//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: The Dinner // Story: The Best Man // by Alaborn //------------------------------// The Best Man By Alaborn Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc.  I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein. Chapter 5: The Dinner Friday, June 26, 2020 Ponyville, Principality of Equestria                 Evan awoke to a beam of sunlight directly in his face.  He shut his eyes against the overpowering bright light. His head swam, and his mouth felt like cotton.                 Apparently, even magical talking ponies suffered after drinking too much.                 After a while, the pounding in his head lessened from jackhammer to heavy metal drummer.  Evan slowly pulled himself out of bed and stumbled onto his hooves.                 Evan wandered into the kitchen, hoping for a big breakfast to counteract last night’s overindulgence.  He found Spike there, but unfortunately, there was no breakfast ready.                 “Whoa.  Dude. You look terrible,” Spike said.                 “I’ve felt worse,” Evan replied.  “I could use something to eat.”                 “There’s coffee in the pot, extra strong, and I have a few muffins left over from yesterday.  I didn’t make breakfast this morning, since we’re hosting a brunch for all of the guests later,” he explained.  “Speaking of that, you better hurry.  Your parents are arriving in less than an hour.”                 Evan drank a mug of coffee as fast as he could, and then headed to the bathroom.  A long shower helped clear the fog in his mind, and he managed to be ready with enough time to snag a blueberry muffin from the basket.                 The others were present, too.  John was looking about as bad as Evan, but his little brother was looking perfectly chipper.                 “Glad you finally got up, sleepyhead,” Jason said.                 “Yeah.  Where are we going again?”                 “Same room in the castle as before,” he replied.  “The princess is already there.”                 Arriving at that chamber, the humans saw Twilight Sparkle, watching a clock. The same DMV clerk unicorn was waiting as well.  As the clock struck 10:00 AM, Twilight Sparkle concentrated.  Her horn glowed with an intense violet light as she breached the barrier between universes.  Through the purple miasma, Evan could see shapes that vaguely looked like they were from his brother’s apartment.                 As he watched, he saw shapes in darker purple, shifting and reforming like some bizarre lava lamp.  At times, he saw shapes that looked vaguely human.  At other times, the shapes looked equine.  Finally, the forms coalesced into two distinct equine shapes.  The forms gained color, definition, and depth, all within a second.  Then two ponies fell out of the portal, landing in a heap.                 Evan and Jason helped their parents stand.  Their father came through as a unicorn with a sky blue coat and dark blue and gold mane.  His cutie mark was a grid that looked something like an Excel spreadsheet, appropriate for an accountant.  Their mother was now an earth pony with an orange coat and red and green mane.  Her cutie mark was a tomato vine; while she worked as a teacher’s assistant, her real passion was her garden.                 “How are you feeling?” Jason asked.                 “Like some weird dream.  Everything feels wrong,” his father replied.  He stood shakily on his new hooves.                 “We’re here.  We’re actually here,” his mother said.                 The four family members embraced.  Jason then turned to Twilight Sparkle.  “Princess, these are my parents, Christopher and Janine.”                 Twilight Sparkle greeted them with a big smile.  “On behalf of the ponies and peoples of Equestria, I bid you welcome.”                 The unicorn stallion seated behind them cleared his throat.                 “Ah, yes.  Let’s get your paperwork processed.”                 Evan found it interesting watching his parents go through the same orientation he received three days earlier as the princess tested their bodies. His father even managed to make his magic spark, resulting in sending a wooden block clear across the room.  He didn’t look thrilled to try it again.                 “What are we doing first?” Janine asked.                 “First things first, we have brunch,” Twilight Sparkle replied.                 The first thing Evan detected was the noise, his ears swiveling as he detected the sound of voices.  The dining hall where Evan had taken several of his meals was now crowded, with dozens of ponies he didn’t recognize.  Most were earth ponies, and quite a few looked in awe at being in the castle. And when Princess Twilight Sparkle showed up, the reaction was surprise and shock.  Most of the ponies hurried to lower themselves to the ground in a gesture Evan figured was like bowing.                 “Please rise,” Twilight Sparkle announced.  “I’m not holding court; I’m just sharing a meal with some new friends.”                 Once the ponies rose, Twilight Sparkle continued into the room.  