//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: MordeTwi Wedding // by natedeanmaan //------------------------------// It was early in the morning at the Golden Oak Library. Spike was sleeping in his bed, and Mordecai was sleeping in Twilight’s bed, both snoring as they were deep in their sleep. The reason Mordecai was in Twilight’s bed, you may ask? Because she didn’t want him to drive home tired, and he practically fell asleep after arriving in Ponyville. The planning of proposing to Twilight and the emotional nerves of going through with it took its toll on him. Twilight was awake, too excited at being engaged to fall asleep. She was looking over ideas she wanted for her wedding day, knowing she could talk to her friends about it, and the thought of her telling her friends that she was engaged excited her even more. She smiles fondly at the ring Mordecai gave her and remembers what Mordecai said as he proposed to her. She smiled and said, “Mordecai, you don’t know how happy you’ve already made me.” She started remembering their time together before they had their first date. FLASHBACK It was the night of the meteor shower; Twilight was preparing her balcony, excited by what she had heard and wanted to see the meteor shower herself. Even though she wasn’t with Mordecai, Rigby, Eileen, or Margaret, she still had a good view of it in Ponyville. From what she was told, the meteor shower was supposed to be close to the atmosphere. Seeing the meteor shower, Twilight was surprised at how close they appeared; as Eileen mentioned, she was also amazed at how beautifully they burned across the night sky. She watched through her telescope and wrote plenty of notes on what she saw. After the meteor shower ended and with plenty of notes written down, Twilight went into her room and called it a night. The following day, Mordecai made a surprise visit to her tree home. They walked together in town and talked about the meteor shower, and it was at this moment, Mordecai started talking about what happened during the main event. He said, “It was weird. One minute Margaret and I were watching the show together, and the next Margaret and I were trapped in this prism thing, and this meteor showed up, saying he’s the ‘Guardian of the Friend Zone’ and kept us away from each other because I didn’t make a move.” Twilight laughs at this and says, “A Guardian of the Friend Zone?” Mordecai shrugs through her laughter and says, “I didn’t think there was such a thing either, but thankfully, I managed to get out of that prison thing.” Curious about how he managed to do it, she asks, “How did you get out of it?” With a satisfied smile, Mordecai said, “I told him if I were given the chance, I would make my move with Margaret, and after being given the O.K., I walked to her prison, and I kissed her.” Twilight stopped in her tracks as he said this, and he took notice of the sudden action. He turns to her and says, “Twilight? Is everything okay?” Twilight had a surprised look on her face and looked at him. She says in a shocked state, “You and Margaret kissed to get out of that?” Mordecai says sheepishly, “Yeah, got out of the ‘friend zone,’ and we’re now dating.” Still shocked to hear this, Twilight says, “That’s, that’s, that’s, that’s-.” She trails off as she struggles to find the words for this, confusing Mordecai. After a moment, she snaps out of her trance, saying, “That’s…great, Mordecai; I knew you had it in you.” Mordecai smiled and hugged Twilight, making her blush. He says, “Thank you for believing in me, Twilight. Everyone else had doubts and said I couldn’t do it, but it’s good to know I have a friend like you who supports me.” Her blush went away as he called her ’friend,’ making it feel different to her. Twilight returns the hug and says, “Yeah…What are friends for?” The walk home felt different for Twilight; for a long time, she had known of Mordecai’s crush on Margaret, and she supported his pursuit of this crush on her, but now that it had happened, she felt uncomfortable over the thought. She kept her smile to not worry Mordecai, nor did she want to ruin his mood. After saying their goodbyes, Twilight closed the door to her home and ran up to her room. Spike notices this and follows her to their room. He says in concern, “Twilight? Is everything okay?” Twilight was sitting in bed, lost in thought from her talk with Mordecai. She says, “I…I don’t know Spike.” He asks, “What happened? Did Mordecai do something to you?” She waves her hoof and says, “No, he didn’t do anything to me; he told me that he and Margaret are dating.” Surprised to hear this, Spike says, “He’s dating Margaret?” Hearing how he noted that Twilight looks at him in suspicion and says, “You make it sound like that wasn’t