Third Wheel Trouble

by King Ice

Lunch

Twilight had been surveying the area for some time now, scanning for potential places to eat as Rainbow Dash kept up the brisk pace. Ponyville had numerous restaurants to choose from, but Rainbow seemed to be passing them all up. This made Twilight wonder which restaurant they would ultimately settle on. Perhaps she was unfamiliar with some of them? Twilight was also curious since she didn't recall seeing any restaurants in the direction they were heading.

“I can’t wait to see what you have in store for me, Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed as her marefriend smiled confidently. “Will we be there soon?” She asked. It was more out of curiosity than impatience since they were having lunch early because she didn’t expect the play to end so abruptly for them.

“Actually, we’re already here!” Rainbow replied as she stepped in front of the alicorn, who raised an eyebrow and looked around.

“Oh, but where’s the restaurant? Wait, did you plan a picnic!” Twilight asked excitedly as Rainbow tilted her head, then snickered.

“Come on, Twi, stop pulling my leg! We’ll have lunch right there,” Rainbow turned around and pointed at the building behind her, which was Sugarcube Corner.

“That’s Sugarcube Corner, Rainbow,” Twilight chuckled nervously as her marefriend’s eyes wandered back and forth between the building and her.

“Yeah, I know! That’s where we’ll have lunch!” She answered.

“At Sugarcube Corner? That’s a bakery. They mostly sell sweets,” She argued as Rainbow nodded along.

“Well, you know how much I like sweets! I mean, you love them, too, so I figured you would be happy about it! Also, I kind of managed to get it to ourselves! No one else is gonna bother us,” The pegasus explained while smiling, which prompted Twilight to hide her disappointment as best as she could. “You’re not… You’re not mad or disappointed, are you?” Rainbow asked, getting suddenly worried since she noticed the alicorn’s silence.

“Me? No! No, no, no! Of course, not! No. No? No, I’m not disappointed! Hehe… Ha,” Twilight stammered, sweating while Rainbow Dash studied her face, then grinned.

“Alright! I knew that was a great idea! I bet we’ll get an awesome discount, too!”

“I can’t wait…” Twilight mumbled quietly enough for Rainbow not to hear while she followed her inside the bakery.

“HEY!” Pinkie suddenly shouted out of nowhere, making Twilight gasp in surprise as she was pulled out of her thoughts.

“Pinkie! Don’t do that, please!” The alicorn breathed heavily while clutching her chest as Pinkie simply laughed.

“I thought you weren’t working today, Pinkie,” Rainbow voiced as the pink pony turned its attention to her.

“I wasn’t supposed to, but the Cakes told me about that talk you had with them, and how you wanted to have lunch with Twilight alone. I wanted to be your waitress so bad they let me replace them for today!” Pinkie explained happily as Twilight’s eyes widened in horror.

No way! No way! Who could predict what would happen if they let Pinkie here?! How could she possibly enjoy some time alone with Dash when literally anything could happen at random?! Having to eat dessert when she didn’t have breakfast or lunch was bad enough, but now she would risk getting hit by a meteorite?! Wait… No… She shouldn’t be so dramatic… it wasn’t like trouble followed Pinkie. She was simply overreacting like she used to in the past, but now… Now she changed. She became better. She became calmer. She was less prone to anxiety attacks. Pinkie was one of her best friends, she loved her, and even if she had no concept of boundaries sometimes, she knew she could trust her to make her lunch go smoothly.

“And then, Princess Celestia banished him to what she called the shady realm or something. The Kirins over there see us as kind of divinities now,” Pinkie finished her story with a smile, making Twilight shake her head as she realized she wasn’t listening at all.

“That’s… a great story, Pinkie… And weird because I’m only hearing about it now,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head.

“You never asked!” The party pony grinned. “Come on, take a seat, girls!” She motioned to the small table and two chairs facing each other. “So? Are you, two lovebirds, ready to order?” She inquired the moment the two ponies sat down.

