The rehearsal took place at noon that day. All members of the wedding party were present to go through the run-down. Pinkie’s bridesmares included Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity, as well as her sisters Limestone Pie and Marble Pie. Cheese had appointed Sans Smirk as his best stallion while he had several of his best friends and male party assistants as groomstallions. Maud Pie would be the Mare of Honor while Twilight Sparkle would be the officiant: a tradition for many weddings under Celestia’s reign that was now passed on to her. Guests of honor included the six teachers of the School of Friendship that were now wielding the Elements, all six Pillars of Equestria, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Mudbriar, Buttercream, Prince Rutherford, Queen Novo, Princess Skystar, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Sunburst, King Shining Armor, Queen Cadance, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Not all the guests of honor were present at the rehearsal and some of Pinkie and Cheese’s relatives were also not there, but they would all be in the wedding the next day. Pound Cake was the ring-bearer and Pumpkin Cake, Annie Smith and Flurry Heart were all chosen to be flower girls. Chip and Stormy sat in seats in the back to watch with their remaining family members. The only pony missing was Rarity. The rest of them waited for her to arrive.
“Ugh! Where is she?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“She’ll be here in a minute, Dash,” Applejack replied.
“I hope she’s alright. Rarity’s had quite a lot to work with the dresses and all.”
Suddenly the doors to the town hall swung open and Rarity entered quickly, while panting and adjusting her glasses.
“Everypony, I am dreadfully sorry if I’m late!” she exclaimed as she gave a wink to all her fellow bridesmaids. “I nearly forgot the rehearsal was at noon. So much to prepare for, let me tell you. Anywho, let’s begin!”
“That’s alright, Rarity,” Twilight replied before clearing her throat. “Alright, everypony, thank you all for coming to the rehearsal. I’ve done many weddings in my time as princess so I should have this down by now. Here’s the order of things: at the start of the ceremony, the organ will begin to play and I enter to welcome everyone. After that, Cheese Sandwich will enter, followed by Maud Pie, Sans Smirk and the groomstallions and bridesmares flanking them. I will then give the opening remarks, which should last no longer than twenty minutes. Once we’re ready, we’ll sing a few hymns listed on the program. Flurry, Annie and Pumpkin will enter with the flowers and then Pinkie enters with her father and we will begin the ritual. I give the blessing and then Pound will enter from the side with the rings. I marry them and announce their unity and the recession starts. After they walk out, you are all free to get up and start leaving for the reception. With that all said, Pinkie and I agreed we can do just two rehearsals. We should be able to get them done quickly since I won’t be giving any speeches and we won’t be playing songs. We should be over within two hours, giving you all enough time to rest before the dinner. If you’re in the wedding party, please come up here so we can have you all get in place to start.”
All the ponies participating in the wedding got up to follow Twilight out of the door. A few minutes later, Twilight entered and they started the rehearsal. She directed everyone to their assigned positions and sped through it quite well. Finally, Flurry, Pumpkin and Annie came out as Chip and Stormy waved off to the side. They held baskets and pretended to spread flowers on the aisle. Pinkie and her father then entered holding arms. Cheese waited for her and they did a mock run-down of the marriage. Flurry stood off to the side with Pumpkin and Annie.
“It already feels like the real thing!” Pumpkin whispered into Flurry’s ear.
“Twilight’s doing such a great job with everything already,” Flurry said happily.
“Now Flurry, did Twilight marry Maud and Mudbriar a few years ago?” Annie asked.
“No, they had a local priest in the area near the rock farm do that, but Twilight officiated for Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s weddings. I think Applejack and Tex’s wedding was her first one. She did such a good job from what I was told.”
“Girls, shhh,” Applejack told them politely.
“Sorry, Mom,” Annie replied.
Flurry noticed Applejack and Rainbow Dash whispering to each other. Rainbow Dash then turned to whisper to Rarity who then turned to whisper to Fluttershy. Flurry didn’t think much of it until she looked in the crowd and saw the teachers and Pillars whispering as well. Some of them had somewhat devious smirks on their faces. Even her parents, Spike, Celestia and Luna seemed to be joining in on the rather clandestine behavior. Flurry didn’t seem that bothered by any of this, though it did make her rather curious as to what they were all up to. Pumpkin seemed to pick up on it as well.