supposed to happen.” Spike rubs his arm and says, “Well…you don’t seem happy about it yourself.” Twilight cracks a fake laugh and says, “Me? Not happy? I don’t know what you’re talking about, Spike. I’ve never been happier for Mordecai. He always told me he wished he’d date Margaret despite the many ‘boyfriends’ she’s had in the past.” Spike and the rest of Twilight’s friends have seen how well Mordecai and Twilight have gotten along, and they suspect that he has a crush on her. Hearing Twilight just now, Spike started to realize that there was something there that Twilight wasn’t sharing. He sits beside her on the bed and says, “Twilight, I might not know anything about Mordecai’s situation, but are you jealous of Margaret?” Twilight feels her eye twitch at the question, not expecting to hear him ask this. She gets off the bed and says, “Jealous? Jealous?! Me jealous?! Ha! There’s no reason for me to be jealous. Why would I be jealous? Mordecai’s my friend. He’s told me so much about himself, what he wants, his dreams, and his aspirations. Why would I be jealous of Margaret?” She paced the floor in frustration as she continued venting. Spike didn’t say a word as she continued, “Yes, she works at the Coffee Shop across from where he works, and he’s told me so many times how beautiful she is, but looks aren’t everything! You need a real connection that goes beyond that! From what I’ve heard and seen, she doesn’t deserve him! She’s dated more guys to the point where I don’t think she’d take a relationship with him seriously, and I think she’ll just-.” At this moment, Twilight started crying, realizing she was feeling very defensive over Mordecai’s feelings, and just the thought of him getting his heart broken was enough to make her mad. She wiped her tears, and the realization hit her as she said, “I-I am jealous. Why do I feel jealous? I should be happy for Mordecai. He finally got his girl, and I’m over here feeling jealous? What kind of a friend am I if I feel like this?” She buried her face into her hooves, and she kept crying. Spike gets off the bed and goes to her. He touches her shoulder and says, “I think you just answered your question. I don’t think you and Mordecai are friends anymore. I think you fell in love with him somewhere along the way.” She looks at Spike in surprise with a blush on her face. The thought of her falling in love never crossed her mind. Spike takes his hand off her shoulder and says, “I’ll let you think this one over.” He leaves the room to give Twilight some space so she can think these newfound feelings over. Twilight spent days thinking about her conversation with Spike. No matter how she’d frame it, her getting defensive over Mordecai’s feelings spoke volumes to her, something she wasn’t ready to accept. She tries to tell herself that she isn’t in love, saying, “No way. Mordecai is just a friend. I was only being an overprotective friend. Yeah, friends always look out for each other, and that’s what I was doing.” She almost believed that statement until Mordecai arrived in Ponyville one day for a visit and instantly changed that thought. He says with a smile, “Hey, Twilight.” She blushed from seeing him and couldn’t speak properly upon seeing him, giving him a friendly wave so as not to make the visit awkward. They stayed at her home to hang out; she didn’t want to risk anything coming out in public. Mordecai was lost in his feelings for Margaret, not focusing on Twilight as he talked about their recent date. He noticed her blushing and said, “Twilight, are you okay? You look a little flushed.” She gets nervous about the question and says, “What? Oh! D-don’t mind me. It’s just a little warm today.” She laughs nervously after saying this, and Mordecai shrugs it off, not bringing it up again. He continues talking about his time with Margaret, thinking that Twilight wanted to hear more about what was going on in his personal life. She wasn’t paying attention to anything he was saying; as she looked at him, she was thinking about the possibility that she might have fallen in love with him. She thinks about all the times they have hung out, remembering the music they have listened to together, the jokes he told her that made her laugh, and he even showed her his artistic abilities. She was impressed with his work, but he didn’t think he did a good enough job. Her feelings started making sense as she started seeing him differently; a soppy smile was on her face as she looked at him. She snapped out of it as she heard him say, “I’m going to make things official with Margaret tonight at Steak Me Amadeus.” Her smile was wiped off her face as she heard this, and she felt her heart break after hearing Mordecai’s plan to make things official between him