As Shining Armor approached the castle, he felt Twilight bump into him, the stallion stumbling to the side as Twilight ran off. Instead of hearing screaming and cursing, Shining’s heart dropped as he heard sobbing. Prince Bolero rushed over to his fiancée, staring ahead at Twilight as she ran past the Royal Guard.
“What happened?” Shining asked.
“Darling, I have no idea,” Bolero deflated as he rested his head on Shining’s shoulder, the unicorn wrapping his hoof around Bolero’s neck. “There’s somepony out there that she doesn’t get to love maybe? She just seemed upset that you got to be with me...you don’t think she wanted to have me, do you?”
“No,” Shining shook his head. “She might say that, but I was at the dinner table each time our parents told her that she liked him. They were telling her who she liked.”
“Seems like them not coming to the wedding was for the best,” Bolero sighed. “But how come they didn’t give us the same treatment Twilight is giving us? Why not just show up and derail everything?”
“Because the one silver lining they see is that I’m getting married to royalty,” Shining admitted. “They said ‘Well, if you want to throw away love for a fancy castle, we’re not going to stop you.’”
“Ouch,” Bolero winced. “Don’t they know I don’t even have my own castle yet?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Shining shook his head, and Bolero spoke after several seconds of silence.
“Should one of us go after her?” Bolero whispered.
“No,” Shining’s expression tightened and his ears flattened as he stepped away from the embrace. “We both need time to breathe I think.”
Over the next few days, Twilight reluctantly left her hotel room several times to see how Prince Bolero was getting along with her friends, running off whenever her former foalsitter turned around and tried to talk to her. She was on the edge of her seat, waiting for him to perhaps lash out at one of them for getting their preparations done wrong, and then she could teleport to her brother and tell him how awful his fiancée was. After all, if the obvious wasn’t going to get him to stop this wedding, maybe she could come up with another reason entirely. But Prince Bolero complimented the dishes that Applejack prepared, adored the decorations Pinkie had set up for the party, told Fluttershy that the birds’ melodies were the most harmonious sounds he’d ever heard, praised Dash’s flying skills, and most of all, told Rarity that the wonderful dresses she was nearly done with were for her and her friends, the bridesmaids themselves.
Twilight could vomit her lunch if she had eaten any, or breakfast if she had eaten that...when was the last time she’d eaten again? She felt her insides boiling nearly 24/7 that she hadn’t slept for two days, let alone ate. After all, she told herself, if she was going to have such evil thoughts of mares rampaging around in her head, she didn’t deserve either of those necessities. Not until she could make this right for their parents.
“Twilight...when was the last time you ate, darling?” Rarity frowned as they sat at a table outside of a café, sipping away at their drinks. While the other mares had colorful and fruity beverages, Twilight was glaring down at her glass of water. Hearing her name, Twilight looked up to see Rarity’s wide blue eyes staring at her. Those eyes only served to make her heart race more, and Twilight gritted her teeth as she slammed her hoof on the table.
“No!” Twilight barked before she buried her face in her hooves, shaking.
“I’ll get her something to eat,” Fluttershy whispered in Rarity’s ear, pushing her seat back and flying back to the café.
“Hey guys,” Spike walked towards the table, freezing up as he saw Twilight shaking in her seat. “Um, I’m gonna be at the bachelor party soon in case you guys need me, so…”
“Wait,” Twilight ceased shaking, sitting up straight in her seat as she glanced at Spike over her shoulder. “Will there be strippers there?”
Twilight could see it now, a mare that was simply too much for her brother to resist, and he’d finally come to his senses and break up with Prince Bolero. Her heart fluttered in her chest at the thought, it certainly had nothing to do with the vivid imagery of the imaginary stripper and her pink pelt and dark eyes-
“Don’t worry Twilight, there won’t be any strippers there,” Spike chuckled. “Bolero knows I’m still a child, he wouldn’t invite me if there were any.”
“Celestia-dammit!” Twilight snapped. “How could my own little brother, let alone my best friends, be perfectly fine with my brother and former foalsitter throwing their lives away?! And for what, some feelings they think they have for each other?”
“Twilight…” Applejack growled, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash flinching as they saw the farm mare’s daggers-for-eyes.
“What? I’m not going to pretend I’m okay with them turning into a pair of freaks,” Twilight spat the last word, but her glare disappeared as Applejack got up, slamming her hooves on the table and knocking over half the drinks as she sharply exhaled. Twilight nearly pissed herself as Applejack focused her glare on the unicorn.
