It was another beautiful day in Ponyville. Almost too beautiful for some ponies. That is why Star Twinkle's friends decided to spend the day outside with a picnic. He was invited as well and accepted the offer because it would mean for him that he could relax outside while also spending time with his friends. However, his definition of spending time was a little different than one might expect because Star Twinkle, while still present, did sit near the girls while taking a nap under a tree. But his friends didn't mind and continued their picnic on their own way, talking and eating little snacks while doing so.
In fact, they took the opportunity that Star Twinkle was sleeping right now.
“Sleeping like a little colt,” Applejack said as she looked over to him amused.
“Yes. Not the slightest sign of his usual...behavior,” Rarity tried to say in a way that wouldn't make it sound rude.
“I think he usually is really nice,” Fluttershy responded, not wanting to say anything bad about Star Twinkle behind his back.
“Yeah, except when he is not complaining or grumpy...” Rainbow Dash directly pointed out.
“Should we wake him up for some cake?” Pinkie Pie suggested lifting up a cake in front of everypony.
“I think he would like to continue his nap, Pinkie,” Twilight replied, knowing that this was what Star Twinkle wanted right now.
Pinkie Pie was okay with that and claimed that then there was more for her before she swallowed the cake in her hoof in one big swoop, causing everypony to laugh. Star Twinkle wasn't aware that he was talked about but their laughter woke him and he stretched his legs a little while attempting to go back to sleep again.
While enjoying their little tea party, the girls noticed how Spike came running towards them in a hasty manner. In fact, he looked a little worried as if he had something important to tell them. He stopped in front of Twilight and wanted one moment to catch his breath. After that, he spits out a scroll in front of her hooves. She levitated it above the ground and read out what it had to say.
“Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot,”
She stopped for a moment in the middle of the letter to try and remember what wedding the princess wrote about but neither her or her friends knew something about it. Star Twinkle also overheard Twilight's words and began to think but he didn't know anything either so out of curiosity he peeled his ears to listen what the rest of the letter said.
Twilight then continued, “I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion,”
Apparently, everypony was given a task to fulfill in order to prepare for the wedding.
Fluttershy was assigned to provide the music with her bird choir,
Pinkie Pie was supposed to handle the reception with Applejack in charge of the catering of it,
Rainbow Dash should do a Sonic Rainboom at the end of the wedding,
and Rarity was assigned to design the dresses for the bride and the bridesmaids.
Naturally, every single one of them was excited that the princess was putting them in charge of some important task with the exception of Star Twinkle who yet had to find out what the princess had in mind for him.
“Let me guess...I am supposed to do the decoration or build the altar or something, right?” He thought annoyed, not feeling all too excited to work at all.
“And as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all: Making sure that everything goes as planned,” Twilight continued who was wondering why Star Twinkle wasn't assigned to something yet but she kept on reading until she came across his name in the letter.
“I'm afraid that I don't have a task in mind for Star Twinkle...” she read stopping midway confused.
Star Twinkle didn't know if he should feel offended that he was the only one left out but o the other hoof, he was happy that he didn't have to do anything and sighed in relief.
“But still, I would like to invite you to Canterlot as well. I've been told that in every visit to Canterlot, you were busy in some sort of way and didn't have enough time. So I would like to give you the time so that you can finally visit your parents,”
“What!?” He exclaimed shocked, making everypony notice that he was awake now, turning their heads towards him surprised.
“See you all very soon. Yours, Princess Celestia,” Twilight continued finishing the letter. However, she turned the letter around to find some kind of indication who was supposed to get married. To that, Spike explained that there was another letter that he was supposed to give her first which he quickly gave to her as well. She continued by reading this letter as well.
“Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and...” she paused before she read out the other name and gasped in surprise “My brother?!“
“Brother?” Star Twinkle wondered, hearing the first time about Twilight having a brother.
Applejack congratulated Twilight for the wedding, however she didn't seem to happy. She didn't know that her brother was getting married until now and it bothered her that it was told to her by a letter instead of her brother. Not only that, but it frustrated her that he would marry somepony that she didn't even know. This Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.
Personally, Star Twinkle didn't understand her frustration. Her brother was obviously not living with her anymore and probably had his own life to deal with, making it hard to involve Twilight into it. But then again, Star Twinkle was in no position to say that. He wasn't in contact with his parents as well and didn't tell them about what happened recently. They probably were mad at him too.
While still being mad, Twilight also looked a little upset. Out of worry, Fluttershy asked if Twilight was alright and Twilight replied that she and her brother were really close and that it saddened that she was told about the wedding like this.
“Sorry, it's just that Shining Armor and I have always been so close. He's my B.B.B.F.F!“
This term confused everypony so Twilight explained. Apparently, B.B.B.F.F stood for “Big Brother Best Friend Forever”. He was the only friend that Twilight had back then as a filly. So it must be hard for her that her only friend from back then didn't seem to care about her anymore.
Sometimes Star Twinkle forgets that Twilight wasn't interested in friendship before she met the others. It raised the question if he would have reacted the same way if it was him in this situation. But he wasn't. Right now he had other worries. Like dealing with his parents. However, he could tell that Twilight became sad about just thinking her brother. After leaving her home in Canterlot she didn't really realize that she was missing him so much up until now.
Star Twinkle was thinking about some encourages words but Applejack was faster and comforted her, saying that she believed that her brother sounded like a good guy.
“Shining Armor is pretty special. I mean, they don't let just anypony be captain of the Royal Guard,” Twilight replied, much to the surprise of Rarity who couldn't believe that they were not only helping out for a wedding for a princess but also a captain of the Royal Guard. Needless to say, the others were pretty excited too and couldn't wait to head to Canterlot.
