“Oh my…” Fluttershy was walking towards Sweet Apple Acres, and with every step she felt a flitter of her nerve give way as the day of the wedding drew near. In just a few days, Fluttershy would be garbed in another of her dear friend Rarity’s finest work, surrounded by all the ponies she loved as they would watch her walk the aisle with her father towards the altar.
The thought of so many watching her was among the top ten of the butter-yellow pegasus mare’s worst fears, but she was reminded of who would await her at the altar, and the sight of him working at his farm helped those flitters blow away and she wondered, But why should I feel nervous when my Mackie and I…?
Fluttershy couldn’t help but sigh romantically as she thought of how handsome her beau would look in his own wedding apparel.
And how those nice taut flanks will feel on our…! Fluttershy blushed redder than her fiance as she shook the thought away when she heard…
“Is tha’ muh `Shy Ah see o’er there or did Celestia send me a very similar lookin’ angel?”
Fluttershy’s blush remained as she looked up and saw Big Macintosh looking her way with a teasing but loving smile, waving her over. She gently flapped towards her fiance who said, “You looked like you wer’ havin’ an interestin’ think.”
“Oh, um, you could… say that, Mackie,” Fluttershy nodded with a sheepish smile but felt the tension wash away when Big Macintosh gave her a nuzzle, and she closed her eyes, nuzzling him back, “I can’t deny it though, Macintosh. I’m… still a little nervous about…”
“Ah know, Ah am a bit too,” Big Mac admitted, “but just remember this, `Shy - Ever since we first bumped int’ each other back when we wer’ foals, Ah never stopped thinkin’ `bout you. Ah’m jus’ sorry Ah kept ya waiting longer after mah folks wer’ gone.”
“You need never apologize for that, Mackie,” Fluttershy assured him with a sympathizing smile, “The very fact that you focused on taking care of your family is but one of the many examples why you are the Element of Devotion, why I know you will be there for me whenever I need you.”
Big Mac smiled gratefully and Fluttershy pulled her stallion into another nuzzle, touching foreheads and staring lovingly into those big green eyes she loved so much. But then she narrowed her eyes, “You still haven’t told me where we’re getting married.”
“An’ Ah ain’t gonna,” Big Mac smiled a cheeky smile. “Ah told ya before, where wer’ gettin’ hitched is a surprise.”
“Well, knowing you, Mackie,” Fluttershy gave him a tender kiss on the cheek, “it’ll be somewhere wonderful.”
The blissfully betrothed share another loving nuzzle before Fluttershy broke away, “I’m going to go see the others about the preparations, and Rarity asked me to come by her shop today. See you later?”
“Eeyup, and sugarcube?”
Fluttershy gave Big Macintosh a curious look, “However nervous ya might get, just remember - Ah love you.”
Fluttershy smiled, “I love you too, Macintosh.”
As he watched his `Shy fly off, Mac couldn’t help but eye those very fine flanks.
“Not bad-looking, is she...?”
“Hey!” Big Mac turned to the source of the voice and saw a chuckling Midnight, holding up his hooves in surrender.
“Just kidding, just kidding, big bro!” he swore with a slightly nervous smile. “It’s just you were looking very stallion-ish at her…”
Big Mac narrowed his eyes at his brother, and Midnight realized he was hanging by a thread and so cleared his throat to change the subject. “Well, you’ll be glad to know the invitations have been answered and quite a lot of Apples are turning out for the event!”
“...An’ th’ gazebo?” Big Mac inquired.
“It’s perfectly safe, and I warded it against Fluttershy’s scrutiny with a strong distractor spell,” Midnight assured. “Thanks to that lock of her hair you gave me, the distractor spell will keep only Fluttershy away from the gazebo, so everypony will be able to set it all up for the ceremony without her catching on.”
Big Mac nodded in satisfaction, “Nice job, haystack. Ah wan’ this t’ go smoother than butter on toast. Faust knows muh `Shy’s gonna be a might nervous.”
“Macintosh,” Midnight placed a reassuring hoof on his brother, “Once Fluttershy sees you waiting for her at the altar, I have a feeling she’ll have nothing to fear.”
Big Macintosh smiled warmly and gratefully at his brother until Midnight added, "Just as her parents needn't fear for her knowing that you'll take good care of her.”
The mere mention of his Shy's folks caused Big Mac to do a very good impression of his fiance as he whispered with a worried frown, “Oh mah…!”
Fluttershy strolled through town looking at all the happy ponies, some even preparing things for the wedding. She saw Daisy, Lily Valley, and Roseluck arranging large bouquets of flower types to be placed all around the ceremony, as well setting a aside a basket of petals for Apple Bloom to toss as she skipped down the aisle. She came across several distant Apple relatives who had all come to town for the wedding, all giving her a friendly wave or a hearty congratulations as she passed by. Eventually though she came across her first destination of the day, Rarity's Carousel Boutique.
With a dainty little knock on the door, the pegasus politely waited for her friend to answer. Rarity had been hard at work preparing her dress for her and Fluttershy wanted to make sure the fashionista knew just how much she appreciated it. She also wanted to see how far along Rarity was with the dress but she knew her friend would have something really special for her. Still with the wedding only a few more days away, she was a little stressed to make sure it all went well.
A few moments later the fashionable unicorn answered the door with a smile. "Fluttershy my dear, how delightful to see you. Please, please come in. I'm just about finished with your dress and I could use a moment to unwind and catch up with you."
"Oh, thank you Rarity. I really appreciate you doing this for me. It means so much..." her gratitude was halted as Rarity placed her hoof on her muzzle, following up a smile.
"Oh my dear, you needn’t thank me. You've already expressed your appreciation. Besides, as I told you, you are one of my dearest friends and I would do anything to help you for your special day. Now come and take a seat while I put on a pot of tea."
Following Rarity's instructions, Fluttershy took seat in Rarity's sitting room to wait patiently for her friend's return. As she did so she looked around to notice a few changes had occurred since the last time she had seen the room. While Rarity's style and flair still kept the room as dazzling as usual, there were now several additions, such as a few vases and silver pieces that had to have come from the palace, as well as several photos showing Rarity and Blueblood over their time together in Ponyville. There was one from the first day he had arrived, standing in front of his new home giving Rarity a warm hug (the photo had a light blue feather sticking in from the corner, indicating it had likely been taken by Soarin), as well as one from Cadance's wedding and Celestia's, showing her and Blueblood dancing in their beautiful outfits that Rarity had no doubt sewn together.
These items all brought a smile to the demure pegasus mare's face and a warm feeling in her heart. She was so happy with her Big Red Apple and it made her feel so good to know that her friend's were all finding happiness of their own. Blueblood seemed to bring out the little filly in Rarity, showering her in gifts and love and treating her like a princess. He was the perfect stallion for her, and she was perfect for him in return. Fluttershy gave a giggle as she considered that maybe soon she and Big Mac wouldn't be the only married couple in their friendship circle.
The smile was still on her face as Rarity returned levitating a tray holding the tea set with her. Once she saw the look on the yellow mare's face though, her own smile bloomed even further. "What has you in such a good mood, my dear? It's always so lovely to see you with a smile on your muzzle."
"Oh, I was just looking over the photos here you have of you and Blueblood. You look so happy together. I was just thinking about how close you two have grown, and maybe whether I won't be the only mare with an engagement jewel for very long."
While Rarity blushed immensely, she couldn't hide the little titter under her breath or the demure little smile on her face. "Well who knows. I’m not expecting to walk down any wedding aisles for a while but…” - Rarity swooned with a light blush - “I will leave that to him though. It is, after all, the stallion’s decision of when to take that next step."
She then leaned in close to Flutters with a loud whisper. "Of course I would certainly love if he were to come to that decision sooner rather then later."
The two mares both giggled and prepared themselves some tea. For both of them, just spending this quality time together, discussing these friendly little matters, was always such a high part of their day. After calming a little and taking her first sip of tea, Rarity continued with the discussion.
"It isn’t just us who're rather happy though is it. I don't believe I've ever seen Rainbow Dash as happy as I do when she's with Soarin,” Rarity noted. “She even seems to get more affectionate with now, though usually only when she thinks nopony's watching."
"She can be a little silly that way, not wanting to show others she has a softer side, but I think Soarin is helping her with it. I remember after her birthday she came to visit me at my cottage while I was helping out my animal friends so she could gush about her new necklace,” Fluttershy smiled at the memory. “She was a little embarrassed at how much a piece of jewellery meant to her, because of her tough mare reputation and all, but for once she decided it didn't matter. His gift was really special to her."
Rarity nodded her head, remembering how strange it had seemed for Rainbow Dash to be seen wearing the necklace for the week following her birthday, but she just ignored all the stares and wore it proudly. Now she had taken to keeping it safe in her cloud house for special occasions, but it was clear that Soarin's gift meant a lot to her.
"Absolutely. Rainbow is most definitely happy being with Soarin, and I can see the same is true in reverse. I must admit that I didn't know a great deal about him before he moved to Ponyville, but in the time he's been here, the thing I can tell about him the most is how much he cares about Rainbow. He can be a little goofy and klutzy, but whenever he spends time with her, he seems to just radiate happiness. They fit each other well. Enough so that I wouldn't deny the thought of them eventually tying the knot."
"It is possible, though I don't think we would see something like that for a while. Rainbow is still learning to open herself up to him, and Soarin isn't always the most confidant stallion, especially when it comes to Dashie,” Fluttershy shrugged in understanding. “Still, maybe someday. Ooh, can you imagine if Rainbow was hearing us discuss all this? She would probably get very flustered and try to fly away."
Rarity placed a hoof over her muzzle giving a nod and a giggle at the small but cheeky smile on Fluttershy’s face as they both pictured the rainbow-maned pegasus getting all red in the face and stammering away madly before bursting out the window into the sky.
"Yes I can see her not enjoying this conversation quite immensely. Still she isn't the only pony we can discuss. Have you noticed all the time that Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich have been spending together?” Rarity brought up. “If it wasn't Pinkie and Cheese, I would have already assumed they were dating."
"Oh yes, they do seem very close,” Fluttershy agrred. “They seem to spend time with each other every day. Still it is hard to tell with them. They both give out affection so easily that it makes it difficult to tell whether it is platonic or something deeper. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
Both ponies took a moment to think over Pinkie and Cheese's interactions. The two seemed to be together almost all the time, planning parties together, singing through the streets, or just using their bizarre abilities to confuse everypony around. Still they did hug a great deal more then they hugged other ponies, so perhaps there was something between them.
After a moment another thought crossed Rarity's mind.
"You know, Fluttershy dear, I just realized that while some of us are in relationships, our friends Thunderlane and Applejack haven't seemed to show much interest in anypony. Applejack I can somewhat understand, as she tends to focus very heavily on her work at Sweet Apple Acres and likely wouldn't see much reason to pursue romance. Thunderlane is another matter. He does have a somewhat stressful job, but he does seem like he has both the free time and fun personality to work well in a relationship. Perhaps you and I should look into setting him up on some potential dates in the future."
This suggestion however seemed to draw Fluttershy back into her shell a little. "Oh I don't know, Rarity. I think it would be wonderful if Applejack or Thunderlane went out to find a partner, but I don't think we should meddle in their private business. They’ll find somepony when they both feel ready."
This caused Rarity to give a little sigh at her romantic side being shut down. Still she did understand. "You're quite right, my dear. We shouldn't push them if they aren't ready. I apologize, I tend to let my romantic side get a little carried away when I turn to matters of the heart. Still, should either of them express an interest to start dating I will be more then ready to assist them."
“For that matter, Midnight and Twilight,” Fluttershy changed the subject. “Sometimes it’s hard to remember or even believe this Midnight we know now is reincarnated from the one we met!”
“And that that Midnight underwent a journey through history and died!” Rarity added with a tone incredulous. “Yes, but the wings and cutie-mark aside, I can’t really distinguish the two! This Midnight is so much like the former, and his love for Twilight certainly is as strong as his old self’s was, perhaps stronger!”
“Well, I agree this Midnight is a lot like the one we’ve known since the Thousandth Summer Sun celebration,” Fluttershy debated, “But… there’s something about him that… just a teensy bit odd. Why, Mackie told me that a few weeks ago, he and Applejack saw Midnight speaking with some hooded pony late at night in the orchard, like it was some big secret.”
“I do admit Midnight as he is now has a whole other side of him that seems… well, not entirely forthcoming,” Rarity compromised, “but Fluttershy… We must remember that in a way, this isn’t exactly the same Midnight we knew. He’s been through so much and heaven knows how much that might have changed his outlook of life! But I have seen him with Twilight, with Twinken, and you know what I saw? A stallion who loves his mare and his little brother so much he’ll fight to his last breath to protect them.”
As Fluttershy considered Rarity’s words, she had to agree, she still sensed that same warm protectiveness from Midnight, had seen that same kindness and understanding, and while he had certainly changed in ways subtle, he was still the same.
“You’re right, Rarity. Midnight is still Midnight; perhaps his new title as a prince means he has his own responsibilities to do. When he’s learned to balance them with his own personal life, it’ll be just like old times.”
“That’s the spirit, darling,” Rarity smiled. “And now, back to business. I think it may be best if I get back to working on your dress. I only have a few more attachments and it will be all ready for you. In fact, if you would be so good as to come around tomorrow morning, we can even give you a fitting and make sure everything fits correctly so that you look stunning for your big day."
Fluttershy gave her a wide smile and nodded her head in thanks. "I can definitely be here tomorrow morning, Rarity. Thank you so much, I can't wait to see how I look with your beautiful dress on. I should get going myself. I still need to check in at Sugarcube Corner to see how Pinkie and Cheese are coming along with the catering for the reception. Thank you for the tea, Rarity."
The white unicorn helped Fluttershy to her hooves, a beatific smile on her muzzle as she gently saw her pegasus friend to the door. "Oh no trouble at all, darling. I love it when you pop round for us to have our little chats. I cannot wait to see how you look in your new dress tomorrow. I guarantee you will look nothing less than stunning."
The two gave each other a light hug before Fluttershy waved goodbye and stepped back out into Ponyville. Rarity watched her leave from the doorway, a happy sigh on her lips. To think, her shy little friend was getting married. She looked so happy.
Hopefully soon she would know the feeling of being engaged to the stallion she loved.
After leaving Carousel Boutique, Fluttershy confirmed with Daisy, Roseluck, and Lily Valley that the flowers for the wedding were coming along nicely, and so made her way next to Sugarcube Corner.
I do hope Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich don’t go… overboard with the catering, she thought to herself as she approached the bakery, only to have her worry make itself apparent as one of the windows of the bakery became splattered with something from the inside. “Is that… cake batter?”
Sighing, Fluttershy approached the door but before she could knock-
“Hiya Flutters!”
“Eep!” Fluttershy startled as the door had flown open to show a couple of messy party ponies grinning at her welcomingly. “Um, hello, Pinkie, Cheese. I, uh, I hope I haven’t come at a bad time, I just wanted to see-”
“How gouda the catering is coming?” Cheese finished for her, before dragging her inside, Pinkie declaring proudly, “See for yourself!”
Fluttershy placed her hoof to her lips, whispering, “...Oh my!”
Before her were several different dishes: Some cupcakes with zap apple frosting, a crystal bowlful of a delectable-looking fruit salad with apple slices, a myriad of berries, walnuts, marshmallows, and honeydew, but the most impressive of them all was undoubtedly the wedding cake!
It was a five-stacker, iced with buttercream frosting, decorated with frosting flowers and apples inter-connected with frosting ribbons, and the topper was a big green apple upon which sat a candy butterfly!
“Pinkie! Cheese…!” Fluttershy hadn’t seen a cake so invitingly delicious since the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness! “I-I don’t know what to say!”
“You can say ‘I do’ to your beau once you see him at the altar,” Cheese chuckled in a good-natured teasing way, making Fluttershy bashful.
“I am so-so-SO happy for you!” Pinkie gave Fluttershy one of her infamous vice-like hugs, Fluttershy squeaking as she felt her lungs begin to collapse, but thankyfully Pinkie let go and started crying tears of joy.
With an understanding smile, Cheese Sandwich provided a hanky, which Pinkie blew on, sounding uncannily like a foghorn.
“Oh Pinkie... “ Fluttershy wheezed, “I can’t thank you both enough, but… how will you keep all this food from spoiling? The wedding’s not for another few days!”
“Don’t you worry `bout a thing, Flutters,” Cheese assured, Pinkie adding, “Just let your ol’ Auntie Pinkie & Uncle Cheesie take care of it.”