and Margaret. He sighs contently, not noticing Twilight’s behavior throughout his conversation. He says, “I think that’s enough on my end. How have things been going for you, Twilight?” Twilight does her best to keep her composure, feeling her heartache from knowing that she has to grin and smile through it. She says, “I’ve been doing all right. Well, one of my friends was telling me about something.” Mordecai says, “One of your friends? What are they going through?” Twilight says, “Well, she’s going through something personal; she wants me to keep this a secret. She’d be mad at me if I told you or anypony about this behind her back.” Mordecai says, “Sounds like something Pinkie Pie would say, but okay, I’ll pretend I don’t know who this friend is, for their sake.” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, thankful she could talk about her problem without saying it was hers. She says, “My friend was telling me that she might be falling in love with somepony.” Mordecai’s eyes brighten at hearing this, and he says, “Oh really? That’s good for her.” Twilight smiles at this and says, “Yeah, but the only problem from what she told me is that this special somepony of hers… well, he’s dating another pony.” The smile Mordecai had was replaced with a concerned look after hearing this. He says, “Oh. That’s a real problem right there.” Twilight’s ears folded at this, and she said, “I know, but she insisted that I help resolve this, but I didn’t know what to tell her. Romance hasn’t been my strong suit.” Mordecai says, “Yeah, well, if I were to tell your friend about this, I would tell her she shouldn’t try to go after this stallion. If he’s happy, she should try to be happy for him, even if it hurts. I was there for a while, but even then, I wouldn’t try to do anything that would have ruined my friendship because of jealousy.” Mordecai felt regret take over as he said this. He was still bothered by the Discord fiasco and remembered how angry Twilight was with him and how badly it hurt when she said she hated him. Twilight didn’t catch onto this. She was taking what Mordecai said to heart, knowing that even if she wanted to tell him how she felt, she didn’t want to risk her friendship and lose Mordecai forever if he didn’t feel the same way, especially now that he planned on making things official with Margaret. They both sat silently, lost in their thoughts on the subject. They snapped out of it as Mordecai got a message on his phone, a reminder that his reservation at Steak Me Amadeus was getting close. After reading his message, he was ready to leave Ponyville. He got up and went to the door, but before he opened the door to Twilight’s home, he said, “Twilight, about your friend, you can tell her that she should also be patient. Sometimes, relationships don’t work out, and he could be single again. And if that does happen, she must be a good friend because he will need it to get through that bad moment.” Twilight was surprised to hear him say that and blushed. Mordecai opens the door and is about to leave until Twilight stops him, saying, “Mordecai.” He turns to her as she calls him. Twilight was torn from their conversation, but she shook her head from these thoughts and forced herself to smile, saying, “Good luck tonight.” Mordecai smiles back at Twilight and leaves her home, closing the door. After the door closed, Twilight started walking upstairs to her room, feeling very sad. She looked out the window and saw Mordecai drive off in the Golf Cart until he was no longer in sight. As she saw him disappear, she felt that would be the last time she would see him. Later that night, Twilight was busy reading one of her books, hoping that would take her mind off Mordecai, but to no avail. A part of her knew that she should have said something to him, but another part of her knew better, even if it led to the heartache she was currently feeling. Twilight cries, “I guess this is what it means: if you love someone, you have to let them go. Easier said than done.” She wipes her tears, trying her hardest to overcome her feelings. She broke her concentration as she heard a knock at the door. Twilight walks downstairs, wiping her tears as best as possible, and goes to the door. She opens the door and sees Mordecai. Surprised to see him, Twilight says, “Mordecai?! What are you-?” She trails off as she sees the sad look on his face. He said, “I’m sorry; I know it’s late, but would it be okay if I stayed here for a bit?” She leads him inside and asks, “What happened?” They sit together, and he says, “Well, I asked Margaret if she would be my girlfriend, but she said she couldn’t.” Twilight says in shock, “What?! Why would she say that?” She was starting to get angry, and dark magic overtook