Rehearsal Disaster
May 5th, 2013
7:58 AM
"Girls, would you happen to know if Twilight Sparkle will be arriving soon, or not?" Princess Celestia asked.
The girls shook their heads in response, even I had no idea where she was.
"Sorry, Princess. The only time we saw her was at breakfast earlier. After that, she sort of disappeared." Applejack said.
"Of course. Leave it to her to not make it on time for rehearsal." Cadance understandably grumbled.
"Look, dear, I'm pretty sure she'll be hear before we even start." Shining assured.
"And if she isn't?" Cadance retorted.
"Well... If it were to somehow come to that, then at least we have my little bro to give the ring. Right, Spike?" Shining said, turning everybody's attention towards Spike, who was messing around with the Shining Armor and Princess Cadance figurines that were intended to be on top of the wedding cake.
"Oh yeah. You can definitely trust me!" Spike said with confidence.
Cadance then subtly rolled her eyes. At least I noticed it.
Shining Armor then placed a hoof under Cadance's muzzle and directed her gaze into his eyes. "Trust me. Everything is going to go according to plan."
It took a second, but Cadance smiled to the statement, prompting Shining Armor to as well and brought Cadance close to him for a hug.
"Awwwww!" Spike and the girls went.
"That's so sweet." I said to Celestia, grinning to the scene while herself nodded in agreement.
"I know. But what if it doesn't?" Cadance asked.
"It will. I promise." Shining said.
"Good. Sorry if I'm making such a scene in front you guys." Cadance said.
"Do not be sorry, Cadance. We all know how long you and Shining Armor have been waiting for this very special day and how much it means the world." Celestia said.
"I mean, I've never been married before and I have a sense on how important it must be to the certain somepony." Fluttershy said.
"Sure. But after that, there's the reception, the honeymoon, the baby in the baby carriage, not getting enough sleep, arguments from time to time--" Pinkie listed.
"Woah, Pinkie. How exactly do you know these specific events in a marriage?" I asked.
"I know somepony who's been through it. But, you know what I mean." Pinkie said.
"Thank you, Pinkie Pie. You're oh-so thoughtful." Rarity said.
Pinkie winked and clicked her tongue at Rarity. Rainbow Dash gave me a confused look in response.
"So random." Rainbow mouthed.
We waited in silence for a few seconds before my watch starting beeping from it being eight o'clock. Twilight was late. Either way, Princess Celestia then instructed Shining Armor to follow her up to alter to begin the wedding rehearsal. Shortly after, the girls were up to enter the room and line up the stairs where Princess Cadance will be standing up by because they were promoted to the news bridesmaids for some last second decision made by Cadance while Spike sat by Shining Armor's side. I waited outside of the room with Princess Cadance until it was her time to go up, and I felt uncomfortable around her for some reason.
"She'll show up for the wedding." I said to Cadance, breaking the awkward silence.
"We'll see about that." Cadance replied.
"And Princess, I just really want to apologize again for the whole ordeal that happened last night. I'm pretty sure I was just sleepwalking or something." I said.
"That's fine. I was actually quite surprised. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before." Cadance said.
"Yeah, I bet. And you know what was weird about last night, too?" I asked.
"What exactly?" Cadance asked.
"I saw this big, dark mass next to your bed and a pair of creepy eyes staring back at me. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it had to be my mind playing tricks on me." I said.
"Hmm. Really?" she asked, not sounding a bit interested.
"Yep. If not, this castle is probably haunted or something. Y'know, like, ghosts." I said.
"I highly doubt that," Cadance said, turning herself to face the door. "Also, why exactly are you here? Do you have a major role in the wedding ceremony?"
"No. I was invited to the wedding, but I thought I would tag along with my friends for the rehearsal. I'll just be waiting out here." I said.
"Okay." Cadance said.
I then walked over to one of the pillars in the hallway and leaned up against it once the door opened for Cadance. Once they closed, I thought about Cadance for a little bit.
Y'know, Cadance seems very polar opposite to what I was expecting her to be. God, I just expected her to be this friendly and cheerful alicorn mare, not saying that's what I'm expecting from the princess of love, but she's kind of a buzzkill. She's got a personality and behavior that makes me not want to be around her, but I make sure to not show it to her. I hope this is because of the wedding and stress, so things could be looking up after the wedding.
My train of thought was broken when I heard the clopping of hooves at the end of the hallway. Sure enough, here comes an oncoming Twilight Sparkle and she was heading for the door, judging by her bitter expression. Quickly, I walked onto the center of the red carpet to block Twilight's path.
"C'mon, Twilight, now's not the time for something like this." I heeded.
"Out of the way, Caleb." Twilight said, levitating me out of the way and plopping me onto the marble floor. Before I could even get up, Twilight barged right into the room.
"Oh great." I mumbled.
"I'm here! I'm not going to stand next to her and neither should you!" Twilight shouted throughout the room to her brother.