“Gosh, lots’a whispering going on here,” she said.
“Yeah, I noticed the same thing,” Flurry concurred.
“It’s probably because it’s just the rehearsal, girls,” Annie told them. “Look, Stormy and Chip are over there whispering to each other.”
Annie pointed over to the boys. Flurry saw they were both whispering along with their fathers, though they weren’t as shifty about it as the others. Flurry just shrugged her shoulders and figured this was normal for rehearsals as Annie said.
Everyone went through the rehearsal twice and finished in a timely manner. After everyone left the town hall, there was still time to rest before the dinner, so Buttercream and Spike took the kids to Sweet Apple Acres to play some video games on Chip and Annie’s Tendonin Joybox in the living room while Tex sat in a recliner and watched them.
Stormy, Chip, Pumpkin and Pound were playing a match of Super Dragon Warriors, fighting as Smelt, Grumblebog, Buttercream and Grogar respectively. Chip won the match and everyone watched as Grumblebog gave his victory pose.
“ROUND COMPLETE! THE WINNER IS…GRUMBLEBOG!” shouted the announcer.
Grumblebog spewed fire in the air and flexed his muscles. In the background, Smelt clapped, Buttercream put on a cheerleader outfit and cheered Grumblebog, and Grogar stomped his hoof in anger.
“I expected a challenge!” Grumblebog said.
“WHOO-HOO CHIP!” Pumpkin cried, patting Chip on the back.
Suddenly, a silhouette of a large character with an axe and horns appeared on the screen as a siren sounded.
“WHAT’S THIS?! A NEW OPONENT HAS ENTERED THE ARENA!!”
“Oh my gosh! THAT’S BILLOW!!” shouted Buttercream.
“Billow? Who’s that?” asked Stormy.
“She’s the princess of the Southern Drakes! Nightwatch and I met her years ago! We helped her and the Southerns defeat this really cool robot called a Golem! Get her, Chip!”
Chip took a deep breath and got ready to fight. The silhouette faded in and a large, fat dragoness appeared that was a bit taller than Buttercream. She was orange with a yellow underbelly, red spikes and olive green eyes. Her horns curved up to form an S-shape similar to Tirek’s, but smaller. The axe she carried with her was double-sided and made out of a bluish crystal material. The countdown started and Chip began to mash the buttons on the controller.
“THREE, TWO, ONE, GOOOOO!”
Grumblebog ran towards Billow and began punching, kicking and swinging his tail at her, until she was knocked on the ground. She got back up and used her axe on Grumblebog, sending him flying back. He then took to the skies and flew right over her to do a body-slam that took down a significant part of her health bar.
“Almost there, Chip! You’ve got this!” Buttercream shouted.
Grumblebog had enough time while Billow was down to charge up his fire. When she got back up, he blew at her until her health bar dropped to zero and she fell over.
“NEW PLAYER ADDED! PRINCES BILLOW!”
“Hope you don’t mind I join the fight,” Billow said in a calm and sassy voice, as she swung her axe around with ease.
“YOU DID IT, CHIP!!” Buttercream said, picking Chip up and hugging him from behind.
“YES! Now we have another player!” Stormy shouted.
“She’s awesome! She’s like a good mix of Grumblebog and Smelt!” Pumpkin exclaimed.
“You kids and your video games,” Tex chuckled as he sat back in his recliner.
“Butter, do you think we could meet her someday?” Annie asked.
“I sure hope so! She’s kinda busy right now getting ready to be the new queen of Soder Dracos in a few years, but maybe I’ll see if I can get her to come over to visit.”
“Flurry, did you see we just unlocked a new player?” Pound asked.
Flurry was off to the side near a table, reading a section of the Journal of Friendship that talked about her parents’ wedding. She wasn’t paying enough attention to hear them talk about Billow.
“Flurry?”
“Huh? What?” she asked.
“We unlocked a new character, Flurry!” Stormy told her.
“Oh, nice! Sorry guys, I’m just reading up on Mom and Dad’s wedding.”
“Where’s Spike? I gotta tell him too! Spike?” Buttercream said, getting up to walk into the kitchen.
Spike was in the kitchen discussing things with Cadance, Shining Armor, and Applejack. Cadance and Spike appeared to be whispering to each other until Buttercream showed up.