Star Twinkle was also surprised. Twilight's mentor is Princess Celestia herself and her brother is one of her Royal Guards. Not everypony could say that from themselves. That he ever would be a friend with somepony like that was kind of unbelievable for him.
“But looks like not only Twilight can meet up with her family soon,” Applejack said in her excitement, making Star Twinkle remember what was about to happen sooner or later.
“Yeah! Now that you were in invited to Canterlot without doing something, like working on a Hearts Warming Eve play or visiting a dessert competition, you have all day to visit your parents!” Pinkie Pie added, showing clearly more excitement than Star Twinkle himself.
“Yeah...great isn't it?” He replied awkwardly.
It became not unnoticed how uncomfortable he was right now, even though he tried to avoid that at all costs. His friends wondered why he wasn't happy at all and became a little worried.
“Are you not happy to see your parents?” Fluttershy asked concerned.
Twilight, who most likely understood him best right now also wondered why he reacted like that.
“You haven't seen them for a while now, right? ” She asked.
“Yeah...” he replied a little frustrated.
Applejack came to a quick conclusion.
“Don't tell me you are in a fight with your parents?!” She almost said in shock.
This caused the group to look at each other worriedly as they all came to the same conclusion but Star Twinkle stopped them before the situation would get out if hoof.
“No, no, nothing like that!” He quickly responded to calm them all down.
When they asked him why he was so upset, Star Twinkle hesitated for a moment. It wasn't like him to talk about personal stuff like this. He never thought that it was this big of a deal to discuss it with his friends so he avoided everything that would lead up to this topic in the past. But now he was cornered and pretty much didn't have any choice but to tell them.
“It's nothing special, really. It's just...” He paused for a moment, thinking that his explanation wouldn't make much sense for the girls because he thought it was silly but he eventually continued.
“I haven't seen them after the Nightmare Moon and Element's of Harmony incident, Discord or the Storm Wings. So much stuff has happened recently...I just don't know how I should tell my parents all about this or how they would react...”
As expected. They didn't know what problem he saw in this and tried to convince him that it wasn't that bad as he might think but from his perspective, he thought that they were only being nice. Rarity was the first one who tried to comfort him.
“Why are so concerned about that? What do you think is the worst that could happen” Rarity asked.
“I don't know...maybe it's the same reason why Twilight is worried about her brother,” Star Twinkle replied to which Twilight quickly realized what he was getting at.
“You're afraid that they think that you don't care about them anymore?” She said.
“Maybe...I never really was on bad terms with my parents when they raised me here in Ponyville but after they decided to move to Canterlot, I refused to come with them. Since then, things became a little more complicated, I think...” Star Twinkle explained to his friends.
“Maybe they were mad because you didn't go with them?” Pinkie Pie said boldly, causing Rarity to poke her sides because of her direct answer.
“If you don't mind me asking, why did you refuse to go with them?” Twilight asked out of curiosity in order to get to the bottom of the problem.
“That's because...” He instantly stopped in the middle of the sentence after realizing something.
“...because...”
The others looked at him in anticipation until he answered but Star Twinkle seemed to struggle, much to his own confusion. Before he knew it, he tried to come up with an answer in his mind.
“...wait...what was the reason? Right! I don't remember! Now that I think about it, I didn't bother too much to try to remember. But it wasn't that long ago. I should be able to remember. What was it?”
The others still waited for an answer from Star Twinkle but they became a little worried by his behavior. His face looked like he was trying way too hard to remember. He put one of his hooves on his head and tried more and more to come up with an answer which only worried his friends even more.
“Star Twinkle?” Twilight said out of worry seeing him struggle like this.
“What was the reason? I feel like it was something very important! What was it? I clearly remember how they told me that they wanted to leave Ponyville but when I try to remember my answer...there is nothing!
…
Why does my head hurt so much thinking about it?”
“Star Twinkle!” Twilight then exclaimed out of concern.
“Huh?” Star Twinkle replied confused.
He realized how everypony was staring at him. They probably waited for his answer and wondered why he didn't reply until Twilight woke him up from inside of his thoughts. He felt really awkward right now and tried to change the subject as quick as possible.
“We should probably go to the train station before the next train departs!” He said hastily pointing at the direction where the train station was at, luckily Pinkie Pie was falling for it and prompted everypony to hurry to the train station. Either that or she did it because she knew that Star Twinkle was feeling uncomfortable and just saved him. He took the opportunity and went to the train station as well but he knew that not everypony was forgetting this, especially Twilight who threw an analyzing expression towards him.
Later...
The seven ponies were inside of the train and on their way to Canterlot to get to their assigned tasks as soon as possible or on Star Twinkle's case, visiting his parents.
Star Twinkle was looking out of the window the whole time, distancing himself from the others, who had their own concerns right now. Twilight, who noticed his upset expression sat next to him in order to say some confirming words.
“You are really that worried about what your parents are going to say?”
“Yeah...” he replied not even looking at her.
“You know...we are in a very similar situation right now. When I read that Shining Armor was getting married, I thought that I was no longer important to him like before...
You fear that your parents would think about you the same way...”
“I don't know...
I mean, how do you tell your parents something like that after such a long time?
It's not like I can just say:
Hey, by the way, I fought against a mare who wanted to bring eternal darkness over Equestria,
I was chosen by one of the Elements of Harmony, the most powerful magic in Equestria,
then I helped to stop the god of Chaos, Discord who once ruled over Equestria,
and after that, I prevented a group of Pegasi who wanted to steal the Elements of Harmony for their crazy power hungry Unicorn leader,”
“Not per letter...that's for sure...” Twilight replied, still showing some anger towards her brother for not telling her about the wedding.
