//------------------------------//
// Chapter XI:  Twas Beauty Saved The Beast 
// Story: A Love To Remember 
// by SapphireWings999 
//------------------------------//

            Fluttershy stood at the doorway into the main hall where, within only a short period of time, she’d be walking down the aisle towards her future, her future with this stranger who she knew full well wasn’t the real David.  She’d strongly considered running away from the wedding that awaited her, but what would that mean for David?  Would her backing out of this arrangement cause further harm towards the man she loved?  That was not something Fluttershy was willing to risk.

            No matter how she looked at it, there was no possible escape for her.  Her back was up against the wall at this point with no way of avoiding her union with this imposter.  Tears ran down her face as she realized the hopelessness of her situation, while at the same time relieved that the veil hiding her face wouldn’t give away her sadness to anyone else when the time finally came for her to make that long walk towards an unavoidable, unchangeable future with a man she didn’t really love.

            As these thoughts were running through her head, the wedding march started as the doors in front of her opened and everycreature there was looking at her, waiting for her to take her walk up to the front.  Fluttershy had used to be incredibly nervous whenever this level of attention was directed at her, but, as the years went on, she’d become more used to it to the point that it didn’t bother her that much anymore.  At least, not on the level that it had bothered her before.

            However, in this very moment, all that nervousness came flooding back to her as she briefly hesitated making that lengthy walk.  Time was up as far as she was concerned.  She’d now be stuck having to marry this charlatan just to spare the real David from whatever evil might be planned out for him.  Finally, taking a deep breath and choking back any remaining tears, Fluttershy slowly but surely walked down the aisle towards the front of the hall where “David” stood with a smile on his face at the sight of her, but there was also something else to his expression, a certain gleam in his eye that she was all too familiar with.

            Being around Discord as often as she had been, she’d noticed whenever he had a mischievous gleam that always meant trouble for somepony.  Even before meeting Discord, Fluttershy had always been more of an observer, oftentimes watching the daily interactions other ponies had with each other and picking up little bits of body language between them that most others wouldn’t even notice.  Seeing this gleam in “David’s” eye automatically told her that things weren’t in her favor as she finally reached him.  The 2 of them then turned their attention towards Princess Twilight who spoke up after the music had ceased playing.

            “Creatures of Equestria, we are all gathered here today to witness the union of David and Fluttershy in the bonds of holy matrimony.  Although coming from 2 entirely different worlds, they developed a close friendship with each other as time has gone by, even when hitting a few hiccups along the way.”

            In a sideways glance, Flutters noticed that “David” seemed to be getting a little too antsy, as if wanting this whole ceremony to be over with faster.  Still, she said nothing as Princess Twilight continued.

            “These 2 are living proof that true love knows no boundaries whether it be distance or entirely different dimensions or even entirely different species and that it can survive through anything thrown at it.  As long as both parties are willing to invest the time and effort into making it work, it’ll truly never fail.  And so, without further ado, the 2 of them have each prepared their own marriage vows that they’ll recite to each other before all of us.”

            As the 2 of them faced each other, a deeply sickening feeling came over Fluttershy, starting in the pit of her stomach before working its way through the rest of her body.  This was the point of no return.  Once the 2 of them said their vows, it’d be all over for her.  She felt weak as she opened her mouth to recite the vows she’d written for the real David as it was Equestrian tradition for the mare to state their vows first in a given wedding ceremony.  Her tongue felt dry as sandpaper as the words finally came forth, reluctantly.

            “David,” she started, “I… I fell in lo-”

            Suddenly, she was interrupted by a loud shattering of glass as her unexpected salvation burst through one of the windows.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Crashing my monstrous frame through a window into the great hall of Canterlot Palace, I was greeted by terrified screams and panic upon my arrival, no doubt because of my hideous, frightening appearance.  This didn’t matter nearly as much to me as making sure that I found my beautiful Flutters and got her as far away from Claude as possible.  Looking around, I finally spotted her standing next to Claude as me, both with shocked looks on their faces before Claude turned towards her.

            “Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” he spoke up. “I’ll protect you from this fou-”

            He was cut off from his statement as I delivered a powerful, rage-filled, open-clawed swipe at him while he was preoccupied with upholding his whole charade around her, sending him careening into a nearby wall.  With him out of the way, I reached forward and grabbed Fluttershy in my giant hand, Fluttershy herself apparently in a state of shock from all that was transpiring in this moment.  Having grabbed a hold of my love, I turned towards where Claude had been plastered into the wall before letting out a monstrous roar directed at him.

