The Announcement
May 4th, 2013
Today was a exceptionally beautiful sunny day outside in the month of May, and what better way to spend it by going out on a picnic with your friends, which was Twilight's idea. Me, her and the girls set up a spot somewhere near the same area where I entered the world of Equestria. There was no reason at all, just a coincidence. But anywho, we all sat out there taking in the sun and enjoying our food. I myself was having a peanut butter and zap apple jam sandwich that Rainbow Dash was kind enough to offer for everyone.
"Heh, Applebloom was tellin me all about her recent attempt in getting her own cutie mark." Applejack noted.
"You mean the whole idea of getting a cutie mark in running?" I referred.
"That's the one. She got the idea from a so-called 'mint colored mare'." Applejack said.
"Yeah, me and Lyra Heartstrings were jogging past the CMC treehouse and the three spotted us and asked us why we were running, or jogging, for better word, and Lyra told them that we were jogging for fun." I explained.
"Yes, and apparently the girls thought running long distances would earn a easy cutie mark." Rarity said.
"And how did that work out?" I asked with a smirk.
"It didn't earn them a cutie mark, but sure did tucker them out for a nap." Applejack replied.
"Figures." I said.
"Wait, you were with Lyra Heartstrings?" Twilight asked.
"Yep. Both of us are good friends." I replied.
"I haven't seen her in a while. We used be good friends, too, but we lost touch after I left Canterlot." Twilight said.
"Aw, that sucks. Well, on the bright side, she lives near the north end of Ponyville." I said.
"Really? Then I guess I have some fences to amend sometime." Twilight said.
As I munched down on my sandwich, I instantly recognized a purple figure sprinting up to my right.
"Here comes Spike." I said, causing everypony to turn their heads towards him.
Spike came to a halt once he stepped on the picnic blanket and wheezed out a few words through his deep breaths for air, following with loud belch that spewed out a green flame, smoke, and above all, a letter.
"Who's it from?" I asked as Twilight rolled it open with her levitation.
"It looks like it's from... Princess Celestia!" Twilight replied.
"What does it say?" I asked.
"I was just getting to that," Twilight said. "Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot," Twilight began before pausing and looking at everypony. "Wedding?" she asked. "I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help out with the preparations for this wondrous occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you songbird choir to provide the music."
"Oh my goodness! What an honor!" Fluttershy said.
"Pinkie Pie, I can think no one more qualified than you to host the reception." Twilight continued.
"Hip, hip, hooray!" Pinkie cried in joy.
"Applejack, you will be in charge of catering for the reception." Twilight said.
"Well, color me pleased as punch!" Applejack said, another one her country sayings.
"Rainbow Dash," Twilight began, followed by an audible yawn from Rainbow Dash. "I would very much appreciate it if you would perform a sonic rainboom as the bride and groom complete their 'I do's'."
That got Rainbow's attention.
"Yes!" Rainbow exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"Oh, so now she's all excited." I whispered sarcastically to Pinkie Pie.
"Hey!" Rainbow said.
"Hay? Hay's can be for breakfast, lunch and dinner." Pinkie quipped, nudging my side and winking at me.
Rainbow crossed her forelegs and rolled her eyes in response.
"Jokes exist, Rainbow Dash." I said.
Rainbow's annoyed expression then shifted into a small smile.
"I guess that was a good one. Well, from a human's perspective, at least." Rainbow said.
"Yeah, wordplay can be pretty funny at times." I said.
A soft thud to my left brought my attention to the ground, only to find Rarity lying down in a daze.
"What's her problem?" Rainbow asked Twilight.
"She's a little overwhelmed at the moment. Princess Celestia chose her for designing the wedding dresses." Twilight informed.
"And I've already got the perfect design idea! Ooh, I can't wait to see what they think of them!" Rarity said, giddily.
"So what else does the letter say?" I asked.