“What do you have?” Rainbow asked as Pinkie smiled, seemingly overjoyed with the question.

“We’ve got chocolate cake, vanilla cake, strawberry cake, raspberry cake…” Pinkie started listing every variety of cake she knew, which was clearly more than Twilight because there were some she never even heard of before. “Oh, and I almost forgot!”

“Let me guess… is it cake?” Twilight inquired tiredly as Pinkie beamed.

“Yup! You got it! Cupcakes! Blueberry cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, sugar-free sugar-filled cupcakes…” She started listing again as Twilight sighed and rested her head on one of her hooves.

“I think we’ll take the chocolate cake, right Twilight?” Rainbow replied as Twilight looked baffled. She didn’t find any of this weird? They weren’t going to eat a whole cake on their own for lunch, were they?

“Uhm… Do you have something else? Something that isn’t cake?” The alicorn inquired as Pinkie Pie shook her head.

“Nope!”

“Come on, Twi. Didn’t you listen to her story earlier? They only have cakes today,” Rainbow Dash poked Twilight on her shoulder.

“I wasn’t really paying attention to the story…” Twilight grumbled while keeping her calm. “You talked about fruit cakes earlier, so that means you have fruits, right? And berries, too!” Twilight asked Pinkie as the earth pony hummed while thinking about it.

“Yup! We do have fruits and berries!” She replied while nodding and smiling.

“Great! Can you make us a salad?” Twilight inquired, satisfied that something may go her way today.

“Nope!” Only for her hopes to be broken and swept away by the pink pony’s words. Twilight’s face fell.

“And why, exactly?”

“Against the policy,” Pinkie stated as if it was evident while Twilight began sputtering.

“A-Against the policy? What policy? Since when do you have a policy?” The alicorn questioned as Pinkie shrugged.

“Well, since always, I guess,” She replied as Twilight open her mouth to say something only for Pinkie to cut her off. “You never asked,” She said as if she just read her mind. “Anyways, those fruits are for cakes only,”

“Come on, Pinkie… Can’t you do us a favor? As best friends!” Twilight suggested with a wide shaking grin.

“Nope! Sorry!” Pinkie shook her head, still keeping her smile.

“It’s already thanks to her and the Cakes that we got Sugarcube Corner for ourselves, Twilight. I don’t think we should push it,” Rainbow reasoned, making her marefriend falter.

Twilight blinked a couple of times, surprised that Rainbow of all ponies wasn’t on her side on this one. When was she the responsible one?!

“I didn’t come here to eat salad,” Rainbow thought as she hoped Twilight would listen to her.

“Wait! Look, Pinkie!” Twilight suddenly noticed something and pointed out the window in the direction of a stand of fruits. “Those are fruits, right? Nothing prevents you from going there and buying some, correct?”

“You’re right!” Pinkie nodded eagerly.

“Alright, so that means… You could go there, buy those fruits, then make a salad here with them,” Twilight continued while Pinkie nodded along.

“Yup! I could do that!” She confirmed as Twilight breathed in relief.

“Nothing prevents me from giving you bits to buy these fruits, right?” Twilight asked.

“Yup!”

“Great! Then, I’ll give you enough bits to buy the fruits you will need for the salad, and you’ll prepare one for us! Is that okay?” Twilight suggested eagerly as Pinkie paused, seemingly in thought, then smiled.

“Nope!”

“W-Why?!” Twilight stammered in incomprehension, nearly willing to pull her mane out. “We’ve gone over this step by step! At no point did any of your answers infer you wouldn’t be allowed to make that salad!” She shouted, starting to lose her patience.

“Geez, Twi… I didn’t know you liked salad THAT much. You’re going to make me jealous at this rate!” Rainbow teased her as Twilight suddenly turned around, opened and closed her mouth a few times to find the correct words, but immediately fell back on her chair and sighed.

“Sorry… I’m… I’m still deeply affected by those pancakes and the breakfast we missed…” Twilight lied. It wasn’t like she wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings.

