In Equestria, if there was anything that the City of Canterlot was known for, it was the various events that would take place throughout the year. No matter the size of the event or what it was for, attending such festivities always left a lasting impression on anypony who was lucky enough in order to be there to witness it first-hoof. Of course, putting such events together isn’t an easy undertaking. In fact, there are times where the staff members under the payroll of the family need assistance in making such events as magical as they appear to be from year to year.
For such occasions, the go-to option was Storybook Events. A small group of individuals who had specialized talents in planning and coordinating events for almost any occasion, with their motto being to allow their customers the opportunity to ‘write their own pony tale ending’. They had helped the staff at Canterlot Castle a couple times before in the past. Some instances of their work include celebrations known about in advance, like the Summer Sun Celebration, as well as events that were orchestrated last minute. One primary example being the ceremony to commemorate the bearers of the Elements of Harmony after the defeat of Discord.
However, there was an event on the horizon that was coming… and their next client had some certain specifications for their pony tale ending.
By the time that the mare named Chrysti had returned back from her lunch break, most of her day had been annoying to say the least. Even though she was in charge of Storybook Events, running the business was rather difficult. Not just to meet the specifications of their clients, but to also be prepared for any potential changes that the clients might have. Of course, change was a specialty of both her and her employees and nothing they couldn’t handle.
However, the problem that annoyed her was that as of right now, it would be some time before any other major events. A lack of work meant that there would be a lack of chances for her and the rest of her employees to properly feed. If they can’t feed, then they can’t take care of themselves properly. Not only that, if anypony found out that they weren’t ponies at all, then Chrysti might lose everything that they were trying to establish for her kind.
So, it came as a surprise to her that just as she opened the door to her office and before she could put on a proper disguise or take a drink of her coffee, a pony was sitting inside and in front of her desk. One that had both wings and a horn, pink fur and a cutie mark the shape of a heart. Which could only mean one thing… Royalty.
“Hi there,” she spoke, looking back to her and not even looking deterred by the fact that she was looking at a changeling, “Are you Chrysti?”
“Y-yeah, that’s me… Though, how did you get in my office?”
“Oh, the guy at the front desk let me in,” the alicorn spoke again, “I think his name was… Kevin or something?”
Chrysti grumbled at that. Despite being a good employee, there were times where Kevin’s heart was much bigger than his brain. Now she had a member of royalty in her office who had seen her actual form. “Right. If I may ask, what exactly led him to bring you to me?”
“Well, when I told him that I was looking for somepony here that specialized with planning weddings, he said that you were the right ponies to talk to.”
That had Chrysti pause. A member of royalty… wanting to plan a wedding? Depending on how this conversation went, things could get rather interesting. “Well, he is right about that,” she said, before she looked back at the client, “I’m sorry, but I never got your name.”
“Mi Amor Cadenza,” she replied, before looking with an embarrassed smile, “Though, I prefer to go by Cadance.”
“Alright,” the changeling replied as she took a moment to write her name down. As she took a sip of coffee and felt the rush of caffeine flowing through her, she had a second question for the alicorn, “And how did you hear about Storybook? We don’t get too many clients of high stature such as you, but-”
“Oh, my aunt Celestia recommended you to me.”
That had Chrysti’s brain immediately pump the brakes on her train of thought. This pony, who just so happened to be led into her office, was Celestia’s niece!? She wasn’t even aware that the diarch of the sun even had a niece!! Then again, the changeling wasn’t one to pry into matters about family. Though, it was a bit of a surprise to think that the princess of the sun personally recommended them to her.
“I… see,” the changeling said, before a green glow was covering her horn as she pulled open the door of a filing compartment in her desk, “Well, before we begin, I think we should cover something before we get started. As you already might be aware, my staff and I aren’t exactly ponies. We’re changelings, and I would prefer that you keep that secret confidential. Many ponies lose their minds if they think that a monster has somehow invaded the city. Are we clear?”
Cadance nodded her head, which had Chrysti let out a deep breath, “Alright, that’s good. Now, you said that you wanted us to help prepare a wedding. Is that correct?”