This reaction was prove enough for him. He could tell that Twilight was also upset because of her own family. If he would come through the door with all these big changes, chances were that they would be mad too. At least that's what he feared the most. They would probably think that they were no longer important anymore to him and feel bad which potentially would hurt his relationship with them. He was no longer lonely anymore but that didn't mean that he doesn't want to be in contact with his parents anymore. It just frustrated him.
The train was finally getting closer to Canterlot and it was unavoidable anymore for him to leave now. However, something was strange. As they entered the town, the train passed through some kind of barrier on the way. While nopony was bothered by that, they still wondered what that was about.
When they all walked outside of the train, the group was practically greeted by a huge amount of Royal Guards, who kept a close eye on every one of them.
“Whoa, what's with all the guards?” Rainbow Dash wondered as she spotted the guards.
“I'm sure they're just taking the necessary precautions. Royal weddings do bring out the strangest ponies,” Rarity replied as she walked out.
Moments later, Pinkie Pie walked out and sneezed confetti which only confirmed Rarity's statement.
They all decided to go to work as soon as possible to get everything done for the wedding. Twilight instantly went with an angry expression on her face, through the guards to confront her brother Shining Armor. Star Twinkle was the only one left in the station and let out a big sigh before he also went on his way to his parent's house.
He took it really slow and walked towards the direction of his parent's house while still thinking about what to say and trying to predict what they might say. They only knew him as a lonely pony who wasn't interested in friendship but they soon will know him as one of the ponies who saved Equestria. Any normal pony would probably brag about all that stuff.
“Argh! This is so frustrating!” Star Twinkle exclaimed grabbing his head with one of his hooves and closing his eyes to think.
“I am probably worried about nothing, right? They probably don't even care, right?”
Suddenly, somepony walked right into him, causing him to fall over to the ground. Before Star Twinkle knew what happened, he rubbed his head because of that painful impact and tried to get on his hooves again. He noticed how he was either walking into somepony or that somepony walked into him. The other pony still laid on the ground with his face down. It seemed to be a stallion with a light brown coat and a dark brown mane. He also noticed a light bulb Cutie Mark on the ponies flank.
“Are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't look where I was walking to...” Star Twinkle apologized.
He was not sure if it was his own or the other ponies fault that caused this but he didn't want to cause an argument right now. The stallion looked up and opened his eyes, revealing his bright orange eyes. After looking at Star Twinkle his facial expression quickly changed from surprised to angry and he jumped on his hooves and put his face closer to Star Twinkle.
“You should be! I was in the middle of a thought! But now it's gone!” The pony said in a really stressed manner, speaking out this words so fast as if he didn't have time to talk with Star Twinkle.
The thing that Star Twinkle wanted to avoid the most happened. He still had to go to his parents and didn't have time to argue with some random pony. There was no reason for this pony to get so angry all of the sudden. Star Twinkle looked at him and didn't find bruises or anything similar for what he could get angry about. However, he did notice that he was wearing a necklace around his neck with a hoof on it and wondered what that was about.
“I'm sorry I-” Star Twinkle tried to apologize but the pony quickly interrupted him.
“Oh wait! There it is again! All good!” He then said, instantly turning from angry to happy while also grinning widely.
This sudden mood change left Star Twinkle surprised.“...Okay...” he replied confused, not sure how to react to this ponies behavior.
“But what am I doing? I have no time to talk with you! I have to prepare myself for the attack!” The pony said, turning away from Star Twinkle.
“Attack? What attack?” Star Twinkle asked confused.
“On Canterlot of course! We're being attacked soon! Look at the signs! The wedding, the shield, the guards! ” The pony explained stressful while doing some random gestures along with it.
“Don't worry. Just because they placed some guards in Canterlot because of the wedding, doesn't mean that we are getting attacked,” Star Twinkle assured.
However, the pony didn't seem to listen to him at all. In fact, he was mumbling some stuff to himself instead of paying attention to Star Twinkle.
“Hey? Were you listening? We won't get attacked so don't worry...” Star Twinkle assured once more, seeing how this pony stressed himself out more and more.
Star Twinkle tried to grab this ponies shoulder with one of his hooves but the moment when he touched him, the pony turned his head to him and shouted:
“ISN'T IT OBVIOUS?!” He said out in panic, causing some ponies near those two to stare at Star Twinkle and crazy pony in front of him which made Star Twinkle feel a little awkward.
“What?” Star Twinkle replied, feeling a little uncomfortable because of the other ponies stares towards him.
“But what am I doing? You have to prepare yourself, Tinker! You have to defend yourself! There is no way that they will steal my precious inventions!” The Earth Pony said before he ran off into the streets again.
Star Twinkle was not sure what to make out of this encounter. This pony was needlessly stressed out for nothing and he had no idea to react to this madness of a pony. But he didn't bother care anymore about it and just let him walk away.
“This pony...is crazy...” he said to himself before he was on his way to his parents again.
A few minutes later...
Star Twinkle found himself in front of a door. The door that leads to his parent's house. It was now that he realized how nervous he was again. He began to sweat and was even too afraid to knock on the door.
“Come on! Just get it over with...It won't be that bad...You are just visiting your parents after a long time...”
He eventually, took a deep breath and closed his eyes while he knocked on the door several times. Probably way too many times. But now it was too late. He played with the thought of running away before the door opened but he feared that it could open any second.
After a few seconds, a pony of a tall and slender figure opened the door with a glare on his face directed towards Star Twinkle. It was his father. He was an Earth Pony with a bright yellow coat, a light green mane and a sun in front of a cloud as Cutie Mark, Star Twinkle could feel that he wasn't expecting to see his son at the door, making the green pony a little nervous.