Now, Evan could see that the dining hall was being set up like a buffet.  Ponies manned individual food stations.  There was an omelet station here, a display of pastries there, and waffles being made in the corner.                 A light ringing sounded; Twilight Sparkle had attracted everyone’s attention in the traditional manner, tapping silverware on glass.  The conversation in the room fell to a murmur.                 “I’d like to welcome everypony, and everyone, to the Castle of Friendship. It always warms my heart to see so many ponies coming to celebrate a marriage, and I am honored that Stone Arch and Rose Trellis asked me to join them in marriage in a field of green under the light of the summer sun,” she said.  “For now, let us share a meal.  Some of Ponyville’s restaurants and bakeries are providing food for this meal, as well as for tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s celebration.  We will have more guests arriving through the day, so they will be serving food until late.  So, everypony, let’s eat!”                 “This looks a lot like that Mother’s Day brunch we went to last year,” Janine said.                 “Where do we start?” Christopher wondered.                 “There’s Broken Egg,” Jason said.  “He makes great omelets.”                 Jason led his family to the omelet station.  The cook, an earth pony stallion with a broken egg cutie mark, was deftly making several omelets at a time.  He’d seen human cooks making omelets plenty of times, but this pony was doing it using only his mouth.  He also wondered how ponies handled plates; that was answered when the pony at the front of the line took the plate with her omelet in her mouth, and then balanced it on her back.                 Once he got to the front of the line, Evan saw the omelet toppings, stored in little bins.  Most were familiar, but there were grasses and flowers he didn’t recognize.  He decided to stick with familiar ingredients. “Cheese, green pepper, and onion,” he ordered.                 Once he got his plate, he balanced it on his back like the other ponies did, and walked slowly around the room to get a muffin and some fresh fruit. With that done, he joined his family at the table.  Miraculously, no one had dropped their plate.                 His parents stared at the silverware.  “How do we use this?” Christopher asked.                 Evan lifted his forelegs, which were holding his fork and knife like he’d been using this body all his life.  He shook his head at how normal it now felt.                 Janine took a bite of an orange segment.  “This is really good!” she said.                 “Everything tastes better here, as long as it’s fresh,” Jason said. “Winters suck, but once that first crop comes in, you’ll never want to eat human fruits and vegetables again.”                 “Where’s Rose?” Evan asked.                 “She’s been running back and forth to the train station all day, meeting her relatives.  And she has lots of relatives,” Jason replied.  “Earth pony families are often large.”                 Janine leaned in.  “I can’t wait to see my grandchildren!”                 “Mom!  We’re waiting until after the wedding to for foals,” Jason protested.  “But if everything works out....”                 Janine smiled.  “I’d love to visit in nine months.”                 “Actually, it’s eleven months for ponies,” Jason corrected her.                 “Eleven months,” Christopher said, shaking his head.  “Good luck, son.”                 Evan and his family finished their brunch, and continued to talk for a while after.  Dozens of ponies came and went during the time.  There were extended families ranging from grandparents to infants still in diapers.  Foals ran around the room, and toddlers clung to their mothers’ legs.  He even noticed April Showers, in the company of several other mares.  They all eyed him with a peculiar smile.  April Showers noticed him looking, and flicked her mane flirtatiously.                 Evan looked away, and turned back to his brother.  “What’s on the calendar for today?”                 “Lots of things, but I think the first is....”                 Twilight Sparkle interrupted them by rising and speaking.  “Again, I’d like to welcome everypony to Ponyville and the Castle of Friendship.  We will be serving food for another two hours, but for those who are finished, we have a volunteer offering to teach everypony a few basic dance steps.  This lesson is primarily for our visitors from Earth, but anypony is welcome to participate.  We’ll start with the wedding party.”                 “...that,” Jason finished.                 Evan wasn’t that surprised to find the castle had a ballroom.  He was surprised to find that it had a wooden floor, given every other room had a floor made from that strange purple crystal. The clopping sound of everyone’s hooffalls was strangely loud; for some reason, the crystal floor was quieter.                 Evan was joined by his family and John; several ponies from the crowd at brunch joined them, including a cute pair of children, a colt and filly he guessed were around six years old.                 