“I’m a year older than you,” Fluttershy reminded her although she didn’t say such a thing to Cheese, as she didn’t know his age. When I think about, he can’t be that much older than Applejack or…!
“Oh my goodness! I still have to go see Applejack and Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy turned for the door, saying, “I’ll see you all later-”
“Whoa-oh-oh-oh!” Both Pinkie and Cheese Sandwich felt a series of sensations.
“Ear flop?”
“Eye flutter…”
“Knee twitch!!” Both party ponies yelled, “Fluttershy! Look out for the-”
*SLAM*
“Hi Pinkie, hey Cheese,” Twilight said as she walked in but noticed them wincing at her as they both muttered, “Door…”
“Oops!” Twilight grimace as she realized they must’ve had a Pinkie-Cheesie Sense of her opening the door and she’d flattened some poor sucker. Reluctantly, she edged the door aside to see it was ,”Fluttershy, I didn't know you were there! I am so-so sorry!”
Fluttershy slunk down from the door, moaning as she shook away the daze, “Oh, it’s… alright, Twilight. You didn’t mean to… Ooh!”
“Well… anyway, it’s actually a good thing I found you,” Twilight kindly helped her friend to her hooves. “Would you mind trotting with me?”
“Oh not at all,” Fluttershy obliged.
After the two said see-you-later to their party pony friends, they walked through the neighborhood as Twilight brought up, “Fluttershy, by any chance have you considered who will officiate the wedding ceremony?”
“Well actually, Macintosh and I thought we’d ask the mayor,” Fluttershy answered, which became apparent that wasn’t what Twilight wanted to hear.
“Oh… Well, it’s just… My sister-in-law, Princess Cadance,” Twilight explained, “in our last correspondence, I mentioned the wedding and invited her and my brother but Cadance replied back that she’d be honored if she could officiate the ceremony!”
“Princess Cadance wants to lead the ceremony for me and Macintosh?” Fluttershy felt honored and unsure. “Oh, Twilight, that would be wonderful, but… I wouldn’t want to inconvenient Princess Cadance - I’m sure she has more important things than-”
“Fluttershy, you shouldn’t say such a thing about your wedding!” Twilight said kindly. “You and Macintosh are about to proclaim your love to each other in the most meaningful way, and that is something Princess Cadance would be happy to be a part of! After all, you helped with her wedding, remember?”
“That is true…” Fluttershy considered, remembering contributing to Cadance and Shining Armor’s wedding with her songbird choir.
“She’s not the Princess of Love for nothing,” Twilight went on, “In fact, she’s officiated a couple weddings since she and Shining Armor took leadership of the Crystal Empire, so she has experience in wedding ceremonies. C’mon, Fluttershy, what do you say?”
Fluttershy felt her feathers fidget but she saw the giving smile on her friend and the thought of the Princess of Love officiating her own with Macintosh was…!
“Alright, then, Twilight,” Fluttershy nodded with a smile, “I would be happy for Princess Cadance to officiate my wedding!”
“Oh! She’ll be so happy to hear that!” Twilight gave Fluttershy a thankful hug, which she warmly returned. “I’d better go send her the confirmation, see you later!”
And without another word, Twilight flapped off, Fluttershy waving, “Bye-bye!”
Heading for home and passing through the park, Fluttershy stumbled upon another of her friends. Lying lazily along the branch of an oak tree, her oldest friend Rainbow Dash was reading over a script of paper with an annoyed expression on her face. This drew Fluttershy’s curiosity, as generally the only written work Rainbow ever read was her reports from the weather office (which she generally tried to pawn off onto Thunderlane. Usually she failed) or her beloved Daring Do series. What Rainbow was reading over appeared to be neither.
“Darn it, why is this so hard! I can’t afford to get this wrong, it’s too important!”
Seeing her friend get so frustrated was upsetting to Fluttershy, so following the oath of her element, the little yellow pegasus fluttered up to the rainbow mare.
“Um Rainbow?”
Rainbow had been so focused that Fluttershy's interruption startled her into a to leap from the branch and tumble into a heap at the base of the tree. She gave her head a shake before looking around with a grumpy expression to see who had disturbed her. Upon discovering her yellow friend, her expression calmed and she pulled herself up.
"Oh hey, `Shy. Sorry I was pretty focused there and I didn't see you."
"That's alright, Rainbow. I'm so sorry for startling you. I just saw that you were getting a little frustrated and I wanted to know, is there anything I could do to help?"
The rainbow mare smiled at her before pulling out the paper that had been drawing her ire. "Maybe you can help. I'm trying to write something good for my mare of honour speech; thanks again for asking me Flutters, it really means a lot; anyway I'm having a hard time coming up with anything. You know me, I'm much better with actions than words."
"That's alright, Rainbow, it doesn't need to be perfect. So long as it comes from your heart I'll be happy,” Fluttershy assured but seemed only to annoy the blue pegasus.
"But Fluttershy this is your wedding day! You're my oldest and closest friend and I want to have everything be perfect for you, and I won't stop trying until I get this speech right!"
Fluttershy just felt the smile on her muzzle deepen as she felt the conviction in Rainbow's words. "Thank you Rainbow. That means a lot to me. If you are really having some trouble, maybe you could go over your speech with Soarin. He's probably had to make up lots of speeches during his time with the Wonderbolts. I'm sure he you ask him he'd be happy to help you."
Rainbow tapped her chin with her hoof as she considered her friend's words, a slight smirk coming across her face. "Yeah, that's not a bad idea. Besides, I haven't seen the goof all day and he needs his daily dose of Vitamin RAD.”
“Um, Vitamin Rad?” echoed Fluttershy, not quite understanding.
Rainbow laughed, “Rainbow Awesome Dash, heh-ha! Thanks Flutters. This is gonna be an awesome speech."
After quickly glancing to confirm they were alone in the park, Rainbow gave the shy mare a quick hug before taking to the air to track down her coltfriend. Fluttershy watched her, a happy feeling welling within her. Everything was going well. Rarity was getting her dress ready, Daisy, Rose Luck and Lily Valley’s flower arrangements were coming along nicely,, Pinkie and Cheese had the food well underway. Everything seemed to be falling into place.
The feeling brought a smile to her face as a little skip fell into her trot.
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Zip-A-Dee-A My oh my, what a wonderful day
She trotted by as a group of Apples all smiled and waved to her, hearty congratulations echoing as they passed.
Plenty of sunshine heading my way Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Zip-A-Dee-A
She watched as high up in the clouds her rainbow friend found her coltfriend and gave him a discreet nuzzle, hoping to hide her affection. He in turn ignored her hesitancy and embraced her in a big hug, chuckling as she tittered and sputtered in embarrassment.
Mister bluebird on my shoulder It's the truth It's actual Everything is satisfactual
As Fluttershy trotted along, singing happily, she spotted the CMC all playing around. In her good mood, she decided to see what the little darlings were up to.
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Zip-A-Dee-A Wonderful feeling Wonderful day
As she finished her song, FLuttershy approached the foals observing them as Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, Button and Rumble all coached Apple Bloom in Twinken as they practiced their roles in the wedding. Apple Bloom had been given the honor of being the flower girl, while Twinken took up the responsibility of being the ring bearer. Both seemed to be having a little difficulty preparing though. Apple Bloom seemed to alternate between losing focus tossing about her petals, or losing the tossing pattern and getting them petals everywhere. Twinken however seemed too focused, putting all his efforts into levitating the ring cushion that he didn't see where he was walking and kept tripping, usually into Apple Bloom when she lost her focus.
The other foals were giving advice and trying to direct them, but it seemed the two apple kids weren't getting anywhere. Deciding to give them a hoof, Fluttershy approached.
"Hello children. You seem to be having some trouble here."
Twinken gave a little sigh before addressing her, the rest of the CMC turning to follow the conversation. "Hi Miss Fluttershy. Yeah Apple Bloom and I are having some problems. We just can't see to get our parts right and this is such an important day for you and my big brother. We really wanna get it all right in time for the wedding, but so far it looks hopeless."
Apple Bloom seemed to echo his response and the worried look from the other four showed they weren't sure what to do to help. Seeing the sad looks on their faces caused Fluttershy's 'Kindness' powers to activate and she assertively pulled both Apple Bloom and Twinken into a hug with her wings like a loving mother bird.
"Oh, don't you two worry. I remember seeing your performance at Cadance's wedding, so I know you have it in you. Apple Bloom, you’re an Apple through and through and when you get determined, nothing can stop you, and Twinken, you're one of the best magic users I've seen. You can even teleport already. If you can learn to do that, I know you have what it takes to be a wonderful ring bearer. Both of you will do fine at the wedding, I promise."
The two foals smiled warmly at her words and returned their own hugs, joined shortly by the other four, also wanting to express their gratitude. Fluttershy could feel the happiness in the air and it was beautiful.
Fluttershy snuggled into bed beside her big red stallion. She recalled all that had happened over her day. Meeting with Rarity for some gal time, seeing the progress the Flower sisters had made, watching Pinkie and Cheese hard at work on the food, seeing Rainbow's frustration over making her speech perfect for her best friend, and seeing the CMC's hope returned as they pushed their practice ever harder to get their rolse down.
After she had returned home, she had had a lovely family meal with the apples, Midnight and Big Mac laughing and telling jokes, Applejack and Granny Smith cooking and setting up a wonderful meal, Apple Bloom and Twinken chatting about the big day and how excited they were for Big Mac and herself.
Fluttershy just gave a happy sigh and she snuggled up close to Mac. Today had been a really good day, and it seemed that everything for her wedding was working out perfectly.
As Celestia's morning rays passed through the window, Fluttershy found a smile coming to her muzzle. Another beautiful day ahead, hopefully even more happy and special than the one before it. Slowly, she wiggled her way out of Big mac's warm comforting hooves that had been wrapped around he all through the night, content to let her stallion sleep in for a little while so she could make him some breakfast.
The warm fuzzy feeling in Fluttershy's chest from the day before was still as strong as ever, and she was tempted to break out into song again, though she decided to hold it in. After all, Big Mac and likely the other apples were still asleep and she didn't want to wake them. So instead she cheerily skipped down the stairs to enter the kitchen to get her happy day started. However she discovered she was not the only family member awake.
Seated at the kitchen table, with several scrapped sheets of paper in front of her, was a frustrated and irritable-looking Applejack. It wasn't clear for how long the mare had been up, but Fluttershy had a good feeling it had been a while since the cowgirl of a mare had risen. Curious and a little worried, Fluttershy approached her.
"Good morning, Applejack. May I ask what has you up so early? You looked a little stressed, I hope you haven't been awake too long."
Fluttershy's response seemed to catch the farm pony off guard for a moment, but she quickly threw a smile onto her face.
"Well g’mornin’, sugarcube. Ah'm just up early going over muh best mare speech. Ah gotta say, Ah really din't think it’d be this tricky. Still, Ah ain't about t’ give up. This here speech is for mah brother and one o’ my best friends, an’ Ah aim t’ get it right."
She gave a firm nod before turning back to her work. It quickly became apparent though that for all her determination, she still didn't seem to have much luck getting the words onto paper and a frustrated scowl crossed her jaw.
Fluttershy watched for a moment, feeling a little worried. Applejack always did have trouble when she was in over her head, and even more in admitting when she could use some help, and right now she really looked to need some help.
"Big Mac and I really appreciate how much work you're putting into writing out your speech, Applejack. But you seem to be having a bit of a tough time. Would you like some help? I'm sure if I can't help you, perhaps Midnight or Twilight could?"
While the offer was kind and gentle, it didn't stop Applejack from getting the false implication that she wasn't good enough to write the speech on her own. Fluttershy had only meant to give out some friendly assistance so she wouldn't let her soon-to-be sister-in-law become so frustrated, but Applejack was as stubborn as ever.
"Look, Fluttershy... Ah `ppreciate you wanna help an’ all, Ah really do. But this is something Ah need t’ do by myself. If Ah cain't write a speech `bout mah own brother, then wha’ kinda sister am Ah? No, this here speech is my responsibility and nopony’s gonna help me with it!"
Applejack stubbornly crossed her front hooves and and focused all her attention on the speech, ignoring the worried expression that crossed Fluttershy's muzzle.
"Oh dear, are you sure Applejack? It really wouldn't be a problem for me to help, and Twilight or Midnight would probably jump at the chance to help you out. I know it's a really important responsibility, but that doesn't mean you have to shoulder it all alone."
While she tried her best to show her care and kindness, it did nothing to break through Applejack's stubbornness.
"No way, no how. This here is mh speech and nopony else is gonna write it! Ah know yer just trying t’ help, Fluttershy, but this is for me and’ me alone t’ handle. So if you could kindly leave me be so Ah can concentrate Ah’d highly appreciate it."
She placed her quill in her mouth and got back to writing, once again ignoring Fluttershy's expression, missing the hurt and worry.
Ooh, I know she wants to do this herself, but I really don't want her to get all frustrated and upset. If she does, she'll just get cranky and then other ponies might get angry with her. Well, if she won't let me help, I can only think of one other way…
"Well, if you really want to, that's okay. I'll leave you too your work."
Fluttershy’s 'giving in' brought a slight smile to Applejack's face, and the orange mare tilted her head in gratitude. "Thank ya kindly, sugarcube. This is something Ah need to do on my own."
"It's just as well. Rainbow needed a little help with her speech so I told her to see if Soarin would help her. With his Wonderbolt knowledge, her speech will probably be the best she's ever done."
This declaration made Applejack freeze, and Fluttershy couldn't help but smile a little mischievously, seeing her plan was working.
If Applejack won't be reasoned with, then bringing out her competitive side is the next best thing.
"She's probably going over the last of her speech in the park like yesterday. A little practicing and it will be perfect."
"In the park you said... well, perhaps Ah oughta hear how her speech is going. Teach her who the real best speech writer is."
With that, the orange mare gathered up all her writing materials and rushed out the door, leaving Fluttershy to let out a relieved sigh.
"With any luck, those two will try and compete to see who can write the best speech, and once they see how difficult doing it alone will be, they'll look for help to make sure they win. I'll need to check on them both later to make sure it hasn't gotten out of hoof, but I think this should work... still, I'm a little upset that Applejack wouldn't let me help. I was really hoping for a another wonderful day."
"No reason it cain't be, sweetheart. One bout of stubbornness from AJ doesn't mean nothing."
Fluttershy 'eeped' and leap into the air at the sound of the voice. But she calmed herself almost immediately when she discovered that her big red beau had snuck up her.
"Ohh Mackie, you know I don't like it when you sneak up on me."
Big Mac just gave a sheepish chuckle, having forgotten how quiet he usually was oddly made him rather skilled at sneaking up on somepony before he pulled the slightly pouting mare into a warm hug with his hooves around her shoulders. "Sorry sugarcube, didn't mean to startle ya. Ah just wanted t’ reassure ya that one little hiccup like AJ ain't gonna ruin yer day. Just means yer gonna have t’ go out an’ make today just as wonderful as you want it to be."
Fluttershy melted into his hug, letting his love wash over her and pressed the back of her head into her stallion's neck behind her. "You're right, Mackie. If I want I wonderful day, then I need to go out and find it!"
Her self-motivational speech was interrupted by a loud growl that made her jump in her stallion’s arms. Big Mac chuckled sheepishly and Fluttershy sighed in relief to see it had only been his stomach.
"How `bout we start with breakfast, then we worry about the perfect day."
After a nice breakfast with her beau, Fluttershy decided to head over to Carousel Boutique, remembering Rarity wanted to have Fluttershy over for a fitting of the wedding dress. But as she neared the boutique, Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel a sense of trepidation, and the slight overcast of clouds didn’t help either.
Yet when she landed but a few yards in front of the boutique’s door…
*CRASH/CLATTER*
“SWEETIE BELLE!!!”
Fluttershy ‘eep’d from the shrill scream of her friend, and somehow noticed the passerby all looking towards the boutique in wonder of the racket. Stepping lightly, Fluttershy could hear ramblings apologetic and scolding, both sounding a great deal upset, and Fluttershy nervously knocked on the door.
At once, the conversation inside ceased, and moments later, the door edged open, and Rarity peeked out, and shuddered to see her visitor. “Fluttershy! Uh, darling…! Um, I’m afraid there’s been a slight mishap…”
“Oh my, Rarity, it’s nothing bad, I hope,” Fluttershy tried to look past Rarity but the fashionista fretfully barred her attempts.
“Oh not at all, heh-heh!” Rarity tittered as she began to sweat, “Just my dearest little sister Sweetie Belle roughhousing, as fillies do, even though I expressively told her not to so she tried being helpful while I was working, and-”
“I’m so sorry, Fluttershy!” came Sweetie Belle’s voice from behind Rarity, who startled. “I didn’t mean to rip- Eek!”