“That’s right,” she replied, “My fiancé and I are finally tying the knot and I wanted to make sure that this wedding is one to remember. Though… I had a specific request, if you don’t mind.”
The changeling paused as she raised an eyebrow at that statement. Requests from customers were sort of normal, but based on how this alicorn phrased it, it seemed like they were unsure if it was a good idea or not. “What kind of request?”
“Well, you see,” Cadance nervously spoke, “Part of me is a bit of a thrill seeker. I’ve read many stories about how brave ponies fought against evil and saved Equestria and I… always wanted to see myself in that kind of role. Heck, my future sister-in-law is one of the elements of harmony! Yet, the only kind of excitement that I have ever gotten had been when I was first learning to fly and that was years ago. I was just thinking that since I’ll be married soon, it would be my last chance to-”
“Be the hero of your own story?”
“Yes! Exactly that,” the pink alicorn beamed, “I know it sounds a bit out there, but since your whole motto is ‘write your own pony tale ending’, I thought I could give it a try.”
It might not seem to have been much, but Chrysti found out a lot more than she thought she would. From what she understood, the client saw the wedding as her last chance to be able to do something heroic before she was married to the love of her life. If she thought correctly, they wanted to go all in on making sure this was a wedding to remember. With that in mind, a few ideas began to surface. Though, she wanted to at least run them by the client first before making any final decisions.
“Well, I think that’s something we can do-”
“Really!?”
“However,” Chrysti retorted, “The real question depends on how you want to do it. Fortunately, we have a few different options for you to choose from,” At this, the changeling levitated a large pamphlet over to the alicorn as she took another sip of coffee, “Feel free to take as much time as you need to think on what you would like. There’s no need to rush anything.”
She honestly thought that the princess would take some time to look at the options that were presented to her. However, after five minutes or so, it looked like their client had found something that caught her interest. “Can you tell me more about these two?”
The changeling adjusted the glasses that were on her nose as she eyed the option that Cadance had pointed to. “The ‘secret kidnapping’ wedding package with the imposter bait & switch add on? That’s… well, it’s an option.”
“How would it work?”
“Well, to explain that, I’ll have to show you something,” Chrysti said as she rose up from her chair. In a flash of emerald magic, the changeling office worker that stood in front of the alicorn transformed into what looked like an identical copy of her. What surprised Cadance even more was that Chrysti was talking in her own voice, “Changelings, like myself, are creatures that specialize in transformation magic. So ideally, this would mean that we could look like anypony and sound like them if we have a good reference.”
Another emerald flicker and the changeling turned back into her normal self before letting out a small sigh, “This package would have it to where somepony important to the wedding can be replaced with an ‘imposter’ that looks and behaves like them. However, with the bait and switch add on, the real pony that was kidnapped would come in to ‘expose’ the fake to prove that they’re lying… at least, in theory.”
That small remark soon had Cadance raise an eyebrow, “In theory?”
“Truth be told, even though we have it as an option, we never actually put it into practice since nopony really seemed interested in it,” Chrysti admitted, “Couples seem to be more interested in things like romantic seaside dining and other less… risky alternatives-”
“I’ll take it then.”
Now the changeling was even more surprised. Hearing that Cadance was a thrill seeker was one thing… but actually wanting to do an option that many other ponies would see as downright crazy? That was something different. “Really?”
“But, I also had another idea if you don’t mind,” the alicorn added, “I noticed a couple other add ons from some other packages that I was interested in and I was thinking that maybe they could all be combined together? Because if this were an actual story, the secret imposter and bait & switch only seem like the beginning of something bigger.”
At this point, Chrysti was curious as to what Cadance was proposing. “Go on.”
“Would it be possible to add the surprise invasion, overwhelming odds and unforeseen comeback add ons to what we already have? In that order?”
At first, such an idea sounded crazy. The add ons that were here were more suited for royal guard celebrations, birthday parties and company paintball tournaments. Yet, the more that she thought about how everything would come together, the more that she realized that this… was actually possible. The narrative for how such an event would play out basically wrote itself, something that Chrysti had never even considered before.