The ballroom was devoid of decoration and empty, save for a table holding a phonograph.  Two earth ponies were present, a mare and a colt somewhere around that awkward preteen age.                 “Good afternoon,” the mare spoke; she had a vaguely Russian accent. “My name is Hoofer Steps, and this is my student, Tender Taps.  We’re going to introduce you to the basics of Equestrian dance, both traditional and modern. For those of you who haven’t been to a wedding before, there are only a few traditional dances at the start of the celebration.  Afterward, when the popular dance music starts, you can dance more freely.  You won’t become an expert after this lesson, but we can have you dancing better than Princess Twilight Sparkle.”                 That last comment earned chuckles from the crowd.  Only Evan and his parents looked confused.  “How can we dance better than a princess?” Janine whispered.                 “Once you see the princess trying to dance, you’ll understand,” Jason responded.                 “Traditional dance requires balancing on your hind hooves, and thus is always done with a partner.  You must rely on the support of your partner to stay standing, and as such is considered the most intimate of dances,” Hoofer Steps said.  “Tender Taps and I will demonstrate.”                 Tender Taps put a record on the phonograph and returned to the dance floor. The two ponies lowered themselves in that bowing pose, their hooves close together.  Then Tender Taps wrapped one foreleg around Hoofer Steps’s, the two linking at the wrist, or whatever the ponies called it.  They rose on their hind hooves, leaning against each other for support, and placed their other forehoof on their partner’s waist.                 “This looks like the way we dance,” Christopher said.                 Evan nodded.  He was more curious about the ability of ponies to stand on two legs.  He reared, adopting a familiar bipedal stance, but he could only hold it for about thirty seconds.  He noticed John trying to do the same.                 “Forward, left, back,” Hoofer Steps called.  “Then forward, right, back, all in time with the music.  For mares, the steps are opposite, but the pattern is the same, one two three.  The initial bow we demonstrated is traditional, but expected only in formal balls. For tomorrow, you can meet your partner while standing.  Now, please find a partner and practice.”                 Evan paired up with an earth pony mare and waited for Tender Taps to start the music.  When he did, he clumsily grabbed for his partner’s leg.  Fortunately, she compensated, and the two ponies rose in time. Evan still felt the urge to fall, but he was balanced against his dance partner, in a position reminding him of two cards balanced against each other in a house of cards.  As Hoofer Steps called out the steps, Evan danced, taking the lead.  Everything about the dance felt human.  Even the music, a classical piece, sounded like human classical music.                 “In a traditional wedding, the first dance begins with the mother of the groom and her son, and the father of the bride and his daughter.  They dance for a minute, and then the parents bow out, allowing the bride and groom to share their first dance,” Hoofer Steps said. “Following that, family members share a few dances, and then the bride and groom dance separately with any interested guests, each for a short time.  Following that, the deejay will set up for the rest of the night.”                 “Popular dance is all about moving to the beat,” Tender Taps said.“You can step around the floor freely, dancing with anypony or nopony at all.  I will demonstrate some common dance steps.”                 This time, Hoofer Steps put the record on the phonograph, and what Evan heard was dance music heavy on the beat, “four on the floor” as they called it. Looking at Tender Taps dancing and his own pony body, it was literally four on the floor, four hooves that is to say. With lyrics and the obligatory rap verse added, the music could have been heard in any human dance club.                 Tender Taps demonstrated several styles of dance to the group.  “What’s most important is you dance in the way that makes you feel most comfortable,” he said.  “Feel free to adapt to the steps of the pony you’re dancing with. The one thing to avoid is switching moves, especially within a song.  Because if you do, then you look like....”                 The native ponies all nodded.                 “For our special visitors, you can expect physical contact during these dances.  Bodies brushing, horns touching, wings connecting, these are all signs of interest, a pony who wants a closer dance.  You can respond in kind, or simply pass.”                 The dance practice lasted an hour, though Evan was tired out before it was done.  He watched the crowd instead.  His parents practiced most on the traditional steps; he guessed they weren’t much interested in dancing beyond the obligatory dances.  