Fluttershy couldn’t see it, but Rarity had whipped her tail into Sweetie Belle’s mouth to stop her from finishing that condemning sentence.
“Rip?!”Fluttershy echoed, worst-case scenarios already forming in her head.
“Oh, not to worry, dear!” Rarity assured although she still looked unsure, “It’s nothing that I can’t fix, and… although it will cut into the time I need for the bridesmare dresses today… I give you my solemn vow: Every dress, including yours, will be ready for the ceremony!”
“Well… If you’re certain, Rarity-” Fluttershy sai only for Rarity to immediately say more.
“Now then! If there isn’t anything else, I must get back to work!”
And without another word, she shut the door in Fluttershy’s face, leaving her to ruffle her wings nervously but then she tried the calming technique she’d seen Cadance and Twilight do. A calming breath later, she felt some of the tension lift, and although a little worry remained, she thought to herself, Rarity said it’ll be fine… She can handle it, and… I’ll just have my fitting tomorrow!
The day before the wedding.
The day before the wedding?!
Fluttershy felt some of that worry come back upon realization of how close the event was getting. She needed a distraction. Fast!
“Um… maybe I should see how Pinkie and Cheese are doing,” she worried as she took flight.
Somehow the cool air helped Fluttershy calm her nerves, and as Sugarcube Corner got closer, she thought, Just a little misstep, Rarity can handle it, and I’m sure Pinkie and Cheese Sandwich have made even more yummy things for the recepti-
“Wait a minute,” Fluttershy gawked as a few cupcakes were sent flying out the window of the bakery, and not just any cupcakes. “Aren’t those…?!”
“Pound Cake, no!” “Pumpkin, sweetie, put down the rolling pin!”
Oh no! Fluttershy quickly flew towards the door of the bakery and threw it open to find the inside a disasters area!
The cash register was covered in some kind of batter, the booth seats were coated in flour, there were eggs splattered all over the place, and the two party ponies were chasing the Cake Twins all about!
“Pound Cake, settle down!” Pinkie hollered as she chased after the little pegasus foal, who giggled as he buzzed about like a hummingbird. “Get down here, ugh!” - She leapt and tried to yank him out of the air but missed - “Young… colt!”
“Pumpkin, honey?”
Fluttershy looked to see Cheese Sandwich with a colander on his head as he hesitantly peered over a countertop, and sitting on the counter opposite it was Pumpkin Cake, happily chewing on an oven mitt while her little horn levitated various kitchen utensils, floating between her and cheese as though they were guarding her.
“Pumpkin, how `bout you spit out that yucky mitt and Uncle Cheesie gets you- AUGH!”
Cheese ducked so quick the colander hung in the air for a brief moment, leaving it to be knocked away by a whisk and mixing bowl. He was just glad that all the sharp, pointy stuff was safely stowed in the closet.
Unfortunately, that’s where things really went wrong. Fluttershy watched as the mixing bowl somehow ricocheted off the wall and… hurtled towards the cake!!!!
It all seemed to happen in slow motion, even the traditional “NOOOOOOOOO” yelled by somepony, Fluttershy didn’t know who, as she watched helplessly as the bowl mashed into the wedding cake, the celebratory confection toppling over like a tower that had been struck by the enemy catapults, hitting the ground in delicious disarray, and silence fell upon the scene until it was quiet like a tomb.
“Uh-oh!”
The twins had noticed the “boo-boo” their antics had made, and the party ponies took advantage of their daze to scoop `em up into their hooves, and too late did they notice Fluttershy looking in shock of wrecked wedding cake!
“Fluttershy!” “We- Uh, the Cakes…” “I promised to foal-sit-” “I was helping but-” “The twins, heh-heh!” “You know how foals can get.”
Fluttershy was too dazed to notice them as her eyes bored into the mess with such intensity, she squeaked an anxious squeal that made Pinkie and Cheese share a worried look. Pinkie handed Pound Cake over to Cheese, whispering him to take them upstairs, and he quickly did. Meanwhile, she went over to her friend. “Fluttershy, it’s okay! Cheesie and I can make another one!”
Fluttershy gave Pinkie a worried look that threatened tears.
“No worries, Flutters!” Pinkie assured, “I give you my solemn Pinkie Promise - Cheese and I will have another wedding cake prepared on time for the wedding the day after tomorrow!”
Given it was a Pinkie Promise, and hearing the conviction in her assurance, Fluttershy got it together and fought the tears back before they could get out. “Um, okay, Pinkie, I… I’ll just… get out of your way.”
“Fluttershy…” Pinkie held Fluttershy’s hoof, looked into her friend’s eyes, and said with such surprising seriousness. “Everything is going to be fine.”
A shaky sigh escaped her mouth but Fluttershy nodded before Pinkie gave her a hug, and let her go her way.
Well, I guess there goes my nice day. I was really hoping for everything to go perfectly, but I suppose things don't always work out the way we hoped. Right now, I just want to go home and snuggle up with my Mackie and wait until tomorrow. Then maybe things will get better.
Fluttershy trudged through Ponyville, following the path that would lead her back to Sweet Apple Acres and her big red beau. Today had not gone down the way she’d hoped. She'd had to deal with a stubborn Applejack not wanting any help, her wedding dress being damaged before she even got to try it on, and now all the food for the wedding, including the cake. was wrecked and would need to be redone. The gathering overcast of clouds seemed to match the yellow mare's mood perfectly.
Noticing a few Ponyvillians meandering about the flower store, she decided she may as well check up on the flower trio before she made it home. Maybe they would have some good news for her.
They did not.
She put one hoof in the store before spotting the trio passed out on the floor after another of their 'THE HORROR!' driven fainting spells. Curious to see what had caused it this time the pegasus gave a look about the store, leaving the unconscious mares be (even Fluttershy's innate Kindness had run out from the amount of times these ponies passed out. There were even bets in town over how many times they could faint in a week. The current record was twenty-seven).
Unfortunately her curiosity turned sour when she spotted a bouquet of wrecked and dying flowers just near the passed out group, a bouquet that was obviously for her wedding. It seemed the trio had accidently damaged a bouquet and passed out. Fluttershy sighed, her depression for the day just increasing a little more. While it seemed to only be one bouquet, she knew the trio would be unconscious for a while, seriously impeding their work time. She could only hope they woke up soon, or they might not manage to get all the flowers ready in time for the ceremony!
Filled with sadness and worry, Flutters once again continued on her way home lost in her thoughts.
Oh this has been such a disaster... still maybe it's best this happened today rather than on the wedding. Hopefully now all the bad luck is gone and nothing bad will happen tomorrow or the day of the wedding. I'm sure all the bad stuff is all over now and nothing more will happen.
Oh course such thoughts very easily enticed the cursed concept of Marephy’s Law, and at just that moment Fluttershy trotted passed the train station as the last train of the day pulled up. The whistle caught her attention and she looked up, only to freeze in terror as the last of the Apple Family invited to the wedding all rushed spilled out of the train.
“Look! It’s Fluttershy!” somepony yelled, and sure enough the Apples all recognized the bride-to-be to their cousin, and began to swarm around her, shouting out congratulations and trying to hug her.
In her already sad and worried state, her natural scared and vulnerable tendencies shot up immensely, and within seconds Fluttershy could feel the familiar ache of a panic-attack coursing through her. Deaf to the Apples’ words of kindness and encouragement, she started to hyperventilate and squeezed her wings to her sides so tightly they started to hurt. Her eyes shrunk down and her limbs started shaking. So scared was she at all the sudden attention and social pressure that only one response to it all seemed to come to mind.
With a scream of terror, the little pegasus burst through the crowd, took to the sky and zoomed off towards the farm at a speed that would have made her friend Rainbow proud of her. The farm house zoomed into view, but it didn't matter to Fluttershy. Only one thing mattered right then.
She burst through the front door, bolted up the stairs, knocking aside a confused Midnight before he could even say a word to her, and raced towards the room at the end of the hall.
Big Mac was just taking off his yoke for the evening when he heard his bedroom door slam open and a bundle of scared and crying pegasus mare grabbed hold of him and wouldn't let go.
"Oh Mackie, e-everything- The dress, the c-cake- Things aren’t going- And-and-and, I j-just needed y-you a-and..." was all she could get out before her voice just became so incoherent to understand. Big Mac blinked his eyes trying to process what had happened before his coltfriend-powers activated and he wrapped his big strong hooves around her, shielding her from the world and letting her know she was safe.
He could vaguely hear down the hallway that Midnight and Granny Smith were talking to some ponies, Apples likely from the accent, going on about something, likely to do with what was happening right now, but to him it didn't matter. Nothing in the world mattered right now.
Because his `Shy needed him.
He gently cooed to her and stroked her back, letting her know she was safe now, and no matter how upset and worried she was, he would be there for her. Looking out for her forever. slowly he could feel her start to calm, but he didn't give up his gentle actions.
She needed him, and he would always be there for her.
Eventually Fluttershy calmed herself and explained what had happened and how troubling her day had been. Big Mac had sat there holding her, making her feel safe and loved and like nothing in the world could get to her.
After a while, he had promised her that the worst had passed and soon, all of the wedding stress would be over and they could be happy together. This has brightened her mood a little, and after joining the Apples downstairs for dinner, and feeling all the love they had as a family, she felt the day’s worries melt away.
Now she lay in bed, Mac's hooves holding her protectively, reinforcing even in his sleep, he would always be there for her. The day may have been bad, but with her Mackie here, it didn't seem as bad anymore.
Fluttershy shrieked in terror, having been woken by the crack of thunder, and the hard pourdown of the rain on the roof.
“Mmph, `Shy?” Big Mac stirred and his sleepy daze cleared the moment he saw his beautiful mare looking sadly out the window, seeing the storm.
“Oh, `Shy,” Big Mac got up and gently hugged his mare from behind, Fluttershy fighting back the worry and frets this woeful weather had instilled into her.
“Oh Mackie,” Fluttershy whispered with eyes so sad it would darn-near break your heart, “wherever did this weather come from?”
“Ah dunno, sugarcube,” Big Mac replied but seeing how low this rain had gotten his love down, he furrowed his brows. “But Ah’m gonna find out.”
The front door of the Ponyville weather office was almost torn open as Macintosh stormed in, a look unreadable on his stoic face that made every pegasus in the office flinch or shudder in his wake.
Nopony did anything as Macintosh made for the weather captains’ office and knocked.
“Cloudchaser, I told you! I’m busy!”
Thunderlane startled as his door was thrown open and he gulped to see an angry-red stallion giving him a look that made the dark gray pegasus wish he was anywhere but there.
“Thunderlane…” Macintosh said in a calm voice despite his obvious fury as well as his dripping raincoat. “Any reason in particular there’s a storm blowin’ o’er Ponyville th’ day before mah wedding?”
“Mac! Uh, heh-heh, it’s a funny story really…” Thunderlane chuckled nervously, his eyes shifting left and right, looking for an escape route.
“Ah’d love t’ hear it...” Big Mac said in a tone that clearly meant the opposite of what he’d just said.
Sighing apologetically, Thunderlane explained, “Mac, look, we got this notice from the Cloudsdale Weatherpony PRM. Y’know, the Pony Resources Management? Apparently, we have to have a couple storms to make up for that scorcher we had last month.”
“Thunderlane… Muh `Shy is not feelin’ happy,” Big Mac said warningly, “she’s a’feared this storm’s gonna ruin our big day tomorrow, and yesterday wasn’t exactly a good day for her.”
“Yeah I heard,” Thunderlane felt lousy for letting this storm happen to begin with. “Listen, Mac, I promise! Tomorrow will be bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, nothing weather-related will ruin your big day!”
Sighing, Big Mac said, “A’ight, Thunder, Ah trust ya. Ah just’ hope today works out okay for mah Flutters.”
“She’s tougher than most ponies give her credit for, Mac,” Thunderlane said from out of nowhere, Big Mac giving him a curious look. “Fluttershy’s dad grew up in Cloudsdale but when he met the pony who would become Fluttershy’s mother, he moved to where she lived.”
“Ah know, her pa had a work-related accident tha’ left him in th’ hospital a long while,” Big Mac recalled.
From what his fiance had told him, Mac knew that Fluttershy’s father, Sunsplash, used to be a firefighter who left home to marry his special somepony, an earth pony mare named Posey. When Fluttershy was very little, Sunsplash almost lost his life rescuing some ponies trapped in a burning building, and was left in critical condition that took him months of recovery.
Because Fluttershy’s mother, Posey, had to devote herself to taking care of her husband, Fluttershy went to live with her grandparents in Cloudsdale for a while, which was where she eventually met Rainbow Dash, and attended Junior Speedsters Flight camp.
Once she got her cutie-mark and was old enough, Fluttershy moved to Ponyville, where she became a caregiver to animals.
Sighing, Big Mac asked, “Are ya sure tomorrow will be clear?”
“Mac, I promise,” Thunderlane swore, “you’re one of my best friends and I love Fluttershy like a sister. No matter what, tomorrow’s weather will be just right.”
Seeing the determined look on his friend’s face, Big Mac smiled gratefully, “Alright, Thunder, Ah’’m countin’ on you, an’ thanks.”
“No problem, bud,” Thunderlane waved his wing as Macintosh left.
“Thank you so very much, Rarity!”
Rarity smiled, for despite her bedraggled appearance, she’d succeeded in repairing the wedding dress and the dresses for the bridesmares were well underway. Fluttershy had arrived in a drenched poncho, and after warming her up, Rarity had proudly shown her the dress and they’d confirmed with the fitting it was perfect!
Then Fluttershy had insisted on leaving the dress put away until tomorrow.
“Things are just becoming… difficult,” Fluttershy said as they had tea again.
“Well, darling, marriage is never an easy feat,” Rarity said, “but believe you me, dear, when you see your stallion awaiting you tomorrow all those worries will melt away.”
“I hope you’re right, Rarity,” Fluttershy shivered, “I don’t know how much more of these problems I can take, especially with this rain.”
“Fluttershy, dear,” Rarity assured, “I’m sure you’ve nothing to worry about. You have friends and family who love you and will do everything within their power to make your special day goes by swimmingly.”
Sighing, Fluttershy nodded with a hesitant smile when Rarity gasped! “Oh my, I’d almost forgotten, Fluttershy! Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich said if you have the time you should see them at Sugarcube Corner!”
“Oh my, I’d better get over there right away,” Fluttershy donned her poncho, “I’ll see you later, Rarity! And thank you for my dress!”
“Anytime, darling!” Rarity waved her off as Fluttershy braved the weather outside. “Anytime!”
Despite the pouring rain, Ponyville still had some busy residents going about their business. Fluttershy saw Cheerilee escorting her students, having decided it’d be safer to pick them up rather than allow them to get to school on their own in this weather. She said loudly to them all to stay together and not wander. It reminded Fluttershy of escorting ducklings. Even more so when a crack of thunder made the foals scream and scatter about, reminding Fluttershy of when some ducklings she’d been leading were spooked by a cat.
Thankfully, a few ponies nearby helped Cheerilee get her class back together and even gave them an escort to their destination. Thinking of those foals made the butter-yellow pegasus wonder, Will I be a good mommy someday…?
Fluttershy felt her face redden a little by the thought of parenthood. She wasn’t even married just yet and she was thinking that far? No, she thought. Foals would be a milestone in her and Macintosh’s relationship that they would discuss before even considering taking on that dedication. Still, the thought of holding her own baby and watching the little one grow happy was truly something she hoped to experience. One day.
But she dismissed her distracting thoughts as she approached Sugarcube Corner, and this time there were no messes on the windows although the stormy weather made it impossible to hear anything coming from inside. As she approached the door, she was about to knock when it opened and she got a faceful of pink!
“Hey Fluttershy! Come on in!”
“Eep!”
Fluttershy got pulled inside by Pinkie Pie, and she found the interior to be spic and span compared to how it’d been yesterday. Really, there was a glistening of cleanliness but the scent of something delicious teased her nose. “Oh my, what smells so yummy?”
“Flutters!” Cheese Sandwich popped up in front of her, making her jump a bit, “Pinkie and I are proud to present…”
The party ponies bounced over to a raised curtain, giddy as Cheese pulled a cord and the curtain fell away to reveal… “...your wedding cake mark II!”
Fluttershy marveled at the frosted fantasy before her! It was a lot like the old one but now the layers were separate, held up by little plastic pillars, pink and red crystalline sprinkles in strategic places, the smell was so maddening Fluttershy didn’t even realize she was reaching her hoof out for a taste.