“Hi, dad...” Star Twinkle greeted his father with an awkward smile on his face.
“Son...” His father replied calmly, with his light green eyes still focused on his son without blinking or turning away once.
There was an awkward silence, much how Star Twinkle expected it to be. It was to be expected after such a long time. But he also expected how the greeting would go from now and prepared himself. Eventually, the big slender pony broke the silence and his facial expression slowly began to change until he shouted at Star Twinkle.
“Son!” The tall slender pony then exclaimed with a wide grin on his face before he rushed to Star Twinkle and lifted him above the ground as if it was nothing, hugging him in the process.
“Yes, I'm happy to see you too dad...” Star Twinkle said while pleading that he would let him go before he suffocated.
“Honey! Look who came to visit!” He shouted towards inside of the house.
Moments later, another pony showed up in the doorway. An Earth-Pony mare with a light blue coat, a dark blue mane, and three raindrops as a Cutie Mark stepped forward with a surprised look on her face, hesitating to say anything at first.
“Starfall?” The mare said in surprise, widening her eyes.
“Hey, mom,” Star Twinkle greeted towards his mother.
Star Twinkle felt a little uncomfortable hearing his full name after such a long time. It was only one more sign how awkward things could get from now.
“Look! It's our son!” Star Twinkle's father exclaimed happily to his wife pointing at Star Twinkle.
“Yes, honey...I know how our son looks like,” she replied in a mildly annoyed tone in her voice.
She turned around and walked inside again but not before looking back at Star Twinkle. “Well, don't stand there in the doorway...Come inside...” Star Twinkle's mother said in order to invite him inside of the house.
Star Twinkle nodded nervously as he remembered that it was practically his home too and that there was no reason for him to stay outside. He looked around and inspected everything to see if anything changed since the last time he was there. Everything felt so clean and quiet. There was nothing special to look at except some old pictures of him and his parents, some flowers, a long mirror on the wall, a chimney and much more. For anypony else, it might look special but for him, it was pretty boring and normal looking. It looked exactly how he remembered it. Before his parents left Ponyville, they would spend time in Canterlot occasionally and every time they did, they would spend time in this house so for him it felt like a second home, making him feel a little nostalgic.
His parents both walked into the living room, which was just at the end of the floor from the entrance. There were two couches with a table between it. Star Twinkle sat down on one of the couches while his father sat on the other one while leaving moderately big space for his wife to sit down.
“Tea?” His mother offered, levitating a tea can over her head that she brought from the kitchen.
“What!? Oh! Yes, please...” He replied nervously.
“I'll take some too! But with much sugar!” Star Twinkle's father demanded with a smile on his face.
“I know, I know,” his wife replied as she returned the tea can to the kitchen.
His mother then purred down some tea into a cup
“So, how is Steel Hammer doing? Still running the Iron Hammer?”
His father's name was Sunny Twinkle. He used to work in the Iron Hammer along with Steel Hammer but that was before Star Twinkle was born. After he got married, he was taking care of the household and gave up his job there. Sunny Twinkle was unlike the rest of the family very cheerful and easygoing. Star Twinkle nodded and informed his father that the Iron Hammer was doing fine just like Steel Hammer. Now that he meet Pinkie Pie, he realized how much his dad reminded him of her. His father could also be pretty random and behaves mostly a little childish. He also tends to get overly emotional at times often even annoying Star Twinkle's mother. Star Twinkle always wondered how his mother fell for him to put it mildly.
“I assume that you also still work in there?” Star Twinkle's mother asked as she sat down next to her husband.
Star Twinkle's mother's name was Rainfall Twinkle. She is a business pony in Canterlot. Star Twinkle never actually knew what exactly she was doing. When he was younger, he didn't saw much of her work and probably didn't understood it anyway. In Ponyville she was able to attend her work at home and she often had to travel to Canterlot which made it hard to find out what exactly she was doing and after they returned to Canterlot...he didn't care anymore. At first glance, she seems a little strict or even cold but Star Twinkle would lie if he would say that she wasn't a good mother to him. She clearly was the one who left the most influence on Star Twinkle's character.
“It has been quite some time since you visited us...did you run into some problems?” His mother asked with some concern on her face.
“No, no, no, nothing like that, I just came because I wanted to talk about some stuff since I will spend some time here,” Star Twinkle replied.
“Why is that?”
“Oh! He probably is working here for a few days and has time to visit his dear old parents,” Sunny Twinkle guessed.
“Actually no...I was invited here by the princess and-”
“THE PRINCESS!?” They both exclaimed in shock while spitting out their tea in the process.
“Oh yeah! I forgot! Getting an invitation from the princess is actually a big deal! Why did I just say it out like that!?”
“How did you became so lucky to get invited by Princess Celestia!?” His mother asked with wide eyes.
“Actually, my friends were invited here and-”
“YOU HAVE FRIENDS!?” Both of them exclaimed shocked.
Star Twinkle, jumped after this sudden reaction and almost fell from his chair because he didn't expect a reaction like that again.
It was a disaster. If they would react to that like this, then there was no telling how they would react to him saving Equestria a few times. It was so awkward. Of course, he would get a reaction like that. He should have seen it coming. Visiting his parents was a really bad idea. He can't just visit them after such a long time and expect a normal, casual conversation with them. Writing a letter to them sounded a lot better now.
His parents sat down normally again, trying to calm themselves down. They were clearly embarrassed to react like that and knew that Star Twinkle must have felt uncomfortable now. But he couldn't even blame them for that. It was a lot of important information at once.