“Ah, it’s alright! Since when did you love pancakes so much, though?” Her marefriend asked as Twilight looked away awkwardly.

“T-That’s not important. Anything new happened at Wonderbolt training? Or during Weather patrol duties?” She diverted the conversation as Rainbow shrugged.

“Eh, nothing new. Wait, actually, I’ve got some great news recently! Since Soarin will be busy with something important apparently, he won’t be able to participate in the next performance, which is why I’ll replace him!” The pegasus pointed at herself.

“Really? That’s great, Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed happily. She was tired of receiving bad news lately or things going wrong, so seeing that Rainbow was faring better than her, did bring her joy. Watching her smile always brightened Twilight’s day, and it nearly made her forget how bad it started. She leaned her head on her hoof while staring at her marefriend. “You know… Maybe you could show me a glimpse of what you’ve pla-” She started while smirking.

“That’s awesome, Dashie!” Someone screamed right beside the alicorn, making her gasp in fright as she nearly fell off her chair. It was Pinkie, again, who couldn’t help but pop out of nowhere. “I always believed in you!” She expressed happily.

“Thanks, Pinkie. I always believed in me, too,” Rainbow flexed her wings, which Twilight really loved seeing her do usually, but now wasn’t exactly the time to admire them. The alicorn regained her balance and breathed in and out to keep calm. She would not snap now or at any point today… If she wanted to keep her sanity and avoid getting as crazy as she was during the want-it-need-it fiasco, she would remain calm…

“Ahem… Pinkie,” Twilight cleared her throat while giving her friend a twitching smile. “I’m really happy to see you… But… Where is the cake?”

“I’m baking it now! Since you’ve got to let some things rest when cooking, I thought I could check on you two!” Pinkie replied before nudging Rainbow’s shoulder. “Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything, huh?” She winked at the pegasus, making Rainbow blush at the implication.

“Na… Y-You didn’t interrupt anything important,” Rainbow stammered while Twilight opened her mouth only to be unable to form any coherent sentence.

“You… She didn’t- What? Just… Forget it,” Twilight sighed as she facehoofed, then looked at the pink pony. “What do you mean by baking, Pinkie? I thought you were going to bring slices of an already-baked cake,” Twilight commented as Pinkie shook her head.

“Nope! You two came here on a date, and as my best friends, I have to give you the best cake possible! So a cake baked a couple of days ago would be no good!” She explained as Twilight glanced at Rainbow, who was already salivating while imagining the cake.

“We’re flattered, Pinkie. But you really don’t need to do that. And… Wait, are you going to give us a whole cake?” She asked as the mare nodded in confirmation.

“Awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed, making Twilight roll her eyes.

“A whole cake?! Pinkie, that’s…”

“Don’t worry, Twilight! It won’t take too long! I have a special secret to baking them faster,” Pinkie whispered confidently.

“That’s not the issue here. We can’t eat an entire cake like that!” Twilight argued.

“I wouldn’t mind trying, Twi,”

“That’s because you don’t believe in yourself, Twilight! You’ll eat it whole in no time!” Pinkie assured them.

“It’s not about believing, Pinkie,” Twilight sighed desperately.

“Of course, it is! I’ll tell you a story! One day, I participated in a cake-eating competition! I was up against the toughest opponents ever! I mean, even Princess Luna was there, and she doesn’t look like it, but she can eat a cake before you can even blink!” Pinkie started telling her story while Twilight’s eyes couldn’t help shifting between the earth pony and Rainbow. She was supposed to be listening to Dash’s stories! Not someone else! Ever since that day started, she couldn’t get a word to her marefriend without someone coming between them! Moreover, even Rainbow seemed interested in Pinkie’s story. “I kept thinking I couldn’t do it, but I did! I managed to eat those ten cakes without giving up once! And you know what happened?”

“You got diabetes,” Twilight deadpanned.

“I got diabetes. But I won!”

