//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Full of Love // Story: Apologies After the Love Wave // by SamSwordsman123 //------------------------------// Twilight felt the shockwave of love wash over her, it filled her with positive energy that caused her to smile widely. When she opened her eyes, the changelings, the creatures who had invaded Canterlot, were all blasted away. She’d heard their queen let out a shout of dismay as she was the first to be hit by the wave created by Twilight's older brother Shining Armor and his true love Princess Cadance. Twilight could feel her heart filling with such positive emotion, as though the bad things that had happened over the last few hours were now a distant memory. Shining Armor and Cadance slowly descended back to the ground which they had been levitating above moments ago. Outside, the ponies of Canterlot began to trot around happily as though the invasion never happened. No doubt being hit by the shockwave caused all the friendly targets to become filled with positive emotion. They were relieved that they were safe again. Twilight had one concern however, as her mentor, Princess Celestia was freed from the slimy green cocoon she’d been trapped in after being bested by the queen in combat. As the guards freed her Twilight helped the pony she looked up to more than any in Equestria back to her hooves. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” Celestia said with a smile before adding, “You have a real wedding to put together.” Twilight’s mouth curled into a loving smile. Her heart was filled with so much love right now. The love the real Cadance felt for her brother. But behind her she heard a voice that was filled not with love but regret. “I think you’re missing something, Princess.” Twilight turned and saw her brother walking up to her with a look of guilt and grief on his face. “And what is that, Shining Armor?” Celestia asked cheerfully. Her captain gaped at her, his face turning to one of anger as he roared, “Did you forget what happened at the rehearsal? Oh wait, let me guess! That’s because of Cadance’s love spell being mixed with my shield!” Twilight's brother looked at her, his anger turning back to guilt as he did so. “Twilie, I’m so sorry!” he said as tears escaped his eyes. “It’s okay, Big Brother.” Twilight said with a strong smile. “No… no its not!” He said shaking his head. "What's wrong, Shining Armor?" Cadance asked in concern. Shining turned toward her with a fearful expression. "I-I did something terrible to Twilight earlier!" Cadance widened her eyes. “Terrible?" Shining Armor sobbed and choked out. “At the wedding rehearsal... she burst in and accused that imposter of being evil! I yelled at her and told her to… to forget about being my Best Mare and not even show up at the wedding!" Cadance’s mouth fell open in shock. "What? How could you do that?" "I was trying to protect who I thought was you! That monster pretended to cry and I got angry!" Cadance now gave him an angry face as she stepped toward him. "I can't believe you'd say those things to your own sister! You... you big jerk!" She then slapped him across the face. "Cadance!" Twilight exclaimed in surprise. "I deserved that!" Shining Armor said, putting his hoof up to stop her from getting closer. Cadance then approached Twilight. "I'm going to take the love energy out of her and everypony else! You better hope she has enough love for you to forgive you. Because if she doesn't, I don't know if I can marry you." Her horn glowed and blue light emerged from Twilight, her friends, and Princess Celestia, traveling back to Cadance as she took back in the love she’d spread among them. As soon as it was removed, everypony once again felt the shame, sadness, and pain of their actions from earlier. Princess Celestia brought her hoof to her mouth. “Oh, oh how foolish of me!” Celestia’s ears fell as she looked at Twilight and (much to the unicorn's shock) bowed to her. “Twilight. I’m so sorry! You are not the one that has a lot to think about, I am. Because I didn’t listen to you, I endangered my kingdom.” “No Princess, it wasn’t your fault,” Twilight said. "You didn’t see the way that imposter was acting during the preparations. I may have been right about her, but not the real Cadance. The real one is a kind, caring pony. I should have known it wasn’t her.” “You had no way of knowing that,” Celestia shook her head. “But I did!” Twilight objected. “I saw the imposter’s magic was green, but Cadance’s is blue! That should have told me that it wasn’t really her. I was just so angry over the way she treated my friends I overlooked that detail that could have made all the difference!” “Maybe so,” Celestia said. “But I should have known there was something off about Shining Armor’s story. I taught the old bridesmaids at my school of magic. I should have known they wouldn’t have had such shallow reasons as he claimed.” “We were the shallow ones,” Applejack said as she approached Twilight with the others. “We became so fixated on this wedding we ignored you, Twi! I know I said sorry already and you said it wasn’t our fault. But that’s not true! Maybe it wasn’t our fault for being fooled, but it was our fault for not taking your worries seriously and turning our backs on you like that.” “We were just so… so… selfish!” Rarity said for lack of a better word. “Disloyal!” Rainbow Dash kicked the floor. “Stupid,” Pinkie Pie said. “Unkind,” Fluttershy wept. All of them sat with bowed heads, their tails laying flat on the floor. The same position Twilight had taken when Shining Armor told her not to show her face at the wedding. “We’re so so sorry, Twilight,” Applejack said as she too began to cry. “We should have listened to you, should have stayed with you when you were sad and comforted you! We were terrible friends. We- She couldn’t even find the words to describe how bad she felt. Shining Armor looked at his sister with a tear-stained face. “Twilie, I’ve never regretted anything more than the things I said to you at the rehearsal. I don’t know if it was because of the queen’s mind control, stress from having to do my forcefield all the time, or seeing that imposter cry… and I don’t care! I’ll never forgive myself for those cruel things that came out of my mouth. I-” “Well I do!” Twilight said opening her front legs. “Come here!” Slowly, her guilty brother walked up to her and she wrapped her hooves around his neck as tears began to form in her eyes as well. “How can you forgive me so easily?” he choked out. “You have every right to hate me right now!” “I was afraid I’d lost you, Big Brother.” She wept. “I was afraid I’d lost all of you! After you left me I thought you’d never want to speak to me again! That you’d stop being my friends, teacher, or brother!” “Twilie. I wouldn’t have gone that far!” Shining said, tightening their hug. “I went too far as it is. I was ready to forgive you not long after!” “You were?” Twilight asked through her tears. Her brother nodded with a sniffle. “I-I calmed down while looking for Cadance. I thought back to when you were so thrilled at the thought of me marrying her. Then I thought of how I might react if I saw somepony putting a spell on you that made your eyes spin around. I went back to apologize, but you were gone. I asked the guards if they’d seen you but they didn’t see anypony besides “Cadance” come out. That was when I knew something was wrong. I went looking for her. As I peeked through the door to her room, though, I saw her turn into her true form and communicate with her minions outside. I went in to confront her and she brainwashed me!”