“I mean...that's good! Really good! You should introduce them to us sometime!” Sunny Twinkle said while he rubbed his neck embarrassed.
Star Twinkle knew that the subject would lean towards that. For them, Star Twinkle was just some lonely pony who had troubles to find friends. Of course, they wanted him to find some over the years and all of the sudden he walks into their house and tells them exactly that. Maybe they were that shocked because he told them about the princess before. Whatever it was, the conversation went a lot more awkward from that point on.
“I can tell you some stuff about them...If you want...” Star Twinkle suggested.
His parents then looked at each other confused but they eventually took up that offer and were ready to listen to their son.
“That would be lovely...” His mother replied as she and her husband smiled warmly awaiting what Star Twinkle was about to say.
“Well, with whom should I start with...”
Later that evening...
He spent hours talking about his friends and what he did all this time with them in Ponyville. They listened to everything and asked questions, as expected, to find out more and more. However, he made sure that he didn't mention anything about Nightmare Moon, The Elements of Harmony, Discord or the Storm Wings. He felt bad for keeping that a secret from them but he thought it would be the best like that. They probably already thought that they were no longer important enough for Star Twinkle because he didn't tell them all the recent changes before. They probably felt exactly like Twilight right now after hearing that her brother got married before even telling it to her personally.
He was offered to stay for the night at his parent's house but he felt like he should look after his friends before that. Even if it was at that late hour. He had no idea how the wedding preparations went so far but he was sure that his friends would have taken care of everything by now and didn't worried too much. However, that changed after he saw Twilight walking towards him with her head lowered in sadness. It instantly captured his attention and he quickly walked up to her to find out what was wrong.
“Twilight? What's wrong? You look really down right now,”
She raised her head after Star Twinkle spoke to her, only realizing just now that somepony was talking to her.
“Star Twinkle? I completely forgot! How did you visit with you parents went?” She quickly asked, making it feel really out of context for Star Twinkle since he was more worried about her right now.
“Don't worry about that! What about you? You look really sad...”
“Yes...I guess I am...” she replied not even bother to hide her sadness in front of Star Twinkle.
“Is it still because of your brother?” Star Twinkle guessed.
“No...that is no longer an issue. Now it's Cadence...” Twilight said with some bitterness in her voice and an angry glare towards from where she was coming from.
“Cadence?” Star Twinkle asked confused.
“Yes! Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is no other than my old beloved foal-sitter!”
“...and...that is bad?”
“At first I really liked the idea that Shining Armor would marry her but as it turns out, she is horrible!” Twilight exclaimed without realizing or not caring how loud her voice became out of anger.
“The others did all their best and helped out for the wedding but Cadance was so mean to all of them and they don't even realize what a horrible pony she really is because she decided to make them her new bridesmaids after her old ones “mysteriously” disappeared. And now everypony thinks I am overly possessive about my brother and won't believe me!” Twilight explained in one big rush, making her fall down on her front knees out of frustration and turning around from Star Twinkle to hide her frustration.
And here Star Twinkle thought that he had problems right now. Twilight was completely done and totally beside herself. It made Star Twinkle almost sad himself to see her like that. Of course, he felt like saying something but he didn't know what. He didn't even met this Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or knew anything about her to judge if Twilight was right or wrong. He was about to touch her shoulder but Twilight raised her head before that and broke her silence.
“You...” Twilight said quietly turning her head around to look at Star Twinkle with eyes that were about to tear up at any second.
“You believe me...right?” She said with a voice that could have crumbled just by saying those words.
He was not sure of that himself. There was no reason for Twilight to lie, he thought. But even if she was overprotective about her brother, it was not up to him if those two would end up marrying each other. But Twilight was probably not expecting that. Right now, she only wanted somepony to believe her. Make her feel that she was not alone. If she was Star Twinkle, then being alone would not be the problem but Twilight was not like him. She wanted somepony to be on her side to make her feel that she is right. And as a pony who still tries to learn what it means to be a friend, Star Twinkle felt like supporting her. Because that is what friends do, he thought.
“I don't know this Cadance or what she has done or even what she is after...but...
If you tell me that something is wrong with her, then I believe you!” Star Twinkle replied determined.
Twilight managed to form a light smile and rubbed her eyes a little, even though there were no tears in them. Star Twinkle offered one hoof to get her up and she accepted and let herself getting lifted up again.
“But...if she really is that mean and you shouldn't marry her, then what about the wedding tomorrow?” Star Twinkle asked, pointing out the obvious problem.
“I will think about something...I have to! Until then I just have to endure her...”
“Well, It's pretty late now anyway. You should get some sleep until that. I will go back to my parent's house and spent my night there so I guess we see each other tomorrow morning,”
“Okay. I'll see you tomorrow,” Twilight replied, her mood seeming to be a lot better now.
She seemed to return to from where she was coming from and Star Twinkle did so too. He could have visited the others to see how they were doing but it was probably a little complicated right now so he went back to his parent's house.
When he entered the door he was greeted by his father who was surprised that his son got back so early. Star Twinkle assured that everything was taken care of and of course, his father believed him.
"That's good! Better go to sleep early if you want to spend the day with them tomorrow," his father said.
"Will do..."
Star Twinkle walked to where his room was. His mother waited in front of it as well and greeted him. He then walked into his room and took a look inside and was positively surprised.
“It looks exactly like I remember it...” Star Twinkle said impressed as he scanned his eyes trough the room.
There was not much in this room and it more looked like a room for a little foal. There were hoof-drawn pictures hanging on the wall, a bed in the corner of the room with some toys under it, some books on a shelf and more. Not much has changed since Star Twinkle eventually moved to Canterlot again but it looked exactly like he remembered it from his visits as a foal, back when he and his parents lived in Ponyville. It made him feel quite nostalgic.
