The Third Wheel

by Teal

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance
Length: 2713

All Celestia wanted was to have a nice date with Twilight. Too bad Luna can't help but join them.

All Celestia wanted was to have a nice date with Twilight. Too bad Luna can't help but join them.

Written for the Thirteenth Bimonthly Twilestia Contest.

Published 2022-08-02 17:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-08-02 17:40:01 UTC

Three's a Crowd

It was a beautiful night. From their open air spot at the restaurant, Celestia was greeted by the majestic view of Canterlot at night. Gazing at the city before her, she looked on with a smile as she stared at the gentle lights and soothing atmosphere this ancient city had to offer. The night truly was majestic and Celestia knew that it paired wonderfully with her date.

Looking away from the city and turning her attention to the lavender alicorn that sat across the table from her, Celestia couldn't help but giggle as the pony blushed a bright red once she noticed that Celestia was staring at her. No matter how many times they went out together, Twilight never seemed to have gotten rid of the habit of blushing uncontrollably every time the Solar Princess brought intense attention towards her. To be honest, Celestia did find it extremely cute, especially when she stared long enough that Twilight started getting flustered and started mumbling excuses for being so awkward. Just like right now.

Watching the younger princess blush and stumble on her words, Celestia just had to smile wider as she stared more intently at her date. Twilight was an adorable mare and she knew that she would never get tired of teasing her like this.

Celestia admitted that it was evil to torture a kind soul like Twilight, but she just couldn't help it. The lavender alicorn just looked so cute when flustered and Celestia knew that she could stare at her like that all night long.

However, she did have a heart and she did love Twilight very much. Because of that, she eventually decided to end the mare's suffering after a minute of adorable fidgeting. Hoping to soothe the mare, the Solar alicorn gave a giggle and began easing her stare at her.

“You promised to stop doing that." Twilight said with an exasperated sigh. “As much as I love you admiring me, those quiet long stares make me overthink.”

“I'm sorry I just couldn't help myself." Celestia said, although she did give her date an apologetic smile. “I hope that didn't ruin the night for you?”

“No, a night with you could never be ruined.” She said with a warm smile, as Celestia took her turn blushing. Holding her smile, the white alicorn was about to point out how much a flatterer Twilight was, when another voice spoke up and caught both of their attention.

“Excuse me, waiter? Yes, can we get another bottle of champagne for our table? Oh, and can I also have a follow up on my order? Thank you.”

Frowning, Celestia turned her head towards the third member of their table. Sitting on her corner and smiling as she drank the last drops of her champagne, the dark blue alicorn of the Night then gave both mares a pleasant smile as she gestured to the now empty bottle of sparkling wine next to her.

“Worry not, I have already got us a new one in case the two of you get thirsty from all this talking and staring you two have been doing.”

Groaning, Celestia hastily glanced away from her sister. Turning towards Twilight, she shook her head in frustration.

“Ignore her.” She said, trying her best to keep her annoyance down. She did not want to ruin this date, but some part of her already said that it was ruined the moment her sister joined them.

“Are we really just going to ignore her all night?” Twilight asked, a concerned look on her face.

“Yes.” Celestia managed to grumble between gritted teeth.

The Lunar alicorn had dropped by unexpectedly, to the annoyance and frustration of Celestia. Surprising them both, Luna had appeared at their table, remarking that it was such a coincidence that they bumped into each other. However, Celestia did not buy the excuse, since she knew that her sister was fully aware where she was taking Twilight that night. Despite this, she had initially refrained from chastising her sister, since she thought that she would be sitting somewhere else in the restaurant, which would not have been that bad if she did.

However, to the surprise of both Celestia and Twilight, Luna then took an extra chair and began sitting with them. Acting as if she had been invited to their date, Luna then began ordering a meal and conversing with both Celestia and Twilight, thus leaving the white alicorn no time to spend alone with Twilight.

Eventually, Celestia had decided to ignore her sister. It was mean, but she was left with no other choice. Luna should have known better than to be a third wheel on their date. Celestia knew that it was not a perfect plan, but it definitely seemed much more pleasant than staring at a scene by yelling at her. Besides, the least thing Celestia wanted to do was get angry in front of Twilight.

