Next Saturday, Flash pulled up to the event center where the reception for Shining Armor and Cadance’s wedding was to take place with his family in tow. Grandma Birdie had wanted to pass on a special song to the happy couple as a family wedding gift. She wished that she could have passed it on to one of her daughters, but by the time the idea occurred to her, Lighty had already gotten married, and at this point in her life, Grandma had already grudgingly accepted the possibility that Flare may never marry.
Birdie had called Cadance earlier this week to ask about gifting her and her fiancé the song. Not only was Cadance flattered with the idea, but she also wanted to meet up with Birdie to see if the song could be played at the reception.
“Why are Aunt Flare and I coming along again, Grandma?” asked First Base from the back seat. “I mean, it’s yours and Grandpa’s song, and Big Bro is going to be playing it, so I can see why you two have to be here, but did Aunt Flare and I really have to come with you guys?”
“Yes, you do. It’s a family gift, and you and your aunt are part of the family,” Grandma answered matter-of-factly.
After Flash parked the car and the rest of the family got out, he went to get his acoustic out from the trunk. As he bent down, he suddenly felt a weight on his back and somebody covering his eyes.
“Guess who, stud muffin?” a familiar female voiced called out.
Flash sighed in slight annoyance. “Nice try, Pinkie Pie.”
“Aww,” Pinkie whined as she slid herself off Flash’s back. “How did you know it was me?”
Flash got his guitar case out of his trunk and turned around. “One, Twilight would never just randomly piggyback me. Two, Twilight would never call me stud muffin. Great job on the impression though. It sounded just like her.”
“Oh really?” Twilight retorted with her a slight frown as she and the other Rainbooms walked over to them.
Flash smiled at her. “Hey, Twi.” He put an arm around his girlfriend and kissed her on the temple.
Twilight giggled as she felt his lips brush against her skin and put her arms around him. Her and Flash’s dating break had just ended, and she couldn’t be happier to be back in his arms.
When the two of them parted, Flash asked Twilight, “So, how’s wedding planning going, Ms. Maid of Honor?”
“Great. We still have a few loose ends to tie up, but everything should be ready in time for the wedding next month. By the way, Cadance tells me that your family wants you to play you guys’ wedding present for her and Shining at the reception.”
“Eh, something like that,” Flash agreed as his family and the Rainbooms made their way to the event center entrance.
Cadance and Shining Armor were waiting for them when they entered the main hall, and Cadance beamed at the sight of them.
“Hey!” the young woman greeted everyone with open arms. “Looks like everyone is here.”
“Uh-huh, and that means that we can finally get to work on the music arrangement,” Twilight agreed as she took out a clipboard and a stack of folders out of her bag, dropping it on the table with a loud THUD. “Now, why don’t we get started? Who’s going first?”
“I will,” volunteered Rarity, giving Twilight and the soon-to-be-married couple a sheet of paper. “As you can see, I’ve compiled a positively delightful list of songs for us to cover for the wedding. I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that you’ll be wanting one of them for the first dance.”
“‘A Thousand Years,’ ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love,’ ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight?,’” Twilight read off the list. Suddenly, she stopped, eyes widening. “You put ‘Love is an Open Door’ on your list?”
“Well, I agree that it is questionable, but it could work with the right context,” said Rarity.
“No offense, but I’d rather not have my first or last dance with my wife set to a song about a villainous prince seducing a naïve princess into marrying him,” Shining Armor deadpanned, causing Rarity to scowl.
“The rest of these selections are lovely, but,” Cadance began, “I think a few of these are a little overdone.”
Rarity gasped dramatically, “Overdone?!”
“I mean, they aren’t bad choices, and we wouldn’t mind having one or two of them on the lineup, but Shining and I were looking for something that resonates better with our love story.”
“I’ve got it!” shrieked Pinkie Pie as she somehow pulled a boombox with an mp3 player mounted on it out of her hair.