“It's late. You're probably tired, right?” Star Twinkle's mother guessed. “But if you need something, me and your dad are still up for a while...”
“Actually, there is something I want to ask you if you don't mind...” Star Twinkle said, causing his mother to react rather surprised.
“Of course, what is it?”
“Let's see...” Star Twinkle said putting a hoof on his chin in order to think. “I got this friend who was is in some kind of trouble. This friend seems to have found out something about somepony and can't convince everypony else to believe her. Which side should I take? If she is wrong and everypony has a good reason to not believe her then would it be bad if I don't believe her as well?”
His mother took a moment to think but eventually came up with a confident answer. “What do you think is right?”
“Hey, that's not fair! I wanted a clear answer!” Star Twinkle replied rather frustrated.
However, his mother still believed in her own words and explained. “Sometimes, believing in what you think is right is just the best decision...Not everything seems how it looks like at first. So the only way to find out an answer is to come up with your own,”
“And let's say...if I don't come up with one?” Star Twinkle replied in order to trick his mother to give a better advice.
“You will find the right answer, if this friend is important to you, Starfall,” his mother assured before she walked away, leaving Star Twinkle without an answer that he wanted to hear.
However, he took the advice from before and headed straight to his bed in order to get some sleep. It was too late to worry about Twilight right now anyway, he thought. She did say before that she would figure out something and Star Twinkle just had to believe in that.
He had a strange dream that night. It was a scene that he remembered all too well. It was the day when his parents were about to move to Canterlot. They walked up to him and tried to convince him to come with him but Star Twinkle refused and wanted to stay. He remembered everything like it was yesterday, every word they said at that day, except his answer...
“Are you sure that you don't want to come with us?” His mother asked to confirm her son's choice.
“Living in Canterlot can be fun too!” His father added excitedly, trying to convince Star Twinkle.
Star Twinkle looked down to the ground for a moment but he quickly raised it again with a bright smile on his face and looked at his parents face happily.
“I'm completely sure. I want to stay here in Ponyville. This is my home. I can't leave ---.
This is where ---” some of his words were missing. The part where he would explain his reasons to his parents.
The next morning...
The dream ended abruptly and before he knew it, Star Twinkle was awake again. The day of the wedding has now arrived and he still hasn't even met Twilight's brother or this Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Everypony probably was done with the preparations and wondered where Star Twinkle was so he made haste to at least show up at the wedding in time.
When he was leaving his room, his parents seemed to be still asleep, which was good. He didn't want to lie to them or explain that he was about to head to the wedding of a princess. The more he thought about not telling his parents, the more he felt bad about it. It felt like doing something terrible. However, right now he had other worries so he left the house without bothering them and went to Princess Celestia's castle.
Luckily, he knew where the wedding was going to start so it didn't take too long till he got there. He stopped in front of a great closed door that would lead to the hall where the wedding was held. There was a pony standing in front of the door who turned around once she noticed Star Twinkle.
She was a mare with a pink coat and a multicolored mane consisting of white, pink and purple stripes, purple eyes and light blue crystal heart as a Cutie Mark. Star Twinkle also instantly recognized that the mare in front of him had a horn, as well as two wings on her back. She also wore similar garments as Princess Celestia and Luna. He put the pieces together and figured that this would mean that it was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.
“Who are you?” She said a little annoyed after Star Twinkle walked up to her.
Star Twinkle got nervous at first, talking with a princess but he was in hurry and just talked away anyway.
“Sorry I'm just here for the wedding...could it be that you -”
But then suddenly, the door opened and revealed Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Princess Celestia and some stallion that he didn't know.
“-Then, of course, Cadance will enter and-” Princess Celestia said but she stopped as soon as she saw Star Twinkle.
They all looked at him confused and Star Twinkle felt kinda embarrassed, even though he didn't exactly know what he did to deserve those looks.
“What is going on here?” He asked obliviously.
“We are practicing for the wedding ceremony,” Pinkie Pie replied in her usual excitement.
Star Twinkle quickly understood and apologized for the interruption but nopony seemed to be mad at him except Cadance who was giving him a little glare.
“Don't worry about it, we still have plenty of time until the wedding starts,” Princess Celestia assured, making Star Twinkle feel a little better.
“You can come and join us here, we were about to get to the last part,”
“Right!” Star Twinkle said before he ran to his friends in order to no longer interrupt them.
He looked at the Unicorn stallion on his right. He had a white coat, a mane consisting of various blue colors and light blue eyes and dark blue shield with a light purple star inside of it as Cutie Mark. The star inside of the shield looked exactly like the one that Twilight had as a Cutie Mark. It was obvious who he was when Princess Cadance was waiting outside. He must have been Shining Armor, Twilight's brother.
The stallion realized that he was looked at and took the opportunity to introduce himself. “We haven't met before, have we? My name is Shining Armor,” he said politely.
“You are Twilight's brother, right?” Star Twinkle guessed.
“I am. By the way, have you seen her anywhere? She is supposed to be here too,” Shining Armor asked a little worried.
The others were confident that she would show up on time and Star Twinkle agreed too. However, her reasons might not be the ones that everypony was expecting.
Star Twinkle couldn't help but think about what Twilight said about Cadance. His first impression of Shining Armor didn't seem too bad but he didn't have much time to talk with Cadance so far. She did glare at him before but that could have been because Star Twinkle interrupted them before. He can't let that be the only reason to mistrust her. But on the other hoof, he was kind of hoping that what Twilight said was true so that he could believe her. Because right now, there was no evidence that everything she said was true.
