lavender alicorn.

A buzz beside her must’ve been Sunset’s reply. She rolled over, summoning the book in her magic and flipping to the last page.

Hello Twilight! We miss you too. How’s your evening going?

Even if the handwriting hadn’t given it away, the diction was clearly Fluttershy’s

So they were together then.

Quill and ink were once again summoned.

Not a whole lot. Lonely evening at the Castle of Friendship.

The reply was immediate.

Oh, that’s too bad. You were going to get tea with Principal Princess Celestia, right? How’d that go?

Hmm, how to best sum up that whole exchange?

It was certainly interesting. She gave me a lot to think about.

Oh dear, did something happen?

So much for comfortable half-truths, whoops.

I may have asked her if I could move to the human world.

As soon as she finished writing that she wished she could erase it. Had she not just decided not to involve them in this? But the damage was done.

Princess, it’s Sunset. Why on earth would you do that?

In for a basket in for a bushel, then.

I just want to be closer to you two.

Tears began to sting her eyes, dripping onto the pages below her. She hoped tear stains couldn’t pass between the two journals.

We’re on our way over. Can you put the journal in the mirror?

Twilight winced.

This was exactly what she was trying to avoid. Now she had ruined their evening as well as her own.

She knocked her head against a pillow in frustration before replying.

It’s seriously not a big deal. You don’t need to come all that way.

The reply was scribbled, as if it’d been written in a hurry.

We’re already out the door, Princess. See you soon.

Twilight moaned and got to her hooves with a beat of her wings.

Halfway down the hall to the portal, the book vibrated again.

Twilight opened it to find a scrawled message from Fluttershy:

We missed you too.

---

Twilight paced back and forth front of the mirror. She was a mix of guilt for interrupting her partners’ evening, excitement at seeing them again, and apprehension for the conversation they’d eventually have.

She was frustrated at herself for having spilled her secret so quickly and so tactlessly. At the same time, she was relieved at not having to face it alone. She was, in other words, having a particularly Twilight evening.

Midway through rehearsing her speech about how she needed to do this, and trying to figure out what it was exactly needed doing, the mirror began to glow.

A pair of yellow mares stumbled out of it, collapsing onto a conveniently placed cushion. A few moments of disorientation later and they were both at Twilight’s side, wrapping her in a tight hug.

Fluttershy broke off first., “Twilight, it’s so good to see you again!”

Fluttershy’s mane was considerably shorter than her Equestrian counterpart, matching the short bob she had recently acquired in the human world.

“You too, Fluttershy! Your mane looks amazing!”

“Wow, it seriously does, Shy!” Sunset agreed.

Sunset looked roughly the same as she always did, which was incredibly, magically, impossibly beautiful.

“Thank you so much for coming. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important.”

The two mares shared a glance that suggested maybe she had, but it passed quickly.

Fluttershy spoke up first. “Twilight, nothing’s more important than you.”

Sunset nodded in agreement. “If you’re having trouble with anything, we want to be there for you.”

Twilight wrapped a wing over them, squeezing them into another tight hug.

“Thank you so much,” Twilight said. “Now who wants tea?”

The three of them walked through the echoing halls to the kitchen. Privately, Twilight marvelled at how much less empty the castle sounded with three sets of hoofsteps instead of one.

As they walked, Twilight carefully danced around the manticore in the room.

“How are your classes going, Sunset?”

“Fluttershy, how was work today?”

“Have you two seen any good movies lately?”

Years of statecraft and diplomacy had made Twilight very adept at avoiding touchy subjects but at some point the bit had to drop. A griffin ambassador had nothing on her marefriends, both of whom had considerable experience dealing with her evasiveness.

Once the tea was put on to steep, Sunset finally cornered her.

“Speaking of Celestia, I think we should hear more about why Equestria might soon be down an alicorn.”

Twilight’s ears flattened. “Maybe, yeah.”

Fluttershy reached over, placing a hoof on Twilight’s.

The gesture didn’t have quite the same effect that it did on the other side of the mirror, but it was sweet nonetheless.

“I’m a very good listener,” Fluttershy said.

