//------------------------------// // Chapter 29 Journey for the Spark // Story: Super Stallion // by PioneerofImagination //------------------------------// When word got out that Twilight was missing, numerous ponies went around looking for her. The royal pony sisters formed several search parties as well as joined in for the search. "Between all of us looking, somepony is bound to find her sooner or later," Super Stallion said as he was flying around in the sky.  In Canterlot Princess Celestia was in her chambers pacing back and forth as her sister entered. “Any luck?” “We’ve searched everywhere,” Luna replied. “We haven’t found any sign of her.” “Well keep searching.” “But sister, I just got back. Can’t I rest for a while?” “I said keep searching!” Luna was stunned by her sister’s answer and made her way to the door. “Luna, wait! I’m sorry, I-” “It’s okay,” Luna replied. “I’m worried about her too.” Princess Luna took off leaving Celestia alone with her thoughts. “What if something happened to her? If it did, it's all my fault, I never should have let her come to the prison with me. Why do I hurt those closest to me? Sunset, Twilight, Luna,...Starswirl.” Celestia then looked up at the sky as she remembered a not so pleasant time in her life.  *** Star Swirl the Bearded was packing up for a journey and was making his way out. But before leaving he went to check on her student/daughter. “I’m heading out now.” “Okay,” Celestia replied white laying down and not even looking at him. Recently she was forced to end a deep relationship with a king from another world. “I might be a while, so I expect you and your sister to manage things here.” “Yes sir.” “Starswirl gave a sad huff. “I’m sorry for what you had to do. I’m sure things will be alright, just try not to think about it.” Star Swirl then left believing it was wise to give the princess her space.  “Try not to think about it?” Celestia said to herself. She then flew through the entrance of the castle where Star Swirl had already passed and was making his way down the path. “TRY NOT TO THINK ABOUT IT!” Celestia yelled as her teacher/father stopped in his tracks after hearing that. “THAT’S ALL YOU CAN SAY!” “I know you’re upset,” Star Swirl said. “But time heals all wounds, I’m sure things will turn out for the better.” “Oh yeah and maybe I’ll fall in love with a flying earth pony.” “Well I have been working on something like that,” Star Swirl said to himself. “What?” Celestia called out. “Nothing. Listen if you want to talk about what happened we can talk it out later. But for now I have something I have to deal with.” Star Swirl then continued down the path. “OKAY FINE!” Celestia yelled again. “JUST GO ON YOUR LITTLE ADVENTURE! HAVE ALL THE FUN YOU WANT! JUST FORGET ABOUT ME!.....I HOPE I NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN!”  Star Swirl stopped again but this time turned around giving Celestia a stoic yet cold stare. “Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.” Star Swirl then walked off until he was out of sight as Celestia couldn’t believe what she just said. That was the last time she ever talked to Star Swirl until he showed up in Canterlot thanks to his time travel spell. ***   Elsewhere the mane 5 and Spike were searching together and along the way came across a small village that none of them have ever seen. "Wow look at all those smiles," Fluttershy said thinking perhaps this was a very nice village. "I think it's lovely." "I don't like it! I don't like it 1 bit!" Pinkie Pie said in a rare serious tone. "I know smiles and those smiles they're just not right."  "Wait a minute," Spike said. "Look at the cutie marks."  "Spikey Wikey you're right they all look the same." "Okay that's weird." The group made their way to the village and were received with various welcomes from the ponies there. A pony by the name of Double Diamond invited them to meet the village founder Starlight Glimmer but the group was traveling for quite a while and they wanted to stop and brake for a meal while trying to figure out what to do next.  "I really hope that somepony here knows something about Twilight," Fluttershy said.  "Well we gotta run into somepony that knows sooner or later we've been traveling to the end of Equestria fer cryin out loud," Applejack said.  "If we were at the end of Equestria we'd be standing on a big A hee hee get it?” "Oh please Miss Pie this is no time for jokes," Rarity said. "Miss Pie?" Spike said. "What?"  "Well it's just that I've never heard you, heard anypony really call Pinkie that."  "Whatever Spike it's not important," Rainbow Dash chimed in. "We need to see what these weird ponies know about Twilight and then get going the sooner the better if you ask me."  "Here here, have you seen what they're wearing?"  "Is that really yer main focus Rarity?" Applejack asked. "Really girls they may do things a bit differently than we're used to but that's no reason to be rude," Fluttershy said. "No, the reason to be rude is that they all keep staring at us," Rainbow Dash said. As the group continued to talk a mare walked out to take the group's order. She wanted to talk but the group was arguing and she couldn't get a word in edgewise for a while.  "Look, can we stop arguing for now we need to find our friend," Rarity said. "I can tell she's close. I feel it in my scales." "Uh excuse me would you like something to eat? We have..muffins." "Okay we'll take 6," Spike answered to the waitress.  "Make that 12!" Pinkie called out. "What? I'm hungry!" The waitress then walked back inside to get the order for the group.  "Sugar Belle! 12 orders of muffins." "Okay I'll get right on that, thanks Twilight." "You're welcome." "TWILIGHT!" The group shouted in unison and ran inside to see Twilight staring strangely at them. Twilight had her mane in a bun with a waitress apron and a bandage around her forehead. On top of that her coat was paler than usual and she even had a different cutie mark that matched those of the other ponies in the village.  "Twilight! It is you!" Spike said as he ran right at her and hugged her. "Hey let me go of me!" Twilight said as she pushed Spike off and got behind the counter in a protective manner. "Wh-What do you all want?" "Twilight, don't you know who we are?" Spike asked sadly. "No. Who are you?" "Twilight it's me, it's us. Spike, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie don't you remember us?"  "No." It was then the excitement wore off and the group noticed the changes in Twilight's usual appearance, most of all the bandage around her head.  "Twilight darling, did you hit your head?"  "I don't remember but I think I did." It was around this time that Sugar Belle had walked over to Twilight. "Twilight these ponies really seem to know you, they must have met you before you lost your memory." "Lost her memory?" Spike said, almost tearing up.  "Yes it's horrible our friend Twilight was found not too far off away from our village by Double Diamond and our village founder Starlight Glimmer aided in her recovery." After that Rainbow Dash flew off to tell the others looking for Twilight she’d been found.  "Rarity please tell me you know a memory recovery spell." "Oh I'm sorry my little Spikey Wikey but that's far beyond my area of expertise." Rarity then pulled her favorite dragon into a hug. "Don't worry I'm sure we can get her memory back in no time at all." After a while Twilight's family arrived along with her superhero friend and the royal pony sisters as well.  "Twilight my baby, my sweet little baby," Twilight Velvet said as she charged at her daughter who stopped her in her tracks by putting a magical barrier around her. "Will all you strange ponies and dragons please stop trying to touch me." "Oh my gosh it's true Night Light our baby has amnesia!"  "Don't you recognize them Twily?" Shining Armor asked as he approached her. "My name is Twilight not Twily." "I know that, that's my little nickname for you. I call you Twily and you call me BBBFF." "Huh?" "Yeah huh?" Starlight asked. "It means big brother best friend forever." Hearing that Twilight bursted out laughing and Starlight nearly did the same. "Oh my gosh that's so ridiculous there's no way I actually say that." "But you do, you really do, it's me, your big brother Shining Armor."  "It's not ringing any bells."  Celestia and Luna then came to the front. "Do you know who we are Twilight?" Celestia asked. "Well of course I know who you are, you're the royal pony sisters." "Well it's a start Celestia," Luna said, trying to be positive.  Super Stallion then flew over to Twilight and that caught her attention so much she dispelled the barrier to get a closer look. "Oh my gosh you can fly but you don't have any wings are you Pony Pan!?" "My my a callback all the way from the 1st chapter," Discord said as he appeared out of thin air as he usually does and nearly made Twilight pop out of her gourd.  "What in the wide wide world of Equestria is that thing?!" "Oh my dear little Twilight you don't remember your precious teacher?" Hearing that Celestia flew right in Discord's face.  "I'm her teacher!" "Not anymore sun butt." As Celestia and Discord argued for a while the group approached Twilight and Spike handed Twilight a rather large book.  "Wow, that is a big book," Twilight said, amazed.  "Well I can tell her natural curiosity and love of books hasn't gone away," Super Stallion said to himself. "You wrote this book Twilight," Spike said. "I did?" "Well Celestia and Luna wrote it at first then you and your friends decided to write a few things in this journal as well." Twilight then looked through the journal and in no time at all she read faster and faster as if she was addicted to reading. Even more than she already was.  "I think I remember something, Spike you and I found this at the Castle of the 2 Sisters." Hearing that the ponies nearly cheered as a piece of her memory came back. "Twilight if we take you to Ponyville I bet we can restore your memory in no time at all," Rainbow Dash said. "But I live here, in fact the other ponies have almost finished my cottage."  "Wait then where have you been sleeping Twily?"  "The village leader Starlight Glimmer lets me stay in her home. She's so generous." Spike then placed his claw on Twilight's leg in a gentle manner as not to spook Twilight.  "Please Twilight." Twilight looked into the eyes of the adorable little dragon and something told her she could trust him.  "Well okay but I'll need to pack some things if I'm going to-" "No need," Discord interrupted and with a snap of his fingers sent the mane 6 and Spike all the way back to Ponyville.  "Hold on a second I want to help her get her memory back too," Shining Armor said. "Don't worry we will," Cadance said as she teleported herself and Shining Armor to Ponyville as well.  "Wait a minute, Discord can't you use your chaos magic to restore Twilight's memory?" Celestia asked. "What and ruin the plot?"  ***  Twilight and the gang arrived in the castle that appeared in Ponyville after Tirek's defeat.  "Where are we?" "It's your castle Twilight," Spike answered. "I have a castle!" Twilight then looked around the castle with her friends not too far behind and her brother and sister in law when they appeared as well. Spike helped Twilight make her way to her room and looked at quite a few things, mostly the books and around that time Cadance and Shining Armor caught up to the others.  "How's it going?"  "I think she's starting to remember," Spike said. "Isn't that great?" "Yes indeed Spikey Wikey I know you've been worried the most out of all of us since she went missing. But we can put that all behind us as soon as she remembers everything." "And when she remembers everything we can throw her a great big congrats on getting all your memories back party! I've always wanted to throw one of those. I have just the cake for that." "We should probably show her around town as well and have her stop back at Sweet Apple Acres for some apple cider that'll jog her memory lickity split."  "Oh! Oh! I could go for some apple cider too!"  "I agree with Rainbow Dash. And Applejack and Pinkie Pie and Rarity and Spike and maybe Shining Armor and Princess Cadence too."  "Uh Fluttershy we didn't say any-" "What's this?" Twilight asked cutting off Cadance by mistake as she got out a piece of paper. "Uh that's not important Twily," Shining Armor said recognizing the piece of paper that she picked up.  Twilight read it out loud then turned the paper. "No exceptions," she read some more. Twilight then turned to Shining Armor. "What is this?" "Like I said, it's not all that important." "Shining," Cadance who could tell right from the start her husband wasn't telling the truth said in a strict tone. "Okay okay I wrote that for you at your request." "Wow, we must have gotten into a terrible fight." "Well it wasn't all that bad really looking back." "Shining!"  "All right all right we got into a big fight because I was acting like a complete jerk and me writing that was how I made it up to you. Do me a favor when you get your memories back, try not to remember any of that stuff okay."  "Shi-" Shining Armor then placed his hoof right on his wife's muzzle, cutting her off. Twilight then made her way to a very large table that had 6 chairs around it each with a different symbol on them. "What is this a meeting room?"  "We…aren't sure actually. This castle arrived only recently," Spike answered. Twilight then sat on the chair that shared the symbol of her old cutie mark.  "Oh I see. It at least looks nice though." The rest of the mane 6 then also sat on the chairs that matched their cutie marks and to the surprise of everypony and Spike, a map of Equestria appeared on the table. Soon after Twilight's former cutie mark and the cutie marks of her friends appeared not to Starlight’s village. Before long they all figured out they should return to the village as the map most likely wants them there to serve some sort of higher purpose.  Rainbow Dash whined. “We just left there.” "If it means going back to Starlight's village sooner that's fine," Twilight said. "Besides, this castle feels rather empty to me." "Okay I just hope it doesn't make us go back to some place we just left again." Cadance then used her alicorn magic to teleport everypony and Spike back. *** Back at the village the others Discord teleported had left except for Princess Celestia. "Starlight was it?" Celestia asked. "Yes Starlight Glimmer Princess Celestia," Starlight answered with a bow. "Is there any way I can be of service to you?"  "As a matter of fact there is. I want you to tell me what you did to my former faithful student's cutie mark."  "Oh, would the great Princess Celestia be interested in joining our town as well?"  "No I'm not interested in that. In fact I think you should just return her cutie mark." "Oh I can’t do that. She went through all the trouble to be like the rest of us after all." Starlight then explained that all the ponies who joined her village had their cutie marks removed by a magical artifact known as the Staff of Sameness, an artifact of Mage Meadowbrooks. Celestia knew right from the start that was a lie as she actually knew Meadowbrooks.  "Mage Meadowbrooks you say," Princess Celestia said, deciding to play along. "Now where were you able to get your hooves on that?"  "It found me really," Starlight answered and once again Celestia could tell she was lying. "Once it's used I can then store them in the vault but for now Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark is in a jar." "A cutie mark in a jar that's rather hard to believe."  "Then by all means Princess Celestia allow me to show you." Before they continued this was around the time Twilight's group arrived back in the village.  "Starlight I'm back!" "Twilight so nice to have you back again and I see that you've brought your friends." "Hey, since we're back can we get those muffins now? What? I'm still hungry and we didn't stop for snacks when we were back in Ponyville."  "Sugar Belle should have them done by now let's go see." Twilight then led her friends to Sugar Belle while Starlight took the royal trio inside her house and as Starlight said the princess of friendship's cutie mark was indeed inside a jar.  "In all my years I've seen nothing stranger than this," Celestia said.  "That is definitely something you don't see every day," Shining Armor said, who couldn't help but be somewhat interested in what he was looking at. "Well it won't be here forever, eventually it'll be out of there and joined with all the others," Starlight said.  "Well perhaps instead it would be best if I took this off your hooves," Princess Celestia said.  "I beg your pardon, your highness," Starlight said, sounding a bit offended.  "You tricked Twilight into giving you something that she shouldn't give. She was in no condition to be making sound decisions and you took advantage of that."  "I don't care what you’re implying, your highness. You don't even know the way of this quiet little town and yet you're already judging things about it."  "Don't play innocent," Shining Armor butted in. "All those ponies are walking around with no cutie marks and grinning like they're insane!" "I'm surprised that you won't want your sister to be a part of this." "What's that supposed to mean?"  "My village is a rather isolated area but we still get news here. Such as the horror fiasco of the changelings almost invading Equestria and your sister was very angry with how you and her so-called friends treated her." "What does that have to do with any of this?" Shining asked, upset.  "Your sister lost her memory and now she's in a place where she won't have to worry about the pressures of being a princess anymore. If she gets her memory back she'll also remember those horrible times as well won't she?" "What are you talking about?" Shining asked not liking where this was going. "What's your point or do you not have one?" "My point is your sister is happy, do you really want to take that away from her?" Shining Armor was rather dumbstruck by Starlight's question which quickly caught the attention of her wife and aunt in law.  "Shining Armor you can't honestly agree with what she's saying," Cadance said. "I, I need to be alone for a second to think." Shining Armor then walked away but Cadance wasn't too far behind. "Shining wait!"  "Perhaps it is best that we go so I'll just be taking that cutie mark and be on my way." Celestia then reached for the jar but Starlight grabbed it.  "I don't think so. Twilight may not have given this to me under unsound conditions or whatever you call it but she still gave it to me willingly. If you take it back by force, that's stealing. I don't think Twilight would like to see that, don't you? Haven't you done enough bad things to the ponies that you love?" Hearing that now Celestia was dumbfounded but suddenly Cadance came back in and asked Celestia to come out.  "I think we should head out for now," Cadance said. She explained to Celestia that this tree castle map thing wanted the mane 6 to come to this village so perhaps it would be best if they handled this whole thing instead. "Cadance, what are you talking about?"  "I think this might be one of those times like when they turned Nightmare Moon back into Princess Luna. But we should find things to help Twilight remember things." “We should also take Spike,” Princess Celestia said. “He probably knows her the best.”  After the princesses left with Spike, the mane 6 talked with several ponies in the village who wanted their cutie marks back. "Why would you want them back aren't you all happy?" Twilight asked. "Well it's just that I used to be such a great baker, after I gave mine up all I make now are those disgusting muffins," Sugar Belle answered. "You're telling me I've accidentally eaten cardboard taster than that," Pinkie Pie said. "So what exactly happened to all those cutie marks that got taken." "They're up in the mountains," Twilight answered. "Starlight takes any ponies that want to join up to the mountain where the cutie vault is located."  "Ya don't say," Applejack said. "Perhaps it'd help whatever reason we were brought here after we left after we came here. Wow, that's a bigger mouthful than a jug of cider." "So you want to get rid of your cutie marks and join us too!"  "Not yet Twi but I reckon it might be worth looking into." "Uh I'm not so sure about that darling perhaps we should learn a little bit more about this place before we go." "Oh come on Rar what's the worst that could happen anyway?" ***  "What's the worst that could happen anyway," Rarity said somewhat mimicking Rainbow Dash’s voice. After going to the cave the 5 were ambushed and their cutie marks were forcibly removed and placed in the vault with the rest of them. After that the 5 ponies were put into a small house together and weren't allowed out until they agreed to join the village.  "Oh come on Rarity how was she supposed to know this would go bad as a, uh as a, shoot I can't even make countryisms no more." Meanwhile Twilight was with Starlight as the village prepared to have the 5 ponies come out to see who would like to join the village like Twilight did. "Starlight, don't you think this is going a bit too far? I mean I didn't go through with this when I joined." "Not everypony is accepting as you are unfortunately,” Starlight said. “But they'll come around in time just like all the others." The mane 5 were soon brought out to see if any of them liked to join them. "Good morning I trust you had a pleasant night." "How can we there's no bed in here?" Rainbow Dash asked.   "Come on, give it a try," Twilight said. "Once you join the village does this thing where they all help build you a cottage-" "Not happening!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "You may have them now but we're going to get our cutie marks back!" "Y'all can't force ponies to be friends, it don't work like that." "Please join us." "We love new friends."  "It's alright everypony we'll try again tomorrow," Starlight said.  "Twi, don't them do this to us!" Applejack called out. "This ain't right and we need your help. Don't you remember all the times we helped each other? Nightmare Moon, Discord, the Crystal Empire. Remember please." Twilight then rubbed her head a little as those words actually sounded very familiar. "Are you okay Twilight?" Starlight asked. "I'm just not so sure this is a good idea." "Don't worry 1 bit Twilight I've done this before and eventually they all find the way. Now come on Twilight the villagers need a little more time before you can move into your cottage." "Okay then," Twilight said, still having some doubts. Before they went back to the cottage Starlight went to the vault to collect the cutie marks of her friends and like Twilight's placed them in jars and returned to the cottage.  "Thank you for your help Twilight you're going to give Double Diamond a run for his bits as my number 2 around here." "You're welcome but why go through all this trouble?" "Oh I just want to make sure that they'll be all right your's in particular seeing how you used to be a princess after all." And with you joining us it won't be long before all Equestria sees what I'm trying to do. "But what does it matter what I used to be, what my friends used to be?"  "I'm just making sure nothing goes wrong." In the other cottage, Twilight’s friends were trying to think up a plan. “Come on, there's gotta be something we can do,” Rainbow Dash said.  “What would Twilight do if she was here?” Pinkie Pie asked. “And had her memory back.”  The next day Starlight had the mane 5 come out to see if they wanted to join. "If we didn't want to join yesterday, what makes you think we'd want to join today?!" Rainbow Dash asked. "None of us are even remotely interested in joining!"  "I kind of am," Fluttershy said to the shock of all her friends. "I mean yeah the whole locking us in there and forcing us to give up our special talents wasn't so great. But this still seems like a nice place.” Before long Fluttershy joined the village.  But unknown to Starlight this was a plan Twilight’s friends had set into motion to see just what was going on in this village. Morning came yet again who pretended to consider joining and asked if they could join but keep their cutie marks. "Out of the question, having a pony here with a cutie mark would destroy our entire philosophy. We are all equal here," Starlight answered.  “Then how do you explain this?” Fluttershy asked as she dropped a bucket of water near Starlight. Who didn’t notice the water washed off some of her fake cutie mark, revealing a little of her real one. Twilight, who couldn't help but notice, took off her apron and used it to whip off the rest of the fake mark. "No stop, get away!" The other ponies noticed as well and were utterly shocked. "What are you all looking at? They're the problem, not me." "You said cutie marks were evil! That special talents lead to pain and heartache!" Twilight said, starting to get angry. Starlight tried to explain but nopony was listening. "Why even use your magic, what about the staff!" Double Diamond asked. "The staff is a piece of wood that I found in the desert. It's my magic that made all this possible. You'd all be living your miserable lives thinking you're better than everypony else if it weren't for me. So what if I lied? I brought you all happiness, quality, and harmony!" "But it was based on a lie!" Twilight said, starting to get in Starlight's face nearly engulfed with rage. "Do you honestly think that's how friendship works? Friends are ponies you're supposed to trust to rely on-" Twilight was about to continue but stopped because she started to feel like she was having a heart attack. Suddenly Discord appeared. “Are you lot still hanging out, wow, what’s going on with Twilight?” Twilight was surrounded by darkness that came out of nowhere scaring just about everypony there. Super Stallion who just happened to be flying by as luck would have it saw the shadows and flew down right away. "Discord what did you do?!" "Me? Oh sure, it’s always Discord. You’re giving me a complex."   “Well then what happened?!” "My escape," Sombra said with a mix of Twilight's voice. "And this will be the perfect host to do that until I can claim my body anew." "Not on my watch pal!" Super Stallion said as he used magic to force Sombra out of Twilight who gathered the shadows around him and vanished and when the shadows cleared Starlight was gone.  As the ponies went to the mountains to get their cutie marks back, Starlight ran off with the cutie marks of the mane 6. She made it to the mountains until a certain earth pony cut her off. "Do those belong to you?"  "I'm pretty sure that question was rhetorical," Twilight said, having been taken there by Super Stallion at her request. Twilight then smashed the jars with a spell that freed the cutie marks.  "What were you planning to do? Hide in those caves with nothing but those cutie marks to keep you company?" Starlight was so mad she tried to blast Twilight but she blocked it with another shield. "I studied that spell for years how could you-" "I studied magic for years too but studying can only take you so far. Each of my friends taught me something different about myself. It was their unique gifts, passions, and personalities that helped bring out the magic inside of me. I never would have learned I represented the element of magic without those 5 and I wouldn't have stopped you." "Spare me your sentimental nonsense, I gave those ponies real friendship they never would have had otherwise."  "Yeah from the tiny bit I saw I really doubt it," Super Stallion said. Then suddenly a large burst of magic appeared around Starlight and when it cleared she was gone, again. Twilight and Super Stallion returned to the village and the mane 6's cutie marks started to glow.  "Uh did our cutie marks always do that?" Twilight asked.  *** After getting their cutie marks back Twilight thought it best to go back to Ponyville while the other ponies stayed and decided to rebuild and get to know each other better. Before returning to the castle Twilight stayed at the hospital for a while to have her head looked at. While she was gone her friends decided to decorate the castle a bit so Twilight would like it better. It was difficult at first but they got it done. "Wow this place looks really different," Twilight said when she got back. "Twilight!" Spike said as he ran over to Twilight but stopped as he didn't want to upset her again but to his delightful surprise she hugged him. "Does this mean you have your memory back?" "Somewhat. I still need to fill in some blanks." "Well maybe we can help with that," Shining Armor said, who was with his wife Cadance. "I want to help you as well." "Um, who are you?"  "Don't you remember me Princess Twilight, I'm Flash Sentry," Flash said as he approached Twilight and held her hoof in a romantic gesture. "We've sort of been dating for a while." "You mean I have a coltfriend?" "Yes, and last time we met I convinced you to let me-" Flash was cut off when Shining Armor pulled him away from his sister towards him and his face that had a very angry stare. "Take her out to dinner." "I think the Crystal Empire is calling you back." "Actually going out to dinner sounds really good," Twilight said as he approached Flash and made her brother let go of him. "Twily you shouldn't go out with a guy you don't even remember." "I don't know, he has a nice face." "Twily you can't let that be the only reason." "Well then it's a good thing that I have another reason." Twilight then got a paper that was all too familiar with Shining Armor.  "Are you kidding me? You can’t just keep using that paper you know. “Oh I think I can. Said it before, say it again you're going to be a grandfather by the time you're none making it up to me. Besides, I don’t think you have the right to complain since you said you were willing to do anything to make up for what you did." Shining Armor groaned. "Why did you have to remember that?”  Before long the Pinkie’s party went underway as a few others showed up to join in. Such as Twilight and Shining Armor’s parents, Squeaky Clean, Swift Sweep, the royal pony sisters, and a few that just felt like joining. The party was rather small but fun nonetheless. Shining Armor however was in the corner and saw his wife as well as Luna and Swift Sweep approach him. “Is something the matter honey?" Cadence asked Shining Armor. "Not really, it's just." Shining Armor looked at his sister who was enjoying herself. "Is this about what Starlight said at her village?" Cadence asked. "Yeah," he admitted. "You probably think that was pretty stupid of me to actually want to go through with her idea?" "Yes," Cadence admitted. "But I also think it's rather sweet. It shows how much you care about her." "Wait I'm confused," Swift Sweep said. "Is this about all that..."business" from your almost wedding? I thought you and Twilight put that all behind you." "We did, but I'm afraid that she's always going to have what happened back then in the back of her mind," Shining Armor answered. Cadance and Luna were rather sad. "And that's fine," Swift Sweep said. His response surprised the others. "Bad memories never go away, but they can make us stronger. That's how we grow as ponies." Swift then saw Pinkie bringing in dessert and brought Luna over to it. "Hey, Cadance?" "Yeah, Shining Armor?" "You ever think maybe, just maybe-" "Swift Sweep is a lot smarter than we give him credit for? Yeah."