Twilu

by ladyanaconda

That Male Arvial Seems To Be Upsetting Her...

Sweet Apple Acres, 30 minutes after the wedding rehearsal.

I was her big brother best friend...
Forever...
But now we'll never do anything...
Together...
- Shining Armor

Shining Armor didn't have any tears left.

He didn't have the heart to return home any longer, not after what he just did. He screwed it up, and it cost him everything: his relationship with Cadence, Princess Celestia's image of him, Twilight's trust and love... Everything. He just wouldn't stand seeing angry eyes throwing knives at him again.

The chocolate milk he had seen Twilight drinking, according to her, was not a mean to control her mind, but an attempt of Discord to cure her recent cold. He hadn't wanted his bride to be feeling sick on her special day, that was all he was trying to do.

Spike said that he himself had asked Discord to hypnotize him after the latter asked him what should he give Twilight as a wedding gift; the baby dragon was not exactly good at keeping secrets, and it seemed that Discord had actually been hesitant about doing it, but Spike insisted anyway.

The mare he had called Discord's 'lover' was actually his daughter, as Applejack angrily put it. They had hugged in the Canterlot Statue Garden because they had not seen each other in quite a while, and both were ecstatic to see each other. And when he returned, instead of entering the library and asking them about her identity, he simply drew a conclusion, like Twilight said he did.

Their hateful words buzzed through his brain like angry changelings, bouncing against the corners of his brain and making his heart clench in pain. As he lay on the bed of hay on one corner of the barn, his eyes aching from all those tears and his throat raw from the sobs, he couldn't stop replaying the moment again and again, as much as he wanted to.

Twilight Sparkle, his little sister and best friend, who always looked up to him and admired him... had glared at him like a manticore and dismissed him from her special day in a rather harsh way, even though he knew he deserved it. He almost didn't recognize her, she had been angry before, but never like what he saw at that moment. He had nearly ruined her wedding, and she thought he had done it on revenge for his, but he knew it was not the same case. She responded by cutting her blood-ties with him (figuratively), stripping him off his tittle as Best Colt, banishing him from the event with all the cruelty he knew he deserved. She had looked at him like a timberwolf about to bounce on a bunny, and for the first time in his life... he didn't recognize her.

Cadence, his wife, the love of his life, had just shook her head and looked at him with such disappointment that Shining had wanted to run away into a cave and die. She had asked him, no, pleaded him to think things clearly and give the Draconequus a chance to know him, and he blew it. She had wanted Twilight to have the perfect wedding, to have a beautiful ceremony with her friends and family by her side to be there for her, and he blew it. Now she would if stand alone with Twilight, with no Best Colt unless the bride decided to replace him, and he knew she resented him for it. if only he had listened to her advice, none of this would have ever happened and he wouldn't be suffering like this.

There was not much he could say about Twilight's friends, including Spike, for he did not know them very well personally, but that did not mean he wasn't hurt when they all walked past him in dismissal, with no looks of sympathy or mercy. The six of them were angry at him for ruining Twilight's special moment, just when Discord had given the lavender mare her wedding gift, which they themselves had helped him make. They probably thought he was not worth of calling himself Twilight's BBBFF, he had not acted like it, he had acted like a colt maddened by jealously trying to keep a mare for himself. He couldn't deny a part of him had wanted to keep Twilight for himself, but now he lost her.

Princess Celestia had added insult to injury, not only reaffirming his dismissal and banishment from the wedding, but banning him from even getting a meter near Twilight until she wanted to see him, but that probably wouldn't be too soon. The princess had been disappointment, her Captain of the Guard had behaved like a spoiled colt who couldn't get what he wanted, the husband of her niece and co-ruler of the Crystal Empire had acted with the temper and attitude of a... criminal, he dared to say.

Oh, the cruel irony. Three years ago, he had done the same thing to Twilight after she accused 'Cadence' of being evil; he dismissed her from the wedding and took away her title of Best Mare, and now it was the other way around. It was Twilight who dismissed Shining from her special day. But in his case, Shining Armor knew he had brought it upon himself. He wanted to take it all back, his accusations, his words, his thoughts, everything, but it was too late. There was nothing for him to do but to respect Twilight's decision... as much as it pained him.

To enworse things, all of this was bringing him memories again...

---

Twilu was smashing her snout against the glass of the tank she had been put in constantly, with no signals of being hurt or anything like it. Every day, she would smash her snout against the thick glass, as if wanting to get out and return of the sea.Shining would often attempt to play with her, but she seemed to resent him for something... maybe she still was sore about him walking out on her back on Canterlot, but he thought she would eventually forget it.

As days passed, however, her mood remained unchanged. The white stallion pressed his hoof against the glass as the arvial tried to break it again, apparently determined to get out.

"Is that normal?" One of the unicorns asked as Twilu stared to swim around in anxiety.

"I don't think so," a pegasus commented, "Maybe if we cooked her..."

"Leave her alone!" Shining snapped at the two colts, "She just needs me to cheer her up!"

Saying this, the stallion looked back at the Arvial and made a playful posture, "You want to sword fight, girl?" he grinned while pointing at her with his horn.

However, Twilu gave him an almost agonizing-like wail and shook her head, as if saying 'no', confusing him further. SHe would never miss a chance to play sword-fight with him back in Canterlot; a water splash caught his attention. Shining Armor looked around and spotted what seemed to be another Arvial, leaping out of the water. This one, however, was not of a single color, like Twilu, but a combination of various colors. Most of his body was a dark grayish reddish brown color, with an amber yellowish gray head, and there was a single fang sticking on the left side of his mouth. His tail changed into an amaranth red, and his 'mane was a very dark gray. He had white, bushy eyebrows and light brilliant yellow eyes with brilliant scarlet pupils.

Twilu was apparently hitting the glass wherever he leaped out of the water, as if telling him to go away or something.

"That male Arvial seems to be upsetting her..." Shining Armor concluded, before turning to look at the captain, "Get us out of here, captain! Pull fast ahead!"

The old Stallion muttered something about 'arvial keepers' before pouring more coal into the engine, and making the ship go faster than before, apparently losing the male Arvial.

Shining returned to the present unable to face more painful memories. Managing to get back on his hooves, the stallion slowly walked out of the barn, away from Sweet Apple Acres and into Ponyville, his heart heavy. He needed to talk to Twilight, or at least try it.

Even if she didn't want to see his picture.