Every pony in Canterlot and Ponyville was highly excited about the wedding of the royal guards captain, Shining Armor.
Twilight Sparkle however, was furious. Why couldn't he just tell her in personal? Or at least just write a letter right away?
Celestia's praised student then quickly got rid of those thoughts, concentrating on her goal: Getting explainations. A lot. On the other hand, however, she was secretly just plain happy to see her Big-Brother-Best-Friend-Forever again, as she even told her friends about how important he really is to her in song.
Twilight told her friends to wait for her in the city, due to it being 'family business' as she said. And being a rather organized pony, she also didn't want them to witness her childish side as soon as she would reunite with her brother.
From the castle walls, many guards were watching over the city. Strangely, Twilight and her friends have seen lots of them since their arrival at the train station. They were literally EVERYWHERE. Odd enough for something as glamourous and peaceful as a wedding. What could this mean?
Among those guards on the walls, there was a certain white stallion doing his sentry duty as commanded to him.
Until his concentration soon would be broken by a voice all too familiar to him:
"I've got something to say to you, mister."
The colt looked down, his face lighting up quickly at what he saw.
"Twily! Ah, I've missed, you, kid. How was the train ride? I-"
"How dare you not tell me in person that you were getting married! I'm your sister, for pony's sake!"
Once he got off the castle wall, the stallion nervously began:
"I-it's not my fault! Princess Celestia has requested a major increase in security. Didn't you see all the guards at the train station?"
"Yeah, there's a big wedding coming up. Maybe you heard about it?", his little sister responded with a lot of sarcasm in her voice.
"It has nothing to do with the wedding. A threat has been made against Canterlot. We don't know who's responsible for it, but Princess Celestia asked that I help provide additional protection. This, you need to see."
He then made a few steps backwards for getting space as his horn began to light up in pink. After a short moment of charging the spell, a blast of magic shot into the sky. Once it reached an appropriate height, it grew into a giant pink 'bubble' of a force field, shielding the entire city from any possible outside threat.
Twilight's friends were still waiting patiently at a small café they had stopped on, waiting for their friend's return.
"You- you're a dragon!?", Chopper began, his jaw reaching the ground. Spike took on a heroic pose: "Yeah, and I don't wanna scare you, but if anypony messes with me, I can turn into full grown dragon. And you do NOT wanna mess with me!", he flunkered.
Chopper shrieked uncontrollably in excitement:
"A dragon! So cool! How big can you get? Can you fly? Can you spit fire?!", as he observed him from every angle possible.
"Hey, you can call me 'Flamethrower' if you-", he bragged, taking on another pose, only to notice his 'fan's' attention to be focussed already on something entirely else.
The reindeer looked straight up into the clouds with an awestruck expression in its face.
"The sky! It's turning pink! This is truly a magical place!"
"...if you want...", the dragon finished his sentence, sweatdropping from his friend's strange behavior.
The five ponies that watched the scene smiled at the two's strange new friendship.
"Aw, aren't they cute together?", Fluttershy asked her friends, her eyes not leaving the two.
Rainbow Dash just frowned:
"How could he not know Spike's a dragon? I mean, didn't he see him spit fire during our picknick?"
Applejack scratched her head:
"Gee, that little fella sure gets impressed easily..."
"Quite a cutie, isn't he?", Rarity added, as she took a sip form her cup of tea.
Pinkie Pie also took a look straight up, repeatedly nudging Applejack.
"Wow, girls! Look! The sky really is pink! AJ, you see it? AJ, you see it? AJ, you see it?"
"Yes Pinkie, we all can see it."
"Oh... hey, Dashie, you see it? Dashie, you see it? Hey Dashie, can you see it?"
After a few more seconds of recomposing himself, Shining Armor then continued to explain his case:
"The burden of keeping Canterlot safe and secure rests squarely on my shoulders. Staying focused on the task at hand has been my top priority."
The colt and his sister began to walk further, onto one of the bridges above the city as Twilight awkwardly continued:
"Okay, okay, I get it. You've got a really important job protecting all of Canterlot with a force field only you can conjure up. But still... how could you not tell me about something as big as your wedding?", she paused for a second as a small tears formed in her eyes, "Am... am I not that important to you any more?"
Her question made the stallions eyes widen before he gave her a gentle smile:
"Hey. You're my little sister. Of course you're important to me. But I'd understand if you didn't want to be my best mare anymore."
"Y-you want me to be your best mare?"
"Well... yeah."
"I'd be honored! But I'm still pretty ticked you're marrying somepony I don't even know! When did you even meet this 'Princess Mi Amore Cadenza'?
Shining Armor smiled:
"Twily, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is Cadance, your old foalsitter."
The unicorn mare gasped.
"Cadance? As in THE Cadance? As in the greatest foalsitter in all the history of foalsitters?!"
A small chuckle was heard from her brother:
"You tell me. She was YOUR foalsitter."
"Oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh! Cadance is only the most amazing pony ever! She's beautiful, she's caring, she's kind...", she managed to say as her voice trailed off.