"Let's see..." Twilight said with a pause. "And as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of them all: Making sure everything goes as planned. See you all very soon. Yours, Princess Celestia." Twilight finished, looking over the letter one more time. "But I don't understand. Who's getting married?"
"Oh, wait. I was probably supposed to give you this one first." Spike said, giving her another letter.
Slightly annoyed, she levitated the next letter towards, prompting me and the others to huddle around Twilight.
"Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and... My brother?!" Twilight gasped.
"Oh yeaaahhh." I said, drawn out from recollecting my conversation between Shining Armor.
"Wait. Are you saying that knew about this?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. Shining Armor told me about it, but I guess I kinda forgot about it over the past couple months. But still, congrats on your brothers engagement." I replied, pulling a positive attitude.
"And he told you before me? Before his own sister?" Twilight asked again, sounding agitated about the fact.
"Apparently..." I replied in a quiet tone.
"Either way, it's great news, Twilight! Congratulations!" Applejack chipped in.
"Yeah, great news. That I just got from a wedding invitation! Not from my brother, but from a piece of paper! And hey, why not give the hint to the human who probably only spoke to him once or twice to him in his lifetime. Seriously, thanks a lot Shining Armor. I mean, really, he couldn't tell me personally." Twilight ranted.
Twilight stopped her rant for a few seconds before she levitated Pinkie's sandwich, which of course had olives as mock eyeballs.
"Hey, Twilight, just thought you should know I'm making a really big life decision that changes everything. Oh, never mind, you'll hear about it when you get the invitation," Twilight ventriloquised with a deep and goofy voice. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza? Who in the hoof is that?!" She asked, followed by a snort.
Everypony, including myself, went silent and thought about what to say to her next.
"Um, Twilight. Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked.
I'm sorry, it's just that Shining Armor and I have been so close. He's my B.B.B.F.F!" Twilight said, followed by a silence once again.
"We don't get the acronym." I said.
"Big Brother Best Friend Forever?" Twilight clarified.
"Ohhhhh!" Everypony realized.
"Before I came here and learned the importance of friendship, Shining Armor was the only pony I really accepted as a friend." Twilight explained as she walked away from the group as she began to get sentimental.
Stopping in her tracks, two little birds flew overhead. One of the two landed gently on Twilight's hoof, nuzzling it against her face before letting it fly alongside its companion again. With that, she began to sing; a song about the relationship between her and Shining Armor.
Now, this is the interesting thing about the Equines. From what I learned, Equestrians have a keen instinct on singing. Most of these acts of singing involve situations that can be happy, sad, etcetera, but not many involving intense situations. So basically, what I'm trying to say, it's part of their culture. It doesn't have to be a constant thing, but its happened before in my time here in Equestria. Flim and Flam's musical number for an example, but I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. And, I have to admit that Twilight is a great singer. Caught me by surprise, to be honest. I would document what she sang, but I thought an explanation would be better. If anymore songs come along, I'll get em' down.
But anyways, once everypony chipped in with Twilight's song, Twilight finished with a long note before drooping her head down, shedding a single tear as stood by herself.
"As one of your P.F.F's..." Applejack said, followed by another damn silence. "Pony Friends Forever."
"Ohhhh." Everypony went again.
"I wanna tell you that I think your brother sounds like a really good guy." Applejack said.
"He is pretty special. I mean, they don't just make anypony captain of the Royal Guard." Twilight said.
Rarity's face went blank for a second before she walked over to Twilight.
"Here she goes." Rainbow noticed, as well.
"So let me get this straight. We're helping out with the wedding of not only a princess, but a captain of the Royal Guard?" Rarity asked.
"I guess we are." Twilight replied.
"Ooh, ooh, oooh!" Rarity exclaimed in excitement before fainting onto the ground once again.
"Aaaaand she's down." I said.
The girls, besides Twilight, began to chat with each other.
"Hey, Caleb." Spike said.
"Yeah?" I said.
"Did you hear anything in that letter involving me or you?" Spike asked.