*Smack*
“Ooh!” Fluttershy yanked her hoof back, Pinkie waving her own at her.
“Naughty Fluttershy! You have to wait until the reception party before you can have a taste of the cake. Y’know, where you and Mac smush cake in each other’s faces?”
“Oh! Well, if that is the tradition,” Fluttershy shrugged but couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you both so very much! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”
Then, to Fluttershy’s surprise, both party ponies hugged the pegasus, and although she blushed a little Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile as she felt the warmth of her friendship with these two wonderful ponies.
When they let go, Cheese said, “Anything for a friend, Fluttershy.”
“I’m just sorry the twins ruined all your hard work yesterday,” Fluttershy brought up, “I hope the darlings weren’t too much trouble afterwards.”
Pinkie and Cheese shared a look.
Up in Pinkie’s room, the twins pouted in their crib, which had been covered with a laundry basket tied down while Gummy and Boneless 2, wearing M1 army helmets and armed with water pistols and a bell, stood in absent-minded vigilance over their two treacherous charges.
“No trouble at all,” Pinkie and Cheese assured, making Fluttershy smile. Then Cheese smiled and pointed out the window. “Hey! Looks like the storm’s letting up a little!”
Fluttershy looked and couldn’t help but sigh in relief at seeing the weather let up a little. It still continued to drizzle lightly but it was a promise that things would certainly work out.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy sighed in relief, “I don’t know how but I guess Thunderlane worked out an arrangement with the weather!”
“See, Fluttershy?” Pinkie said confidently, “Everything will be just right for tomorrow. And boy, how great tomorrow will be! The Apple Family, your parents, and all your friends gathered to watch and celebrate you on your special day!”
“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy just remembered! She glanced at the clock and confirmed it. “I have to get to the train station - My parents’ train will be here any minute!”
She flew out the door while saying, “Thank you, Pinkie, Cheese!”
“See you tomorrow!” Pinkie called after her, Cheese adding, “And don’cha worry about a thing! The catering will be oh-so-delish!”
Fluttershy panted hard as she reached the train station but she was pleased to see that she had beaten the train. She squinted her eyes as she looked on from the platform. She could just make the silhouetted of the engine through the downpour as it slowly made it's way down the tracks. She managed to get her breath back as she sat down beneath the cover of the ticket booth's roof, watching as the rain patted all around the tracks. However she soon felt a presence beside her and turned to see that her fiancé had joined her and was now sitting calmly smiling down at her, kept safe by the ticket booth roof same as her.
"Mackie, it's good to see you. This rain has been pretty miserable today, but it's so good to have you here with me," Fluttershy sighed as she placed her wing as far around his back as she could manage and leaned herself up against his sturdy frame, his warmth feeling wonderful in the chilly damp air.
"Good being with ya too, sweetheart. Ah got some good news `bout th’ weather. Ah spoke with Thunderlane an’ he said tha’ the rain’ll be stopped before tomorrow so our weddin’ will be sunny an’ clear."
"Oh Mackie, that's wonderful news,” Fluttershy couldn’t help but beam t her stallion, who loved seeing her smile. “I was worried that our wedding would be in trouble with all this rain. But if Thunderlane says it will be clear skies then I just know that sun will shine on us nice and bright."
As the two snuggled together, the sound of a train whistle echoed shrilly over the music of the rainfall. Shortly enough the Friendship Express pulled up along the tracks, it's passenger cars filled with anxious ponies getting ready to run to avoid as much of the rain as possible.
After a moment the doors opened and Big Mac and Fluttershy scanned over the departing passengers, hoping to find a sign of her parents. It was difficult with everypony scattering so quickly, but they soon spotted a relatively burly pegasus alongside a dainty little earth pony mare both exiting the train together.
The stallion was a shorter than Big Mac by only a few inches and his muscles, while still very prominent, were far leaner and far more suiting of his profession as a fire fighter. Well ex-fire fighter nowadays.
His semi-retirement stemming from the incident that left the slight scarring on the underside of his barrel and shortened wing primaries. Still his light-gold coat looked strong and his auburn mane sculpted his head nicely. His cyan eyes shone with experienced wisdom, as well as a fierce protection for those he cared about. Finally, planted on his flank was a trio of bright blue raindrops.
This was Sunsplash, proud father of Fluttershy.
Beside him was the less imposing earth pony mare, with a yellow coat paler than her daughter’s, almost a peach color, and the same pink mane, grown long and smooth like Fluttershy’s. While she may have lacked the strength and formidable will of her husband, she made up for it with her beauty and grace. It was fairly obvious where Fluttershy's super model good looks had come from (hopefully Photo Finish would never find her, as she also shared her daughter’s shyness and aversion to crowds). Displayed on her flank were five beautiful pink flowers, showing her love of nature and knowledge in its healing properties.
This kind beautiful mare was Posey, Fluttershy's loving mother.
The instant that their eyes met, Fluttershy beamed with joy and she rushed out to them, ignoring the rain. She slammed into the both of them full force (which barely made them move an inch) and wrapped them in a massive hug. "Mummy! Daddy! I missed you both so much!"
"Oh my little butterfly, we missed you as well." Posey nuzzled her daughter and held her back just as tightly, her hooves wrapped securely around her little angel. Sunsplash had wrapped both his wings and hooves around Fluttershy, his strong proud demeanor fading away to loving gentleness as he held his daughter with care. "It's so good to see you again, my little princess. I hope you've been doing well here in Ponyville."
"Oh it's been wonderful here, Daddy. Come, we can chat over with Mackie out of the rain."
The group all trotted to cover where Big Mac waited for them, a smile on his face as he saw his future parents-in-law. Once they were clear of the rain, Posey wrapped the big red stallion in a hug and gave him a brief nuzzle. "It's good to see you again, Macintosh. It was so lovely meeting you back in Fillydelphia and Fluttershy mentions you in all her letters."
Big Mac wrapped a hoof around her for a moment before they separated, feeling happy about Flutters letting her family know how much the two cared for each other. "It's real dandy t’ see you again too, ma'am."
"Oh please, sweetie, call me 'mom’!” Posey insisted with a giggle. “The wedding might not be until tomorrow, but you're already like a son to me, especially with how good you take care of my little filly."
Both Mac and Fluttershy blushed at her words, but they smiled in appreciation none the less. Big Mac then felt Sunsplash's hoof wrap around him in a one hoofed hug.
"Good to see you again, son. I've been real excited these past several days, not only for tomorrow but to see Ponyville and particularly your orchard. Fillydelphia has some greats farms in the area, I should know being that I had to stop them being on fire on more than one occasion, but yours has been reported as the best around. Plus you and I definitely need to hit up a bar. I'm looking forward to whooping you at another game of pool, champ."
Sunsplash was as warm and jokey as Mac remembered. He might look like a tough guy, but he was definitely a fun stallion through and through. That is until he got a sudden glint in his eye.
"So long as you remember to keep in mind our last discussion, of course."
Big Mac immediately tensed in the older stallion's grip as he recalled that conversation.
Flashback
Big Mac nervously stood beside Fluttershy as she finished knocking on the door of her parents’ house. This was his first time meeting Sunsplash and Posey and he really wanted to make a good impression. He loved his Shy deeply and he was soon gonna ask her to marry him, but first he needed to make sure her folks liked him.
Seeming to sense his hesitance, Fluttershy nuzzled his cheek. "It's okay, Mackie. I know they'll just love you."
Her words seemed to calm him, though the bubble of worry in his gut wasn't completely gone. "Ah hope so, Sweetheart. Ah really wanna make a good impression. Ah wan'em to know how much Ah really care 'bout you."
Fluttershy just smiled and snuggled closer to him. Before anymore words could be uttered however, the door opened and the smiling face of Posey appeared.
"My little Butterfly! Ooh, I've missed you so much!" the older mare leaned forwards and wrapped her daughter in a big hug. Fluttershy in turned squeezed her back just as hard.
Living in Ponyville was amazing, and it was completely her home now. Still she missed her folks terribly, and with her duties taking care of the sick animals around the town, she rarely got to visit.
The two held each other for a moment, before letting go and allowing Posey to notice the big red stallion waiting politely next Flutters. "Oh hello there. You must be Big Macintosh Apple. My little Butterfly here has sent me lots of letters about you.
Posey then gave Macintosh a look up from the hooves down before pulling a smirk, “Hmm, she was definitely right about you being a complete stud."
Both Fluttershy and Mac blushed heavily at this, but Posey either didn't notice, or didn't care, "I'm so glad I finally get to meet you. Fluttershy definitely took after me in the shyness department, though she really withdrew a lot more than I ever did. I'm so glad she's found somepony who can make her happy and get her to open up."
"Well shucks ma'am. Ah'm just so glad t’ be a part o' her life. She brightens mah day every time Ah see her. If anything, she's the one to bring me outta my shell."
Fluttershy just continued to blush as her coltfriend praised her, rewarding his kind words by wrapping her wing around his back and snuggling up alongside him.
Posey just smiled widely at them before scooting back in the door and beckoning them forward. "Come in, come in. Sunsplash is around here somewhere and he'll want to see his little girl again and meet her new stallion."
The group proceeded into the house. Posey walked them all around, pointing out several photos of Fluttershy and her family, before arriving in a den where Fluttershy's father sat reading the paper and listening to an old record player. At the group’s entrance, he raised his head a large grin cross his muzzle. "There's my little filly. How've you been, princess?"
He rose from his chair, only to be knocked back down as Flutteshy leapt at him, with surprising speed, and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Daddy! Oh I missed you so much. I've been doing well in Ponyville. In fact, I brought somepony along I really wanted you to meet."
Letting him go, she gestured behind her to Big Mac, whose nerves seemed to fire up again once the older stallion was looking at him.
"Uh, howdy sir. Ah'm Big Macintosh Apple from Ponyville. It's real good to meet you." the apple farmer trotted forward and raised his hoof for a hoof shake.
Sunsplash looked at him for a moment, as though sizing him up, before an accepting nod and smile filled his face.
He stood back up and gave Big Mac a firm shake. "Pleasure to meet you, my boy. It looks like my little Flutter's letters were right. You definitely seem like an upstanding gentlecolt."
Relief flooded Big Mac's face and the nerves seemed to bleed away at Sunsplash's acceptance. It felt good to know that Flutter's folks accepted him. His curiosity was raised however when Sunsplash moved to the side and gestured towards a side room from the den. "Fluttershy, Posey, could you two lovely mares get some tea started? I'd like to have a talk with Big Macintosh for a moment."
Fluttershy seemed a little confused, but Posey just smiled warmly and nodded before giving Mac a reassuring look and herding her daughter out of the room. "Come on, sweetheart, let's put on the kettle, and you can tell me about all your friends in Ponyville..."
After the two left the room, Big Mac followed Sunsplash's gesture and entered the side room. Inside he found a kind of shrine. Newspaper clippings and awards hung proudly on the walls, and a fire fighters uniform lay behind a glass frame beside them. Directly above it on a wall mount sat a large sharp looking axe. As Mac took in the room's contents, Sunsplash moved passed him and started to gesture.
"This is my room of mementos. Before I retired a while back, I used to be a firefighter. My special talent is rain control, and that skilled served me well over the years. Posey and Fluttershy got real scared after those injuries I took," he explained while pointing at the scarring on his muzzle and barrel. "It was also when I realized a few things about my life, so I retired. After my years of service helping ponies, I was sent off with honors, and I hung my uniform in here proudly. Just above the uniform is my trusty axe, Susie. Susie here is responsible for helping many ponies over the years, breaking down doors and smashing through building debris. She's really helped me out."
His warms smile slowly faded, worrying Mac, as the older stallion turned to him with a seriousness in his eyes he hadn't seen before.
"I'm showing you all this, Macintosh, so you'll be aware of something. If you ever hurt my little princess, I can guarantee you that Susie here will be down from that wall, on the first train to Ponyville and heading right for your neck. Is that clear?"
Big Mac's pupils were like dots, and his face had completely paled. Still, he vigorously nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Sir, Ah understand perfectly. Ah love Fluttershy with all mah heart. If Ah ever did something t’ hurt her, Ah wouldn't even flinch when that axe came at me, cause Ah know Ah'd deserve it."
Sunsplash nodded, the serious expression still on his face. However, after a few minutes of letting the threat seep in, his jokey grin was back. "Good answer, boy. Well now we got that little understanding outta of the way, what say we join the girls for some tea. Afterwards, you and I can head down to the pub for a while. After all, if you really want to get to know a stallion, you gotta get him blitzted!" he laughed and patted the big red stallion on the back.
The threat still hung heavily in the air, but Mac pushed it aside and let a smile come to his face. "Ah'd like that sir."
"Good, then let's get to it, son, Let's get to it!"
End Flashback
"Ah remember sir, and believe me, Ah will never let it slip muh mind."
Sunsplash just smiled back warmly, even as Fluttershy and Posey looked confused. "Good to hear, son. Now, how about we head back to your farm and get out of this lousy weather."
Everypony gave a nod of agreement, and the group headed off at a quick trot back towards the warmth and dryness of the Apple household.
Sunsplash and Posey were stunned, to say the least, that their soon-to-be son-in-law’s adoptive brother was a prince, and they quickly warmed up to Applebloom and Twinken. Granny Smith happily welcomed them, mentioning it was good to see the Apple Family growing, and not-so-subtly added the hopes of hearing tiny hooves running o’er her wooden floors, which Posey delightfully agreed with. Much to the bashfulness of the engaged.
After a nice dinner, Fluttershy and Macintosh had offered their bed but her parents insisted they would be fine on the pull-out couch. As the weather outside lessened more, Fluttershy decided to go check on the henhouse, recalling Goldilocks, her Mackie’s favorite hen, had recently laid a clutch of eggs.
Confirming things looked well, she made her way back to the house when she was met with the foals at the doorway. “Applebloom, Twinken, it’s almost your bedtime, you should be getting ready.”
“Oh we will, Fluttershy,” Twinken promised, Applebloom adding, “We jus’ wanna say, wer’ so happy yer gonna be part o’ th’ fam’ly! Tha’ wer’ gettin’ another big sister!”
“Oh!” Fluttershy couldn’t help it, as she warmly pulled the two foals into a loving hug. “I’m happy too, I've always wanted a little sister.”
“Not a brother?” Twinken brought up with a fretful look.
“Oh I actually have a brother,” Fluttershy explained with a sigh, “but he’s very far away right now, and sadly he can’t make it to the wedding.”
“Well it’s gonna be maybe the biggest day of your life!” Twinken said excitably, “I’m so proud we’re gonna be a part of it, when everypony’s there for you, watching you walk the aisle, listening on every word!”
“An’ you and Big Mac promisin’ yerselves t’ each other forever and ever!” Applebloom added.
“And there’s still plenty to do,” Twinken pointed out, “and after the things that went wrong so far, the dress, the cake, the flowers, the weather-”
“Yer gonna be mighty busy tomorrow, goin’ to an’ fro,” Applebloom agreed.
“And even after all is said and done, the things you’ll do together in the long road,” Twinken added. “Starting with the honeymoon!”
“Ain’t tha’ supposed t’ be some kind o’ special night?” Applebloom asked Twinken, Fluttershy (who was by now trying to cool herself with her wing as her heart began to pound) ‘eep’d at the implication Applebloom was unknowingly making.
“I think it’s called making love?” Twinken offered, unsure, making Fluttershy start to redden. "Although I don’t really understand, how do you make love? And don’t bring up that love poison-”
“EEEEEEEE…!!!” Fluttershy squealed, making the two foals look at her in confusion before she flew upstairs.
As she lay in bed with her stallion’s forelegs wrapped warmly around her, worst-case scenarios buzzed in Fluttershy’s head like a swarm of hungry parasprites! Not to mention what Applebloom and Twinken had unknowingly brought up, and the full-impact of what that could result in. I- I’m not ready to be a mommy! But… what if Macintosh wants foals after we marry? ...I… Oh Faust!
Fluttershy shuddered as she continued to stew in her worry as she started to wonder, was she really ready to go through with this?
Today was the big day. It was too important to mess up, nothing could go wrong!
“Everything must be perfect!” Blueblood declared as he gave his friend’s mane a good brushing.
“Ow! Blue, not so hard,” Mac complained as he struggled not to fidget.
Macintosh and Blueblood were in the farmer pony’s room as the unicorn had volunteered to personally prepare Big Macintosh for today. He’d showered, brushed his teeth, put on deodorant and even some cologne. Now Blueblood as taking on the arduous task of styling Macintosh’s mane, which was normally just let loose and casual. His days working the farm often resulted in his mane being sweaty, maybe some dust and twigs in it on occasion, and no small amount of knots.