her horn. Mordecai didn’t notice this as he said, “It wasn’t anything I did. She got accepted into her dream college, and I guess long-distance relationships don’t work with her.” Twilight starts to calm down after hearing this, but seeing Mordecai bury his face in his hands, she still feels anger toward Margaret for what she’s putting him through. She takes a deep breath and goes to the kitchen. She grabs two bottles of soda for him and her. They opened their bottles and took their drinks. She says, “I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you, Mordecai.” All Mordecai could do was nod in response; he was too depressed to say anything then and felt that he might break down if he said anything. Twilight feels her heartache seeing Mordecai like this. It was something she feared might have happened, and in the end, he suffered a broken heart. A part of her wanted to comfort him, but after reading his emotions, she thought better of it and drank her soda. After they finished their drinks, Twilight took Mordecai’s hand and led him to her room. She offered her bed for him to sleep in, but he was ready to decline until she said, “You helped me when I needed it, Mordecai. Let me return the favor now that you need it.” He was going to protest, but Twilight wouldn’t have any of it, as she insisted. He lays down in her bed, and he falls asleep. Twilight returned to her reading but found it hard to concentrate, knowing that Mordecai was in her home. She closed the book she was reading and went to her bed. She sees Mordecai sleeping but notices his distressed look and tears while he sleeps. She wiped his tears and rubbed his head while he slept. He calms down as he feels her hoof brush his head. Seeing his mood change, Twilight was tempted to kiss him on the forehead but chose not to, fearing that she might wake him. She takes her hoof off his head, keeps an eye on Mordecai for most of the night, and soon falls asleep on the mattress. The following day, Mordecai woke up and saw Twilight sleeping on the side of the bed. She snored peacefully as she rested her head on the mattress. Mordecai lightly smiles, seeing her like this, and taps her head. She wakes up and sees that Mordecai is awake. She yawned and said, “Morning.” Mordecai says, “Morning, Twi.” He stretched himself, and his stomach started growling. She heard his stomach and said, “Whoa, did you have anything to eat yesterday?” He said, “No, I didn’t get the chance to.” She pulls him out of bed and says, “Come on, I’m sure Spike made breakfast already.” Sure enough, Spike made breakfast for them. There was a stack of pancakes on their plates and plenty more on a serving plate if anyone wanted more. The three of them grabbed their plates and started having their servings. They finished eating their pancakes, all full from how many were made. Spike had already left the kitchen to sleep it off, leaving Mordecai and Twilight alone in the kitchen. Mordecai was relaxing; his eyes were closed as he rested, very tempted to sleep his meal off, too. Twilight looks at him, still thinking about last night. She gets off her chair and takes his hand, catching his attention. She says, “Let’s go for a walk; I’m sure that will do you some good after a good breakfast.” Mordecai blushed as she held his hand but didn’t complain as she pulled him off his chair and led him out of the library. Back at the Park, Benson walked through the house and went to Mordecai and Rigby’s room. He opens the door and sees that neither of them were in the room. He was about to yell until Rigby entered the room with a microwave burrito. Benson says, “Rigby, where’s Mordecai?” Rigby casually says, “Oh yeah. He wanted me to give this to you.” He handed Benson a letter from Mordecai. He wrote that he’d be out for a few days after going through the Steak Me Amadeus situation with Margaret. Benson has always been hard on Mordecai and Rigby for their shenanigans, but in times like these, he can sympathize with the duo, and since he’s been someone who’s gone through his share of breakups, he understands Mordecai’s predicament. He sighs at this and says, “I’ll allow it.” Mordecai and Twilight returned to the Tree House. Spike woke up once they returned, and Twilight had sent him out to run some errands for her, giving them some privacy. After sending Spike off, Twilight grabbed two books; seeing that their walk together in town had a positive effect, she wanted to keep his mind off the breakup, and she figured reading would be a nice distraction. After they finish reading, Twilight goes to the kitchen to get something for her and Mordecai to drink. She comes back to him, and they take their drinks. Mordecai sighs, still thinking about what happened. Twilight notices