“Let's try this again, shall we?” Princess Celestia suggested in order to keep the practice for the wedding running again.
Two Royal Guards, next to the door, opened the giant door with their magic and revealed Princess Cadance who slowly walked into the hall. Shining Armor was clearly excited seeing his future bride walking up to him. Everypony else also seemed happy with the exception of Star Twinkle who just overlooked the whole scene skeptically.
“I'll say a few words, and then we'll begin with the vows. Shining Armor, you'll get the ring from your best mare,”
Then, almost on cue, Twilight appeared at the door.
“Stop this! I'm not gonna stand next to her! And neither should you!” She exclaimed.
Of course, those words were not exactly what everypony wanted to hear right now. Shining Armor even seemed a little embarrassed about the way her sister behaved.
“I'm sorry, I... I don't know why she's acting like this,” he said to Princess Cadance, who clearly wasn't happy about this at all.
“Maybe we should just ignore her,” she suggested throwing a glare towards Twilight.
Fluttershy and Applejack tried to calm her down and maybe talk some sense into her but Twilight didn't even think about listening to them and walked straight up to Cadance and Shining Armor, claiming that she had something important to say.
“Twilight, what are you doing?” Star Twinkle worried. “Is this your plan? If she is doing what I am thinking than things could not work out well,”
Twilight straight out pointed at Cadance and said: ”She's evil!” Obviously, not to the liking of her brother. But she didn't stop there. She continued and teleported herself next to Cadance almost harassing her and making her walk back in shock.
“She's been horrible to my friends, she's obviously done something to her bridesmaids, and if that wasn't enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all crazy!”
Princess Cadance didn't know how to respond to this. She was practically pinned down by Twilight's words. Twilight, however, did not seem to stop and smiled at her confidently. Moments later, Princess Cadance began to tear up and started to cry.
“Why are you doing this to me?!” She said with tears running out of her eyes before she ran away and out of the hall.
“Because you're evil! And if I don't stop you, you're gonna ruin my brother's life!” Twilight said after her, showing no remorse at all.
There was silence in the hall. Nopony knew what to say after that. Everypony looked shocked and couldn't believe that Twilight would talk to Cadance like that. Star Twinkle feared the worst because what Twilight did didn't prove anything. Cadance may or may not be mean but scaring her off like that was not the right decision at this moment. It instead, made everything even worse.
When Twilight walked back into the hall with a confident smile on her face, her brother stood immediately in front of her with a really angry look on his face as he confronted his sister in front of everypony.
“You want to know why my eyes went all “crazy”? It's Because ever since I started having to perform my protection spell around Canterlot, I've been getting terrible migraines. Cadance hasn't been casting spells on me. She's been using her magic to heal me! And she decided to replace her bridesmaids because she found out the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding was so that they could meet Canterlot royalty! And if she hasn't been on her best behavior with your friends, it's because with me being so busy, she's had to make all the decisions about the wedding!“
And now everything went worse after Shining Armor explained everything. Another thing that Star Twinkle feared. Twilight's accusations were all wrong and had some reasoning behind it. This made it really hard to take Twilight's side at this point.
Twilight tried to apologize but Shining Armor was too angry to let her and continued with his speech.
“She's been completely stressed out because it's really important to her that our big day be perfect! Something that obviously wasn't important to you! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and comfort my bride,” he said before he was about to leave the throne room. “And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all,” he said before he left the hall so that he could go after Cadance.
Shining Armors speech was, of course, leaving a big impact on the group as well. If they haven't believed Twilight before, now they have all the more reason. Applejack was the first to step forward, suggesting that they should go and look after the princess. As they all walked past her, nopony even bothered to look at her, even her always so kind teacher looked at her disappointed as she walked past her student.
This only left Star Twinkle and Twilight in the hall. Twilight was about to tear up and looked at Star Twinkle. But she was too ashamed and sad to look at him for long and turned her head away from him. The green Earth-Pony didn't know how to react to this. He could leave like the others did or he could stay and try to comfort Twilight but he had the feeling that neither of those things would make the situation better. He eventually, walked up to her a little and tried to say something.
“Um...” Was all that Star Twinkle could say at this moment but Twilight looked away ashamed.
“Please...Just go...” She said, heartbroken as she walked away from him in direction of the stairs where her friends stood before.
He didn't want to leave but he also didn't know what to do so he quietly walked away from the hall also with a sad expression on is face.
He eventually, joined the others as they were on their way to find Princess Cadance. They advised him to leave Twilight alone. At first, glance that seemed like a mean thing to say but after what she has caused right now, this was probably the right thing to do.
"How would have thought that Twilight would go this far?" Fluttershy said confused.
“Yes...She was probably just overprotective about her brother,” Rarity added.
Star Twinkle did not bother to listen to their words. He was thinking about the situation himself as he walked along with them.
“This...is the right thing to do now...right?
She was wrong...It was just a misunderstanding...right?
I need to walk away now...she did something wrong so I have all the reason to be disappointed...”
“I hope the princess is not to upset to attend the wedding herself,” Applejack said worriedly.
“We just have to make sure that she is in good spirit again!” Pinkie Pie said in a unfitting upbeat manner.
“If this is the right thing to do...then why does it feel so wrong?
I want to move away but my body is struggling with every step I make...
Why is that?”
“I hope my Sonic Rainboom at the end of the wedding can cheer her up again...“ Rainbow Dash said also worried about the princess.
As the girls walked away, the didn't seem to notice that Star Twinkle was no longer following them.
He stood in the middle of the hallway and looked at the ground while in deep thoughts and with a determined expression on his face.
“This is wrong...
I can't walk away...
I don't know what I should...I don't know what I should say...but...