"Oh-ho, no!" I hissed, crossing my arms and looking up at the ceiling.
I could tell Shining Armor was embarrassed by this and was trying to reassure Cadance. I don't know what he was saying, but he was. Princess Celestia just stared at Twilight while the girls and Spike were slack-jawed. I stood by the doorway and watched the scene unfold, not sure if I wanted to intervene or not.
"You have to listen to me!" Twilight shouted again.
"Oh, goodness! Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked.
"I'm fine." Twilight replied.
"Ya sure about that?" Applejack asked right into Twilight's face, only to get her own face stuffed by her hat by Twilight.
"I got something to say!" Twilight said, proceeding closer to the alter. "She's evil!" Twilight accused Cadance, pointing her out.
That accusation caused everyone in the room to gasp and chatter in confusion. I was surprised by this since I was just thinking about Princess Cadance's personality. My surprise soon faded into confusion, as well, placing my right hand my head. I just didn't know to believe Twilight or not. However, Twilight instantly teleported behind Cadance and began to square up to her.
"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..." Twilight said, rolling her eyes to show what apparently happened to Shining Armor.
At this point, Twilight had Cadance backed up against the wall, cornered for better words. Everypony in the room had all their eyes on Cadance as we waited for a response from her. Cadance only looked all over the place and made guilty expressions, causing my brow to rise. But instead, it turned to tears and Cadance began to cry.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Cadance cried.
"Because you're evil!" Twilight replied.
Cadance then ran away to the exit and nearly knocked me over while crying her eyes out. At that moment, a small wave of sympathy came over me as I listened to her cry down the hallway.
"Evil! And if I don't stop you, you're going to ruin my brothers life!" Twilight shouted to Cadance as she ran away.
"Twilight..." I uttered, at a lost of words.
"I did the right thing." Twilight said before smacking right into her brother as she turned away.
Shining Armor stared down at Twilight with anger and Twilight looked back up at him with a sheepish smile.
"You want to know why my eyes went all?" Shining asked, imitating Twilight's eye roll and flinching from a migraine. "Because ever since I had started working on my protection spell, 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!" Shining explained, taking a short breath.
"I was just trying to--" Twilight began before being cut off.
"She's been completely stressed out because it's really been important to her that our big day be perfect. Something that obviously wasn't important to you!" Shining said right into Twilight's face, getting another migraine. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and comfort my bride. And you can forget about being my best mare! In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up for the wedding at all." Shining finished, walking out the room and mumbling angrily.
I could tell that Twilight had a change in opinion now and felt bad for what she said. She sat on the ground, defeated by what her brother just explained to her. She should've seen it a mile away.
"I kind of told you so, Twilight." I said with my arms still crossed.
Twilight didn't respond at all.
"Come on, y'all. Let's go check on the princess." Applejack suggested.
The girls then trotted past Twilight and Applejack gave a nudge on my leg as I continued to stare at Twilight.
"Let's go, Caleb."
Twilight looked at me and the girls in a way that showed that she didn't want us to leave. Princess Celestia and the two royal guards were the only ones left in the room and Twilight tried to apologize, but to no avail.
"You have a lot to think about." Celestia said.
Twilight looked devastated after what Princess Celestia just said to her. Aside from the others, Spike and I looked back at her the most, but we eventually turned our backs to Twilight and followed the rest. With that, the doors slammed shut, leaving Twilight all by herself to think about her actions.
"Dang it, Twilight." I mumbled.
"Do not worry. She will learn, now that she has time to think about what she said." Celestia said.
"I know, Princess Celestia. I just didn't think Twilight would take this evil thing this far." I said.
"It was a childish delusion on her part, but we can now only hope that she'll learn from the mistake." Celestia said.
Everypony continued to walk to the end of the hallway while my thoughts dwelled on Twilight. I may be big and tough, but I am a bit of a softy when it comes to people I care about. So, I managed to grab Spike while the others continued.
"We have to go back to her." I said.
"Look... I feel bad, too, but... maybe Princess Celestia's right." Spike said, sounding a little upset.
"I also agree, Spike. Look, I'm just going to check on her for a minute or so. Don't tell anypony, okay?" I said.
"Alright. I see you later, I guess. Maybe you can try and explain to her what she's done." Spike said.
"I'm pretty sure she already knows, but I'll do my best." I said.
"Okay. See ya later." Spike said.
"Later." I replied.
I then walked back down to the alter room and slowly crept up to the door. I put my ear up to the door to listen if Twilight was crying or not, but I didn't hear anything at all. And so, I slowly pushed the door open, but Twilight wasn't present in the room at all. It took me a second to register what was going on, but I became uneasy when I saw Cadance in the room, but not Twilight. Cadance wore a sinister smile across her face, my eyes locking with her evil gaze.
"Where's Twilight?" I asked Cadance, taking a slow step backwards.