            “MINE!!!” I shouted to Claude before turning towards the window I’d broken through and flying off.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            “What in tha hay was that thing?!?” AJ spoke up after the monster left.

            “I dunno,” Rainbow followed up, “but, whatever it is, it’s taken Fluttershy and we’ve gotta get her back!”

            “Quite right!” Rarity concurred.

            “Shouldn’t one of us check on David?” Twilight posed the question.

            “I don’t think so,” Pinkie piped up. “Davey’s been through far worse than this before so I’m sure he’s fine.  The most important thing for us is making sure we save Fluttershy from that beast."

            “Then what’re we waiting for?” Starlight replied. “Let’s go save our friend!”

            And with that, the 6 friends went off to save Fluttershy, all the while not knowing what they’d ultimately discover or even what awaited them when they got to their destination, wherever that may be.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            With Fluttershy in my clawed hand, I began flying off towards the Everfree Forest, more specifically the Treehouse Of Harmony.  It was the first place that I could think of that was a good enough distance away from Claude that would also avoid attracting any additional unwanted attention.  Fluttershy herself struggled to escape my grasp during our flight over there, but my fist held her tight.  Additionally tight was this weird feeling around my neck that I still hadn’t been able to figure out where it had originated from or what was even causing it.

            One thing that I would say about my massive wings was the fact that they made flying to different places a hell of a lot easier and faster.  Still, I’d much rather prefer my magic where I was able to teleport wherever I wanted to go.  Would I ever have my magic back again?  Would I ever be able to return back to my normal appearance?  At that time, I had no way of knowing for certain.

            Finally, I saw the Treehouse Of Harmony in the distance.  As I could recall from the last season of the show, this place was meant to be a form of safe haven for any creature who ever found themselves in any moment of crises.  In that moment, I knew that I needed a safe haven like this more than ever and I was sure that my beautiful Flutters would be safe there also as I came in for a landing before finally setting Fluttershy down on the ground gently.

            “Who do you think you are stealing me away like that?!?” Fluttershy finally lashed out at me. “You’ve interrupted what’s supposed to be the happiest day of my life!  Do you not have any remorse for what you’ve-”

            She suddenly stopped as she seemed to stare a good while at my neck.

            “Wait a minute,” she followed up. “I remember that necklace.”

            Of course, I suddenly realized.  The necklace that Rarity had given me that first time I’d come to Equestria.  I’d completely forgotten about it, but that explained why my throat had suddenly felt as tight as it had.

            “There’s only one pony I know of who that necklace belongs too.”

            Fluttershy then looked directly in my eyes before posing a single question to me.

            “D-David?”

            It was after that name had escaped her lips that I let out a slight nod to let her know that I understood.  Even with me still being somewhat in my right mind, words were hard for me to express outwardly as primal instincts threatened to take over.  With my assurance provided, Fluttershy then burst into tears before throwing herself at my massive frame, she herself being rather tiny by comparison.

            “Oh David,” she uttered through her tears, “I was soo worried for you.  I prayed that you were O.K. and that you’d make it back to me safely, but I began to lose hope that they’d ever be answered.  Who even did this to you?”

            It took me a while before I was able to verbalize it, but the name finally came to my lips.

            “Claude."

            “Was he also the imposter who was posing as you at the wedding?”

            I let out a very sad nod at which point she hugged me even more.

            “I was scared that I’d wind up marrying him rather than you.  I knew that there was something off about him from the very beginning.  He wasn’t the man who I truly loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with.  That man could only ever be you.”

            I felt tears come to my own eyes as I gently hugged my beautiful mare back, being very careful not to crush her miniscule frame.  Suddenly, I heard the noise of approaching figures.  Turning toward the noise, I saw that it was my 6 friends coming our way with great speed, Rainbow and Twilight flying towards me and Flutters.

            “Let her go you foul beast!” Rainbow demanded.

            “No!  Stop!” Fluttershy cried out as she positioned herself between me and our friends. “Don’t harm him!”

            “Fluttershy, this monster attacked David and stole you away from us!” Starlight reacted “How can you tell us not to put a stop to him?”

            “Because none of it is what you think.  This creature is David."

            Our friends then looked at us with stunned expressions of confusion across their faces.  After a lengthy pause, Rarity finally broke the silence.

            “How?  How is that possible?”

            “I’m not entirely sure,” Fluttershy admitted, “but the person who we thought was David is really Claude, the same individual who tried using the Curse of Forgotten Love to erase David from reality.  Now, it would seem that he was trying to take David’s place so that I’d wind up marrying him instead of David.”