Pinkie hit the play button and the following song began to play, “Oh don't you dare look back/Just keep your eyes on me/I said you're holding back/She said shut up and dance with me/This woman is my destiny/She said ooh ooh ooh/Shut up and dance with me”
Pinkie hit the pause button and shined a triumphant smile, “Well, what do you think? Great song, huh?”
She seemed totally oblivious to the utterly confused stares that everyone else was giving her. Well, almost everyone. To everyone else’s surprise, Cadance began laughing hard.
“That song actually pretty much sums up what happened at the homecoming dance,” Cadance managed to say between laughs.
“Oh, honey, please don’t start,” Shining Armor pleaded with his fiancée. However, his pleas fell on deaf ears.
“Okay, so back when we were in high school, Shining Armor and I had developed mutual crushes on each other but didn’t know it at the time. I had wanted to ask him to the homecoming dance, and he wanted to ask me to the homecoming dance. Well, I overheard some girls saying that there was a girl that he really wanted to ask to the dance without realizing that it was me, so I ended up agreeing to go to the dance with another guy,” Cadance recounted to a captive audience. “When I arrived at the dance with my date, Shining Armor was there, and you’ll never guess who his date was.”
“Ooh, ooh!” Pinkie squealed. “Songbird Serenade. Sapphire Shores. His mom? Am I getting warmer?”
Cadance giggled a bit before answering, “His date was his friend Poindexter IN A DRESS.”
“WHAT?!” Twilight shrieked as Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Cadance burst out laughing.
“What was your friend doing in a dress?” First Base asked Shining Armor in confusion.
“My pals were helping me find a way to get Cadance to notice me, and my friend Gaffer thought that it would be good opportunity to get back at Poindexter for not giving back his replica bat’leth,” Shining Armor explained, which only got Base even more confused. “Long story.”
“Anyway,” Cadance continued. “While the rest of his pals were busy distracting my date, I made my way over to Shining Armor and said hi to him. This was what he said to me.” Cadance made a series of noises that sounded like a cross between a zombie and a dying animal. When she finished, all the women in the room were giggling.
“I did not sound like that!” Shining Armor protested. He probably sounded much worse.
“Anyway, my date and I ended up getting crowned homecoming queen and king, which my date proceeded to rub in Shining Armor’s face in front of the whole school,” Cadance continued. “Shining Armor had the guts to call him out on what a huge jerk he was being, and his friends and the rest of the school agreed with him, and I told my date in no uncertain terms that I felt the exact same way and spent the rest of the dance with Shining Armor.”
“Oh! How romantic!” Rarity swooned before her eyes widened in realization. “Wait. Does this mean that Pinkie Pie made a more appropriate song selection than me?”
“Pretty much,” Applejack deadpanned, causing Rarity to dramatically sprawl herself on a nearby chair.
“That being said,” Shining Armor objected, “I don’t think I want to be reliving my awkward high school years during our first dance as a married couple.”
“How about our second dance?” Cadance asked, wrapping her arms around her fiancé and pressing herself against him with a flirtatious smile.
Shining Armor glared at Cadance in stern refusal, but little by little, the sparkling amethysts that she had for eyes wore down his defenses. “Third dance. We’ll have in on the lineup as our third dance, okay?”
Cadance let out another laugh before planting a playful kiss on Shining Armor’s cheek.
“Yuck!” First Base gagged. His brother elbowed him while shooting him a scolding look.
“Okay,” Twilight said as she finished writing some notes on her clipboard. “Looks like the song lineup is coming along to a good start. Now, all I have to do is get the image of my boss in a dress out of my head before I have to go to work next week.”
“By the way, Twily,” Shining Armor said to his sister, “do not tell your coworkers that story. Poindexter will kill me if he finds out that you know about it.”
“Hey, before we get to work on the rest of the lineup, why don’t we have Flash play us Ms. Birdie’s wedding present?” Cadance suggested before turning to Flash and Base’s grandmother. “You made it sound really special over the phone, and I’ve been wanting to know what it sounds like. Your late husband wrote it for one of your anniversaries, correct?”