Sadly, ignoring Luna turned out to be harder than she expected. Every time they tried to push her out, she would just begin to get in their faces and force them into conversation with her. It did not help that Twilight was too kind and found it hard to resist talking to the mare she considered as her friend. Celestia, however, remained relentless and continued to ignore the Lunar alicorn.

Celestia admitted that she was being a bit mean to her sister by doing this, but she also knew that Luna had forced her to do it. She was angry at her sister and did not like how she had disrespected her privacy by rudely joining their date. Probably sensing this, Luna slowly started to quiet down. It didn’t make her leave like what Celestia had hoped for, but it at least made it quiet enough that she was starting to enjoy the night again.

Right now, the date wasn’t perfect. However, it seemed that it was at least still salvageable.

“Anyways…” Celestia began, once more forgetting Luna in her mind as she turned her attention to Twilight. “...do you plan on returning to Ponyville after the date?”

“Initially I was…” Twilight began, as she looked towards Celestia, glanced to the side where Luna was, before returning her gaze back on Celestia. “...but after a couple of glasses of champagne, I think I’ll just stay at my old place here in Canterlot, since I doubt I'm in any state for distant flight or teleportation.”

Celestia nodded at this, trying to take it in. Deep inside, she wanted to invite Twilight to the castle and have her stay the night there, maybe even have her share a bed with her. She and Twilight had been dating for more than a month now and she felt that they were now comfortable enough to enter that next step. But at the same time, she was worried that it might come out as disrespectful if she mentioned it too boldly. After all, inviting somepony to their home, share a bed, and maybe even cuddle and slumber with them, was a very intimate thing. Because of this, she knew that she had to word it out carefully.

However, it seemed like she wasn’t the only one thinking this, as an unwanted voice began speaking up.

“Oh my, oh my!” Luna began, causing Celestia to frown. Turning her head towards her sister, she saw that the other alicorn was giggling like a little filly. “I believe I know where this is going.”

This was the last straw. Celestia rarely lost her patience, but tonight seemed to have been a rare circumstance. She didn’t know why she broke when she heard Luna’s remark, but she was tired of the constant attention seeking Luna was doing. At that moment, Celestia forgot about the plan to ignore her sister and instead placed her full attention on her.

“Luna…” Celestia began, her voice sounding similar to a hiss. “...can you please be quiet?”

Frowning from this, Luna stared at her sister and suddenly had an embarrassed look.

“I’m sorry, sister.” She said with an apologetic smile. “I should not interfere.”

“Not interfere?” Celestia said, as an eye twitch. Deep inside, the frustration she had kept inside was slowly beginning to come out. “You’ve been doing nothing but interfere all night! Luna, why are you even here? You’re well aware that this is a date, right? You know, a special moment between two ponies and two ponies only? Two, Luna, two! Not three, but two!”

By the time she stopped speaking, her voice had reached a height that attracted the attention of all ponies. Realizing this, Celestia stared back at the ponies gathered at the restaurant, as she felt embarrassed at what she had done. However, there was one staring face that affected Celestia the most.

Wide eyed and holding a mixture of fear and concern, Twilight sat in front of Celestia and gazed at her with a look that made the older alicorn feel both embarrassed and hurt.

The date was ruined. The wonderful night with Twilight was now gone and Celestia could feel tears begin to drip from her eyes as she realized that her outburst had frightened Twilight. Feeling weak, as her sadness swelled up inside her, she suddenly became speechless.

Staring at Twilight, she saw that the mare was about to say something. However, she didn’t give her a chance to utter a word. Celestia was afraid of what the lavender pony would say. In her mind, she could see Twilight saying that things would no longer work out between the two of them. The very thought of that broke her heart and she did not want to endure the pain of actually hearing it.

Wanting to avoid such a terrible fate, Celestia lit her horn and quickly disappeared in a flash of magic.

Celestia sat alone at the edge of the pond. Deep inside she felt broken, as sadness filled her heart. Lost in thought, she could hear her inner voice telling her how stupid she was. She had lost control and let her emotions go loose. With the outburst she did, she not only terrified away her citizens, but she had also frightened Twilight.

Thinking of Twilight, Celestia could not forget the look on her face after she had yelled at Luna. She had stared at her as if she was a different pony. Celestia couldn’t blame her though, because she knew that what she did was terrible. She should have handled the situation better, but instead she let her emotions go wild and control her. Now she imagined Twilight would no longer talk to her, let alone go on a date with her again.