            “Tsk tsk tsk,” a voice sounded behind my friends.

            Turning our attention towards the voice, we all saw the fake me approaching us.

            “I always hate it when someone spoils the ending,” he continued. “Everything would’ve gone just fine if the real David hadn’t decided to interfere with my plans and the rest of you could’ve been spared.”

            It was then when he let his illusion fall and reverted back to his normal self before continuing.

            “But, now that the cat’s out of the bag, I can’t possibly allow for any of you to live.”

            “Just try it, buster!” Rainbow cockily retorted.

            “Don’t think I won’t,” he spoke back up, full of snark, as a ball of dark energy formed in his hands before he fired it towards us.

            Twilight was too quick for him, though, and erected a powerful energy field  before us.  Even with the field up, the ball still tried forcing itself against it.  Twilight tried to hold it back, but Starlight resorted to teleporting us out of the way as the dark force burst through the field striking a nearby tree and disintegrating it on contact.  My friends were shocked by how powerful Claude’s magic was.

            “How’re we supposed ta stop him if he’s that powerful?” AJ asked.

            “I don’t know,” Twilight admitted.

            I knew full well how, but struggled to try and get the words out to my friends so that they could act accordingly.  Finally, with some effort, I was able to state the needed information for them.

            “Neck… lace.  Power.  Des… troy."

            Fluttershy seemed to be the quickest one to pick up on what I’d said as she noticed the necklace Claude was wearing before expressing that information towards the rest of our friends.

           “There,” she pointed out. “Claude’s necklace is the source of his magic.  If we destroy that, he’ll be powerless against us.”

            “Sounds like more of a plan than any of us originally had,” Starlight agreed. “All of you, try to stay away from his magic if at all possible.  If we split up, there’s no way he’ll be able to keep track of all of us at once.”

            “Let’s do this!” Rainbow exclaimed.

            And with that, we split up so as to make ourselves harder targets for him to follow.  Me, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rainbow took to the sky in order to perform aerial attacks on Claude from above while Pinkie, Rare, AJ, and Starlight served as multiple distractions on the ground, Starlight doing her best to keep us safe with her constant teleporting us out of the way of Claude’s attacks.  The sheer number of us was too much for Claude to handle all at once as his attacks on us continued to miss, yet he still somehow kept his necklace well out of reach for any of us who tried approaching him.  Finally, Claude seemed to be pushed to the edge of his frustration at our attempts at attacking him.

            “ENOUGH!” he shouted as he unleashed a blinding flash of light that struck all of us.

            After a few seconds of blindness, our eyesight finally returned, but there was no sign of Fluttershy anywhere.  Panicking, I looked all around for a sight of her, but to no avail.  I wasn’t the only one to notice this.

            “Where’s Fluttershy?” Pinkie puzzled.

            Suddenly, in another flash of light that wasn’t nearly as blinding, 2 Fluttershys appeared before us, both of them wearing the same necklace that Claude wore.  These 2 figures were locked in fierce combat, but one of them was clearly winning over the other, laying the smackdown on their opponent.  Finally, the other one fell to the ground, weak and helpless before speaking up to me.

            “Help me, David,” she pleaded, weakly trying to get up.

            Knowing deep down what needed to be done, I made my way over towards the Fluttershy lying on the ground, picked her up, and, without hesitation, ripped the necklace off of her before body slamming her into the ground, much like how the Hulk had done to Loki several times at once in the first Avengers movie.  Necklace in hand, I crushed it within my grasp like I was snapping a toothpick.  Sure enough, the Fluttershy that I’d just body slammed turned out to be Claude as the illusion faded away.  With his power gone, I also reverted back to my normal self.

            But there was something different about Claude.  For the first time ever, I saw his face, no longer obscured by the hood of his cloak and the sight of his face filled me with shock and rage.  The face I saw staring back at me was the same face of the guy who’d murdered Savannah and stolen Ariel from me all those years ago.

            “YOU!!!” I spat out with venomous anger in my tone as I telekinetically grabbed him tightly by the throat and lifted him up before me. “You were the one who took my life away from me!”

            My friends seemed to be just as shocked by this revelation as I was, all of them equally angered upon seeing his face for the first time.

            “What did you do to his daughter?!?” Fluttershy firmly demanded, wings flared.

            “I’ll never tell you,” he choked back, a smirk spreading across his face. “What’s been done to her cannot be undone.  She’s as good as dead to all of you.”