John and Jason were gamely trying to learn the popular dance, but it was apparent neither had any sense of rhythm.  The native ponies, on the other hand, were naturals at dancing.  Evan found it particularly cute the way the one filly looked at Tender Taps as they danced together.                 At the end of the lesson, Twilight Sparkle appeared, bringing another group of ponies.  She directed them to Hoofer Steps, and then joined the humans.  “How was the lesson?” she asked Jason.                 “Tough.  I’m beat,” he said.                 “That’s perfect, because you have a date at the spa!”                 Evan stared in disbelief at the Ponyville Day Spa.  It looked, and smelled, exactly what he thought a day spa would be, down to the owners with exotic accents that couldn’t be traced to any language.  But what really surprised him was how eager certain ponies were to visit the spa.                 His parents had gone to Carousel Boutique to get their clothes fitted. That left Evan, John, and Jason to go to the spa, with Digger and Rock Crusher joining them.  A gaggle of mares, including April Showers and the other mares in the wedding party, also went to the spa, entering before them as a separate group.                 “Are these sex-segregated?” Evan asked.                 “Not specifically, but stallions and mares like to be treated separately,” Jason replied.                 “Lets us talk about stallion things,” Digger said.                 “Like mares,” Rock Crusher added.  “You see how that April Shower’s eyeing you?”                 “I think she’s not the only one,” Evan said.                 “Lucky stallion,” Rock Crusher mumbled.                 “What are we doing here?” Evan asked.                 “You can get whatever treatment you want,” a pink earth pony mare said as she entered the room.  “The princess is paying for everything.”                 “I guess we’re here to look good for the wedding?” Evan said.                 “Then I recommend the sauna, the mineral bath, and then the specific treatments.                 “We’re looking for a massage,” Digger said.                 “Hey, that sounds good,” Evan said.                 “Massages all around,” Jason said.                 The ponies entered the spa, heading directly for the sauna.  No clothes meant no locker rooms, and thus no locker rooms to clean.  Evan definitely envied the mares in charge.                 The spa’s sauna looked exactly like one back home, Evan thought.  It had the hot rocks, the bucket of water to add steam to the room, and the wooden benches.  The peculiar scent of hot wood was especially potent to his pony nose.                 The native ponies staked out positions on the wooden benches, lying down with their legs tucked under their bodies.  It looked more comfortable than sitting human style, so Evan imitated them.                 “Now this is the life,” Rock Crusher said.                 “I feel like I should be doing something else,” John said.  “I miss my phone.”                 “That was actually the hardest thing for me to get used to,” Jason said. “Not having all those distractions.”                 “When there are other ponies around, there’s always something to be found,” Digger said.                 “Sounds like one of those ‘magic of friendship’ lessons,” Evan commented.                 Jason shrugged.  “Guess it is.”                 The ponies relaxed, mostly in silence.  The stallions didn’t talk about much, especially after Digger and Rock Crusher failed to get Evan and John to gossip about mares in which they might have interest.  As time passed, Evan felt the heat more and more acutely.  He could sense the sweat accumulating on his coat, feel his mane get plastered to his head.  His wings wanted to hang limply.  Despite being in a room with sweating ponies, his new nose wasn’t bothered by the aroma.                 Finally, they were interrupted by a knock at the door.  “It is time for your mineral bath,” one of the spa mares said.                 The group headed to another room, with a steaming bath with aromatic, slightly tinted water.  But first, they were directed to another pool.                 “Please refresh yourself in the cold pool,” the spa mare said.                 The pool looked cold.  By dipping his hoof in it, Evan confirmed the fact.                 “Afraid of a little cold water?” Digger said to him.                 “Of course not,” Evan replied.                 Digger responded by shoving Evan into the pool.                  “C-C-COLD!” Evan shouted.                 Seeing Rock Crusher looking at them, Jason and John wisely decided to enter the pool of their own volition.  Rock Crusher then dove in after them, splashing water all over the place.                 “Stallions,” the spa mare sniffed.                 The cold pool was refreshing, and after a dip, they went to the mineral bath. Evan noticed one other pool in the room. “Is that a mud bath?”                 “It is,” the spa mare said.  “Are you interested?”                 “Ugh.  No!” Evan said.  