"Now that you say that, I don't think we were in both of them at all," I realized. "Twilight, were Spike and I invited at all?"
"I didn't see your names listed on. Maybe I missed something," Twilight said, flipping over the second letter. "Oh, here they are. Spike, as being Shining Armor's little brother, he has chosen you for one of his best stallions."
"Alright! Best stallion!" Spike said with enthusiasm.
"And Caleb. Shining Armor has promptly invited you personally to attend this wonderful occasion. As stated, he believes that a friend of Twilight Sparkle is a friend to him," Twilight finished. "Wow. You sure did get on Shining Armor's good side."
"Well, he seems like a pretty chill stallion." I said.
"Hm. Chill. Maybe a little forgetful, too." Twilight grumbled.
"When exactly is the wedding?" Fluttershy asked.
"Tomorrow." Twilight replied.
"What?! Talk about short notice." Pinkie said.
"I know. So everypony head back to your homes and get what you need nesecary for your role in the wedding. We'll meet up at the train station at 10:00 for the next train to Canterlot." Twilight said.
And so, all seven of us banded out in different directions. But still, like what Pinkie said, talk about short notice. What was Shining Armor thinking?
Well, turns out that everypony didn't really need to go back to their homes because five minutes after we left, Princess Celestia sent a message through Spike saying that everything would provided in Canterlot for those assigned a task. However, Spike and I still needed our good suits, so we got those packed up quickly. Once everything was a settled, we were able to get on the train and departed for the trip to Canterlot.
"Man, why is everything being sent on such a short notice? Aren't ponies in Canterlot supposed to be, well, organized?" Rainbow said as she had hovered herself throughout the cabin.
"Most of time, from my experience." Rarity replied.
"Either that, or somethings bothering them that's making them so inept." I said.
"Who knows. I hope they get better at it soon." Fluttershy said.
At the end of the cabin, the conductor walked in and tipped his hat up as a greeting.
"Ahem. Please no flying in the cabin, Miss." the conductor reminded to Rainbow Dash.
"Heh. Sorry." Rainbow apologized, slowly floating back onto her seat.
"Ah, Caleb Barlow. How are you today?" the conductor asked.
"Doing quite fine, Mr. Conductor." I replied.
"Please, call me by name, which is Stage Coach, as a matter of fact."
"You mind if I just call you Coach?" I asked.
"I don't seem to have a problem with that." Coach said.
"Well, alright then, Coach." I said, getting a quick chuckle out of him.
"And I presume you and your friends are traveling to Canterlot for the royal wedding?" Coach asked.
"You betcha', Stage Coach." Applejack answered for me.
"And I get preform the great and mighty sonic rainboom. But, I'll be sure to give it an extra kick this time." Rainbow bragged.
"Well, how exciting. I'm sure you six will remember this event for the rest of your lives." Coach said.
"And Twilight, too." Pinkie added.
Both Coach and Twilight turned their heads to each other. Twilight gave a quick grin before staring right back out the window.
"She seems to be a little lonely." Coach said.
I stared at Twilight for moment as she sat in her seat, an unoccupied spot to her back.
"Be right back, guys." I said as I rose up from my seat and plopping next to Twilight.
"Hi." Twilight said in a monotone. "Why'd you move from your seat?"
"You seemed like you needed somepony to talk to." I said.
"No, it's nothing like that. I just can't stop thinking about Shining Armor. I'm happy about how he's getting married and all, but then we probably won't be able to see each other at all, especially if he plans to start of family with his new wife." Twilight said.
I nodded my head and paused for a second.
"Well.... I don't think that means that Shining Armor is going to disappear off the face of the planet. And also, family is important, so there's a good chance he'll make time for you, your mom, and your dad." I said.
"Yeah. But he didn't have time to tell me he was getting married." Twilight said.
I then let out a short sigh, staring out the window to my left. In the distance was Canterlot, but there was still that magenta colored sphere encasing the capital, and its been like this for a week, so far. I'm not sure what it's for, but it definitely means something.