            “So be it!” I answered. “You’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life.”

            “What’s that?” he strained against my constricting grip.

            “Underestimating who I am and what I’m capable of,” I stated as I called upon all my rage filled power in that moment.

            Fueled by fury, I used my magic to cause Claude to burst into flames, his screams of agony causing great pleasure to me as I watched him burn.  I also heard Claude speaking in a strange tongue above his painful cries.

            “.ƨϱniǝd lυʇiɈiq ˎʞɒǝw ǝƨǝʜɈ ǝɈɒϱυįdυƨ bnɒ ɿǝʜɈǝϱoɈ bnɒl ǝʜɈ ǝlυɿ oɈ nooƨ bǝɈinυǝɿ ǝd ǝw γɒM  .ɿǝwoq ɿυoγ ǝɿoʇǝd llɒʇ oɈ bǝƨɿυɔ ǝd bnɒl ǝloʜw ƨiʜɈ γɒM  .noiɈɔυɿɈƨǝb ƨiʜ Ɉυodɒ ϱniɿd oɈ ǝno ǝʜɈ ǝd υoγ γɒM  .ƨƨɒq oɈ ǝmoɔ ɿǝɿǝbɿυm ǝʜɈ ʇo ƨniƨ ǝʜɈ nǝʜw Ɉnǝmnoƨiɿqmi ɿǝʜ moɿʇ ǝʇil γm ʇo ǝvol ǝʜɈ ǝvɒƧ  .ǝiɿγʞlɒv γm ˎǝƨɒǝlꟼ”

            “David, wait!” Starlight called out.

            But I was too caught up in my rage to care.  His cries of pain rang loudly in my ears while his entire body disintegrated into ashes, blown away by the wind.  But that wasn’t all that was left behind.  There was also a dark ectoplasmic substance like an inky, yet still starry, blue midnight sky with an occasional twinge of green that still remained after the fact.  Thinking back to when Discord had his magic absorbed by Lord Tirek after the latter double crossed him, I knew damn full well that this was the very same magic that had been stolen by Claude.  I couldn’t very well let this magic be put back into Discord’s chaotic… talons where he could possibly cause even more dangerous bullshit in the future.

            Instead, I channeled my rage even hotter towards destroying this magic to the point where Mount Doom from The Lord Of The Rings trilogy would look like the iceberg the Titanic struck by comparison.  Just as Claude’s screams had rung out loud as he burned so did this ungodly substance cry out with a screech like nails on a chalkboard, but amplified.  The sound of its shrieking was enough to make me want to stop and cover my ears on account of how horrible the sound was, but I knew that this was just something I’d have to suffer through if I truly wanted this dark magic to be destroyed.  So I gritted my teeth and continued launching my fiery assault on the vile substance until there was never any evidence it had ever existed.  With Claude and the magic destroyed, my anger began to subside… and I immediately realized that I’d been completely naked the whole time, quickly summoning my wedding clothes that covered me at the snap of my fingers.  Looking back at my friends, they all had expressions of shock on their faces.

            “What?” I questioned.

            “I remember you being descended from an Alicorn Princess now,” Rarity spoke up.

            “So do I,” Flutters concurred.

            “I think we all do now,” Twilight stated.

            “Must’ve been when you got rid of Claude’s magic as well as Claude himself,” Pinkie piped up.

            “Also, how’re ya still ‘live after completely destroyin’ him?” AJ asked.

            “What’re ya talkin’ ‘bout?” I puzzled.

            “Claude was the one who had ultimately created you,” Starlight began. “If you got rid of him as completely as you just did, you would’ve been erased from existence also.”

            This was quite a shocking revelation to me that I’d never thought of in the moment.  I’d been soo caught up in my rage that I never thought that Claude’s destruction could very well be my own.  Fortunately, I seemed to be perfectly fine from what I could tell.

            “How did you know that I was the real Fluttershy and he was the fake?” my beautiful mare questioned me.

            “Cuz Ah know ma girl too well,” I smiled back at her. “She’s a strong, confident mare who don’t need anypony else ta come ta her rescue.  She can stand up fer herself jus’ fine.”

            She then let out a soft smile back at me before Pinkie spoke up.

            “While that was certainly eventful, I’m pretty sure that we still have a wedding to attend to.”

            “That we certainly do.  You jus’ bout ready ta make this official, ma love?”

            “More than you know,” Flutters replied.