“Pinkie…” Twilight rubbed her nose in annoyance. “What was the moral of this story, exactly?” She questioned as Pinkie put a hoof to her chin, pausing to think.

“I don’t know!”

“Just… Alright, we’ll eat the cake,” Twilight gave up trying to reason with her. “We won’t hold you off any longer,”

“Oh, it’s fine! I still have some time!” Pinkie replied.

“Well, actually I would like to be alone with-”

“Since you were talking about your day earlier, I just gotta tell you what I did yesterday!” Pinkie cut Twilight off.

“That won’t be nece-” Twilight started only to be interrupted again.

“I went to the movies, and I saw Iron Mare 4!” She said as Rainbow widened her eyes and beamed.

“Wait, really? I didn’t even know it came out! How was it?” She asked before Twilight could stop her.

“Booooring!” Pinkie’s mood suddenly changed as if a switch had been flipped.

“What? No way! Why?” Rainbow continued her line of questioning while Twilight began drawing circles on the table with her wings in boredom.

“Barely any explosions. The bad guy is dumb! He could have killed her, but didn’t for some reason? Why would he do that? It doesn’t even make sense!” Pinkie began ranting as Twilight snapped her head in her direction.

“That’s! I’m sure he had a good reason, and-” She immediately gave up and sighed before slamming her face on the table.

“And the worst part is… There was no victory party at the end! There was no party at all!” Pinkie complained as Rainbow crossed her forelegs.

“That’s lame! And I was so waiting to watch it, too,” She said in disappointment, making Twilight look up.

“Rainbow, you have to make up your own opinion. You can’t just listen to what somepony else says and… and you’re not listening to me, are you?” Twilight deadpanned as Pinkie and Rainbow were too focused on their conversation to even hear her talking. She was lucky she didn’t plan on seeing this movie because they were even talking about spoilers now. The fact that the protagonist’s child died at the end might explain why there was no victory party. Just a guess, though.

“Well! I should get back to that cake! Later!” Pinkie suddenly shouted before running back into the kitchen as Twilight breathed in relief.

“Finally! We have some time to ourselves!”

“Can you believe that? How can a plot twist be so lame?” Rainbow Dash was about to continue talking about the movie only for Twilight to stop her with a kiss. The pegasus blushed as Twilight broke the kiss a second later and nuzzled her while her marefriend blushed. “Not that I disliked it, but where did that come from?” Rainbow smiled as she leaned forward while Twilight did the same, bringing their faces closer.

“I’m just happy to be-”

“I’m BACK!” Pinkie shouted, making Twilight scream in surprise and fall off her chair. “Hope I didn’t interrupt anything! Wink Wink,” The earth pony winked at Rainbow, who was looking at Twilight’s lying body.

“Y-You were gone for ten seconds!” Twilight stomped the floor.

Pinkie decided to completely ignore her comment and instead started talking about something else entirely. Twilight gritted her teeth while mumbling in anger and annoyance. She. Had. To. Stay. Calm. All she needed to do was wait for Pinkie to finish telling whatever she was telling, then she would leave. And she did! She left! Only to come back again! Twilight was included in the conversation, but didn’t and wasn’t willing to participate. Mostly because she was mad and didn’t want to. Seeing Rainbow have so much fun with Pinkie when they were supposed to spend the day alone together was making her much angrier than she thought she would be.

It wasn’t like she was in a relationship before, so of course that feeling would be new to her. She now understood why Shining or Cadance would get jealous when seeing a pony talking so affectionately with their loved one. She wasn’t afraid Pinkie would steal Rainbow, not at all. She was more afraid of Rainbow thinking spending time with the other girls was more fun than spending it with her! She wasn’t a bore, was she?

“So… About your cake…” Pinkie slowly said as she came from behind the counter.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” Rainbow Dash muttered while looking at the nervous Pinkie Pie.

“I kind of… burned it. It’s ruined,” Pinkie explained as Twilight blinked a few times before her eyes grew as big as platters.

“Y-You’re kidding, right? This is just a big joke, right?” Twilight’s right eye twitched while nervously laughing.