this and says, “Are you feeling better, Mordecai?” Mordecai says, “A little better; thank you for this, Twilight.” Twilight smiles at him and says, “It’s no trouble at all, Mordecai. You helped me when I went through this with Red, and I realized I never properly thanked you for that.” She smiled as she remembered trying to do something nice, like baking a special cake, but Mordecai would top her kind gesture with one of his own. Mordecai shrugs and says, “I did what any friend would do.” She shakes her head and says, “No, I must have been a real mess when you found me at the Park.” Mordecai rubbed his bottle with his thumb as he remembered that day. He said, “Yeah, you were at a low point I didn’t think you could be at. It was always hard for me to see you sad.” Twilight smiles at this and rests her head on Mordecai’s shoulder. She nuzzles him, making him blush from the affection. He lightly taps the floor and says, “So…are you feeling better about the Red thing?” Twilight says, “Yeah, I’m over that. As I said, you helped me overcome that difficult time.” Mordecai smiles as she says this. He said, “I’m glad to have helped.” She looks at Mordecai as he says this. He may have smiled, but he still had a sad look. She might not be an expert on romance, but one thing she knew she was good at was being a good friend. She looks away from him, knowing this would be personal, and doesn’t want him to see her blushing. She took a deep breath and said, “Mordecai, I know what you’re going through is hard. I’ve been there, and I completely understand how hard this is for you, but trust me when I say this. If I can get over Red, you can get over Margaret. Even if this takes time, I-I’ll always be there for you, just as you have always been there for me.” Mordecai was surprised to hear all this from Twilight and started remembering their time together and how close they had been as friends. He smiled at this thought and wrapped his arm around her side. Her blush grew darker as she felt herself pulled closer to him. Mordecai said, “Thank you, Twilight.” Twilight could only nod her head in response. The two sat together like this in comfortable silence. After getting over her shock, Twilight smiles at the thought that they could be like this and how natural and relaxing it feels between them. Mordecai finishes his drink as she looks up at him again. She felt her emotions take control as she leaned forward. She closed her eyes and kissed Mordecai on the cheek, surprising him with the sudden action. He looked at her in surprise, and she blushed as she realized what she had done. She feels uncomfortable as she may have crossed a line and says, “I-I’m sorry, Mordecai. I don’t know what came over me. I know you’re going through your breakup, and I shouldn’t be-mmm?!” She didn’t finish her apology as Mordecai kissed her on the lips, making her blush harder as he pinned her to the floor and deepened the kiss. She wasn’t expecting Mordecai to kiss her outright, but she gets lost in the kiss as she gets over her shock. She closes her eyes and kisses him back. She wrapped her forelegs around him, not wanting to let him go, and he wrapped his arms around her, enjoying this as much as she did. The door opens, revealing Spike returning from running Twilight’s errands for more supplies. They broke the kiss after hearing the door open, and they were surprised to see him, and he was surprised to see the tail end of their make-out session. He wasn’t expecting to see them like this and said in embarrassment, “Oh boy. Did I come back at a bad time?” After he asked this, there was an uncomfortable silence in the room; Mordecai and Twilight looked at each other, the realization of what happened between them sinking in. She looked surprised and blushed hard as she looked at him, still processing that she and Mordecai had kissed. He, however, feels embarrassed with what happened and lets her go. He quickly gets up; Twilight is concerned about him after seeing the look on his face and says, “Mordecai, what are you-?” Before she could finish her question, Mordecai, in a panic, says, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He goes to the open door, worrying Twilight more. She stretched her hoof out to him and said, “Wait! Mordecai, I-.” He exited the library and closed the door before she could finish what she had to say. Her ears drooped in sadness, and she said aloud, “I enjoyed my first kiss.” Hearing her say this, Spike felt terrible for what happened and said, “I’m sorry for ruining your fist kiss, Twilight. I knew you were going to talk with him, but I didn’t think you were going to do that.” Twilight shakes her head and says, “No, Spike, it’s not your fault; it’s mine. I was trying to help Mordecai