            And with a quick flash of Starlight’s magic, we were gone from the Everfree Forest, ready to get this wedding done right.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            After a couple of hours of informing everycreature what had just happened and making sure that the wedding preparations were properly set up, it was a little bit later in the evening by the time we were finally ready to proceed with the ceremony.  I stood in front of a mirror fussing over my high silk hat and epaulets, trying to make sure that I looked my best, but even then I was still relatively nervous about my upcoming nuptials.  It was during this time that I received a knock on my door before a familiar voice called out from the other side.

            “Hey twin.  You almost ready?” Rainbow questioned.

            “Uh… yeah.  Yeah, Ah’m almos ready,” I answered back nervously.

            Rainbow must not have believed what I said as she soon opened up my door before poking her head through.

            “What’s eatin’ ya, bud?” she asked out of concern.

            Clearly there was no way for me to hide the way I truly felt from my honorary twin so, with an audible sigh, I finally confessed to her what had been bothering me the most.

            “If Ah’m bein’ completely honest…, Ah’m scared ‘bout mine ‘n Fluttershy’s future together.”

            “What’s there to be scared about?  The 2 of you truly love each other, right?”

            “Y-yes.”

            “So what’s the problem?”

            “Ah’m scared ‘bout tha fact that… Ah’ll possibly end up… outlivin’ her.  With me bein’ descended from an Alicorn princess ‘n her bein’ a Pegasus, who knows how much time we’ll have together.  Her life could jus’ be a blink of an eye when compared ta mine.  Ah already lost Savannah at a young age.  Ah’m scared o’ tha same thing happenin’ ta ma beautiful Flutters, ‘specially with her bein’ 20 years older by this point.”

            Rainbow’s heart softened towards me as she noticed the tears coming to my eyes at this revelation.  After several seconds of silence, she finally spoke back up.

            “I should probably tell you about something that Princess Luna told all of us a long time ago, back at around the same time she and Celestia stepped down from the throne.”

            I then turned my attention fully towards Rainbow Dash and what she had to say to me.

            “Over 1,000 years ago, Luna had befriended a blind young Pegasus filly who was actually one of Fluttershy’s ancestors.  Despite this filly being blind, she still had a great love and appreciation for Luna’s nighttime, even claiming that she could hear the stars twinkling every night.  In fact, this filly had become friends with Luna at a special celebration of the 100th Spring Sunrise where she had presented the princesses with the first ever snowflake, what she referred to at the time as a ‘star for Winter’, which she’d crafted all by herself from a single speck of ice.

            “However, even with Luna having this one blind filly who appreciated her night, it wasn’t enough for her as Celestia was still loved far more than her.  It was during the sisters’ attack on King Sombra soon afterwards when both of them were struck hard with his shadow powers.  But, while Celestia was incapacitated by this dark magic, that same dark magic was what caused Nightmare Moon to finally be released, much to King Sombra’s horror, after which she defeated him while also banishing the entire Crystal Empire.  With Nightmare Moon let out of her cage, so to speak, Luna was now determined to force the night upon everypony else in order to get the love and respect she was sure that she deserved.

            “But then you already know about what had followed afterwards with Celestia banishing her to the moon for a full millennium.  Needless to say, this blind little filly lived the rest of her life apart from her royal friend, saddened that her own love for Luna’s night was never enough for the princess.  When Luna was finally freed from the power that Nightmare Moon had over her, she was just as equally saddened by the fact that her closest friend was no longer around, having died off centuries ago in the past as well as regretting that she’d never treasured their friendship like she should’ve back when she had the chance.

            “My point in all of this is that nopony knows how much time we have with those we’re closest to, just like how you might not know how much time you have together with Fluttershy.  You may have a few years, you may have a few decades, who knows?  By some miracle of Celestia, you might not even have to worry about it at all.  What’s most important is that you value the time that you have with Fluttershy in the now because, once that time is gone, there’s no way to ever get it back.  Do you think you can do that, twin?”

            It was after Rainbow had made her case to me that a small smile began to form on my face.  I truly did cherish these rare moments where I could talk a bit more personally with my favorite twin sister.  Following that little confidence booster from her, I spoke back up.

            “Yes.  Ah can definitely do that.”

            “Good to hear.  Now get on out there and make Flutters your wife.”

            “Will do, Dashie.”

            And with that encouragement, we took our positions as the wedding ceremony officially began, me eagerly awaiting my coming marriage now more than ever.