Grandma Birdie nodded before pushing her oldest grandson forward, “Flashy, you’re up.”
After Flash overcame the shock of suddenly having everybody’s attention, Flash took out his guitar and quickly tuned it. After the guitar had been tuned to his liking, he began to play the opening notes.
“Love is not a place/To come and go as we please,” Flash sang. “It’s a house we enter in/And then commit/To never leave//So lock the door behind you/Throw away the key/We’ll work it out together/Let it bring us to our knees”
As Flash got closer to the chorus, a memory began to surface. He tried to push it out of his mind. He did not want to be thinking of that memory right now, but the memory pushed back even harder.
Two years ago…
Flash was in his living room, playing that same song on that same guitar. His grandmother was sitting on the couch next to an elderly man with orange-tan skin and silver hair. His gray eyes stared from behind a pair of wire-rimmed glasses in blank confusion. Grandma Birdie was holding the man’s hand with a loving yet pleading look on her face. First Base was in the dining room eating a sandwich, and his mother Lantern Heart and Aunt Flare sat with him, sharing a hot beverage together.
“Love is a shelter,” Flash began to sing the chorus, “In a raging storm/Love is peace/In the middle of a war/If we try to leave/May God send angels/To guard the door/No, love is not a fight/But it’s something worth fighting—”
“Flash, stop,” the older man said to him.
“Lionheart, you’re back,” exclaimed Grandma as her face lit up.
“Birdie, where are First Base and the girls? Get them over here,” Lionheart said to his wife urgently, “There’s something I got to say, and I don’t know how much time I have to say it.”
“Daddy?” Lantern Heart cried as she, her youngest son, and her sister ran into the living room.
“I’m here, Lighty. Come on. Get closer. Get closer.”
Lionheart’s entire family gathered around him and waited in anticipation for him to speak.
“First of all, I’m sorry that I haven’t been remembering you like I should, but I want you to know that even though my head can’t remember who you are, my heart still knows that I love you. Don’t forget that, alright?”
“We won’t, Daddy,” Lighty replied, reaching for and holding onto her father’s hand. “And we love you, too.”
Then, almost as quickly as it came, the clarity in Lionheart’s eyes vanished as he began looking around in confusion. “What’s going on? Who are you people?”
Everyone except Grandma Birdie took a few steps back as Grandma began to reassure him, “It’s alright. Everyone here is on your side. Nothing to worry about.”
“Bro? Bro?” First Base called as Flash’s mind slowly began to return from the past. “BRO!”
“Huh?” Flash yelped as his brother struck his shoulder.
“You just spaced out at the end of the chorus. Are you okay?”
“Uh. Yeah, yeah,” Flash replied as he unstrapped and set down his guitar. “I, uh, I need a moment.”
Flash took off from the event hall as he felt a familiar pressure building up at the back of his eyes. No, no, no, no, no. Not here, not now. Twilight was about to run after him when Grandma Birdie stopped her.
“Shining Armor, you go talk to him,” Grandma said to Shining Armor.
“Me? Why me?” the young man protested.
“Because my grandson needs a man-to-man talk, and you’re the only man in this room. Now, go!”
Shining Armor turned to his fiancée for backup, but she just pushed him towards the door and nodded. Shining sighed and resigned himself to his fate, grudgingly going after Flash.
“Man, what happened back there?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I mean, it’s not like the guy to space out in the middle of a performance.”
That’s what his younger brother would like to know. First Base’s face twisted in thought as he tried to fathom what could have upset his brother about the song. Then, his eyes widened.
“Grandma, Aunt Flare, when was the last time that any of us sang that song?” he asked.
“Well, about two years ago when—Oh!” Aunt Flare realized before her forehead wrinkled in worry. “Oh boy.”
Shining Armor continued in the general direction that he saw Flash running until he was outside of the event center. He looked to the left and then to the right, but he couldn’t find any sign of Flash anywhere. Then, his ears caught what sounded like a cross between a cough and a sniffle coming from behind the Rainbooms’ bus. It was, after all, the biggest vehicle in the parking lot and the easiest one to hide behind. Shining followed the sound and found Flash hunched over his knees, wiping away his tears furiously with the sleeve of his jacket.