get past his breakup as he helped me get over Red, but, as you just saw, I didn’t do that. I thought the moment was right to kiss him, but he didn’t need me for that; he needed a friend.” She buries her face into her hooves, frustrated over what happened. Spike sets the many scrolls down and goes to her. He touched her shoulder and said, “I don’t think things are that bad, Twilight, but I would give Mordecai some space to figure things out.” Twilight nodded in response and went upstairs to her room to do some readings to distract herself from Mordecai. Time passes by after the kiss. Twilight doesn’t go to the park just in case Mordecai is still getting over his breakup, which he does thanks to Rigby and the rest of the Park workers. Pops would keep her in the loop on what was happening at the Park. Even though it sounds like Mordecai was in a better position now, Twilight chose not to return to the Park to avoid an awkward moment with Mordecai. Getting past a breakup was one thing, but she didn’t know what he would feel if he was still trying to figure out their kiss and what it meant to him. She kept her distance until Pops visited her one day. Twilight was reading one of her books in her room and heard frantic knocking at her door. She goes downstairs, answers the door, sees the concerned look on his face, and says, “Pops? What’s going on?” Pops responded worriedly, saying, “Um, Ms. Sparkle, I don’t want to worry you, but Mordecai, Benson, and Rigby are in the hospital. They-.” When Pops mentions Mordecai is in the hospital, she activates her horn and teleports to the park without a second thought. She arrived at the Park and ran to the hospital as fast as she could. Twilight says to herself in panic with tears in her eyes, “Mordecai, don’t you dare die on me.” She instantly thought of the worst-case scenario. From knowing Mordecai for so long, she knows the many antics he and Rigby go through and how dangerous they are, but this is the first time she’s heard of an incident that hospitalized them. She arrives at the hospital and asks them for Mordecai’s room, to which they tell her that he’s having surgery to fix his broken back. The nurse led her to the room, and she saw Benson and Rigby in the room. Benson had undergone surgery for his broken arms and was given ice packs to help with the bee sting swelling around his eyes. Rigby couldn’t talk to Twilight because of the poison ivy in his mouth, causing it to swell shut when they were being chased in the mountains. After talking with the nurse, Twilight sits on one of the chairs, waiting for Mordecai. Twilight takes a deep breath and says, “I should have visited the Park more often.” Hearing that a visitor was in the room, Benson says, “Twilight?” She is surprised to hear him and says, “Benson?! Oh my gosh! I thought you were sleeping.” Benson said, “I wish these bee stings had bothered me for hours.” Twilight felt terrible for him and said, “If you want, I can cast a healing spell to help you recover faster.” Surprised to hear this, Benson says, “You know those kinds of spells?” She smiles, “Yeah, you’d be surprised with how much reading I do in a day.” She goes to Benson and activates her horn, concentrating on a healing spell, and she uses it to help him recover from the surgery he had on his arms and the injuries he sustained. After regaining sight, Benson smiles at Twilight and says, “Thank you, Twilight, it feels good to be able to see again.” Twilight smiled at him and said, “Glad I could help. It was a new spell, and I’m glad I got it right the first time.” Benson smiles and lays back down on the bed. She was about to take her seat when the doctors and nurses entered the room with Mordecai. He was unconscious and wearing a back brace, just getting out of surgery. The doctor sees her and says, “Are you the only visitor?” She says, “His co-workers should be arriving soon. How bad was it?” The doctor shook his head and said, “Really bad. His back was shattered in multiple areas. It took much work, but we managed to fix him.” Twilight does her best not to cry after hearing the news and seeing him in his state. The doctor reassures her and says, “With proper rest, he’ll be back to normal in no time, and I’m sure him having a concerned girlfriend like yourself will help speed things up for him.” She blushed after he called her his girlfriend. She was going to correct him on his assumption, but he and the nurses had already left the room before she could say anything. Seeing Mordecai asleep, Twilight goes to his bedside and waits for him to wake up. She falls asleep, not leaving his side as she rests her head on the bed. One week after the hospital visit, Mordecai fully recovered thanks to the healing spell Twilight used on