“Really, Macintosh,” Blueblood sighed as he shook the loose hairs out of the brush, Mac grumbling as he sat in front of the mirror, “I know you’re just a humble farmer, but everypony should take some measure of pride in their appearance.”
“Ah don’ need no fancy stylin’ t’ be me,” Macintosh maintained, “jus’ make it look nice enough.”
“Nice enough, you say?” Blueblood deadpanned. “Macintosh, when dear Fluttershy sees you awaiting her at the altar, she should see a sight truly stunning! Not ‘nice enough’.”
“Ugh, no wonder you an’ Miss Rarity get along so well,” Macintosh grumbled when a knock came at the door.
“Come in,” Blueblood invited and in came Soarin, dressed in his tux.
“I got Big Mac’s tuxedo here,” Soarin gestured the ensemble he was carrying on his back.
“Then bring it in, I say!” Blueblood directed Soarin to lay the tuxedo out on the bed before returning his attention to the groom’s mane. “Just a few finishing touches, and… Voila!”
Blueblood stepped back to admire his work while Soarin gave the result a good look before stating his opinion. “Mmm… Here, Mac, try this on.”
Soarin hoofed over a smaller and less bulky version of Big Mac’s work collar. Being careful that it wouldn’t mess up his mane, Macintosh slipped it on, and then both his friends smile and nodded.
“Excellent call, Soarin,” Blueblood spoke, “he just doesn’t seem right without a work collar on.”
“Go on, brony, check yourself out!” Soarin gestured to the mirror and Macintosh gave himself a look.
The big red farmer had to admit - Between his styled mane as well as his tail, normally loose and unkempt, and the sleeker work collar - He looked like a new stallion. He couldn’t help looking at his mane from different sides. “Huh. Ah’ve always been told Ah’m a looker but… Blue, Ah gotta say, ya made me look pretty damn good!!”
“Heh, if you think you look good now wait till you try on your tux, cowboy,” Soarin lifted the lid off the case holding the tux and Blueblood levitated it out.
Meanwhile. outside, Pinkie Pie was with everypony else over at the gazebo as she made sure the decor was perfect, Cheese Sandwich and the Cakes looked over the wedding banquet table, Rarity was checking the bridesmares’ dresses, and Twilight was making sure everything was going as it should, checking things off with her check-list.
Applejack and Thunderlane and Midnight made sure the chairs were in their proper places, Rainbow Dash had left to alert all the invited to come in about an hour, and strangely enough Angel, Owlowiscious, and Dreamer were making sure the doves stayed as they were before they were to be released, and Eris was standing by, ready to be the usher.
“Everything looks wonderful!” Twilight marveled at the red, yellow, and pink streamers, apple blossom and butterfly decorations, and the matching balloons as well as the flowers the Flower Trio had prepared early on.
“So where’s the bride?” Midnight asked, coming over.
“Inside with her mother and Granny Smith,” Twilight answered before asking, “Midnight, remind me again when Cadance and Shining Armor arrive?”
“They’re due any minute now,” Midnight confirmed. “They even departed via pegasus-drawn chariot instead of a train to save time.”
“Excellent, and hopefully they’ll arrive before the guests,” Twilight couldn’t help but squeal, making her Midnight smile warmly at her. “I still can’t believe our Fluttershy’s getting married!”
“Yeah, who’da thought she’d be the first out of you all to tie the knot?” Spike chuckled as he walked by, wearing his own little tux and carrying a platter of cold cuts.
“Oh! I simply cannot wait for us all to behold her as she walks down the aisle, garbed in her dress,” Rarity swooned with delight as she finished her check-up of the bridesmare dresses.. “Her father beside her, her face obscured by the wedding veil!”
“Speaking of, isn’t about time she gets that dress on?” Thunderlane called from above as he surveyed the rows of chairs, and nodded in satisfaction that all were in place.
“Goodness, you’re right!” Rarity gasped, “I’ll away to help her with that, so all of you finish up here, and then get into your garments.”
“A’ight, Midnight?” Applejack called to her brother, “Let’s go an’ see Big Mac. Ah wan’ th’ Apple Family t’ have a quick word t’gether.”
“Sure thing, AJ,” Midnight said before asking Twilight, “You OK for now?”
“Go on, things here are well under-” Twilight was interrupted by the sound of somepony yelling ‘oof!’, followed by a loud clatter, and a yelp.
All eyes turned to Spike, who had tripped on Cheese Sandwich’s rear hoof, causing them both to drop their platters in a small mess. Twilight flinched but Midnight nudged her with an encouraging smile that smoothed out a little of her edginess. “Well, most things here are well under control.”
Midnight chuckled and levitated the platters Spike and Cheese had been carrying onto the banquet table while Cup Cake hooved them some washcloths to clean themselves up. “Keep up the good work, everypony! Be back in a little bit. Rarity?”
“Coming!” Rarity answered in a singsongy-tone as she followed Midnight and Applejack back to the farmhouse.
Inside the living room, Midnight, Applejack, and Rarity found Granny Smith, Applebloom, Twinken, and Big Mac having some Apple Family cider as they noticed the arrivals. “Big brother!” “Howdy y’all!” “Is tha’ mah pretty granddaughter an’ handsome royal grandson?”
“Heh, not as handsome as your big red grandson, what with those nice duds he’s got on,” Midnight couldn’t help but admire the tuxedo his brother was wearing.
Big Mac wore a dbl-breasted tuxedo, colored a nice, shiny black, on his head a felt western-esque fedora colored a golden brown with a green apple-shaped accessory on the band, a sleeker and not-so-bulky work collar around his neck, and a red bowtie.
“Boy howdy, big brother!” Applejack marveled, “Yer’ lookin’ sharper than a hot knife through apple butter!”
“Oh my, Macintosh,” Rarity chuckled with a raised brow, “my Blueblood certainly knew what he was doing!”
“Speaking of Blueblood, where’s he and Soarin?” Midnight looked around.
“Soarin went t’ tell all th’ Apples t’ come t’ Sweet Apple Acres soon,” Applebloom answered, Twinken adding, “And Blueblood went to meet Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor.”
“And th’ bride?” Applejack asked. “She still upstairs?”
“Yeah-huh, sweet lil’ Fluttershy an’ her folks ‘re upstairs,” Granny Smith explained. “Her daddy’s makin’ sure th’ big red lump here don’ try an’ sneak a peek.”
“Granny!” Big Mac turned even redder. “Ah only wanted t’ see if muh `Shy was okay.”
“Ah-ah-ah, Macintosh,” Rarity tsk-tsked, “You know it’s bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony. I’d better get up there and be sure she’s getting the dress on correctly.”
As Rarity went upstairs, the Apples regarded each other as what was about to transpire finally fell upon them in this moment of taking a breather.
“Ah’m gonna be a husband,” Big Mac was nervous but couldn’t help but smile at the statement.
“And we’re gonna get new sister!” Applebloom and Twinken cheered while sharing a happy look.
“An’ th’ Apple Fam’ly grows lil more,” Granny Smith smiled warmly and proudly as she looked up at her oldest grandson. “Yer gonna be tha’ nice mare’s beau, but more importantly, yer gonna be her provider, her protector, an’ her lover. You cherish her more than life itself an’ perhaps someday th’ two o’ y’all will make th’ Apple Family grow even more by makin’ new life t’gether.”
“And the two of you couldn’t be more perfect for each other,” Midnight added when Applebloom noticed him blinking sharply.
“Midnight…” Applebloom gave him a smirk, “Were you almost gonna cry?”
“No, it was… liquid pride,” Midnight debated sheepishly, making the family laugh.
"Well whatever it is, Ah'm starting to get some muh’self,” Applejack was teary eyed, and her voice was a little hitched, but the happiness she glowed with filled the room. “Big Mac, we are all so dang proud of you. Now come `ere and give your little sister a hug."
Seeing her forelegs out in warm invitation, her big brother, tears in his own eyes, wrapped his own massive forelegs around her in a crushing hug, the rest of the family all joining around him in one massive glomp. They were Apples through and through, and today Mac would bringing in one more member of the family.
Meanwhile, upstairs, with her father standing guard outside the bedroom door, Fluttershy beheld her visage in the mirror, fully garbed in her wedding dress, her mother and Rarity both sighing happily and proudly.
Fluttershy’s dress drew a little inspiration from the dress Rarity made her for the gala. It was a trailing gown, resembling layers of white rose petals, the neckline of the bodice bearing a butterfly design, with hems of spring green and blossom pink, white hoof sandals with ribbon ties wrapping snugly around her fetlocks, her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail with a posey-shaped hairtie, with her hair bound together in a golden ribbon encircling her hair, tied at the end with a butterfly accessory, and resting over her shoulder. Her wings were preened, not a single feather out of place, her make-up was subtle yet showed off her natural demure beauty in just the right way, and set snug behind her ears were white lilies.
“Oh! My little baby’s getting married!” Posey cried shrilly as she struggled to hold back the tears.
Rarity smiled warmly, watching Posey fuss around her daughter, cuddling her and praising her. She was the happiest mother in the world. With her mane getting squished over her face by Posey's nuzzles, Rarity couldn't make out the expression on Fluttershy's face, but the unicorn knew she was probably over the moon with happiness.
“Now Posey, I can see you want to snuggle your little Flutters, but I'll need you to step aside for a moment so I add the finishing touches and put on her veil. After all, for a day this important, she needs to look the very definition of perfect."
As Rarity and Posey smiled at each other, they didn't notice the slight shake in Fluttershy's frame at the unicorn's words.
"Ooh, Rarity, she is going to be so pretty! Although... I don't see the veil anywhere," Posey gave the room a once over, but the aforementioned veil was missing. This alarmed Rarity for a moment, before a sudden realisation came over her and she calmed down.
"Of course. I brought it with me, but Sweetie Belle wanted to show it to Apple Bloom before we set it on Fluttershy’s head. She must still have it downstairs. I'll just hurry down and collect it from her."
"Certainly, dear. In fact, I'll come with you. I need a quick glass of water as I suspect that I'm going to get very teary eyed seeing my precious little butterfly walking down the aisle with her father…!” Posey sighed warmly at the thought before adding, “So I should make sure to keep myself hydrated."
"You're absolutely right, darling. I should do the same."
As the Earth pony and Unicorn turned to exit the room, Rarity briefly spoke back to Fluttershy, "We'll just be a moment, Fluttershy. Take a moment to breath and relax while we're gone, as you likely won't get another chance until after the ceremony now."
As her mother and friend stepped out and went down the stairs, Fluttershy finally started to quiver, having held it in but could no longer now that she was lone. Now, the poor pegasus was completely consumed by her own self doubts.
Ooh, I don't think I can do this! We're about to get married! All the pressure, all the ponies staring at me, it's too much!
With the negatively thoughts swirling around, Fluttershy's tendency to put herself down was even stronger than ever.
Maybe I shouldn't do this.... But I need to get somewhere to be alone right now and clear my head and think. I just can't do it here! With Rarity and my mum and the Apples, there's too much pressure. I need an escape. I need an exit. I need…
The doubts and insecurities came to a head, as Fluttershy started pacing when she felt the outside breeze tickle her ear and she looked at its source.
An open window.
Midnight and Twinken stood at the back row of the seats for the ceremony, welcoming the guests and inviting them to take their seats. First came the enormous hoard of Apple relatives, all giving their own happy, hearty, and friendly greetings as they shuffled along on, primarily seating on the groom’s side of the seats.
Following closely behind were the Ponyville guests. A lot of the townsfolk had showed up to support the wedding, as well as many of the animals Fluttershy had taken care of over the years. Though they mostly kept to the sidelines and found places more comfortable to watch.
There was Zecora, shuffling in with a friendly rhyme as greeting.
Miss Cheerilee and a few of the class foals who were close with the Apple family followed after, a notable pink and silver filly missing, along with a blue pegasus colt.
There was the happy couple of Mr. & Mrs. Cake and their twins, followed by the motherly Mrs. Chilli Spice from Pepper Pony's.
Doctor Time Turner Whooves, his wife, Ditzy Doo and their daughter sweet little Dinky stumbled in cheerfully with warm smiles and heartfelt congratulations to the bride and groom on the faces. Though for some reason, Twinken and Dinky blushed at each other when they made eye-contact before Dinky’s parents scooted her along towards their seats.
Cadance trotted by trying to console the already teary-eyed Shining Armor, whom continued to claim it wasn't the wedding making him cry but a severe allergy to the farmland (nopony of course believed him, but they nodded with false sympathy none the less), while Blueblood tried to help without managing to let Shining's tears stain his coat while the unicorn prince directed his cousin to go find Twilight.
Even Cranky Doodle Donkey and his marefriend (donkeyfriend? Midnight wasn't sure) Matilda had come to express their congratulations.
Midnight and Twinken greeted them all one by one with big smiles and happy hearts, when suddenly three new guests arrived that shocked them. Celestia, Luna, and Sombra approached, warms smiles, with a hint of cheekiness on their faces.
"Celestia, Luna, Master Sombra, I'm so glad you could make it. I was a little worried you wouldn't be able to get away from Canterlot." Midnight greeted them all, though he didn't bow to them. After all, he was technically their equal now, and further, they were all his friends, and friends don't need to bow to each other. Still, he did give a respectful nod to his master.
"Greetings, Midnight. Do not fear. Canterlot will not collapse without our presence for a few hours. Besides if anypony raises a fuss, we can simply have them directed to our royal advisors. It might stress them out a tad, but they have been required to fill in for us temporarily before, and I know they will be able to do so again for a few hours," Luna gave a smirk before nuzzling the smaller alicorn to his bashfulness.
Celestia followed suit before following her sister to their seats, trying to ignore Luna's declaration that she brought the gift and so Celestia would need to bring the next one.
Sombra shook hooves with his apprentice, his smile fully heartfelt and a rare warmth in his eyes. "It gladdens me to see you again, Midnight. I fear we haven't been able to speak with each other often enough as of late. Your magical skills are growing evermore impressive, and I very much wish to see them improve further. We must book in some time to meet up in the future."
"I would like that very much, master. While you're here, there is somepony I would like you to meet." Midnight looked to Twinken who was sitting politely by his hooves, looking a little unsure of how to address royalty. "This is my little brother Twinken. Twinken, this is my mentor, Prince Sombra."
Twinken gave a polite nod, still feeling a little unsure, but Sombra smiled wholeheartedly nonetheless. He even lied down on his belly to better meet Twinken in the eye before addressing him. "Hello Twinken. I must say, it’s nice to finally have a face to your name. Midnight has told a great deal about you, and I am very pleased to meet you."
Twinken blushed a little to hear that his big brother had been speaking about him to the Prince, but it also made him feel a little more confident. "It's great to meet you too, Your Highness. Midnight always speaks highly of you too. He said you're very wise and strong. Hey, maybe you can help me! I want Midnight to pony up and marry Twilight, `cause I think she'd be a great big sister, but Midnight just keeps saying that comes later. Can you make him do it soon?"
Midnight was looking panicked and very red in the face, but Sombra just laughed. "Twinken, my son, I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do to help there. Everypony, even I, can see that Midnight and Twilight have something very special together. But it is solely up to them, when they wish to take that next step. Until then, you'll just have to be patient."
However as Midnight was sighing in relief, Sombra grew a sly look over his face, before leaning close to Twinken and whispering into his ear. "Though I don't think you'll need to wait too long."
“Master!” Midnight protested, causing his brother and teacher to both laugh.
Then with a wink, the royal stallion returned to his hooves to join his beloved wife, and took his seat beside her.
Everything was going amazing well, everypony was having a great day, and soon Mac and Fluttershy would be together forever.
Everything was perfect.
So when Rarity came sprinting up to Midnight, panic and terror across her features, he immediately knew that things had gone horribly wrong. Up until she said, “Midnight, it’s awful, it’s terrible! Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the. Worst. Possible.... THING!!!”
She sighed morosely as she pulled a fainting couch out of nowhere and toppled over it like the drama-queen she was.
Sighing with a chuckle, Midnight asked, “What is it, this time, Rares? Somepony forget the napkins? Somepony mess up the flower arrangement?”
He stopped laughing when Rarity snapped up and smooshed his cheeks between her hooves, a mad look in her eyes!
"Midnight!! Fluttershy... is gone!!!"
A large curtain had been set up behind the gazebo for Cadance, Twilight, and the others preparing the ceremony, as Cadance said, “Oh, Twilight, I still can’t thank you enough for getting Fluttershy and Big Macintosh to let me be the one to wed them!”