She could remember those wonderful days just like yesterday...
On a beautiful grassy field, a young Twilight Sparkle cheered:
"I am so lucky to have you as my foalsitter!", making her foalsitter give a smile right back.
"I'm the one who's lucky, Twilight.", the young Cadence said warmly, patting the filly's head. The small foal just scoffed at her statement.
"You're a princess! I am just a regular old unicorn."
"Oh, you are anything BUT a regular old unicorn.", Cadence ensured her, as the two sang their little song:
Sunshine, sunshine,
ladybugs awake!
Clap your hooves and
do a little shake!
Twilight just couldn't hold herself:
"How many unicorns can just spread love wherever they go? I only know of one! And you're marrying her!", as she began in a sing-song voice: "You're marrying Cadance! You're marrying Cadance!"
Unnoticed by the two, a certain alicorn joined the scene.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important"
Twilight turned around, and smiled at what she saw...
"I do. Do you?", Spiked asked in a deep male voice, holding a miniature of Shining Armor in his claw, before picking up a small figure of Princess Cadence in the same size, answering his own question in a high voice: "I do!" He then put the two together, making all kinds of smooching and kissing sounds.
"Amazing! Is it really gonna go down that way?", Chopper asked his reptile friend, eager to be part of the wedding.
"Pretty much. And we have the honor on help them out on the preparations! This is gonna be great!"
"But how can I help?", the reindeer asked again, not knowing a single thing about weddings and the like.
Spike just reassured him: "Don't worry, I've got no clue either. We'll let you know when there's stuff to do."
The two then continued chatting, unaware of the rather serious conversation going on behind them.
"I swear, she didn't even remember our song!", Twilight ended her story.
Applejack could only try to assure her:
"Come on Twi, don't be so sceptic. Ah mean, if she really hasn't seen ya since those days, she surely won't remember EVERY single detail about it, right?"
The librarian sighed in an annoyed way. Nobody seemed to understand what she was trying to point out.
"But this was OUR song! She has to remember that!"
Rarity decided to interfere.
"Twilight, I really don't see where you're going with this. All I have noticed so far was you being so hostile towards Cadence since your meeting with her.", she stopped before daring to show a small grin. "Could... could it be that you are... jealous?"
Twilight got furious. They really didn't understand her.
"I am NOT - JEALOUS!!"
She slammed her forelegs onto the café table, making her friends startle a bit. She got up from her seat, feeling the urge to take a walk. Alone.
"So you don't want to believe me? Fine. I'll get to the bottom of this by myself and find out what's the matter with her!"
The unicorn slowly left the rest of her group, without a certain destination in mind, needing time to think.
Fluttershy carfully called after her.
"W-wait Twilight, we didn't mean to-", before she was stopped by Rainbow Dash.
"I'd say let her. If I had a brother marrying a princess without even giving me a hint, I'd need to digest that too. She'll get over it."
As Rainbow finished, the whole group was left in an awkward moment of silence, watching their friend trotting away aimlessly.
She had to keep an eye open on her.
And so she did. For the next days of planning and preparation for the upcoming event, Twilight always had been observing her former foalsitter.
When checking out the menu Applejack has been preparing, Cadence actually seemed to only act as if she was enjoying the treats, secretly getting rid of them.
While taking a first look at her brideswear, which Rarity already had done her best on, she almost immediately demanded a lot more drastic changes on it, as well as on the ones for her bridesmaides, ignoring their own opinions completely.
At the sight of her wedding's reception, which was prepared by Pinkie Pie, and a fairly good job to say the least, Cadence simply referred to it as 'the birthday party of a six year old', which Pinkie luckily took as a compliment.
Probably the oddest thing Twilight took notice of was the sudden dissappearing of her three bridesmaides, Twinkleshine, Minuette and Lyra Heartstrings, reinforcing her suspicions even further. To make things even odder, Cadence simply declared her new ones to be Twilight's pony friends, not showing any concern in the slightest for the missing ponies.
At this point, the amount of evidence was overwhelming, at least from Twilight's view. And after a lot of struggling, she finally took all of her courage and went to her brother's quarters, hoping he would understand her concerns.
Shining Armor just has finished putting on his groomswear as a soft knocking was heard at his door. The stallion turned around and smiled when he saw his sister entering.
"Twily! Your big brother's looking pretty good, don't you think?" His smile vanished just as quick as it appeared when he saw the depressed expression on her face. He could tell something was bothering her. "Everything okay?"
Not wasting any time, Twilight decided to get to the point right away:
"We need to talk. I think you're making a big–"
Her first attempt was cut off by sound of Cadence clearing her throat.
"Oh, uh, hi, sweetie.", Shining Armor greeted.
"She sure has a way of sneaking up on people.", Twilight murmured to herself.
Cadance snapped sharply:
"Could I speak to you for a moment, dear?"
Her future husband took a look back at Twilight. "Better see what she wants."
The two then went into a room nearby, leaving the door a small inch open.
Twilight's ears could pick up the conversation behind it.
"Look, we need to talk."
"I'm here to talk."