“Uhm… No? Why would I joke about that?” Pinkie looked from left to right.

“No. No. No, no, no! I don’t believe you! First Spike burned the pancakes, and now you burn that stupid?! Who put you up to this?!” Twilight suddenly shouted as she climbed on the table with her horn flaring. “Discord?!”

“Put me up to what?” Pinkie raised her eyebrow.

“Twilight? Are you okay?” Rainbow asked with uncertainty, distancing herself a bit from the table.

“Stop playing innocent and tell me who the mastermind is! Tirek?! Chrysalis?! No, don’t tell me… It’s Spike! I knew it! I never should have trusted that little…” Twilight shouted while staring at Pinkie with eyes full of madness.

“Twilight? Twilight! Relax!” Rainbow pulled Twilight back down.

“But!” Twilight wanted to argue only to stop when Pinkie started giggling.

“It’s alright, silly! The cake burned, so I baked another one!” She explained as the alicorn’s jaw dropped.

“What? But why did you…” Twilight wanted to argue. Really wanted to know and understand why would Pinkie phrase it the way she did or even why she would tell them in the first place. What would she gain by playing with her emotions?

“I just wanted to tell you for no apparent reason at all! I’ll bring the new cake over!” Pinkie said before running off while Twilight’s lower lip quivered.

“Are you alright, Twi?” Rainbow asked worriedly as Twilight looked down. It would be hard not to notice your marefriend wasn’t feeling well when she snapped like that and seemed heartbroken. “You know you can talk to me…”

“I-I know, Rainbow,” Twilight hugged the pegasus while holding back her tears. “I…” She wanted to tell her but had no idea how or if she should. Would she sound needy? Or would she sound like an overbearing marefriend? She didn’t want to seem selfish either… Why was Romance so hard?! “I just haven’t had much sleep last night. And being hungry doesn’t help either. I’ll be fine. Really. I’m just glad to be with you,” Twilight nuzzled her as affectionately as she could, unwilling to lose her.

“Ok, but tell me if there’s anything wrong,” Rainbow pat her marefriend’s head.

“Here is the cake!” Pinkie announced excitedly as she brought the large chocolate cake over, nearly bouncing up and down. Suddenly, she tripped on her hind leg and collapsed on the floor while the cake flew away only to be caught in a lavender magic grab before it could hit the floor.

“HA! I knew something would go wrong!” Twilight celebrated as she kept the cake in the air with her magic. “It was so obvious, too! But dropping the cake on the floor is a bit too cliché for my tastes,” She breathed heavily, clearly proud of herself for catching it.

“Nice save, Twi! That’s some good reflexes!” Rainbow complimented her as Twilight puffed up her chest.

“Thank you, Dashie,” Twilight replied as Pinkie breathed in relief before grabbing the cake and putting it on the table.

“That was a close one!” She giggled. “Enjoy your ca- A… ACHOO!” She suddenly sneezed so hard that the cake exploded, sending parts of it flying everywhere, including on the ponies. Unfortunately for Twilight, nearly all of her face was covered with chocolate. “Oops…”

“Tastes pretty good,” Rainbow Dash said as she licked off the cake pieces around her lips.

Twilight just sighed.

Comments

[Theresa]

Applejack was rude considering your friend is on date at the same place you happening to be going to as well. Now good manners say give the couple as much space as possible but instead she and those with her sit right next to the couple who are on a date. And pinkie should have just stuck with her job and not spent the time talking with them because she is supposed to be working not hanging out. At this rate twilight is going to lose it. She is already pretty close.

[Axolotl222]

“I just wanted to tell you for no apparent reason at all! I’ll bring the new cake over!” Pinkie said before running off while Twilight’s lower lip quivered.

Okay, I’m with Twilight here. She MUST be doing this on purpose.

[overdue]

sometimes i feel like pinkie is the best character and sometimes i feel like she's the worst character, you know what i mean

[King Ice]

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