him, and he took Twilight on their first date. From all the times he visited her, he thought a nice restaurant would be a good first date for them, so he took her to one in Canterlot. They both knew that they had something to talk about, and this would be the time to talk about their kiss properly. Twilight wore the yellow dress Rarity made for her birthday, while Mordecai wore the fancy suit he still had during his Blondecai phase. The two were seated at a balcony table, not only for a better view but to have some privacy from the other ponies. After the server takes their orders, Mordecai and Twilight are left alone; they both feel uncomfortable, not knowing what the other thinks about the kiss. Twilight knows she enjoyed it but doesn’t know if Mordecai did. They breathed and said in unison, “Look about the kiss.” They both stopped as they realized that they were speaking at the same time. Mordecai says, “Sorry, you can go ahead and go first.” Twilight nods and says, “Mordecai, before the accident, I know it’s been a while since we’ve last seen each other. I didn’t know how you felt about our kiss, especially during your breakup, but I want you to know that that kiss was my first kiss.” Mordecai looks at her in surprise and says, “Really? I’m your first kiss?” Twilight blushed shyly and said, “Yes, and I also wanted to say I enjoyed our first kiss.” Mordecai blushed at the revelation, not expecting to hear that he was the first to kiss her. He took a deep breath and said, “I’m surprised but honored to know that I’m your first kiss, Twilight, and I’m sorry I ran out the way I did.” Twilight’s ears drooped at remembering that, and she said, “I’m sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable.” Mordecai waved his hand and said, “I’m not saying anything bad about the kiss. The truth is, I enjoyed it too.” Twilight’s eyes lit up as he said this. Before she could say anything, Mordecai continued, saying, “It was the timing that was bad.” Twilight rubbed her head in embarrassment and said with a nervous laugh, “Yeah, I kinda had a feeling the timing wasn’t good.” Mordecai nodded his head to this. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that he enjoyed the kiss, too. Even with the kiss being talked about in the open for them, it still felt uncomfortable between them, or at least it did on Mordecai’s end. Twilight noticed him blushing hard as if he had more to say. She held his hand with her hooves, making Mordecai tense up. She looked him in the eyes and said, “If you have more to tell me, go ahead and tell me. I feel the kiss isn’t the only thing on your mind right now.” After hearing what she said, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. He looks her in the eyes and says, “Yeah, I did have more to say, and honestly, I never thought I’d get the chance to talk about this. Before I dated Margaret… I kinda had a crush on you, Twilight.” It was Twilight’s turn to be surprised by Mordecai’s revelation. Hearing this confession, she blushed and said, “Y-you had a crush on me?!” She instantly thinks about all of the times Mordecai visited Ponyville and remembers feeling Mordecai looking at her whenever she wasn’t looking. Or when she was at the Park, she thought she heard Muscle Man, Rigby, or one of the other park workers commenting on her being Mordecai’s girlfriend. She covered her face and said, “Oh my gosh! I must have been an idiot for not seeing this sooner.” Twilight’s heart was racing, feeling as though her feelings for Mordecai might not be as one-sided as she originally thought. Mordecai says, “The real idiot was me for not saying anything sooner. I always thought you were beautiful, and I hesitated. I thought you would attract many guys who would be interested in you.” Twilight blushed harder at the compliment; she never saw herself as beautiful, nor did she focus on that. She giggled at this and said, “Mordecai, I’ve never done anything related to romance. I never had a boyfriend; before this date, I’d never been on one, and I just told you that you were my first kiss. I’m as inexperienced as anypony could be.” Mordecai smiles at her answer, finding her shy behavior cute. After calming down, she turned to Mordecai and said, “Mordecai, if you had a crush on me for so long, why didn’t you say something sooner?” Mordecai said, “I was still sorting through what I felt for Margaret during that time. I thought there might have been something there, but that didn’t work out, obviously, and after going through that breakup, I didn’t want you to feel like a rebound girl because you mean a lot more to me than that.” Twilight smiles at this, happy to see how considerate he was over this. He said, “When you kissed me, all of my old feelings for you came