*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *


            Before too much longer, I was standing up at the front of the sanctuary with Rainbow Dash by my side as my best mare, the anticipation killing me as I waited for my bride to make her grand entrance.  Rainbow’s little pep talk that she’d given me beforehand had definitely helped ease some of the stress that I’d been dealing with at that moment.  That being said, I find it hard to believe that those type of “jitters” could ever truly be gone entirely, but they were at least more manageable than before.

            Finally, the wedding march sounded as all of our attention turned towards the end of the aisle where the doors opened and Fluttershy began making her walk down the aisle towards me, walking with assurance and confidence in her stride as well as looking like a heavenly vision of beauty as she approached the front.  I watched her make her way towards me with a genuine smile on my face as I thought of how lucky I was to be able to marry such a beautiful, kind-hearted mare as her.  Though I couldn’t see through her veil as she made her way forward, I was pretty sure that she was smiling right back at me.

            Reaching the front as the wedding march came to an end, me and her turned our attention towards Twilight as she officiated the ceremony.

            “Creatures of Equestria, we are all gathered here today to witness the union of David and Fluttershy in the bonds of holy matrimony, for real this time.  These 2 have been friends for quite a long time despite having come from 2 entirely different worlds.  Their friendship has definitely been through many obstacles and challenges during that time, but, even then, they’ve been able to move past those hindrances and have come out stronger than ever, even going soo far as to confess their undying love for each other in that time.  Through that love, these 2 individuals are living proof that true love knows no boundaries.  Whether it be distance or entirely different dimensions or even entirely different species, true love can overcome any barriers and can survive through anything thrown at it.  As long as both parties are willing to invest the time and effort into making it work, it’ll truly never fail.  And so, without further ado, the 2 of them have each prepared their own marriage vows that they’ll recite to each other before all of us.”

            Me and my lovely bride then turned towards each other before she spoke up first.

            “David, I fell in love with you many years ago when you first came here to Equestria to save us from that evil hag.  However, when I found out that you already had a special somepony in your life, I was willing to put those feelings aside and accept you as a close friend of mine.  After that terrible tragedy struck in which you lost both her and your daughter, it hurt me to see how much you were hurt by that turn of events.  It was in that moment when I thought I’d lost you as a friend.  But now, having confessed our love towards each other, I’m the happiest mare alive knowing that I get to live a life with you in it.  I swear to always be by your side through whatever else life throws our way.  I look forward to sharing all of those special moments with you for the rest of our lives, no matter how long or short they may be.  You’ll always be the stallion who my heart belongs to, no matter what.”

            With her vows already stated, I cleared my throat before speaking my vows towards her.

            “Fluttershy.  Ma beautiful, sweet Fluttershy.  When Ah first came ta Equestria many years ago, you were tha first ‘n closest friend Ah’d made at that time ‘n remained that way long after tha fact.  Back then, Ah remembered bein’ scared over tha fact that Ah might not be able ta return ta ma own world, but, when Ah was given a way ta return home at tha price o’ never bein' able ta come back here again, Ah was just as equally terrified o’ never gettin' ta see tha friends Ah’d made here ever again, you most of all.  Through divine providence, though, Ah’ve been blessed ta spend as much time with ya as Ah have ‘n Ah look forward to a future with you by ma side ferever ‘n always.  Ah promise ta you an eternity full o’ love, joy, ‘n happiness.  Ah promise that we’ll never be apart from each other ever again.  Every moment that we get ta share with each other, Ah consider maself tha luckiest stallion in all Equestria that Ah get ta share them with you, ma beautiful mare.”

            Having finished my vows to the mare I looked forward to sharing a life together with, it felt like a Herculean weight had been lifted off of my chest as Twilight brought the ceremony to its close.

            “By the power vested in me,” she stated, “I now pronounce you stallion and mare.  You may kiss the bride.”

            Turning towards my wife, I removed the veil to see her smiling face matching mine as we pulled each other close for a long passionate kiss, my hand pressed against the back of her neck all the while.  However, during our kiss, something strange began to happen.  There came from Fluttershy an unnatural glow that only got brighter as it seemed to gradually engulf her.  All of us were quick to notice this as Fluttershy herself spoke up nervously.

            “What’s- what’s happening?!?”

            Before anyone could give her an answer, the ball of light engulfed her completely before instantly vanishing, taking Fluttershy with it much to the shock of all there.

            “She’s gone!!!” Pinkie gasped.

            “Where’d she go!?!” Rainbow quickly posed the question.

            In that moment, none of us could come up with a proper answer.  What we didn’t know at the time was that we’d find out her fate soon enough, a fate that would shock us all upon its eventual revelation.