She liked Twilight. No. She loved Twilight. That mare was smart, sweet, beautiful, and somepony who truly understands her. The dates they had been on were some of the best moments of her life, as she felt free and open with the other alicorn. Twilight made her feel special and loved.

Celestia had hoped that she could make her relationship with Twilight work. Initially it did, but now it was ruined.

Sighing at this though, the white alicorn hung her head in shame as she stared at her reflection of the pony. This reflection was soon disturbed by her tears, as it fell down, landed on the water, and created ripples on her image.

Unable to control herself, she just cried her heart out. She continued to do this until a familiar voice spoke from behind her.

“Celestia…are you okay?”

Not turning around, Celestia continued to let her head hung in shame. She was not ready to talk to her yet, but she knew that she must say something.

“How did you know I was here?” She asked.

“You told me it was your favorite spot.” A lavender colored alicorn said, as she sat down next to Celestia. “The small pond hidden at the edge of the Royal Garden.”

“I’m sorry about tonight, Twilight.” The white alicorn said, still choosing not to look at the other pony. “I ruined our date.”

The Solar Princess waited for a reply, but only heard silence. This only made her heart ache more, as she felt her tears about to drop again. However, before they could, she suddenly felt something soft touch the bottom on her neck, as the warmth of a pony pressed up against her.

Finally glancing towards Twilight, she noticed that the alicorn had moved up to her side and was rubbing her head against the bottom of her neck in an attempt to try and suit her. In a way, this helped a bit, as she felt comforted by the warm presence of the pony she loved.

Twilight did not need to say anything, because Celestia could feel the care and love she was transmitting. For a long moment, they shared the moment in silence, as each pony provided one another a feeling of reassurance, as if saying that they would be there for each other no matter what.

Eventually, Celestia began feeling a bit better inside, as she thanked the lavender alicorn for finding her.

“I talked to Luna before I went here.” Twilight said after a few more moments of silence passed. Upon hearing this, however, another pang of sadness hit Celestia, as she remembered what she had done to her sister. She had embarrassed Luna in front of so many ponies and this made her feel like a terrible older sibling. “She’s sorry for what she did, Celestia. She didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know…” Celestia solemnly admitted. “...yelling at her was uncalled for and I regret it a lot.”

Celestia then felt Twilight pull her into a hug after saying this. “You’re not a bad pony, Tia. It was just a mistake.”

The white alicorn only nodded in response.

“Listen, I want you to talk to her later, okay? She was sincere when she said that she didn’t mean to anger you. I know it would be better to hear it from her later, but she just felt left out.”

Upon hearing this, Celestia looked up and gave Twilight a curious look.

“Apparently, our dates had made her a bit jealous, because you’ve been spending more time with me than with her.”

Immediately, Celestia’s eyes went wide with shock upon hearing this. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

“Oh, Luna…” She sighed, as the realization hit her.

At that point, she was beginning to see that the situation could have been better resolved if she talked to her sister instead of getting mad at her. Regretting what she had done, she began cursing herself in her mind, as she realized that she was starting to repeat her mistakes from a thousand years ago.

As if sensing what Celestia was thinking, Twilight quickly began trying to soothe her. “Don’t blame yourself too much, okay? What happened was…let’s say unpleasant, but it doesn't mean it can’t be mended. She’s not mad at you, I can promise you that. But still, you two need to talk things over so we can all find a compromise. I know that you want to spend time with me, but I don’t want to be taking all the attention away from Luna. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”

Celestia only nodded, knowing that she was right. Although she still felt bad for how Luna was feeling and what had occurred due to her own ignorance, she also knew that Twilight was right. Things could still be fixed before it got worse.

Sighing once more, Celestia then leaned against Twilight, who still kept her hooves around the white alicorn.

“I’m really sorry about how tonight’s date turned out.” She said sadly.

“It’s okay, Tia, we still have plenty more dates in the future to make up for it.”

Hearing that made Celestia’s heart flutter, as she realized that their relationship was not over yet. Smiling, the white alicorn nodded and pressed closer against the lavender mare. For a moment, she forgot all about her worries and instead focused on the mare she had beside her. Although the night had not gone exactly as planned, Celestia was happy to have Twilight with her.