“You can pay me back by being the one to wed them,” Twilight quipped, spurring some laughter between the two sisters in heart.
“All right, Macintosh is coming,” Blueblood spoke up, “is everypony ready?”
“Bluey, relax,” Cadance giggled, “I’m the one who’s overseeing this ceremony. All you and the others have to do is stand there and look pretty.”
“Stallions don’t do ‘pretty’, Princess Cadance,” Soarin spoke up as he showed off his groomstallion tux to Rainbow Dash. “We do sharp!”
“Ahem… Indeed,” Blueblood concurred albeit looking a bit flustered. “Now, would somepony get Midnight? We need all the groomstallions and bridesmares back her-”
“WHAT?!?!”
The friends all startled and peered around the gazebo to see everypony present was looking towards the back. Confused mutterings sounded among the goers but the friends all recognized the voice having been Midnight. What the friends saw however appeared to be Midnight and Rarity having a heated but hushed discussion. Seeing the look of worry on both their faces, Twilight whispered to the others, “Let’s see what’s up. Cadance, stay here.”
Noticing their friends’ approach, Midnight and Rarity pulled on forced smiles, Rainbow Dash whisper-yelling, “What’s all the hubbub?! Everypony heard you, Midnight, and now they’re getting antsy.”
“Uh…!” Midnight stalled when he waved them through the flowered archway set before the beginning of the aisle. Once they gathered through, Midnight whispered with a nervous chuckle, “We, uh-heheh, appear to have a slight problem with the bride…”
“Define ‘slight’,” Thunderlane pressed with a raised brow.
“Ooh, ooh! I know the definition of slight!” Pinkie raised her hoof, only for everypony to silence her with a stink eye while Cheese gave her an understanding shrug.
“Well…” Rarity drawled, Midnight’s eyes getting shiftier than Applejack’s when she told a lie, “hypothetically speaking, how would you all react if I were to say, have left Fluttershy in her room after helping her into her wedding dress so I could get the veil, and upon returning, I find her gone and the window open?”
“Hoo! Boy, good thing she said hypothetically speaking, right guys?” Cheese chuckled in relief except for nopony else was the feeling mutual.
*Smack*
“Cheese!” Rainbow Dash snapped, having wing-slapped him on the back of his head, “She’s not speaking hypothetically!”
“Fl-Fluttershy ran away?!” Twilight was flabbergasted, the others sharing looks and whispers of worry.
“Oh I hope she went somewhere clean,” worried Rarity over something completely besides the point. “I spent hours making that dress and repairing it after Sweetie Belle accidentally tore it!”
“Look, everypony! We’ve gotta do something and quick!” Soarin spoke up as he gestured towards the wedding-goers. “Everypony’s ready and waiting for this to get started!”
“Hmm…” Midnight considered before Flashing to the end of the aisle, all eyes falling upon him. “Fillies and gentlecolts, due to unforeseen circumstances, we must keep you waiting before the ceremony for just a little longer. Until we get started…”
*FLASH/FLASH*
Pinkie and Cheese found themselves at Midnight’s sides as Midnight pulled a mike out of Pinkie’s hair and announced, “I leave you with the comedic stylings of the Ponies Party that make you hearty, Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich!”
As Midnight Flashed away, Pinkie and Cheese gave each other and then the wedding goers an awkward look as an even more awkward silence befell them. They then shared a quick rushed hush before nodding in agreement.
Cheese streaked aside, and for some reason, it got noticeably dark even though it was all outside, a show curtain fell behind Pinkie while a spotlight fell upon her, and she pulled a hoe from out of nowhere, using it as though it were a microphone.
“Heh-hey, everypony, and welcome to the show! Looks like we got a pretty good crowd tonight!”
“Oh so you like it here, Pinks?”
All eyes looked to the side to see Cheese Sandwich in front of a microphone and a few musical instruments, wearing a colorful Hay-waiian shirt, his curly mane tied back with the usual curl hanging above his face, and a pair of sunglasses over his eyes.
“Oh yeah, definitely! I love coming here to… to… this… town right here!” Pinkie stalled nervously.
“That’s great, which town?” “What?” “Which town?” “This one!” “Which is…?” “The… one we’re in right now!”
There were a few scattered chuckles among the crowd yet the awkwardness hung in the air thicker than molasses as Pinkie’s eyes got shifty when Cheese asked, “Uh Pinkie?”
“Yeah?”
“Where are we?”
“...You don’t know?” Pinkie asked in a silly way.
“I don’t think you know,” Cheese corrected with a smirk.
Clearing her throat, Pinkie said, “So I was out with my bull friend the other day, and he worried me about his charging, so y’know what I did? … I cancelled his credit card!”
Cheese added the rimshot but instead of the reaction they were hoping for, a bull in the audience moo’d in offense before stomping off.
“Eesh! Tough crowd!” Cheese commented, Pinkie muttering, “Tell me about it…”
All the while Pinkie and Cheese were dying out there, the others were discussing what to do about Fluttershy’s disappearance over in the front yard of the farmhouse.
“OK, so Rares, how long wer’ you an’ Miss Posey gone before ya went back up t’ see Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.
“Only a few minutes!” Rarity insisted. “Before we left, we were just discussing how happy we were for her and Macintosh getting together!”
“Well, did she say anything?” Rainbow asked.
“...No! As a matter of fact, she was quite silent the entire time!” Rarity realized. “But I just thought she was so happy she couldn’t speak!”
“It sounds as though she might have gotten cold-hooves,” Thunderlane suggested.
“But why?!” Twilight was fretting and pacing. “She’s getting married to the stallion she loves, she has all her family and friends here to support her, this is only the…”
Twilight halted, earning everypony’s attention as her eyes widened in realization, “The biggest and possibly most important decision of her life…! Oh my goddess, no wonder she ran off!”
“Fluttershy ran off?!”
Everypony gasped and looked to see Big Mac standing at the front door of the farmhouse, looking upset. All of a sudden, everypony seemed to develop an interest in their hooves, or the clouds, or just whistled in innocent whimsy. But as Big Mac came closer with a look on his face that showed he was in no mood to be stonewalled, so Rarity talked.
“Macintosh, I’m sorry! Fluttershy’s mother and I were with her, making sure she was ready, and… I suppose just didn’t notice how quiet she was, or how worried. We only left her alone for a few minutes so I could get her wedding veil and when I returned, she was gone! I can only assume she flew out the window.”
“But… why?” Big Mac looked hurt and on the verge of tears. “Did Ah do somethin’ or… maybe said somethin’ to upset her?”
“Macintosh, I’m sure it’s not your fault,” Twilight assured, “I think Fluttershy just got stage-fright, with all the wedding goers who will be watching!”
“Yeah, Fluttershy was never one for the spotlight,” Rainbow Dash agreed.
“OK, everypony, we gotta hurry and find Fluttershy,” Midnight spoke up, “let's split up and search all her usual haunts.”
“Rainbow, Soarin, Thunder, you all search from the sky,” Twilight instructed, “the rest of us will pair off. Applejack, you come with me, Midnight will go with Mac, Rarity, you and Blueblood. If anyone finds Fluttershy, one of us will launch a magic signal skyward or our eyes in the skies will signal with a crack of thunder.”
As the friends planned out their search party, Apple Bloom and Twinken watched from nearby, hiding behind the well. “Twinken…?”
Twinken looked at Apple Bloom, a guilty sadness on her face, “Did… did we say sumthin’ wrong to Fluttershy? Did we scare her away?”
“Well…” Twinken hesitated, “maybe we might have just brought up something that she was already worrying about. But… I dunno. Still, I think we should help find Fluttershy!”
“Well then… Where would Fluttershy go?” Apple Bloom wondered, Twinken pondering as well.
“Hmm, well, she might have gone somewhere where she’d feel comfortable.”
“Yeah, an’ wha’ kind o’ places duz Fluttershy feel comf’table in?” Apple Bloom asked in dawning realization.
They smiled at each other as they both said, “A place with nice little animals!”
“Y’think she might be somewhere around here?” Apple Bloom guessed. “It is a farm, an’ there are plenty o’ animals here.”
“No harm looking,” Twinken shrugged before saying, “C’mon!”
The colt and filly checked the hen house first, only to get chased away by the rooster. They tried the pigpen, but both the smell and the mud encouraged them to leave, partly because they didn’t want to get their tux and dress dirty, knowing their siblings as well as Rarity would scold them. They went to the pasture where they kept their flock of sheep but the rams and ewes weren’t any help. In fact, they were actually kinda moody.
As they walked away, Twinken grumped, ”I can’t wait for shearing season…”
“Ah heard somewhere ya need some kind o’ password t’ get sheep t’ cooperate wit’ ya,” Apple Bloom brought up. “Baa, ewe…? Ugh, Ah can never remember how it goes!”
Back at the gazebo, things weren’t exactly going well, as Pinkie and Cheese tried to keep the wedding goers entertained and distracted from the continuously-delayed ceremony.
“I gotta tell you, it was kinda muddy getting here, everypony!” Pinkie was sweating nervously.
“How muddy was it, Pinks?” Cheese asked from the sidelines.
“It was sooo muddy, I had to wear…” Pinkie dramatically pulled out, “My rain boots!”
A few minor chuckles responded to the incomplete double-pairs of rainboots Pinkie was holding up, and she gawked a moment when she realized, “Hey! One of them’s missing!” - She made a show of looking around - “Where’d that other one go?!”
She tried looking over the attendees, peering behind the gazebo, and even lifting one of the attendees, who said, “Hey!” to look under his rump before putting him back, and then giving the audience an incredulous look, “Y’know, I’m always losing that rainboot!”
Her response was the classic sound of a cricket.
Chuckling nervously, she muttered to herself, “Everypony, hurry! I’m dying out here!”
Returning to the farmhouse, Twinken and Apple Bloom found Midnight and Big Mac speaking to Fluttershy’s parents in the living room.
“Sunsplash, Posey, I swear, wer' all doin' our part to find Fluttershy and make sure this day isn’t ruined,” Midnight assured.
“Oh, why didn’t I realize?” Posey sniffled, looking low as she held her hooves up to her quivering lips. “My baby was nervous and I was too caught up in… Oh!”
“It’s not your fault, honey,” Sunsplash tried to console his wife but his own voice was heavy with worry, as he wrapped his wing around her shoulder. “Our little butterfly… I’m sure she’s just a little scared.”
“We’ll find her, Sunsplash,” Macintosh promised, “an’ we’ll sort all this out…”
But the big red earth pony’s green eyes glistened with worry and fear for his `Shy as he wondered, Did Ah do sumthin’ wrong…?
Twinken and Apple Bloom shared a troubled look and stepped back into the kitchen, Apple Bloom whispering, “We gotta find Fluttershy before this gets worse!”
“Yeah, but I wish we had an idea of where she could’ve gone,” Twinken fretted when they heard a light thumping on the door.
Twinken’s aura opened it and in hopped a familiar white bunny, looking his usual abrasive self given the way he was glaring at Apple Bloom and Twinken.
“Angel?” Twinken said curiously, Apple Bloom asking, “What’re you doin’ here?”
Angel pointed at them while tapping his hind leg, chittered angrily, and then pointed out the door.
“Ah think he wants us t’ follow `im,” Apple Bloom said to Twinken.
“Maybe he knows where Fluttershy is!” Twinken realized in agreement.
They nodded affirmatively and followed after Angel out the door, unaware somepony had seen them go.
The little unicorn colt and earth pony filly hurried after Angel, as the bunny led them through a grove of trees not far from Fluttershy’s cottage but the canopy and foliage was quite dense.
“This’d make a good hiding place for anypony!” Twinken panted as they hurried after Angel.
“Uh-huh, th’ trees’re so thick a pegasus pony’d never see anypony hidin’ in here from up high,” Apple Boom agreed. “Wait, whazzat ahead?”
The flora ahead dispersed and for a moment the colt and filly were blinded by sunlight before their eyes adjusted and they gasped!
Before them was a clearing of natural beauty, with a pretty little pond in the center, lily pads floating, several cattails here and there, a large meadow of flowers with a fallen tree on one side blanketed in soft emerald-green moss, and by the pond was a beautiful weeping willow. But what drew the colt and filly’s attention was the missing bride beneath the willow, looking sadly at her reflection in the pond.
“Fluttershy…!” Twinken whispered and was about to call to her when Apple Bloom placed her hoof over his mouth, saying, “Shh! Ah think she’s sayin’ sumthin’. Let’s get closer an’ listen”
Twinken nodded and ever so carefully did the two sneak up until they were behind the willow tree and slowly peered around to see Fluttershy. Her dress was amazing and appeared no worse for wear, so she might have flown into this grove to avoid the dense foliage. Now that they were closer, they could hear Fluttershy as she spoke sadly, “Oh… What was I thinking? By now, everypony’s surely noticed I’m gone, but how will they react? And everypony who came, just for Macintosh and me… All those attendees…!”
Twinken and Apple Bloom couldn’t help but notice how shivery Fluttershy seemed when she said those last few words, but then Twinken felt something tickle his nose and he saw it was a willow vine. “Ah… Ah… AH-CHOO!!!”
“EEP!” Fluttershy jumped to her hooves and whirled about to see who sneezed but both Twinken and Apple Bloom had already hidden behind the willow’s trunk.
“Is somepony there?”
The colt and filly shared a nervous look but then saw Angel hop out for Fluttershy to see him, making her sigh. “Oh Angel Bunny, was that you? That was rather loud for such a little bunny, perhaps you’re coming down with something.”
Angel face-pawed before pointing towards the tree, indicating there was somepony there.
“Um, now, I’m not making any accusations, but is somepony there, really?” Fluttershy asked again. “You don’t have to answer, if you don’t want to.”
She heard two sighs and gasped lightly to see, coming out from behind the tree, “Twinken? Apple Bloom? What are you doing here?”
“Angel led us here,” Twinken answered, Apple Bloom adding, “An’ we din’t mean any harm but... we kind overheard wha’ you were sayin’, Fluttershy.”
“Oh… so you heard the things I said,” Fluttershy looked away with a guilty expression.
“Fluttershy, did wha’ we say an’ ask you last night scare you?” Apple Bloom asked, looking sorry, as did Twinken, who asked, “Did we upset you?”
“Oh no, no!” Fluttershy went over and held them both in a wing-hug, which they returned warmly. But when they let go, Fluttershy sighed. “Even so, I have to admit, the things you said? Well, you just caught me at a bad time, because I was already rather worried last night, and I couldn’t stop worrying about this whole wedding business.”
Apple Bloom and Twinken listened with rapt attention, all of them unaware that somepony else was listening as Fluttershy went on.
“It’s not that I don’t want to go through with it all, it’s just marriage is so… final! And all those wedding attendees… watching me! Oh, why do I have to be such a scaredy cat? Everypony else is so brave, but I can never be, I mean... This is my wedding day! I’m supposed to walk down the aisle and kiss the stallion who will be my husband in front of all those attendees, but I'm just so afraid! Oh why can't I ever be brave. especially on a day like today…? I’ve never been comfortable being the center of attention, and then I just started worrying a little more about the commitment, and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to be all that was expected of me.”
Twinken’s ears pressed against his head while Apple Bloom’s eyes started to tear up, the both of them hating to see Fluttershy like this.
“Oh, it’s not that I don’t love Big Macintosh, I do! I love him in a way that I’ve never loved anypony! Not even the way I love my parents, my friends, or even my animals! He’s strong, kind, reliable, and he’s always there for me, but… This whole time, he’s been so sure that everything would be perfect.”
Fluttershy sighed, unaware of the other presence finally understanding. as she said, “Doesn’t he ever get scared? Doesn’t he ever have doubts?”
“O’ course Ah get scared, `Shy.”
Fluttershy, Twinken, and Apple Bloom gasped and looked to see Big Macintosh step out of the foliage, with a guilty look in his eyes as he approached them.
“Mackie! H-how did you find me?” Fluttershy met him halfway.
“Ah saw th’ foals here with yer rabbit an’ thawt maybe he was leadin’em t’ you, so… Ah followed `em,” Big Mac admitted when he took Fluttershy’s hoof. “Oh `Shy, why din’t you tell me that you were afraid?”
“I don’t know, Macintosh, I…” Fluttershy sighed, “I suppose I just didn’t want to disappoint you or hurt you! I was afraid that if you thought I had doubts that you might think I didn’t want to be your wife.”