“Spike, did I ever tell you about Princess Billow?” she asked her brother.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I think you mentioned her once. She’s the princess of Soder Dracos, right?”
As they talked, Flurry returned to her journal. She read the page that documented the events of the Canterlot changeling invasion. She was disappointed to find that it didn’t say much about the wedding before Chrysalis revealed herself. The shiftiness of some of the attendees at the rehearsal earlier got her suspicious and she wondered if this sort of thing was happening at her parents’ wedding. It was a minor thing she noticed, but she couldn’t help but feel perhaps there was changeling activity at the wedding. She finally decided to get up and talk to her mother in the kitchen. As the rest of her friends continued playing the game and Spike and Buttercream talked, she walked past them to find her mother whispering to Applejack.
“Mom?” Flurry asked.
Applejack and Cadance turned their heads quickly in surprise. Their faces went from serious to happy right as they saw her.
“Yes, Flurry!” Cadance said.
“Hey, I’m reading up on the chapter in the journal about your wedding. Did you guys write this part?”
“The Canterlot Wedding? Oh, no, I think Twilight documented all of that way back after it happened.”
“Hmmm. Well she didn’t give so many details. What was it like when the changelings invaded?”
Applejack and Cadance glanced at each other momentarily. Cadance looked back to Flurry and walked over to a table to have a drink as she spoke.
“Well, dear, the changelings were all waiting for Queen Chrysalis on the inside. They couldn’t get through the shield, but she had already gotten in a few days prior. That was when she attacked me in my room and transported me to the crystal caverns.”
“So then Queen Chrysalis was the only changeling that actually did the infiltrating before the shield was broken?”
“That’s correct. We learned from Thorax that the changelings purposefully sent a threatening letter to attack the wedding a few days in advance after Chrysalis had entered Canterlot. We didn’t know it was from changelings, but it was enough to make Shining Armor up the security and use his shield spell.”
“I don’t get it. Why would the changelings send the threat on purpose?”
“I guess it was to make everyone think the threat was stopped the moment the shield went up. That would keep them from thinking Princess Cadance was actually a changeling all along and the real me was trapped underground. Also, Queen Chrysalis was able to use her magic to weaken his spell so the changelings would get in anyway. I guess she chose the smarter route. If they all just attacked like that, he would be able to put the spell up in the process and stop the invasion.”
“That makes sense. So Dad, how did you not notice it was Queen Chrysalis all along?”
Flurry turned to her father to see him whispering with Applejack.
“Shining?” Cadance said firmly.
Shining Armor turned around in shock and saw his wife giving him a stern look.
“Oh, sorry, what was that, kid?” he said, walking over to his daughter.
“I just wanted to know how you didn’t notice Mom was actually Queen Chrysalis before your wedding started.”
“Oh. Well, I mean you gotta understand: nobody knew what the changelings were up to at that time. Princess Celestia knew about Queen Chrysalis years before our wedding, but they hadn’t attacked Equestria yet. They just lived in the Badlands where Celestia had no jurisdiction, so naturally, no one expected a changeling attack during my own wedding. I noticed your mother… or rather Queen Chrysalis, was acting a little weird, but she told me she was just getting really stressed out over the threat and was worried about me with my migraines from the shield spell. The pony I thought was Cadance that whole time wasn’t acting like herself, but I also couldn’t really remember a lot of the arguments we had. She kept using that mind spell on me. It wasn’t just to soothe my pain; Queen Chrysalis was brain-washing me the entire time to forget about my fiancé’s odd behavior.”
“Is that why your eyes look all funny in this one photo?”
“Yeah. By the time the wedding was starting, I was completely mind-controlled. Thankfully your mother stepped in later and healed me.”
“Is there a reason you wanted to know all of this, Flurry?” asked Cadance.
“Not really. I just was curious. All this planning for Pinkie’s wedding got me wondering about the one you guys had to deal with. Are we sure Chrysalis won’t try to do anything to this one?”
“Nah. Your Auntie Twilight’s got this,” Shining said, patting his daughter on the back.
“Besides, have ya seen Pinkie behavin’ odd at all in the past few days?” asked Applejack.