Twilight smiled. “You certainly are, ‘Shy.”

She gave the hoof a squeeze with her magic, eliciting a quiet “eep” from the pegasus.

Twilight looked at the two mares sitting at her kitchen table. They were beautiful, loyal, and most importantly they were hers. Perhaps not hers alone, but hers nonetheless. She realised at that moment that she would do anything for the two of them. She took a deep breath and made her decision.

“I... I love you two. I love you so much.”

Sunset frowned. “I’m sensing a ‘but.’”

“It’s less of a ‘but,’ and more of an ‘and.’ I... I’m tired of being a world apart. I miss you every morning that I wake up alone in this empty castle. I want to be there when you come home from work with dinner. I hate being so far away when Shy has a bad day or Sunset wants help with her homework. I... feel like I’m missing out on a huge part of your lives.”

Fluttershy and Sunset wrapped their hooves tightly around her. Tears rolled down Twilight’s cheeks, but she continued on.

This had to be said.

“I know you two have basically moved in with each other. I’m guessing you have put off making it official because you’re worried how it’d make me feel.”

Sunset and Fluttershy looked at each other, then guiltily back to Twilight.

“Princess...” Sunset began

Twilight cut her off. “I’m not mad. I just... I want that too. Sunset, Fluttershy... Can I move in with you?”

For a horrible, gut-wrenching moment, the two of them just stared at Twilight, mouth agape. Mercifully, before Twilight could backpedal, Sunset spoke up.

“Princess... no, Twilight. You want to give up this castle, your friends, your title... for us?”

Twilight looked at her tea and nodded. Hearing it from Sunset made the enormity of the decision come crashing down. Tears flowed freely down her muzzle, completely ruining her tea.

If Celestia could see me now.

“Twilight...” Sunset’s voice was quiet. “We can’t let you do that.”

What?

“I don’t know much about this world, but I think being a princess is a really important job.” Fluttershy said. “isn’t it?”

Twilight took a deep breath. “It’s important, but you two are more important to me.”

Fluttershy blushed and squeaked something incomprehensible.

Sunset was undeterred. “Twilight you trained under the princess for most of your life for this. Don’t you think throwing that away is kind of rash?”

“I am trying to be open with my feelings here! Why can’t you just let me make this decision?”

Twilight tried to keep the edge out of her voice but judging from Fluttershy’s flinch she wasn’t entirely successful. She couldn’t help it. Sunset was getting her pretty frustrated.

“Don’t get me wrong Twilight, I’m both flattered and honored that you’d do this for us. But think about things from my perspective. There was a time in my life I would’ve given anything for what you have now. It’s just hard for me to let you let that go I guess.”

Fluttershy fluffed her wings anxiously. “Um, I think there might be another solution here.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight turned to the pegasus, eyebrow quirked.

“Well, um, your castle is really big, right? And this world is really important to you. Why can’t we just come live with you? It might be nice.”

“I... I did think about that, actually. But I didn’t think I could ask you to do that. You both have friends there, connections, lives. I can’t tell you to give thoset up.”

“But we can offer,” Sunset said gently.

Fluttershy nodded.

“I can’t let you do that. What kind of Princess of Friendship makes her marefriends give up their friends?”

“What kind of Princess of Friendship gives up all of hers to move to another world?” Sunset retorted.

“We’ll miss our friends for sure, but it’s not like we’ll never see them again. The portal isn’t going anywhere,” Fluttershy added.

“But what about your jobs?”

“Twilight.” Fluttershy said.

She sounded more determined than Twilight could ever recall her being.

“The Fluttershy of this world is a respected and successful animal caretaker. I make coffee. I think this world has a lot more opportunities for me than mine does.”

Twilight frowned. “I... I didn’t really think about that.”

She looked to Sunset. “Sunset, you haven’t even graduated yet...”

“Sure, it’d be nice to finish my degree. But I think you’re missing the point, Twilight. I’m a student at Canterlot University. You’re a head of state. Those aren’t even in the same category.”

“I just thought...”