“Hey, kid, you alright?” Shining called out to Flash. Flash looked up with wide eyes before looking away in embarrassment.
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Flash replied, wiping off the last of his tears. “I just, uh, remembered something.”
“Was it important?”
Flash sighed, “It is to me.”
Shining Armor put a hand on Flash’s shoulder, turning the younger boy towards him. He gave Flash a nod, urging Flash to continue talking.
Flash let out another sigh and continued, “It was the last time that I ever sang that song. It was for my grandparents’ anniversary, and it was the last lucid moment that my grandfather had before he died.”
“Oh,” Shining Armor said, blinking in surprise. “I, uh, I didn’t know that.”
“I’d be freaked out if you did,” Flash deadpanned. He felt Shining Armor giving his shoulder a squeeze, prompting him to continue. “My grandfather could have used that last moment for anything he wanted, and he used it to tell our family that he loved us.”
Flash coughed, trying to hold back the fresh wave of tears that was threatening to come out of him. Shining Armor awkwardly put his arm around the teen, clapping his hand on Flash’s far shoulder. Flash looked up at Shining Armor in confusion. Clearly, Shining’s attempt to comfort Flash wasn’t going very well.
“Go ahead and let it out, kid. I won’t judge you,” Shining Armor reassured Flash. “Besides, a memory like that is worth spilling a little liquid emotion over.”
Flash nodded as he let a few tears slip out of his eyes.
“Hey, Shining, is it alright if I say something to you?” Flash asked the older man.
“Uh, sure, I guess.”
“Don’t take Cadance for granted.” Shining Armor looked at Flash in confusion, completely taken aback by what the teenager had said. “Look, my grandfather wrote a piece of his heart into that song, and Grandma wouldn’t be giving it to you and Cadance if she didn’t think you guys would be able to appreciate that song’s message, which is why I’m begging you. Don’t take your wife for granted, okay?”
Flash’s face had turned serious as he spoke those words. When he finished, he wiped away the tears that had flowed out of his eyes while he was talking.
Shining Armor could only stare back. How did this kid who hasn’t even turned 18 yet already know so much about love? Just how?
“I won’t,” Shining Armor answered, his eyes matching the serious look that Flash was giving him. However, a small smile slowly began to appear on Shining’s face. Flash would probably never know it, but he had just given Shining Armor a gift, one as precious as his grandparents’ song. “So, are you feeling okay enough to go back inside, or do you need more time?”
“I’m good,” Flash replied, drying off his face one last time. “I’m good.”
When Shining Armor and Flash returned to the main hall, everybody had a solemn look on their faces. No doubt Flash’s family had told Cadance and the Rainbooms what had happened the last time Flash sang that song. Twilight was the first person to see the two men enter the room.
“Hey, you two,” she greeted them before addressing Flash specifically. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Flash replied with a smile. “I’m fine now.”
Twilight couldn’t help but smile back.
“Hun, I think you and Shining Armor need to sit down along with everybody else,” Grandma Birdie said. “I think it’s time I told you how that song came to be written.”
Flash and his younger brother shared a confused look with each other before turning to Aunt Flare. By the look she was giving them, she didn’t seem to know the story behind the song either.
“Oh, umm, are we going to have time for a story?” Twilight asked, shuffling through her papers. “We still have a lot to get done today.”
“I think we have time,” Cadance replied. “Besides, this seems important. If we don’t have time, then we’ll make time.”
Twilight shrugged and neatly set down her papers before turning towards Grandma Birdie. Flash and Shining Armor sat down and gave Grandma their undivided attention as well.
Grandma let out a breath before beginning her tale. “Lionheart and I fell in love during high school. Afterwards, he joined the army straight out of high school and got sent to Vietnam, and I waited for him to come back.” Grandma paused. “When he did, we were so happy to be together again that we got married as soon as we could. What we hadn’t realized was that being out in the war changed him.”