“What is your problem?!” Applejack yelled. Fluttershy, who was flying back to the table with a scone, dropped the plate as she flew over to Applejack.
“Applejack, breathe,” Fluttershy begged her, placing her hoof on Applejack’s shoulder. Pinkie and Dash placed their hooves over Applejack’s hooves as the earth pony closed her eyes and inhaled. Letting out a much slower exhale, Applejack opened her eyes and looked at the rest of her friends before looking at Twilight once more.
“Gay ponies are much closer than you think, Twilight Sparkle,” Applejack said. “Celestia, I’m outta here. Dontcha dare talk to me until you’re able to use that brain of yours again.”
Twilight opened her mouth, but thought against it as Applejack got out of her seat and took off. Processing what she said, Twilight frowned as she looked at her remaining friends.
“She’s talking about my brother and former foalsitter, right?” Twilight asked. “Who else could she be talking about?”
Twilight didn’t fail to notice as Fluttershy’s face turned red underneath her yellow fur, her ears flattening as she looked away.
“I better go rehearse with my birds one more time…” Fluttershy barely spoke up loud enough for Twilight to hear.
“Oh yeah, I better stretch out my wings,” Dash added.
“And I need to make sure the dresses are perfect,” Rarity got out her chair, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flying after her as they left. Twilight looked over her shoulder, and saw that Spike was long gone, which only left her at the table with Pinkie Pie, who somehow salvaged her beverage during Applejack’s outburst.
“Pinkie...you understand, right?” Twilight felt her world crumbling around her, was she losing her friends in pursuit of the truth? Was it even the truth if it tortured her every waking moment?
“I understand more than you do,” Pinkie gave a small smile. “I know exactly what’s going on, but only you can find the answers. I still love you, Twilight.”
Pinkie got out of her table, and instead of taking off with everypony else, walked towards Twilight and wrapped her forelegs around her. Twilight buried her face into Pinkie’s chest fluff, smelling the intoxicating scent of strawberries and cream, as she began to sob.
“Hey, has anypony seen Twilight?” Fluttershy whispered to her friends as they walked down the aisle, the Princesses as well as Shining Armor and Spike waiting for them.
“Who the fuck cares?” Applejack huffed. “Ah’m sorry, Fluttershy, ah don’t mean to be rude towards you, but ah ain’t exactly hopin’ on her being here.”
While Rainbow Dash and Rarity leaned close and grinned and giggled as they talked about the ceremony, Pinkie Pie looked over her shoulder to see the doors they just walked past closed without any purple unicorn opening them. Feeling strands of her mane start to deflate, Pinkie took a deep breath and gave her best grin as she turned back to the ponies and dragon in front of her. The strands’ curliness reappeared, and Pinkie even gave a bounce as she pushed down the thoughts of Twilight in her room alone.
They took their place at the stairsteps, and the doors opened, Prince Bolero not in his wedding tux, but still causing his fiancée's heart to nearly beat out of his chest all the same. Grinning as his walk turned into a gallop, Prince Bolero rushed to Shining Armor’s side and pressed his muzzle against his cheek, pulling back as Celestia took her place between them.
“This is where I say a few words, and the two of you will read your vows,” Celestia explained. “And then you’ll get the rings from your best mare...Luna over there. Prince Bolero, I can’t express just how happy I am that you’ve found somepony to marry. Congratulations.”
“Th-Thank you Auntie,” Bolero wiped a tear from his eye. “It means a lot that my aunts are here to celebrate this occasion.”
Shining felt his heart twisting inside of his chest as he listened to the exchange, before looking at the five, not six, mares at the stairsteps.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but has anypony seen Twilight?” Shining asked.
Twilight stood right outside the door, her mane and tail disheveled and her eyes red as she had stopped hyperventilating. She almost, almost, stayed at the hotel room and allowed the mistake to happen. But no, she wouldn’t let the longing feelings towards Flashy and her best friends keep her from doing what needed to be done. Glaring at the guard ponies, the two of them backed away from her and the doors. Turning around and giving the doors the hardest back kick with her hooves that she could possibly give, the doors slammed against the walls and caused dents in them as Twilight turned back around and stormed into the room.
“I’m here! But I’m not going to stand next to him! And neither should you!” Twilight pointed a hoof at her brother, who looked like a deer in headlights. Celestia and Luna glanced at each other before they looked at Shining Armor.
“I’m sorry, I...I don’t know why she’s acting like this,” Shining stammered as he glanced at the two Princesses.