“Oh Fluttershy, honestly? Ah’ve been scared too,” Macintosh came clean, “Ah’ve never been more scared in muh life! Ah jus’ thawt if Ah made everything just right it’d turn out alright, an’ that you’d have no doubts yerself. But Fluttershy, by Faust, Ah love you! Ah wanna be wit’ you always and spend th’ rest o’ mah life makin’ you happy.”
“Oh Mackie...!” Fluttershy smiled as Macintosh wiped away her tears, and their lips met in love understanding.
“Aww!” Apple Bloom swooned while Twinken blushed and looked away, muttering, “I’m too young for this…”
"So three ponies walk into a bar and say ow!"
Cheese hit the drum roll as Pinkie finished another weak joke. Once again, there wasn't anything more than a bored look, random cough, or annoyed grunt. Pinkie and Cheese were already under pressure here, but they were just about out of material and really lacking any kind of follow up.
"Wow, tough crowd. So how's everypony doing? I see some of you have had to travel a fair way to get here. I just flew in myself and boy are my hooves tired." Cheese pantomimed flapping his front legs, but this got even less of a reaction. In fact he seemed to even confuse Pinkie Pie.
"Wait, you flew in? But you live here. Besides you're an earth pony."
The stallion just sighed and faced-hoofed. What else could he do here? He couldn't use his full slapstick, he was at a wedding.
...Or could he?
"OK, you two, I believe this act should come to an end now. I'm unsure why you two are performing, but we are all in attendance for a wedding, not a comedy routine."
Pinkie looked up from where she been strolling across the stage on her hind legs holding a mike and tucking her front hooves into pockets on her dress (that hadn't been there before) in an attempt to mimic Jerry Stallionfield, to see Prince Sombra making his way to the impromptu stage the two party ponies had set up in front of the alter.
"Uh, no, no we need to keep performing... it's uh... part of the wedding ceremony?" she replied nervously, her eyes scanning back and forth to try and find some sign of the rest of the gang nearby.
Sombra marched up onto the stage looking a tad irritated, though he kept a calm tone. "While I'm unsure what role a comedy routine plays into a wedding, I believe you two have reached the end of it. I do not mean to sound rude, but I believe your exquisitely prepared food is far easier to swallow then your stand up."
"Then how about swallowing this!"
Sombra blinked and looked to Cheese Sandwich, only to receive a cream pie to the face. As he staggered back, he slipped on a banana peel that had not been there earlier and skidded across the stage until he fell off into a large hay bale that had also not been there earlier.
After a few moments, the dark stallion pulled himself up from the bale, his face covered in cream and straw and his mane in tangles filled with twigs and hay. He gave a snort and a bright red cherry flew out of his nose. Every pony in attendance immediately went silent and stared.
“PFFFT BAHAHAHAHA HEE HEE HAHAHAHA!!”
The laughter echoed from the back of the reception, that everypony turned to see Princess Celestia bent over her seat laughing her plot off, tears of joy falling from her eyes. Next to her Luna was facehoofing, though there was a wide smirk on her face, and her shoulders heaved from trying to hold back her own titters.
Immediately after, Cadance started cracking up, holding her belly as her laughter bellowed out. With all three Princess' laughing, the crowd sensed they didn't have to hold back anymore and all cracked up of their own accord. Shining Armor was pounding his hooves on the seat in front of him, Zecora was clapping her hooves with joy, and Eris was floating above everypony howling with laughter.
The scene had turned from completely boring to possibly the most hilarious thing they had ever seen. Sombra just stood there for a moment looking cross, before he too accepted the humor of the situation and let out a chuckle.
Cheese just looked on proudly at all he had accomplished with a bit of slapstick.
"Great work Cheesy! Stand-up might not be our best material, but funny tricks and goofy pranks will always get some laughs!" Pinkie bounced around on stage, soaking in the merriment alongside her partner in jokes.
"Psst! Pinkie, Cheese! You can cut the act now, we've found Flutters!"
Pinkie and Cheese looked off to the side where Midnight was signaling to them. Behind him was an excited looking Big Mac and a shy but happy Fluttershy. The two party ponies pulled ear-to-ear grins at her presence and immediately got to work.
"Well that's all for now, folks, thanks for being a terrific audience.Now, back to our scheduled wedding!"
In the blink of an eye, the two had shoved the stage and their props out of the way and gave the group one last bow before taking their positions. The rest of the elements all got into their positions and Posey retook her seat.
Finally groom took his place at the altar, looking both terrified and like there was no place in the world he'd rather be. He felt a wing brush against him as Cadance took up her position as the officiator. The smile she gave calmed him down, and he prepared himself for the most important event in his life.
Everypony was in place. Cadance and Big Macintosh at the altar in the gazebo, Applejack and the groomstallions on one side of the aisle, Rainbow Dash and the bridesmares on the other. Solemn silence befell the reception as the birds on top of the gazebo began to sing a wedding march, just as they did at Cadance and Shining Armor’s wedding.
Everypony watched as Apple Bloom happily trotted down the aisle, gently shaking her basket and leaving flower petals in her wake.
Not long after her was Twinken, looking adorably determined as he levitated the cushion with the wedding bands, that Aunt and Uncle Orange couldn’t resist snapping a photo.
As the main event was nigh, Shining Armor was trying as hard as he could to keep it together and failing miserably as he blubbered tears of joy, Eris nearby with an irritated look while filming the wedding highlights as she whispered to him, “Oh for pete’s sake, Shiny, would you give it a rest? Your bitch-crying’s gonna be in the background of my entire video!”
All eyes turned towards the back, and at the start of the aisle was the bride, her face obscured by the wedding veil, and at her side was Sunsplash whose face could express only the deepest loving pride a father could have for when his daughter finally found her special somepony.
However, instead of walking down the aisle, father and daughter flapped themselves aloft as they made their way down. It was actually a pegasus tradition that when a pegasus pony gets married he or she doesn’t touch the wedding aisle until he or she joins her betrothed at the altar, symbolizing their grounding themselves as they made roots with the pony they would devote themselves to.
There was hardly a dry eye among the attendees as everypony watched came the bride. At the halfway point, everypony watched in wonder as a robin and a blue jay carried a woven circlet of flowers and flapped over to gently place it on top of Fluttershy’s head. Through the veil, Fluttershy looked and saw on top of the gazebo a teary-eyed Angel, with a hanky, and she couldn’t help but smile.
She had been quite nervous as she’d started flapping down the aisle with her father and seeing everypony look at her, she was just glad the veil hid her face. But then she looked towards the end of the aisle, towards the altar in the gazebo, and it was the face of her Mackie that finally set her heart ease. She saw a handsome, kind, and loving pony she cared so deeply about, and in her heart, she knew he would always be at her side.
At the altar, Big Mac smiled proudly and lovingly with just a few nervous flitters in his stomach until finally they arrived and Sunsplash held his daughter’s hoof as she alighted herself down, before passing her hoof to the hoof of her stallion, father and about-to-be son-in-law sharing a smile of mutual respect, before Sunsplash went to join his wife in the front row, Posey already wiping away tears of joy.
Cadance waited for Big Macintosh to lift the veil of his bride and what he saw worth more than all the apples in the world. It was the face of the pony who stole his heart so long ago, a beauty demure, pure of heart, unpretentious, the genuine article of kindness.
Fluttershy gazed up at him, her cyan eyes glistening with tears of joy that only lightly began to affect her subtly-applied make-up that in no way marred the natural beauty she was. She couldn’t help loving the stallion before her, his usually-relaxed demeanor was joyous in a way that couldn’t be explained in words while his green eyes were as teary as her own, his combed mane had loosened a little but it made him more like his usual self, the way she loved him. What she saw, she realized, was the pony who embodied the promise of a devoted husband, provider, and maybe one day the father of her children.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, family and friends,” Cadance began, “we are gathered here on this beautiful day to celebrate the union of Macintosh Apple and Fluttershy Dawn, and I simply must say I cannot imagine two ponies more perfect for each other. Macintosh, do you take this mare to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and cherish, to protect and provide for, to be with in the best of times and the worst, for as long as you both shall live?”
“Eeyup!” Big Macintosh answered before turning to make his vow to his bride, “Fluttershy, you may not know it, but this here gazebo is more than where we start our lives t’gether. This gazebo, which Ah built with th’ help o’ mah friends an’ neighbors, is th’ same place where you an’ Ah met as foals.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she finally understood the sense of nostalgia she’d been feeling since coming down the wedding aisle.
“Back then, whether or not our meetin’ was coincidence or fate, in some part o’ mah mind Ah knew th’ sweet an’ shy little filly Ah accidentally kissed tha’ day would be somepony special in mah life. But then muh folks were gone an’ Ah lost sight o’ that for a long while, until mah brother helped me remember how Ah felt for you. Fluttershy, Aw swear on mah parents’ graves t’ be at yer side always, t’ love you, respect you, an’ make you happy for as long as you’ll have me.”
Fluttershy lightly squealed in joy and had to use every ounce of self-control to stop herself from leaping into her stallion’s chest and kissing him.
“Fluttershy,” Cadance’s voice snapped the bride out of it as she paid attention, “do you take this stallion to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and cherish, to trust and support, to be with in the best of times and the worst, for as long as you both shall live?”
“I… I do!” Fluttershy couldn’t stop the waterworks, and so many ponies smiled happily for her as she made her own vows. “Macintosh, I… I am so happy! I’m happy that we’re here, that we have everypony we love and care about and who love and care about us to be a part of this! Early on I was afraid, that I wouldn’t be brave enough to go through with this, and that maybe… maybe I wasn’t ready to be a wife, or something more, but… The moment I saw you, waiting for me here, not only at this altar, but at this very same place where we first met as foals…! I know it in my heart, Macintosh, you are the pony I am meant to be with, the one pony who truly makes me happy, makes me feel safe, and I swear to love and support you as your wife, and perhaps one day we’ll love and support a family of our own together!”
A few ponies (especially Shining Armor and Posey) broke out into sobbing joy as Princess Cadance nodded happily. “Here before us, the bride and groom have made their vows. As the Princess of Love, I bless this union, with faith, with fertility, and with happiness. Marriage is a vow of mutual love and trust that can only survive through commitment and compromise. Macintosh Apple, Element of Devotion, Fluttershy Dawn, Element of Kindness, here before all these ponies, I unite you in holy matrimony. May we have the bands?”
Twinken stepped forward, levitating the cushion holding the wedding bands, which Candance levitated towards the bride and groom. Fluttershy held out her left hoof as Mac slid on the wedding band with her engagement jewel onto her hoof before taking the gold band with the engraving of Mac's cutie-mark and slid it onto his hoof.
“As Princess of Love, I now pronounce you, Stallion and Wife! You may kiss the bride,” Cadance declared, and no sooner did she did Fluttershy pounce her husband, and everypony cheered as the newlyweds finally kissed!
Closer to the couple, their closest friends watched with joy (and for a few, just a hint of envy), as the bearers of Kindness and Devotion took the firsts steps on their new path.
But for Big Mac and Fluttershy, they could hear none of the cheers or the flowing happiness. For them in that singular moment, in that one kiss, it was as though they were the only two ponies in the world. All they needed was each other, and from now until forever, they would always be together. Before, this may have been scary or worrying. Now, it was the best feeling in the world.
Finally the newlyweds completed their kiss and took in all the happy faces, some cheering their lungs out, others crying tears of joy, and for once in both their lives, they were not afraid or nervous. Fluttershy and Big Mac waved happily and proudly at their family, friends, and neighbors, and gasped in marvel as doves flew overhead and dropped a gentle shower of gorgeous apple blossoms over everyone.
Seeing flowers fall, Fluttershy looked and her bouquet and smiled before throwing it.
“IT’S MINE!!” Rarity shrieked as the bouquet sailed towards Rainbow, who eep’d and tried to get out of the way, only for-
“OOF/OW!”
In her attempts to avoid the bouquet, Rainbow kerscuffled into Rarity, bringing them both down in a heap as something pink blurred by, yelling, “I CAUGHT IT! What’s my prize?”
There was a large good-natured collective face-hoof of several ponies around Pinkie, while Rainbow looked at the bouquet, feeling a tinge of regret. As Soarin and Blueblood helped their mares to their hooves, Rainbow gave her stallion a nuzzle so there’d be no wrong impression.
The tapping of a glass quieted everypony down as the mare of honor stood up from her seat.
The ceremony had been beautiful, and many tears had been shed all around, but now the attendees had all moved away from the altar to the dozens of tables that had been set up in front of the orchards for the reception. Ponies all sat gathered in groups watching the head tables where all the element bearers sat surrounding the newlywed couple. Rainbow put her glass back on the table, turning her gaze to her oldest friend with a warm smile before addressing the guests.
"Hi everypony. While I'm sure my awesomeness proceeds me, for those who for some ridiculous reason aren't aware, I'm Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy's mare of honour. Being selected for this role makes me feel more proud than just about anything in Equestria, because I get to stand beside my oldest friend and watch as she takes her first steps into a new life. I've known Flutters here since we were both little fillies without cutie marks. She was the first friend I ever made, and that friendship is something I have cherished so much over the years. This beautiful, kind mare has helped shaped me into the mare I am today, and I would like to think I have helped her become who she is as well, which just makes this day so much more meaningful to me. When Fluttershy and Big Macintosh first started dating, I was both happy and worried. Mac is one of the nicest, most genuine individuals I have ever met, so I know he will take care of Fluttershy, but after watching over her for years, it still felt really sca... worrying, to watch her take her first steps out of her comfort zone and put her heart on the line. But seeing the two of them now, I know I have nothing to worry about."
Rainbow turned back to Fluttershy, who was smiling back with tears in her eyes. "Fluttershy, you are one of the best friends I have ever had, and I can't wait to see where this new life with Big Mac leads you. Be brave and be strong like I know you are and make your life a happy one together. I'm so proud of you, and I hope for you and Big Mac a lifetime of happiness. Together!"
The instant she finished, she felt Fluttershy grab a hold of her in an enormous hug. Both mares had tears in their eyes as they embraced one another, once again reinforcing the sister-like bond the two shared together. Ponies cheered and clapped, shock at how heartfelt and eloquent the rainbow mare's speech was, but feeling the love and care that came with it. As the two split apart, Fluttershy gave her a watery thank you, touched at her best friends kind words.
"Jeez, Rainbow, Ah didn't think ya had it in ya to write somethin’ so nice." Applejack spoke up from her position next to Big Mac, her jaw hanging open.
"Heh, I am pretty awesome." Rainbow wiped the last of her tears aside and stuck her chest out proudly, before timidly shifting her head to the side as she admitted, "Though... I had a fair bit of help from Soarin."
She placed her hoof over her coltfriend's in gratitude, and he responded with a smile and a quick peck on her cheek. As she tried to cover her blush, Applejack smirked and decided to take her turn as the Best Mare, and so rose from her on seat.
"Well now, after hearing Rainbow's speech, Ah'm really hoping mahn can measure up. Still, as mah brother's Best Mare, Ah'll give it muh best shot. Now seeing tha’ more than half th’ guests here are Apple Fam’ly members, an’ th’ rest are all close friends from town, Ah think it's safe t’ say that ya’ll know Ah'm Big Mac's lil sister. As such, Ah've grown up with th’ big galoot, an’ got to watch him turn from a brave and young colt giving his all to support a family that had just lost it's ma and pa, into th’ strong, dependable work-stallion we all know today. Ah've seen this stallion at his worst an’ Ah've seen him at his best, but in all th’ years Ah've known him, Ah've never seen him so complete, as when he is with muh good friend Fluttershy. These two just fit together so well, more than just about anypony Ah've ever met. Fluttershy's kindness and delicate disposition complements mah brother's strong, devoted nature so well, it's actually hard not picturing these two together anymore. So, before Ah ramble anymore, there's just one last thing Ah have to say."
The orange mare gave her brother a warm smile before continuing.
"Big Mac, all us Apples are so dang proud of you. Ever since Ma an’ Pa left us, You've always been the backbone of the family. Taking on the extra work, taking care of your little sisters and your Granny, and if that wern’t enough because o’ you we found ourselves with two new brothers! An’ here you are now, getting ready to bring a new bond into our family. We all love you, Mac, and we are so happy for you & Flutters. I wish the two of you years of joy, and Ah know from the bottom of mah heart, just how proud ma and pa would have been of you."
Finishing pouring her heart out, Applejack felt the strong and yet so gentle embrace of her brother, whose stoic and expression was long gone, leaving only the teary eyed joyful look of a brother who loved his sister with all his heart.
All the gathered ponies started clapping in appreciation. Cadance was rubbing a once again sobbing Shining Armour's back while Eris (who had somehow been assigned to sit at their table) was still filming everything and facepalming at the Prince's tears.