He looked to Jason.  “Why, exactly, are there mud baths?  I thought mud baths were all about improving one’s complexion.”                 “Honestly, I have no idea,” Jason admitted.                 They spend about the same amount of time in the mineral bath as they did in the sauna, and finished with another dip in the cold pool.  Then the stallions went to another room for the massages. Evan looked up at the extremely muscular mare waiting for them and gulped.                 “Get on the table,” the mare ordered Evan.                 Any nervousness Evan felt faded away the moment the mare’s hooves touched him. They worked into his body with just the right amount of pressure.  All the lingering aches that came from learning how to fly simply melted away. He idly wondered why a species with hooves came up with a style of massage much like humans, but then he remembered the lesson from his little brother, and decided not to think too hard about it.                 “Now, turn on your side,” another voice said.                 Evan opened his eyes; he hadn’t noticed how close he was to falling asleep. One of the spa mares, the one with a blue coat this time, was speaking to him.  He nodded and turned on his side.                 The mare pulled up a padded armrest and rested his left foreleg in it. Then she took a heavy metal file in her mouth.  Evan’s eyes widened in shock, and he tried to pull away, but he was trapped.                 She looked over his hoof critically.  “You have so little wear on your hooves,” she commented.                 “That’s because I’ve only had them for three days,” Evan replied.                 The mare raised an eyebrow, and then nodded in recognition.  “You are one of those humans,” she said.                 “You got it.”                 “Then this will not take long.”  She quickly attacked his snared hoof with the file.  The rough surface ran over the underside of his hoof, and Evan felt his entire body shuddering in response.  He pulled back, hard enough to free his hoof.                 “You are a pegasus at heart,” the mare said.  “You do not like your hooves being touched.”                 “What’s the matter, bro?  Chicken?” Jason said.                 Evan leveled his gaze at Jason, and then returned his hoof to the armrest. “Let’s do this.”                 He discovered that by focusing on the others in the room, he could forget just what was being done to his hooves.  After each hoof was trimmed and polished, the mare asked him to stretch his wing.  His wings popped open when he felt the mare’s mouth touch his wing.                 “It’s called preening,” Jason told him.  “Just let Lotus do her work, since I doubt you want to try doing it yourself.”                 The mare, Lotus, looked bemused by Evan’s reaction.  With some gentle guiding with her hoof, she got Evan’s wings under control, and she went back to work.  Knowing what was going to happen this time, he avoided another embarrassing reaction.                 Evan turned his head to see how preening worked.  She manipulated his feathers, putting them into line.  He felt a gentle tugging as she tested each feather; he instinctively knew each such feather was still good.  Once one wing was finished, Evan compared the preened wing to his other wing.  It certainly looked better, a solid streamlined mass of feathers.                 Evan’s treatment finished first, allowing him to watch the others being tended to by the spa ponies.  The two earth ponies didn’t need much work with the file, thanks to their earlier visit to the farrier, but they did get some treatment that buffed and polished their hooves, with something like shellac filling in chips and scratches on the surface of their hooves.  John, having newer hooves, also didn’t need much work.  But Jason endured a fairly lengthy process of filing, buffing, and polishing.  After that, both he and John got their horns filed.                 “Don’t you feel that?” Evan asked them.                 “As long as you’re not channeling magic, it feels just like using a file on your fingernails,” Jason replied.                 “I’ll take your word on it.”                 Evan had to admit, the spa ponies worked wonders.  Every step was more comfortable, and when he went for a flight later that afternoon, he could sense the air around him better. Everything felt right.                 Throughout the afternoon, ponies arrived at the castle, and others he saw previously returned.  It looked like several of the mares had gone to a salon, including his mother; the hairdresser had given her a slight wave and arranged her mane and tail into a form that looked stately.  Every room on the first floor of the castle was filled with ponies conversing and enjoying light refreshments.  They mingled, forming fast friendships.  Many gawked in wonder at one room, where six throne-like chairs, and one smaller chair, surrounded a stone table which appeared to form a three-dimensional map.                 After more exploring, he discovered one room was closed down, the dining hall and kitchen beyond.  