Grandma Birdie sighed again. “That first year was the worst. Lionheart would wake up in the middle of the night screaming. He would refuse to sleep without a gun under his pillow, and we would get into fights over it. The smallest thing would send him into a panic, and the worst part was that we just started growing apart without either of us even realizing it. I tried to put up with it as best as I could, but one day, it all came to a head. I was in the kitchen doing the dishes, and I asked him to run the washer for me. He loaded it, but he wouldn’t run it, so I got mad at him, and the two of us started shouting at each other. Finally, he said to me, ‘Maybe you should just leave like your mother did!’”
“What?!” her daughter and grandchildren cried.
“That doesn’t sound like ANYTHING Grandpa would say,” Flash added.
“It sure doesn’t,” agreed Aunt Flare.
“You’d be surprise how nasty people can get in a heat of anger,” Grandma explained.
“Boy, do I know it,” Flash thought to himself with a frown. Sure, that episode from the Battle of the Bands was only magic-induced anger, but it was still anger, and it still made him do things that he wishes he hadn’t.
“Anyway,” Grandma continued, “as soon as he said it, I burst into tears and shut myself in our room crying my eyes out. When I finally stopped, he comes in with this kicked-puppy look all over his face and asks me, ‘Birdie, you won’t really leave me, will you?’ I said, ‘I thought you wanted me to leave.’ He shakes his head and says, ‘I don’t, but maybe you’d be better off without me.’ I looked him straight in the eye and said, ‘Love, I’m not going anywhere. I’m not giving up on us, but I can’t save this marriage by myself. I need you with me.’”
“What happened next?” Flash prompted.
“Well, it took a while, but your grandfather finally realized that he wasn’t going to be able to get better by himself. As much as he hated asking other people for help, he hated letting down the people he loved more, so he started going to a psychiatrist. He didn’t get better right away, but he got better. He actually started learning how to play the guitar to help with the panic attacks. That song was the first one that he ever wrote. It took him years to get it right too.”
“Grandma, why are you telling us this now?” Flash asked.
“Because I’m getting older, and I have to teach you this while I still can, and since our friends are here, I might as well teach them too,” Grandma replied to Flash before addressing everyone else. “When you get married, you’re not only going to be joined with someone who will bring out the best in you. You’re also going to be joined with someone who will bring out the worst. Unless you want those worst moments to tear you and your wife or husband apart, the two of you will need to fight for each other. You understand?”
“I understand, Grandma.”
“So, do I,” agreed Twilight.
“That was a great story, Grandma,” First Base added, “but I still don’t want to get married.”
“What?” Aunt Flare scoffed. “You want to end up single and raising someone else’s kids?”
“Why not? That’s what you’re doing, and you’re awesome at it.”
Aunt Flare smirked at her youngest nephew. “Keep that in mind next time I cook something you don’t like or forget to buy snacks for the baseball team or accidentally wash our jeans in bleach.” First Base let out a hearty laugh in response.
“Wait,” Rarity interrupted. “Is that why Flash came to school wearing discolored jeans for a week?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Flash deadpanned. The rest of his family laughed at that.
Cadance pulled Shining Armor away from the rest of the group, and the two began to talk with each other in inaudible whispers. When they finished, they returned to the group.
“Ms. Birdie,” said Shining Armor, “Cadance and I have talked it over, and we don’t think your song will be right for the reception.
“Oh,” replied Grandma Birdie with a raised eyebrow.
“We want that song performed in the ceremony,” Cadance added.
Flash’s jaw dropped. “The ceremony? Are you serious?”
“Completely.”
Flash gave his grandmother a questioning look. She simply nodded with a smile.
“I think, I think Grandma should play it,” said Flash. “It’d mean a lot more coming from her.”
“You know what, hun? Let’s play it together.” Grandma placed her hand on top of her oldest grandson’s and gave it a squeeze.