Prince Bolero felt his blood running cold as he stared into Twilight’s venomous gaze, how far was she willing to go to stop their marriage?
“Maybe we should just ignore her, at least until the practice ceremony is over?” Bolero attempted to chuckle, his hooves shaking as he grinned at his aunts.
“Twilight, what is the meaning of this?” Celestia demanded to know. “Is there something you know about my nephew that I don’t?”
“Celestia, I thought you of all ponies would understand!” Twilight gawked. “Shining and Prince Bolero can’t be happy together! They’re two stallions! You don’t have to indulge their charade just because you don’t want to hurt their feelings!”
Celestia’s eyes widened as she felt her blood boiling hotter than the symbol of her cutie mark, Luna turning to glance up at her sister.
“This is the pony you chose as your student?” Luna gasped, before she spoke again in a lower tone. “Does she even know your history of lovers?”
“Not now, Luna,” Celestia hissed.
“Twilight, this is getting out of control,” Bolero stepped down the stairs to meet Twilight, who stomped her hoof and stood her ground. “If you hate me and your brother so much, why did you even come here?”
Twilight’s eyes widened as she gasped.
“I never said I hate you two!” Twilight protested.
“Well you didn’t have to,” Bolero snapped. “Hope this is exactly what you wanted Twilight, because I’m not going to make my fiancée choose between me or his sister.”
Bolero bolted out of the room, and Twilight took a deep breath. Sure everypony was going to be pissed, and Twilight felt as though her heart might be breaking into a thousand pieces, but this is what needed to happen. Yes, Twilight kept telling herself, they need to go through this heartbreak now to end up with mares that’ll make them truly happy.
Twilight braced herself as she turned around and met her brother’s unrestrained glare.
“This is for your own g-good, Shining Armor,” Twilight’s voice wobbled as she felt tears coming back to her eyes. “Don’t you s-see? Being with him only caused you p-pain!”
“The only one in this room causing anypony pain is you,” Shining snapped. “At least our parents had the decency to not show up, you just had to show up and scare away the stallion I loved. Nopony said you had to approve of us being together, but you couldn’t at least tell me you still loved me the same?! Even now you haven’t bothered to tell me that you don’t think of me as less of a stallion!”
“Shining, I-”
“That’s it though, isn’t it?” Shining frowned. “You do think of me as less of a stallion, Prince Bolero too. Please do me a favor, and go home. Treat me like the dirt on your hooves, that’s fine. But if you’re going to treat my fiancée like this, I don’t want to see you ever again. Now if you excuse me, I have a groom to comfort. At least, if I even still have one.”
Shining broke into a full gallop out the doors as he called out for Prince Bolero.
“C’mon y’all, let’s go make sure the Prince is okay,” Applejack galloped after Shining Armor, and the rest of Twilight’s friends and Princess Luna followed. When Pinkie Pie looked over her shoulder, Twilight flinched at the tears rolling down the party pony's face. Fluttershy wiped a tear out of her eye as she rested a wing on Pinkie's back, the two of them turning away as they followed the others. Tears rolled down Twilight’s face after they left, she lost her friends, her former foalsitter, her brother, well...she still had-
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight turned to look at her teacher as she walked by. “I-”
Celestia looked down at Twilight as if she were mud on the floor, and Twilight closed her mouth and gulped.
“You have a lot to think about,” Celestia snapped, turning her gaze away from Twilight as she flew out of the room. Twilight felt the room spinning around her as she struggled to breathe.
This is the truth, so why did I lose everypony?! Why would they commit themselves so deeply to a lie? Unless...no, why would they lie to me? They’d want me to be happy! I was never going to be happy with her, or any of my best friends. Not in that way, so they were trying to...trying to…I just lost everypony I loved and cared about. This isn’t worth it anymore, it never was, if they’re going to get married, I should just leave them to make that decision. Mom, Dad, I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore.
Twilight’s body tensed up, if they lied to her that night many years ago, the night where her heart was soaring higher than it’d ever had...Twilight felt her blood boil as she continued sobbing. What if her heart wasn’t lying to her, and she had been robbed of years of embracing herself, not feeling this relentless anger towards herself every waking moment? But that anger came in waves stronger than ever, how could she chase away everypony she loved?
“What did I just do?” Twilight sobbed, her cries only ceasing as she heard hoofsteps coming closer to her. She looked up, her heart skipping a beat as she looked into his gentle purple eyes.
It was Prince Bolero.