The evening’s dinner was being prepared, and with that would come Evan’s other duty as best man.                 At six o’clock, the door to the dining hall opened.  Inside was the same large table Evan had seen on his first day here, but instead of fast food, each place setting had the overabundance of plates, glasses, and silverware that marked a formal dinner.  Jason and Rose entered first, taking the two seats at the head of the table.  Each place setting held a name card; Evan was seated next to his brother, with the other groomsmen holding the next seats down the line.  All in all, there looked to be about sixty guests in the room.                 Digger bit the bud off the rose in the vase next to his place setting, reminding Evan that flowers were part of the meal, not just decorations.                 Dinner was a formal affair.  Not many of the guests wore anything, but the wait staff all wore collars and bow ties. It had been a while since Evan had been to a dinner like this, but it worked just like on Earth.  Salads, bread, and butter were already present at each setting.  The ponies ate and conversed while the staff brought out wine.  Like everything else in Equestria, the wine was quite good, and surprisingly potent.                 After a while, the main course came out.  The wait staff carried tall stacks of plates, covered in metal cloches, either in their magic or on their backs, while others cleared the salad plates. With practiced ease, the waiters set the plates in front of each of the guests and removed the cloches.  It looked like a typical banquet dinner, but with the normal chicken breast in a human meal replaced by baked hay.                 After the main course came the dessert course, a variety of cakes, as well as coffee, tea, and a dessert wine.  Once everyone had been served, Twilight Sparkle stood and addressed the room.                 “Thank you, everypony, and everyhuman, for coming to Ponyville to celebrate the coming wedding of Stone Arch and Rose Trellis.  This wedding means so much to me, but I will speak my piece during the actual ceremony.  Right now, there’s somepony, or rather someone, who would like to speak, the best stallion, Stone Arch’s brother, Evan.”                 The ponies applauded; because they were seated, they clapped by putting their forehooves together, more like human clapping.  Evan stood, looking over the crowd and smiling, as he waited for the applause to die down.  Once it did, he began his speech.                 “In our tradition, it is the solemn duty of the best man to embarrass the groom on the eve of his wedding.  Our cultures are similar in so many ways, and I’m glad this is one tradition enjoyed by both the best man and the best stallion.  Living in another world entirely, I probably won’t get to see my brother and his wonderful bride-to-be very often, let alone all of you.  Thus, this is my one opportunity to share all of Jason’s embarrassing stories, and I intend to fully take advantage of this opportunity.”                 Evan turned to face Jason.  “And let’s be honest, you had it coming.”  He turned back to the crowd.  “For those who don’t know, Jason is eight years younger than me.  That means my childhood involved changing plenty of diapers and enduring toddler tantrums.  And by the time he was an awkward teenager, I was a grown man, with a job and living on my own, the perfect guy for a teenager to idolize.                 “And I did my job corrupting little Jason.  Let’s just say we did some things Mom and Dad wouldn’t have allowed.                 “But nothing there really rises to the level of embarrassing,” Evan continued. “The good stories didn’t begin until Jason went off to college.  He called me for advice on how to talk to a particular woman on campus.  Me, the guy who never had a relationship serious enough to introduce to Mom and Dad.                 “Still, that was the smart thing to do.  See, when I was his age, I had the same question, and I went to Dad for advice.  Then Mom. Jason came to me instead. Clearly, Jason got the brains in this family.                 “My advice worked, of course.  And the next time we talked, Jason was already calling her ‘the one’. As if going to college and being older suddenly made relationships easier.  Trust me, I’m forty years old; it doesn’t.  On this, I definitely blame Mom and Dad.  They got it right on the first try.  Met in college, dated for three years, and got married.”  The ponies applauded their parents.                 “So, anyway, my next call was from a heartbroken Jason.  I told him that these things happen.  Heartbreak happens to everyone, and the only cure is to always look forward.  And sure enough, within a week, I got another call from Jason, about a different woman. He bounced right back.                 “It was a frequent cycle.  Meet a woman, have a date, start planning their life together, get heartbroken, bounce back.  Time for an admission, little brother.  All my advice?  I was just pulling from whatever movie or television show I had just watched.  