One month later…
Flash and his family sat in the second row of the church where Shining Armor and Cadance’s wedding was taking place. Cadance had just walked down the aisle, and now, the pastor was calling him and his grandmother up to the front to perform the song. Flash got up and escorted his grandmother to a place near the altar where a piano and his acoustic guitar had been set up.
On the way there, he and Twilight met eyes. Twilight looked absolutely stunning in her magenta dress with the star-shaped brooch in the middle. Like the other bridesmaids, she wore a bead circlet with mint green and pink flowers. Twilight gave her boyfriend a reassuring smile before breaking eye contact. Flash smiled back.
When Flash and his grandmother reached where they were supposed to go, Grandma Birdie seated herself at the piano while Flash picked up and strapped on his guitar.
After Flash played the opening bars of the song, Grandma played the piano as she sang the first verse. “Love is not a place/To come and go as we please/It’s a house we enter in/And then commit
To never leave/So lock the door behind you/Throw away the key/We’ll work it out together/Let it bring us to our knees”
“Love is a shelter/In a raging storm” To everyone’s astonishment, Grandma Birdie powerfully belted out the chorus. “Love is peace/In the middle of a war/If we try to leave/May God send angels/To guard the door/No, love is not a fight/But it’s something worth fighting for”
“To some love is a word,” Flash started the second verse, “That they can fall into/But when they’re falling out/Keeping their word is hard to do”
Flash and his grandmother sang the chorus together, and once again, Flash could feel a familiar pressure building up behind his eyes. Considering how hard Shining Armor was crying earlier as Cadance come down the aisle, Flash wasn’t feeling as self-conscious about his liquid emotion this time around.
The tears began pouring down as he and Grandma sang the last lines of the chorus. “No, love is not a fight/But it’s something worth fighting for”
“Love will come to save us/If we’ll only call,” Grandma Birdie sang the bridge. “He will ask nothing from us/But demand we give our all”
“Love is a shelter/In a raging storm,” Flash sang his whole heart as he began the last chorus. He was so immersed in the song that he didn’t even care that he was still crying. Flash couldn’t see it from where he was standing, but Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor were crying as well.
“Love is peace/In the middle of a war”
“If we try to leave,” Flash and Grandma continued together. “May God send angels/To guard the door/No, love is not a fight/But it’s something worth fighting for”
“I will fight for you,” Grandma closed the song. “Would you fight for me?/It’s worth fighting for”
When the two of them had finished the song, Grandma Birdie got up from the piano and allowed Flash to escort them back to their seats. After the two of them sat down, Flash pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and dried off the last of his tears. Looks like Grandma made the right call in having him bring one.
While Cadance and Shining Armor were exchanging their vows, Flash kept his eyes on Twilight. However, Twilight was too busy paying attention to the rest of the ceremony to notice Flash staring at the back of her head.
“Twilight,” Flash thought to himself. “I know you have no way of knowing what I’m thinking right now, and I’m probably getting way ahead of myself. Okay, I’m definitely getting way ahead of myself, but if the two of us end up anywhere near as lucky as your brother and Cadance are right now, I want to be the kind of man that fights for you.”
“Shining Armor,” said the pastor, jolting Flash out of his mind and back into the ceremony, “do you take Mi Amore Cadenza to be your lawfully wedded wife?” So, that’s what her full name was.
“I do,” Shining Armor replied.
“Cadance, do you take Shining Armor to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do,” said Cadance.
“May I have the rings?”
On cue, Twilight bent down to pick up her puppy Spike who was carrying the rings on a pillow strapped to the top of his head. She might have used her magic so that she wouldn’t have to bend down so low, but no one really cared. Once Spike was safely deposited in her arms, she held him out so that her brother and almost-sister-in-law could take the rings.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the pastor closed as Shining and Cadance exchanged rings. “You may kiss—”
Before the pastor could finish that sentence, Shining Armor and Cadance pulled each other into a loving embrace and kissed. All the wedding guests responded with cheers and thunderous applause, well, cheers, thunderous applause, and a sudden blast of confetti courtesy of a certain pink someone. How she managed to sneak a party cannon into a church the world will never know.