"It's about your sister, okay?"
"I– look, look, she's okay–
"Just... listen to me, alright?"
"I'm listening, I'm listening."
"I thought I made it perfectly clear I didn't want you to wear that."
Twilight dared to take a peek through the crack in the door.
Shining Armor explained: "This was my favorite uncle's."
Cadence arched an eyebrow. "And?"
"And I think I should wear it."
"Are you disagreeing with me?"
"I guess I am– Ah!"
Out of nowhere, Shining Armor seemed to suffer great pain in his head as he held the affected area with his hoof.
Princess Cadance took notice of that:
"Oh, dear. Are you getting another one of your headaches?" A green glow appeared on her horn as it shot a magic beam in the same color straight at her groom's horn.
"Feeling better?"
The stallion nodded with a grunt.
It was then when Twilight ultimately came to the conclusion:
"She isn't just unpleasant and rude. She's downright evil!"
With that knowledge, she left the building in a matter of seconds.
As the couple came back out, Shining Armor immediately called after her: "Twilight!"
But Cadance interfered.
"Let her go."
Shining Armor did as she said, his eyes however not leaving Twilight, with a puzzled expression on his face.
"It seemed like she had something else she wanted to tell me."
The next morning, the day of the wedding...
The preparations for the wedding were almost finished as Princess Celestia went through the last steps of practice for the ceremony with the rest of Twilight's friends who really seemed to be pleased with the progress they've made so far.
And so was the Princess:
"Perfect, girls. No need to rush. Then of course, Cadance will enter."
The organ then played it's bridal chorus while said bride entered the hall, stepping next to her fiance. Everyone watched her patiently as Princess Celestia continued her instructions:
"I'll say a few words, and then we'll begin with the vows. Shining Armor, you'll get the ring from your best mare."
Shining Armor looked down to his side, only to find Spike playing once more with the small figurines and Chopper watching him once more with amaze, but no trace of his best mare:
"Hey... has anypony seen Twilight?"
As if on queue, the doors flung open.
"I'm here! I'm not gonna stand next to her! And neither should you!"
Shining Armor was slightly embarassed:
"I'm sorry, I... I don't know why she's acting like this..."
"Maybe we should just ignore her.", his future wife flustered to him
Twilight tried again:
"You have to listen to me!
"Oh, goodness! Are you okay?", Fluttershy dared to ask.
"I'm just fine."
"Ya sure about that?", Applejack asked, only to get her face buried in her hat by Twilight.
"I've got something to say! She's evil!"
The entire group gasped in unison.
Twilight began approaching Cadence, who in turn nervously walked backwards, trying to get away from her accusations.
"She's been horrible to my friends, she's obviously done something to her bridesmaids, and if that wasn't enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all...", she then rotated her eyeballs in an unhealthy looking way.
Soon after she finished stating her case, Candence found herself helplessly backed into a corner.
Tears formed in her eyes.
"Why are you doing this to me?!", Cadence cried out in despair. Twilight didn't waste a second:
"Because you're evil!" Those words caused Cadance to run out of the hall, crying heavily.
"Evil! And if I don't stop you, you're gonna ruin my brother's life!", Twilight called after her.
Seeing this, Shining Armor completely lost his temper:
"You want to know why my eyes went all...", as he mimicked Twilight's face from before. "Because ever since I started having to perform my protection spell, I've been getting terrible migraines. Cadance hasn't been casting spells on me. She's been using her magic to heal me!"
Twilight inhaled, but her brother was quicker:
"And she decided to replace her bridesmaids because she found out the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding was so that they could meet Canterlot royalty! And if she hasn't been on her best behavior with your friends, it's because with me being so busy, she's had to make all the decisions about the wedding!
"I was just trying to–"
"She's been completely stressed out because it's really important to her that our big day would be perfect! Something that obviously wasn't important to you! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and comfort my bride.", he finished as he began going after his bride.
"And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all..."
"C'mon, y'all. Let's go check on the princess...", Applejack quickly suggested leading the rest of her friends out as well.
"I was–"
Even Princess Celestia gave her a dissapproving look:
"You have a lot to think about." She then too left the room, along with everyone else. The doors slammed shut, leaving the poor unicorn mare alone in her sorrow.
"Maybe I was being overprotective... I could've gained a sister. But instead... I just lost a brother."
Then, in the middle of her misery, she felt a hoof on her head, stroking her mane lightly. She lifted her head to see-
Cadence! Of all ponies it was Cadence who actually came back to the mare who pretty much ruined the day for everybody.
But why?
Twilight sobbed as she looked up at her in guilt, trying to get out the only words that were left for her to say:
"I'm sorry!"
Cadence kept that warm smile of hers, as a flash of green came across her eyes, which then narrowed to slits.
"You will be."
A force field of magic was created around Twilight, summoned by Cadence. Twilight quickly got up, unfortunately not quick enough, as the bubble of magic closed itself around her.
She was trapped!
The force field then began to slowly sink through the floor taking Twilight with it, dragging her into the endless depths beneath the castle...
TO BE CONTINUED