//------------------------------// // Thanksgiving Day // Story: The Third Wheel // by GaPJaxie //------------------------------// Twilight smiled a stiff smile, looking at nothing and nopony in-particular. Shining kept his nose down, using food as an excuse not to make eye contact. Beside him, Cadence rubbed her neck with a hoof, twisting like she had a sore muscle. The Sparkle family ate without a word, and the only sound was the clink of cutlery. Finally, Cadence couldn’t take it anymore. “Dinner’s very good,” she said, and while Shining and Twilight knew well enough to avert their eyes, Cadence made eye-contact with their mother. “Well I’m glad somepony appreciates it!” Twilight Velvet laughed, shooting a pointed glare at her children. “Or do you three just appreciate it so much it stops you from making conversation?” “Mom.” Twilight ruffled her wings. “It’s not like that.” She glanced down the table, opposite the direction of her mother. The Sparkle family had three children: Twilight, Shining, and their little sister, Light Step. None were foolish enough to repeat Cadence’s mistake. “Oh, you just come all the way home for Thanksgiving so you can appreciate the silence? Not one word for your mother about how you’re doing?” Twilight Velvet said. Then, she did the unthinkable: “You know, Light Step got into a scholarship program for her art.” “Oh, did you?” Cadence asked, failing to notice Shining’s desperate signaling under the table. “Yeah,” Light Step replied. She was a teenager of sixteen years, with a soft blue coat and a cutie mark depicting three stars and a pen. She cut her hair like a colt, perhaps in an attempt to emphasize her rather small horn and modest flanks. “I won an award for some paintings I did of the night sky. I’m going to get to go to Canterlot School of the Arts.” Light Step cleared her throat: “You know. I might get to stay in the Twilight Sparkle Dormitory.” Her tone hardened. “The one with the statue out front.” “Oh. Ha ha. Right.” Twilight’s smile became so tight lines showed in her face. “That old… thing. It’s an ugly statue anyway.” “It is not ugly.” Twilight Velvet chastised her daughter. “You’re too humble, Twilight. You’re really the overachiever in this family.” “She’d have to be.” Light Step folded her forehooves and glared. “Since Shining is a full-time trophy husband.” The shock rippled across the table. Twilight’s mother and father shouted angry exclamations. Twilight dropped her fork. Cadence glared a soft but intense glare. “Light!” Twilight Velvet finally found words. “You apologize right this—” “No no.” Shining cut in, his words coming quickly. “It’s fine. Really. It’s fine. It’s true! I am a trophy husband. I while away my days teaching PE and spending Cadence’s money.” He kicked his mother under the table. “So let’s leave it, okay?” “Okay,” said Twilight Velvet with a sigh. “Okay,” said Twilight Sparkle. “Okay,” said Night Light. “Ain’t nopony mess with my stallion,” Cadence replied, snapping her hooves against the table. “Because a trophy husband he may be? But end of his year, he’s collecting a Nobel Prize for trophy husbanding, and don’t you forget it.” Silence reigned around the table. Shining’s face sunk into his hooves. “What…” Light Step frowned. “How do you win a Nobel Prize for trophy husbanding?” “It’s for Peace,” Shining said quickly. “The sort of meaningless, nonsense award they give to royalty for being royalty. So let’s just—” “It’s for forging a peace between the Crystal Empire and Queen Amaryllis’s changeling hive.” Cadence explained. “Because, when we got married, I told Shining we could have an open marriage. Whatever makes him happy! But in all these years he’d never once taken me up on it.” Cadence placed her hooves on the table and leaned forward. “Until Queen Amaryllis’s horde had the capital surrounded, and he went out to negotiate peace terms. And you know what he did? He did her. He did her so hard the rest of the swarm could feel it through the hive mind. Ten thousand changeling drones went cross-eyed and squeezed their back legs together.” Cadence waggled a hoof. “And after he said, no open marriage unless you stop trying to conquer my wife’s kingdom. And not only did she do it, she gave us gifts as an apology. Enough to double the treasury. You know, so when he gets that Nobel Prize for trophy husbanding, he can say he’s spending two rich mares’ money.” Light Step’s muzzle scrunched up. Her eyes watered. For a moment it looked like she might cry. Then she slammed her hooves down into the table, shouted “I hate all of you!” and ran off to her room. A moment later, the sound of a door slamming echoed through the house. “Cadence!” Twilight’s eyes went wide as she stared at her one-time mentor. “You didn’t have to do that!” Cadence snorted, lifting her nose high: “Ain’t nopony mess with my stallion.” A few hours later, Twilight knocked gently on Light Step’s door. “Hey, Light?” she called. When there was no answer, she continued, “I brought you dinner.” Still, nopony inside answered her. Twilight sighed, set the plate down outside the door, and then sat beside the door herself. She folded her legs under her like a cat, and tucked her tail in around them. “Cadence shouldn’t have done that. You made her really angry. She doesn’t like it when people call Shining a trophy husband. She wants them to be equals in their marriage. Implying they aren’t is one of her buttons.” Still, there was no answer from inside the door. “But that’s not an excuse for what she did. So.” Twilight paused. “I’ll make her apologize later.” “Twilight?” Light Step asked from inside the door. “You’re an alicorn. And you’re immortal, right?” Twilight swallowed. “Yeah.” “I don’t like the idea that you’re going to live on and be some great hero centuries after I’m a pile of dust.” Light Step sniffled. “Am I going to be an alicorn one day?” “Well… maybe.” Twilight forced a smile onto her face, though nopony could see it. “With friendship in your heart, anything is possible.” Light Step thought about that for some time. “Twilight?” She finally said. “Yeah?” “The next time you wonder why I hate you, it’s because you act like you’re some big hero, but you don’t even have the guts to say the word ‘no.’ I don’t know if you’re a coward, or if you just think I’m stupid, but I want you to leave now.” Twilight left. An hour or so later, Light Step cracked the door opened and pulled the cool plate of greens inside.