It was always you, Jason; your smile, your positive attitude, your willingness to put yourself on the line.”  The ponies applauded again.                 “And then you graduated, and I stopped hearing about your adventures and misadventures in love.  We started talking about boring things, like furnishing an apartment, or the best place to go grocery shopping.  I remember cheering when you finally got that job.  And then there was that one conversation where I suspected something was up.  I asked if you had a new girlfriend, and you said you did, a nice woman named Rose.  I noticed you didn’t call her ‘the one’. At that moment, I knew she was going to be the one.                 “The one thing I never understood is why I never heard talk of marriage.  I mean, I knew you were living together, and the way you two acted, you were practically a married couple.  So what was taking so long?                 “And then came October 27, when the entire freaking world changed.  Flash forward eight months, and I’m standing here with four hooves and two wings.  And it’s all your fault, Jason, or should I say, Stone Arch.  But whatever name you want to call yourself, there’s one name that you’ll always have, and it’s one only I get to use: little brother.  And this big brother couldn’t be prouder today.”                 Evan motioned with a hoof to Jason and Rose, and the happy couple stood up. They kissed and nuzzled, and the whole room erupted in applause.  The ponies stomped their hooves on the floor and table, making it even louder.  After several minutes, the noise faded, and Jason and Rose sat down.                 Evan remained standing, and spoke again.  “Oh, I did promise embarrassing stories.  When Jason was four, I saw him pee on the carpet, and even though I tattled, the puppy got the blame.  When he was eleven, he was totally fixated on a certain boy band, and when Mom wouldn’t take him to the barber to get his hair done like Justin Timberlake, he tried cutting it himself.  He wore a knit cap for two months as a result.  And Jason, I know you used the Playboys I had hidden in my closet.  That’s why I left them.  But one guy to another?  You need to treat those classics with the respect they are due.  The way you returned the magazines?  Not cool, man.  Not cool.”                 Laughs filled the dining hall, and looking at his brother, Evan was left wondering how ponies could visibly blush.                 With Evan’s speech finished, the dinner was officially over.  Ponies broke off in groups, continuing to converse, but for two particular ponies, it was time to part.  Jason and Rose kissed and nuzzled for a long time before they separated, Rose being escorted from the castle by her bridesmares.  From a respectful distance, Evan and their parents watched the farewell.                 “You need to stay apart until the moment of the wedding?” Evan asked.                 “Yes.  It’s tradition, a lot like our own wedding superstitions,” Jason replied.  “But hey, at least I get to stay in the castle for one night.”                 “You never told us about your honeymoon plans,” Janine said.                 Jason chuckled.  “We have nothing planned.  Rose is a farmer, and she’s tied to her land from Winter Wrap-Up through the Running of the Leaves,” he said.  He saw his parents’ confused expression.  “That’s the first day of spring until mid-November,” he clarified.                 “Is that why the other wedding is being held the weekend before Thanksgiving?” Christopher asked.                 “Indeed,” Jason said.  They planned a second ceremony on Earth, for the benefit of their human relatives.“The Caribbean cruise afterward will be our honeymoon.  Our trip to Tampa was Rose’s first visit to the beach, and she’s wanted to see more. I just hope we can avoid the paparazzi.”                 Evan nodded.  Being one of what Twilight Sparkle called the Friendship Pioneers made Jason famous, with all the positives and negatives of fame.  There was already a ghostwritten book by Jason talking about life in Equestria, which at least was enough for him to afford a Caribbean cruise, but the downside was his wedding would attract attention not given to the typical wedding between an engineer and a farmer.                 Jason turned to his parents.  “We have the night free.  Is there anything you’d like to do in your short time here?”                 Janine smiled.  “Remember how we used to go for walks after dinner?  Why don’t we do that now?  Show us what you love about Ponyville, Jason.”                 And so, for about two hours, the Sedmak family toured Ponyville.  It was a beautiful evening, warm with a pleasant breeze, and they were not the only people to have decided on a stroll.  With the light of the full moon and the streetlights, Ponyville looked different, but still as charming.  And as Jason described the locations in town, always talking about the connections he made to other ponies in these places, it was quite clear how the town found its place in Jason’s heart, long before Rose led him to plant his roots.