“Actually, it’s possible. I’ll have to do some workshop with the narrative, but that is definitely something we could do.” As she spoke, Chrysti took out a form from her desk with her magic and attached it to a clipboard to write everything down. As the changeling was writing, she began to recite everything, “So, one secret kidnapping wedding package, with the imposter bait & switch, surprise invasion, overwhelming odds and unforeseen comeback add ons. Does that sound right?”
A smile and a nod from the pink princess was enough to tell her what she needed to know as the changeling continued, “Alright. With that in mind, there are a couple other things that we’ll need to discuss. First thing that comes to mind is our timeline. Was there a particular date you had in mind for this special occasion?”
“About seven to eight months from now. It would be sooner, but my husband’s duties with the Royal Guard leave him with a rather tight schedule.”
“Alright, good to know. Now, were there any other details about the wedding that you want to mention now? Like ideas for music or catering-”
At the mention of catering, Cadance’s ears perked up as an idea surfaced in her mind, “Oh, can we bring in a hidden cake? A record breaking one that’s made of pizza? In the shape of a heart?”
That question just had Chrysti raise an eyebrow as she looked back at the client, “You want me… to sneak a cake under Celestia’s nose? With all due respect, princess, I plan weddings. Not miracles.”
“Isn’t a multi-layered pizza cake just technically lasagna?”
Chrysti was going to say something in response. Though, the alicorn’s response just left her with more ideas to consider. “You know what, I… actually haven’t thought about it like that before,” she then shook her head to snap her mind out of that train of thought to refocus herself, “What about the main event itself? Does anything come to mind?”
“Well, there was this one idea that kind of circulated in my head a little for a villain,” the alicorn replied, “I was thinking that the villain was a jealous queen. Somepony who wanted to kidnap the bride so she could have the groom to herself. I even thought of a name for that character, if it works for you.”
“Really?” Chrysti asked, “What did you have in mind?”
“How does the name ‘Queen Chrysalis’ sound to you?”
“I… actually like that name,” the changeling remarked, “But now that I think about it, how are we going to get Celestia on board with this? You know that if we go through with it, she’ll take all of this as an actual threat.”
“I know… and I think I got that covered.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Celestia asked as her niece and the planner for her wedding stood in the hall of elements, “For your wedding, you want to fake being kidnapped, having a ‘villain’ try to seize your future husband after impersonating you, have me pretend like I get defeated by said villain so that the Elements of Harmony go to fight the ‘invading army’ that’s coming in… and then you find a way to push them out using the ‘power of love’. Is that right?”
“Auntie, I know this… seems a bit excessive.”
“Oh, it’s more than a ‘bit’ excessive,” the diarch of the sun replied… before giving off a devious smirk, “And I’m actually all for it.”
“Really?”
“Of course, faking a full scale attack on Canterlot is not an easy undertaking. But honestly, with how quiet things have been here over the last few centuries, I’m surprised that nopony suggested anything like this sooner,” the princess of the sun smiled, “Hay, I might even have this be a future learning experience for Twilight.”
“Huh,” Chrysti said. When she learned that Cadance was going to explain everything they discussed with Celestia directly, part of her feared that she would be adamantly against their plans. However, she did not expect for the princess to actually be on board with their proposal. “I honestly thought that was going to go in a rather different direction.”
As she said that, Celestia just gave her a warm smile. “If it helps any, I happen to know a few places where you can ‘rehearse’ without being seen. There’s even some abandoned tunnels underneath the castle that’s closed off to the public if that works.”
“I think that would work rather well,” Chrysti replied, just as the solar princess excused herself in order to return to day court after her personal recess, “By the way, Ms. Cadance… was there anypony else that we should tell about this? Perhaps your future husband?”
“Nah, if we told Shining, it would just spoil the fun,” Cadance giggled, “Besides, it’s not like he’s going to overreact or anything if he finds out.”