“No. She’s been fine. I doubt Queen Chrysalis would even want to hug me like Pinkie did earlier.”
“Yeah, she barely even acknowledged Twilight when she first saw her, even though Cadance was Twilight’s babysitter,” Shining added.
“Case in point: that crazy queen is a terrible actress,” Applejack added. “I should’ve known it wasn’t the real Cadance when she didn’t appreciate my apple treats.”
“Well the good thing is, we stopped her and the wedding was able to continue,” Cadance said.
“And we couldn’t be happier,” Shining said, nuzzling up to his wife.
Flurry smiled at her parents as they rubbed noses tenderly. She thought perhaps she was overreacting by bringing up the changelings and Chrysalis. She took a sip of some apple cider Applejack offered her and sighed contently.
“You’re right,” she said. “Sorry if I sounded like I was getting all panicky, everypony. I guess I’m just really anxious for this wedding. It’s the most important one I’ve been to so far and I just really want everything to go perfectly fine.”
“Can’t put it past ya, kid,” Applejack said. “Nopony would want themselves a disaster of a wedding. I know me and Tex’s wedding was quite a lot of work and stress. And ya shoulda seen Rainbow Dash before she and Thunderhead got married. Hoo-ee, was she in a tizzy!”
“And I’m suddenly really curious how Twily’s gonna be when she’s got a wedding to plan someday!” Shining said as everyone started laughing.
As the wedding attendees took time off before the dinner, Pinkie and all her friends walked down the streets of Ponyville towards the Everfree Forest with some royal guards flanking them. Cheerilee walked past them as Pinkie hopped up and down.
“Pinkie Pie!” Cheerilee said to her, joyfully.
“Hey, Cheerilee!” Pinkie responded.
“Glad to hear about tomorrow! Can’t believe you’re already getting married!”
“I know, right?! I was wondering when this day would come! Well don’t mind me and my friends. We’re all just heading into the Everfree Forest to get to the new Tree of Harmony.”
“We wanted to all just have a little moment to reflect before tomorrow, and we figured the Tree was the best place to do it,” Twilight told Cheerilee.
“Oh, I know what you mean, Twilight. The Tree is such a calm and relaxing place. Well, good luck to you all tomorrow, and I hope you and Cheese Sandwich have a wonderful life together, Pinkie!”
“Thank you, Cheerilee! Catch ya later!”
Cheerilee waved to everyone and continued as they all walked on to the edge of town. They stopped at the house that the teachers, Gallus, Silverstream, Yona, Sandbar, Ocellus and Smolder lived in. Pinkie and Twilight saw several royal guards waiting for them. They all greeted the guards normally and then walked behind the house while the guards stood out front. Pinkie and her friends turned a corner and saw all of the teachers waiting for them.
“Oh good! You’re all here!” Pinkie said joyfully.
She then looked around to make sure there were no other ponies watching them. They walked on carefully into a small grove where there were several large carts carrying boxes being towed by some guards.
“Did we get them?” Pinkie whispered to the teachers.
“All of them, my queen,” replied Yona. “The yak put up a good fight, but we subdued her.”
“Excellent,” Pinkie said, sinisterly. “Also, don’t forget you’re supposed to speak in a broken accent.”
“Er…yes. Ahem…Yak so excited for Pink Pony’s wedding!”
The other teachers all giggled wickedly. Pinkie walked over to one of the carts and put her ear against the box. She heard a faint murmur inside, but sensed little to no motion.
“They’re still moaning, but barely squirming. Looks like the fluids have done their work already,” she said before turning to the rest of them. “Well now we have them all. Rarity and Spike have been replaced. Now all I need is that kiss and I will be unstoppable.”
“And Starlight Glimmer?” asked Rarity.
“Not her. I have something special planned for her.”
“And where is Elytra, by the way?” asked Applejack.
“Back at the town hall keeping busy. She and the others need to stay there to keep a close eye on the attendees.”
“Do you think we can trust her, my queen?” asked Fluttershy.
“Yeah, she’s not as loyal as the others,” added Rainbow Dash.
“She’ll be fine. That little one has a lot to learn. I’ve been wondering lately if she may have thought of defecting, but her disguise should keep her quiet. Once I have all my power and Equestria is all ours, Elytra will understand why we do what we do. She will not disappoint me.”