"Jeez, and they call me annoying."
Dinner had been lovely and as the sun was just beginning its descent, the orchards were covered in its warm orange glow, displaying its natural beauty to all present. All the guests were gathered around a large polished wooden platform that had been placed on the grass. It was just about time for the couple’s first dance as husband and wife. As Big Mac was preparing to signal the band to begin playing, Fluttershy placed a hoof on his chest to stop him. At his curious look, she whispered her idea into his ear and he eagerly nodded, moving toward the band to signal a music change.
As he did this, Fluttershy approached Rainbow Dash and Soarin whom were stuck off a little bit to the side (at Rainbow's request, still feeling a little embarrassed after her mare of honour speech).
"What's up Flutters? I thought you and Mac were just about to have your first dance."
"Well we are, but um... I was kind of hoping you might um... sing that song we used to sing together."
While it had been a very quiet request, it did nothing to stop the massive blush spreading across Rainbow's face.
"Uh I-I don't know Fluttershy. I haven't... sung that in a while. It's... it's kind of embarrassing..." despite her hesitance, Fluttershy gently grabbed a hold of Rainbow's front hooves, looking straight into her eyes.
"Please Rainbow. I know it's not your usual song choice, but it would really mean a lot to me."
It took all of one second before Fluttershy's puppy dog eyes and pleading tone broke Rainbow, and the athlete caved. She gave a sigh then nodded her head while her oldest friend squealed in excitement and rushed off to grab a microphone for her. Whilst she was doing this, Soarin's curiosity rose and he leant in close to his marefriend.
"What song are you going to sing, Rainbow? It obviously means a lot to Fluttershy, but you seem kind of embarrassed about it."
Rainbow gave another sigh before whispering into Soarin's ear. She expected him to give a snigger at the mushy song she was going to sing, but his reaction surprised her.
"Really? I love that song! Hey, how about we make it a duet?" his eager look and his desire to sing with her brought a smile back to Rainbow's face (though her blush didn't seem to be going away anytime soon.
"A-are you sure? I-I'd love if you'd sing with me!" Rainbow hesitated up until her stallion gave a coltish smile and a nod before Rainbow nuzzled him in appreciatively. She of course immediately tried to hide this from some of the other guests who had spotted the show of affection, but Soarin seemed content to keep her blush up as he wrapped a wing around her.
A few moments later, Fluttershy returned with two mics (Cheese had intercepted her with a spare. As she did with all of Pinkie’s activities, she didn't question Cheese’s). She gave Rainbow a hug to show her gratitude before dashing out onto the dance floor where her new husband waited for her. As they took up proper dancing positions, Rainbow began to speak through her mic.
"Ok folks, it's time for the newlywed’s first dance. Fluttershy has asked Soarin and I to sing a special song for this, so everypony quiet down and get ready." The rainbow mare gave one last look at her coltfriend, who smiled and gestured for her to continue. She gave a sigh, before steeling herself and letting the music from the speakers begin.
[Rainbow] Funny how it turns out that everything can change What I feel right now is not the same as yesterday
Big Mac smiled as he gently pulled Fluttershy forward. he led her in a circle before they started to sway together.
[Soarin] There's more than I imagined deep inside my heart Emotions that I never knew and this is just the start
Fluttershy felt a little nervous again to be the center of attention, but the assurance she felt in Big Mac’s hooves. Then, to her surprise, Big Mac rose up on his hind hooves, towering over her, while also guiding her up onto her own hind hooves. He guided her gently to set one hoof on his shoulder and held her at her waist while they held their free hooves out and together, and start dancing ballroom-style.
“Since when could you dance like this?” Fluttershy gazed dreamily in her new husband’s eyes.
“Blueblood,” Mac answered simply with a humored smile. “Wouldn’t get off muh back about it. Ya like it?”
Fluttershy sighed happily and laid her head against Mac’s chest as they continued to dance.
[Rainbow Dash & Soarin] So many things I've been missin' not watchin' but, that was all in the past
Now I realize There’s so much more to learn, I’m ready for the world Not scared of letting go
Now I realize There’s so much more to feel And my heart knows it’s real The part of me, so long forgotten, Is calling, and this feels like home Home, home, feels just like home
[Rainbow] Learning how to smile again Free to show my heart Knowing I can face the things That used to seem too hard
[Soarin] I look inside your eyes and see A different part of me What I didn’t know I want in life You're everything I need
[Rainbow Dash & Soarin] So many things I've been missin' not watchin' but, that was all in the past
Now I realize There’s so much more to learn, I’m ready for the world Not scared of letting go
Now I realize There’s so much more to feel And my heart knows it’s real The part of me, so long forgotten, Is calling, and this feels like home Home, home, it feels just like home (Feels just like home)
[Rainbow] Right from the start, been friends forever
[Soarin] But somehow we're meant to be together
[Rainbow Dash & Soarin] I feel like you show me How to find my way home(Find my way home…!)
Now I realize, feels just like home (Feels just like home) Feels just like home (Feels just like home) Feels like home….!
Now I realize There’s so much more to learn, I’m ready for the world Not scared of letting go
Now I realize There’s so much more to feel And my heart knows it’s real The part of me, so long forgotten, Is calling, and this feels like home
This feels like home, home, home Feels just like home
[Rainbow] Feels just like home
The wedding party was happy and wonderful. Big Mac and Fluttershy cut the wedding cake and each mushed a piece into each other’s faces, spurring a round of laughter from everyone. Applejack and Thunderlane got into an eating contest at the wedding buffet, Rainbow worked up the courage to get past the mushiness and asked Soarin to dance with her, and the two did a beautiful aerial dance that made everyone cheer. Cheese Sandwich played his accordion as Pinkie got the Cutie-Mark Crusaders to join in on a limbo dance, everypony participating with the traditional chant of ‘How low can ya go’. After her parents took an embarrassing photo of their daughter their new son-in-law with mushed cake on their faces, citing it was parental tradition to take embarrassing photos, Fluttershy had a dance with her father Sunsplash while Big Mac kindly asked Posey for a dance. As Sombra and Celestia danced, Eris abruptly cut in and took Sombra on a whirl of a dance to the point he screamed, “STOP THE WORLD, I WANNA GET OFF!!!”
As the party began to wind down, Twilight decided it was time for wedding gifts! Blueblood had (surprisingly) gotten Big Mac a set of new tools, something the farmer really appreciated. Thunderlane had gotten them a lightning rod for protection from any storms he and the Ponyville weather team ever brought along. Twilight had gotten Fluttershy a first aid kit filled with veterinary medicine, which Fluttershy loved so much she gave Twilight a big hug! Rainbow Dash had gotten Fluttershy a framed picture of themselves as fillies, hugging while smiling at the camera back in the junior speedsters flight camp days, along with a necklace made from a black ribbon with a crystal butterfly pendant. Fluttershy hugged the picture fondly before giving a hug to Rainbow Dash, who insisted she was shedding liquid pride, not tears.
All of their friends and family and neighbors gave them wonderful gifts that Big Macintosh and Fluttershy all really appreciated. Some were odd, others a tad embarrassing, but then it was Midnight’s turn.
As the blue alicorn walked up to his brother and new sister-in-law, he wore an unreadable smile with his eyes closed as he said, “Mac, Fluttershy, I hope you find this gift to your liking.”
Then, before Big Mac and Fluttershy’s eyes did float a pair of keys in Midnight’s aura, which Big Mac confusedly accepted before asking, “And… wha’re these keys for, haystack?”
Midnight chuckled and pointed past them, and they followed his hoof towards a grove of trees while Midnight called, “Master! Luna! It’s time!”
Sombra and Luna both nodded and their horns flared, and the trees appeared to come to life as their roots tore themselves out of the ground, their leaves shaking, as the trees moved out of the way, creating a path from the wedding party and the gazebo towards… a house!
Big Mac and Fluttershy gasped at the structure! It was a two-story house, painted butter yellow with a brown thatch roof, a red brick chimney, a nice open yard, , a verandah with a porch swing, a nearby henhouse and a large shed, all an’ all a very homey-looking abode.
The wedding-goers all marveled at this surprise delightful domicile while Big Mac was flabbergasted! “M-M-Midnight, Ah… Where di- How di-Wha’ is this?!”
“Midnight! This house, it can’t be for us, now could it?” Fluttershy was equally blown.
Midnight smiled warmly, and answered, “Yes, this house is for you two. Now before you protest, at least hear me out. Big Mac, I’m not exactly the same Midnight you first met outside Ponyville, but I am on the inside. Back then, you and the Apple Family took me in, and ever since then I learned so much from you all. I learned about honest work and giving it your all, as well as the principle of things and doing the right thing.
“But more than that, you gave me a home and a family I am proud to be a part of! But now, you and Fluttershy are starting your lives together, so you deserve a place of your own. I didn’t bring it up before because I knew you both would be uncomfortable about it. Mac, you wouldn’t dream of leaving Granny Smith or AJ or Apple Bloom, and Fluttershy, you wouldn’t want to leave all your animals over at your cottage near the Everfree Forest.”
Big Mac and Fluttershy shared a look and saw it in each other’s eyes that Midnight was right.
“So, I came up with this solution. This house is still on Sweet Apple Acres property, it’s just a short walk away from the main farmhouse, and it’s closer to Fluttershy’s cottage! I’m not saying you have to accept it, but at some point or another, you're both gonna want a place where it’s just the two of you, and maybe one day it’ll be more than the two of you, so this way you’ll have room to raise any foals you have together.”
Midnight’s words made the newlyweds blush but they were also so reasonable they kept listening.
“Mac and Fluttershy, you’re both so important to me, and you’ve both done so much, not just for me, but for all of us! I just wanted to do something equally special, and though this might not be what you want right now, I hope you’ll appreciate my intentions.”
Big Mac and Fluttershy considered Midnight’s words for a moment before meeting each other’s eyes again. They both smiled and looked at Midnight, Fluttershy saying, “Midnight, I think it’s a wonderful house!”
“A nice place t’ call our new home,” Big Mac agreed. “But how did you get this house on Sweet Apple Acres without any of us noticin’, or even afford it?”
“Hm-hm, I’m a prince!” Midnight replied playfully, “And… I’ve got my own little family fortune, not to mention I had some help from my master, Princess Luna, and even Eris!”
“Prince Sombra an’ Princess Luna?” Big Mac echoed in surprise, Fluttershy adding in equal bafflement, “And Eris too?!”
“It’s true!”
Flashing between them did Eris appear, “Somby and Loony-loo arranged the construction while I just popped that lovely abode on over here! That’s how none o’ you daft darlings ever saw it.”
Soon it was all over and just about time for the newlyweds to ride off to their honeymoon. Big Mac and Fluttershy gave and got so many hoofshakes and hugs, a few kisses here and there, they thought it’d never end. But as the last of the wedding guests left, it all finally began to fall upon them.
They were husband and wife and about to ride away via pegasus-drawn chariot to Horseshoe Bay Resorts. Their friends had offered them a honeymoon to Hay-waii, but both Big Mac and Fluttershy were uncomfortable crossing even a little of the sea in a chariot.
As their ride arrived, Big Mac and Fluttershy, their bags already packed, stood side by side, nuzzling each other, when Sunsplash and Posey came up.
“We’re so proud of you, my little butterfly!” Posey sniffled as she and her husband gave their daughter a warm and tender hug, Fluttershy shedding a few tears of her own, as she said, “Thanks, Mum… It means so much to hear that.”
Sunsplash looked to Big Mac and held out his free foreleg, “Family hug needs the whole family, get in here ya big galoot!”
Big Mac chuckled and did as he was told, but as he embraced his wife and parents-in-law, for a moment he squinted his eyes as the afternoon sun began its fall for the evening, and he saw two ponies standing in the trees nearby. Big Mac gasped as he saw a stallion taller than even him, wearing a stetson hat and workhorse collar and beside him was a beautiful mare with her mane loosely tied back. The both of them were smiling proudly and happily at him, and he felt his heart beat loudly n his chest as he realized who they were.
As the hg ended, he was about to call out to those two ponies but the sun blinded him again and when he looked they were gone. Could it have been…?
“Hey son, you alright?”
Big Mac looked to his wife and parents-in-law, who were all looking at him with a bit of concern. “...Eeyup, Ah surely am.”
Then Granny Smith, Applejack, Apple Bloom, Midnight, and Twinken came up to hug the big red pony, and Granny Smith said, “Aw sweetie… It does this ol’ mare’s heart good t’ see th’ Apple Family grow a lil’ more. Ah rightly think yer folks would be real proud of you.”
Big Mac smiled a knowing smile, “Y’know wha’, Granny Smith? Ah do believe they are.”
“Y’all go an’ have th’ time o’ yer lives, big brother!” Applejack joined in, followed by the rest of their siblings. “Will ya bring us souvenirs?” Apple Bloom asked, Twinken nodding, “And take lots of pictures!”
As the family let go, Midnight said, “All you have to do is have the time of your lives.”
“Thanks, Midnight,” Big Mac smiled warmly at his family, “Thank you all. For ev’rything.”
“Mac, son!”
Big Mac looked to Sunsplash, and saw the bags were on the chariot, and his wife was smiling at him as she said, “Time to go!”
Big Mac chuckled and said to his family, “See y’all later,” before joining his wife on the chariot.
Before taking off, Sunsplash teased, “Now don’t you two get too frisky in the bed now!”
“Daddy!” Fluttershy squealed and reddened, Big Mac chuckling nervously.
“Sunny!” Posey elbowed her husband, who couldn’t help laughing. “Don’t you mind him. Just… make your first time special, and don’t worry! You have to decide together when you’re both ready to be a momma and a poppa. Just… don’t take too long.”
“Yeah! We wanna spoil our future grandkids rotten with plenty of time to spare!” Sunsplash laughed.
Big Mac and Fluttershy laughed nervously but shared a look, and knew it truly was something they both wanted to be one day soon.
The position of the sun told them to get going if they wanted to make it before dark, and after a few more I-love-yous, good-lucks, and best wishes, the chariot took flight. Big Mac and Fluttershy waved goodbye for now to their family and friends below as they rode off to their honeymoon.
But as they sailed through the sky, Fluttershy grew quiet, Big Mac asking, “Y’alright, sugarcube?”
“...Oh I’m fine, Mackie, it’s just…” Fluttershy looked up at her stallion, her lover. Her husband. He was all hers, hers to love, hers to support, hers to be with always and forever. “I’m just thinking, after this… what’s next?”
Big Mac lifted her face to his and gave her a soft yet tender kiss.
“Whatever we decide. Together.”
Fluttershy smiled and they nuzzled cheek to cheek as she agreed, “Together.”
“...and that’s how your momma and poppa got married,” Fluttershy wrapped up her story as she held her three year-old daughter while her five year old son sat at her hooves, listening with rapt attention. “This house we live in, is the same one your uncle Midnight gave us, where we lived together happily, and our lives were finally complete when we had you and your little sister, sweetheart, where our family became whole.”
“Tha’ cain’t be it, Momma!” the little colt protested, sounding so much like his father, “Please keep goin’!”
“Listen t’ tha’, sugarcube.”
Fluttershy and her son looked to the hallway door and saw Big Mac coming in, sighing after a hard day’s work. “They wan’ more stories, more adventures t’ dream about!”
“Dada!” the little filly cheered as she held out her little hooves to her daddy, Fluttershy giggling as she held their daughter out to her husband, “Mind her head!”
“She’s so tiny,” Big Mac smiled lovingly at the beautiful filly in his forelegs as he sat into his easy chair while her big brother crawled up into their mom’s lap.
“Pa, is Auntie Applejack gonna bring th’ apple cider t’ th’ big playdate tomorrow?”
“Eeyup, you’ll get as much cider as you can drink,” Big Mac smiled, Fluttershy adding, “But none before bedtime. We don’t want anymore… accidents!”
“Ah was havin’ a real fun dream!” the little colt protested with puffed up cheeks, only to get his cheek nuzzled.
“We know, dear, we were jsut teasing you a bit,” Fluttershy tittered, “and guess what? Auntie Rainbow Dash is going to be there and Uncle Blueblood is gonna take everypony up in his new airship!”
“Will we see Grampa Sun and Granny Posey?” her little colt asked.
“We’ll jus’ hav’ t’ wait n’ see, haystack,” Big Mac laughed as he reached over and ruffled his son’s mane, making him protest but laugh all at once, as the whole family laughed together.
Fluttershy and Big Mac shared a look and then looked at their wedding picture, the memory as fresh in their minds as though it had only happened yesterday.