“I know you thought, Princess. You think about everypony except yourself. It’s a very good quality in a princess, but I think it’s time for us to start thinking of you instead.”

“Sunset, please stop interrupting me.” Twilight couldn’t entirely keep the edge out of her voice.

Sunset’s ears flattened immediately and she looked at her hooves.

Twilight inhaled and exhaled deeply. “I just thought if you had wanted to come back to Equestria, you would’ve by now.”

Much to Twilight’s surprise, Sunset started laughing. “Oh, Twilight, you silly mare.”

“Sunset I’m trying to be honest with my feelings here!”

At this point Twilight wasn’t even trying to conceal her irritation.

“Princess, I never came back to Equestria before because there wasn’t anything here for me. But now there’s you. I love you, Twilight. And I’d go to the ends of any world for you.”

Twilight felt her cheeks heat up, tempered slightly by her once-again free flowing tears.

“I... I love you too Sunset. I love both of you so much.”

Fluttershy grinned through her own tears. “So um, what do you think? Can we move in with you?”

Sunset gently ribbed Twilight. “Think you’ll have room for us?”

Twilight responded by playfully swatted her with a wing.

“Are you two sure about this? You don’t have to decide right now, you know. There’s no need to rush into anything.”

“This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about it, actually,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Every time she has a bad day at work she jokes about moving to Equestria.” Sunset shot a smirk at the blushing mare. “Eventually I think it stopped being a joke.”

“Oh really?” Twilight looked at Fluttershy. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that particular oath from you.”

“We were, um, waiting for the right time to tell you,” Fluttershy said.

She fluffed her wings again. It was extremely cute.

“Which I guess is now,” Sunset added.

“Wow.” Twilight said.

She took a sip of her tea, but it was cold now and she could barely choke it down.

“This definitely wasn’t how I expected my evening to go.”

“Better, hopefully?”

“Much better.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth, probably to agree, but instead let out the most adorable yawn-whinny Twilight had ever heard.

“I think ‘Shy’s idea is a good one, Twilight,” Sunset smiled. “How about we get ready for bed?”

“That sounds lovely.”

---

Even curled up in between her two favourite mares, Twilight found herself unable to sleep. Her mind raced with the implications of the conversation they’d just had.

Had she pressured them into agreeing to this? Would the human world be okay missing two of its element bearers? What would Ponyville think of having two Fluttershys? What if...

A sleepy Fluttershy snuggled into Twilight, wrapping her hooves around the alicorn’s barrel.

And just like that, Twilight’s problems didn’t seem quite so insurmountable. At minimum they could wait until morning, when they could be tackled together.

Twilight snuggled in with her two partners, and everything was right with the worlds.

She could get used to this.

Comments

[Anachronon]

Well, from a political perspective it surely is better than moving to Earth.

I mean in comparison we have...

mundan day for day life... world filled with magic and wonders

Having to face annoying days at work and repeating cycles... magical country with tons of opportunities

Oh, and I'm sure Princess Celestia will cheer like crazy in the inside that Sunset returns.

[chris the cynic]

Twilight scratched her neck with a free hoof. “I’m dating the mirror world’s Twilight too. We, uh, both are.”

Could be wrong, but I think you meant "the mirror world's Fluttershy".

[garatheauthor]

“I’m...”

Deep breaths. Count to three.

“I’m thinking of moving to the human world.”

Celestia almost dropped her teacup. Her magic faltered for a second before once again grabbing the delicate china.

Sadly Beta did not take my advice on this one when I suggested,

“I’m...”

Deep breaths. Count to three.

“I’m thinking of moving to the human world.”

Celestia sighed. "Why am I not surprised? That's where all the mares who've ever disappointed me go."

[livinthelife]

8506127
*snort*

[AdverseFlower95]

Let's just hope that pony Fluttershy doesn't already have a marefriend to prevent things from becoming complicated. Although with how much Twilight wanted to avoid spots where Rainbow Dash hung out at when Fluttershy first came over might be the answer to that. If pony Fluttershy and Rainbow are dating I wonder how human Fluttershy will react.

[The Scarlett Mare]

8506127
Lmao