Four Seasons: Autumn
"Are you nervous?" Twilight Sparkle asked Sunset Shimmer as the latter stood in front of the mirror.
"Name me one girl that would not be nervous on her wedding day. I bet no book will help you with that," the fiery-haired girl smirked, making Twilight roll her eyes at the friendly dig.
"Honestly, I forgot how snarky and sarcastic you may be at times. How does Flash put up with you?"
"It's all part of my charm."
"Ha-ha-ha... wait, really?"
"Uh-huh."
"Oh stop it," Rarity snapped at them, "you're distracting me!"
"Sorry," both girls replied in unison. Sunset looked at her reflection in a mirror, and sighed.
It was late September. After the date in summer where she and Flash made love, they have gone on several more dates, some of which ended the same way, and some of which were not as... shall we say, carnal. Their relationship blossomed even more, Flash did his best to make her happy, and she did the same in turn.
Then the stormclouds gathered over the horizon. One day, Flash met Sunset and told her with a somber face that he would be deployed to an active combat zone near Griffonstone, where the army fought the groups of terrorists at the behest of Griffonstone's ruling king. The army needed special forces operatives behind enemy lines to give guidance to airstrikes, and now that Flash had completed his advanced training with honours, he was picked as a part of the unit that would go there.
Sunset was shocked and very saddened that his soon-to-begin tour of duty would take him away from her. She enveloped him in a tight hug, her tears bursting forth, and cried into his chest.
She knew that he could be called to serve, but the pain did not recede thanks to that knowledge.
When she stopped, she dropped a bombshell of her own.
She was pregnant.
The expression on Flash's face went from frozen to shocked, and then to jubilated once the news fully sank in. He sweeped Sunset off her legs and whirled her around, laughing happily, and then kissed her passionately.
Then he said:
"Hey, drop by my flat later, say, at six?"
"OK," she agreed.
When she did, he surprised her by standing on one knee and asking her to marry him. She was sure all neighbours could hear her excited "YES!", but she did not acre at all at that moment.
The preparations were made in a mad rush, since they wanted to hold the ceremony before Flash had to leave for deployment. Both called for help from their friends, and it arrived very fast. Pinkie Pie, naturally, planned the wedding party (with Twilight's assistance, once she was convinced not to make a ton of checklists for everything) and provided cakes and pastries for the event, Rarity designed the wedding dress for Sunset and the formal suit for Flash, Rainbow Dash and Applejack set up the place with the help of Sandalwood and Micro Chips and some of Flash's fellow soldiers who were able to attend, Fluttershy put together the flowers for decoration, and Ringo and Brawly Beats set up the musical equipment for the live musical performance.
As of now, Twilight and Rarity, who were chosen as bridesmaids, helped Sunset prepare for the big event. Rarity adjusted the dress on Sunset, while Twilight was still going over her checklist.
A sound of fingers knocking against wood interrupted them from beyond the door.
"May Ah come in?" Applejack's voice sounded.
"Yes!" Rarity responded. A moment later, Applejack came inside, wearing her own green ankle-length dress.
"Ya ready, Sunset?"
"Yes. No. I don't know. I'm so excited and yet so nervous at the same time!"
"Oh, I know that feeling! You're nervicited!" Pinkie Pie spoke up, startling everyone.
"Pinkie, how did you even... nevermind, not important, I don't want another migraine," Twilight mumbled, going back to her checklist.
"Is that even a word?" Applejack raised an eyebrow.
"Could be a neologism, if we were to add it to the dictionary," the bespectacled girl mumbled absent-mindedly.
"Anyway, Rarity, are ya done with Sunset? Sandalwood told me Flash's practically ready."
"Almost done, Applejack, just a couple more adjustments."
"Just a couple? Who are you and where did ya hide Rarity's body?"
"Hardy har har. I know better than to be tardy on my friend's wedding day," the fashionista mumbled. "There, done!"
"What?" Twilight exclaimed. "I didn't finish the checklist!"
"Forget the checklist, Twi, Ah've just rechecked everythin' an' all is fine," Applejack fiddled with her Stetson. "Now come on, we're startin'!"
"She's almost ready, Flash. Now come on, it's your big moment," Sandalwood, one of Flash's best men, entered his room. Silence was the answer, and then Flash inhaled deeply and exhaled loudly.
"All right. Time to be a man and do it," he said.
"You nervous, man?" Micro Chips asked him.
"Of course I am. Then again, if you think you won't be nervous, we always can bet on it."
"Ha ha, no, thanks."
"Thought so."
As he went out of the room where he was preparing, Flash felt trepidation. He knew that his future was highly uncertain at this point, and there was a chance he would not be able to come back from his tour of duty. He would be a liar if he said he did not fear death; but he felt that it would be an even bigger lie to say that he was not afraid to leave Sunset alone and pregnant. Unfortunately, the military regulations were strict enough that a pregnant wife was not considered a good enough reason not to deploy someone into dangerous combat situations, especially when it came to special forces operatives.
But his sense of honour would not let him leave Sunset with his child to be born out of wedlock, and since he was in love with her anyway, it made all the sense for him to propose to her. If anything, he had a bigger incentive to return back alive now.
Suddenly, Octavia started playing a classical wedding march with her orchestra, and the doors opened, revealing Sunset Shimmer and her bridesmaids, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle.
Flash's breath hitched. If one were to ask him right now, he would swear he was looking at an angel. And he did see her angelic "Daydream Shimmer" form back when the Friendship Games ended with another round of magical shenanigans, so he had data to compare with.
Sunset in the wedding dress, though, looked much better than her "Daydream" form, in his totally not humble opinion.
Their eyes meat each other, his blue with her green, and everything else in the world seemingly ceased to exist.
They heard the classical wedding march played by Octavia, but it was like a background noise for them as Flash waited for Sunset to come up to him.
They heard, and repeated the vows dictated to them by a priest, but the words were not needed.
They put the wedding rings on each other's fingers, the touch familiar and yet new, as both tried not to let their hands shake from excitement.
When the priest declared, "You may now kiss the bride," they kissed as passionately as they usually did, but this time, it felt different, because now they were husband and wife. The thunderous applause and Pinkie's loud scream "ATTA GIRL, SUNSET!" barely registered in their minds.
Then they went out in the open air of Sweet Apple Acres, which Apple family generously provided as a place to hold their wedding, and Pinkie Pie fired her party cannons again. Vinyl Scratch joined Octavia, and both began playing an interesting mix of classical and dubstep music. Flash and Sunset and everyone else started celebrating, although the newlyweds were mostly focused on each other - if the number of times they kissed each other was anything to go by (Twilight lost count at twenty-two and was collectively talked out of trying to re-count again).
Everyone had fun. There was dancing, games, singing (Flash joined Ringo and Brawly Beats to sing a love song he had written with them specifically for Sunset, which prompted her to kiss him like there was no tomorrow on the improvised stage), silly shenanigans (like Applejack and Rainbow Dash competing for the self-invented "Iron Girl" title again, which ended up in them messing up their faces with cake when something went wrong), laughter, tears of happiness, and many other things, each of them beautiful in its own right.
For it was autumn, the season of beauty. And the wedding of Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry was filled with beauty to the brim; but the newlywed couple was mostly focused on the beauty they saw in each other.