I have to do something!” He thought before he ran back to the big hall where Twilight was in.
“I may not have an answer right now but I will find one!
Because she is an important friend to me!”
Instead of his usual behavior, which is based off from mostly logical thinking, right now only emotions caused him to do this. There was a risk that he could make the situation even worse but he didn't care about that. All he cared about was to support Twilight. Because she needs him at this very moment. Walking away was not an option right now.
He ran towards the giant door and opened it preparing himself to face Twilight. But to his surprise, Twilight wasn't there anymore. It felt weird for him since she was there only a few minutes ago. However, there was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza standing where Twilight was before. This might have been even better since he could try to talk with her in order to make her feel better again.
"Um, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?" Star Twinkle asked as he walked up to her.
“What do you want?” She replied rather annoyed which made sense after what happened a few minutes ago.
Star Twinkle forgot his worries for a second and tried his best to stand up for Twilight in order to make her not feeling angry anymore.
"I know, you may still be upset about what Twilight said but you'll have to understand! She was probably only worrying about her brother. I'm sure that she is sorry by now so please, can you forgive her?" Star Twinkle said in an almost begging tone in his voice.
But the Princess was barely showing any emotions after Star Twinkle's plea. And neither was she showing any interest to it.
“Where is Twilight by the way? She was here a minut-"
"I don't know where she is..." Princess Mi Amore Cadenza said, cutting off Star Twinkle's words as she walked past him.
She didn't even seem to care about Twilight at all for somepony who was her old foal-sitter. However, Star Twinkle didn't give up. He followed the princess and walked beside her. She looked over at him for a moment with a bothered look on her face. She clearly didn't want to talk with him.
"Hey, I'm sure she will come right back and apologize to you and then you can both be friends again. Just like back then when you were her...Foal-sitter,"
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza looked over to Star Twinkle still bothered and tried her best to ignore him.
"You know how she can be...She was always doing stuff like that back then. But it was still fun!"
"What?" She replied confused.
"You remember me, right? It's me Star Twinkle! I always came over to play back then! I know, I know I changed a little over the years, I didn't realize that it was you either, a while ago..."
The princess didn't give any answer and seemed more and more annoyed by Star Twinkle's questions.
“If you think back at those times with us two, then you probably forgive her, right?”
“Alright, alright, I will talk with her when I see her again...because of the “good” times we three had before,”
This caused Star Twinkle to stop with widened eyes."She IS an imposter!" Star Twinkle thought in shock. "She just said us three! But I never met her before in my life!"
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza stopped as well and looked back at Star Twinkle confused.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
Star Twinkle tried not to let her notice but he just realized that this statement meant nothing. It was only a little evidence and was probably not enough. Eventually, the same thing that Twilight did before would happen which raised the question what happened to her in the first place. He had to find her or find out where she was. She was the only one who would support him. And the imposter had most likely something to do with Twilight's disappearance.
"Nothing! I just remembered that I still have to do something for the wedding preparations," he replied slightly panicked before he walked away from Cadance.
After exiting the room, he closed the door behind him and ran across the hall in order to find somepony.
"I have to find somepony and tell them that Twilight was right!" He said while running and looking back occasionally to make sure that Cadance wasn't behind him.
“But who? My friends? Princess Celestia? Or..."
But then Star Twinkle accidentally bumped into somepony while he was looking back. He quickly recognized the white stallion with the blue mane that he bumped into.
"Shining Armor!" Star Twinkle exclaimed in panic.
He stood up again and explained everything as fast as he could. He probably hurt himself a little after bumping into Shining Armor but that didn't concern him right now. Chances were slim that Shining Armor would believe him instead of his little sister but it was the only thing that Star Twinkle could do right now.
"I know you don't want to hear this right now but you have to listen to me! Twilight was probably right! That Cadence is an imposter! And I'm sure that she did something to Twilight! You have to believe me she-"
But Star Twinkle stopped in the middle of the sentence after he looked up to Shining Armor. Something was different. It looked like, he wasn't listening at all. As if he was absent. This was definitely not normal.
"Shining Armor?" Star Twinkle said in concern.
He then heard steps coming from behind him. Star Twinkle knew who was coming closer to him but he still turned around to make sure. It was Princess Mi Amore Cadence or whoever it really was.
This time she was looking at him a little more sinister and Star Twinkle could feel that the worst was yet to come.
"I knew that you were asking far too many questions," she said with a smile building up in her face.
"What did you do with Twilight?" He asked out of fear.
"The same thing that I am about to do with you now,"
Suddenly, green flames surrounded Star Twinkle. He panicked and didn't know what was going on.
All he could see was, green flames and a sinister smile from Cadence, who's eyes have changed to the same color as the green flames.
Then everything went black.
and quiet...
It felt weird. But he couldn't quite put it because he couldn't see. Everything was dark for a while and he felt like he was falling unconscious for a while.
Eventually, his vision adapted to the darkness and he could see something. It was only now that he noticed, that he was hanging upside down from the ceiling, wrapped up into some kind of cocoon.
He was in some kind of cave, which was filled with crystals. But it was not important where he was right now. It didn't change anything. He couldn't get out of the cocoon from himself, no matter how hard he tried.
"Is anypony there!?" Star Twinkle shouted in hope somepony would answer.
But there was no answer...There was only his echo this cave.
"Heeeelp!" He shouted but once again no answer.
He was alone. Nopony probably even knows that he was gone. And even if they noticed, there was no way that they would know where he was. He and Twilight were the only ones who knew about the impostor so if more time is wasted, then Canterlot could be in danger. Along with his friends and...his parents...
They both needed to do something in order to help them all.
But first...
Somepony had to help them...
To be continued...