Before I could make the slight decision to call for help, Cadance's horn manifested a green aura and the doors closed shut and the feeling of a heavy weight pressed down on me, too much for me to even stand upwards. I landed on my back and I was unable to get up and speak. Completely vulnerable, Cadance slowly walked up to me, her golden hoof shoes echoing throughout the room with every step until she was above me and looking down.
"You again. I should've know you would be a problem when you broke free from my spell," Cadance said in a threatening tone, followed by a low laugh. "And so, I think it would be a good time to get you out of the picture, as well."
Cadance's horn once again lit up with a dark green aura, intensely humming with magic. When Cadance stepped away from me, the feeling of heat radiated against my skin and a ring of green fire spawned from the floor and surrounded me. The feeling of the heavy weight returned and I began to sink into the red carpet and into the floor, where everything went dark. The last sight I remembered was Cadance walking away and out of the room.
I senses were beginning to return to me. I was somewhere cold and quiet. When I opened up my eyes, it was still dark, pitch black. I couldn't even see my own hands in front of me. From what I felt, I was laying of rock. Slowly, I rose onto my knees and placed my hands on the ground to feel around for any possible hazards. While crawling in a single direction, my head bumped up against glass or something that felt like glass.
"Where am I?" I asked myself before having common sense and began calling for help.
When I shouted for help, my voice resonated off the walls of the room. Where ever I was, I was securely confined. As I continued to call out for help, I heard something that sent a chill up my spine; the sound of someone mumbling on the other end of the room. It was a feminine voice.
"Huh? Who that?!" I exclaimed, uneasiness building up inside me.
Silence filled the room for a minute until I heard rocks shuffle on the other side of the room. I was now up against the wall.
"Stay away from me." I said to the voice.
"No!" Princess Cadance's voice screamed from behind, the sudden loud voice prompting me to run to the other side, but only met with her evil cackle on the other side, which sent me running to a random section of the room.
But without warning, a sharp, poking pain prodded me in my right side and I quickly retracted away. I had just stabbed myself, but it wasn't enough force to penetrate the skin since I didn't feel any blood underneath my shirt.
"Ugh, so close." Cadance's voice said from above.
"You let me out of here right now!" I shouted, but still hesitant.
"That's not going to happen. You see, you and Twilight already know too much about me. Quite funny, if you think about it. You even witnessed my true form last night and you just brushed it off as a dream. How painstakingly foolish of you." Cadance said, followed by another evil laugh. "But now, this cave will become your tomb once the effects of malnourishment take place! Twilight got lucky, but you are not so fortunate. Nopony will ever find you in here."
At this point, I was scared. I was afraid that Cadance was right about my situation. A situation that felt hopeless and the kind that makes you want cry, but you're distressed to even do so.
"Enjoy your four day stay, human." Cadance said before the voices stopped and everything was quiet again.
Even though I was fearful for my well-being, I knew that I needed to figure a way out.
"No. There's gotta be a way out. It's a room for crying out loud." I assured to myself.
When I looked down to my feet, I saw a glowing blue star and tiny blue eyes staring up at me. From what I remember, these are simply called Star Spiders, fairly big, and are harmless. The spider looked up at me and began to scurry away to one of the ends of the room. It then scaled up something that was rounded, paused to look at me one more time, and disappeared.
"What?"
When I went to exact spot where the spider disappeared, I felt a giant boulder and boulders stacked on top of each other. It took me a minute or so to figure out that this was a blockage of boulders. Maybe even a blockage to a possible exit.
"Could it be?"
Judging by the size of these boulders, they had to be hundreds of pounds, maybe up to a thousand. But I didn't care. With that potion that Zecora whipped up, I was willing to give it a shot on moving them. And so, I placed both hands on one of the boulders wedged in the middle of the blockage and tugged as hard. And miraculously, I felt it move a little as the boulder began to grind against the others. To give more support, I raised my right leg up, placed it on the blockage and pushed to help with the pulling power.
"C'mon! C'mon!" I grunted.
I then began to get angry at the rocks and started grunting loudly throughout the room until the one boulder came loose, causing me to fall on my back and flinging the boulder backwards. The tall blockage of boulder came rolling down and I moved out of the way just in time from being crushed. Once the boulders settled, I slowly rose back on my feet and peered into the opening and the shine of light pierced through the smallest opening of the exit. I was so grateful at that moment.
"Ahahahaha!" I laughed with joy.
At that moment, I started grabbing boulders, raising them overhead and chucking them at the thin boulder blockage until it collapsed, filling the room with light. And with light, I was able to see that the room was filled with pointed crystal's, which could've easily impaled me if I didn't have the quick reactions that I had. I then emerged out of my cave imprisoment and looked around. The crystals on the walls of the large, open cave gave off light in some sort of way, but I'll take any light source.
"Look's like I gotta find my way out of this cave."