back, and the only thing I had on my mind right then was to kiss you. Even if the timing was bad, it did help me get over Margaret faster, and I had time to think about my feelings for you, Twilight, and the truth is that they never went away.” Before Mordecai could say anything else, Twilight teleported to his side of the table and kissed him passionately. Surprised at first, he quickly gets over his shock, wraps his arms around Twilight, and kisses her back. While they had their make-out session, their server came to the balcony with their order but quickly stepped back inside as he saw the intimate moment between them and didn’t want to be the one to interrupt them. After what felt like an eternity between them, they broke the kiss and breathed hard. With a coy smile, Twilight says, “I hope that clears up any confusion.” Mordecai nods in response; the ability to talk is lost on him. He clears his throat and says, “So you want to give us a shot?” Twilight rubs his cheek and says, “I’ve never been more certain about anything, Mordecai. I’d be happy to be called your girlfriend.” Mordecai smiles and says, “And I’d be happy to be called your boyfriend.” Twilight says, “I just want to say one more thing, Mordecai. You mean a lot to me, and I hope for the best in this, but if this doesn’t work between us, I don’t want to lose you.” He cupped her cheek and said, “You will never lose me, Twilight. I promise.” He leans in and kisses her on the lips, which she happily returns as she cries tears of joy. Twilight sighs in contentment, happy that their first date and every date since then has led to Mordecai popping the question to her the previous night. Unknown to her, Mordecai had awakened from his sleep and was behind her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, surprising her by the action and making her laugh. He kissed her cheek and said, “Good morning, Twily.” She giggled at this and said, “Good morning, Mordy. Did you just wake up?” He let her go and said, “Yeah, I was supposed to wake up sooner, but I overslept. I gotta get to work before Benson realizes I’m not at the house.” Twilight said, “Okay, you better get going.” Mordecai says, “All right, I’ll be on my way. I’ll be back later tonight.” Twilight smiles at this and says, “See you tonight, Mordecai.” She quickly kisses him on the cheek before he lets her go. Mordecai smiles back at her and leaves her home. After Mordecai leaves, Twilight sees the box she had recently gotten and picks it up with her magic. She opened the box and pulled out a note and a book. She read the letter, seeing it was from Princess Celestia, telling her that she just received Star Swirl the Bearded’s book of spells. She was instantly excited to see that she had an old spell book of the old magic user and continued reading the letter. Celestia wrote that Star Swirl had an unfinished secret spell on the book’s last page and wanted her to rewrite the spell, believing that she was the only one who could understand the spell he had abandoned. She opens the book and goes to the final page. Her excitement got the better of her as she read the spell aloud, “From one to another, another to one. A mark of one’s destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.” As she read the spell, she unknowingly cast it, and the spell affected the Elements of Harmony, swapping five of the six colors of the elements. After reading the spell, Twilight was left confused, seeing that it didn’t rhyme or make any sense. She closed the book and set it aside. She yawned, feeling groggy from staying up all night. She went to her room for a quick nap before starting her day. Back at the Park, the Park workers were gathered for a morning meeting on the staircase outside the house. Rigby was annoyed as everyone laughed at him, and he was seen wearing a diaper. Benson calms down from his laughter and says, “Rigby, why are you wearing a diaper?” Thanks to Muscle Man, he and the other Park workers already knew why he was wearing the diaper; he just wanted to hear him say it. Rigby said, “You’ll see in a minute.” As he said this, Mordecai arrived at the Park and got off the cart. Benson looks sternly and says, “Well, well, well, look who finally decided to join us.” Feeling guilty for running late, Mordecai says, “Sorry I’m late; I had a great time last night with Twilight.” Finding the opportunity to tease, Muscle Man said, “I bet you and Twilight got to….” Knowing where he was going with it, Mordecai interrupted him and said, “Nothing like that! But I do have an announcement to make.” Everyone focused on him as he said this. He took a deep breath and said, “Last night, I asked Twilight if she wanted to marry me, and she said yes!” Everyone congratulated him on his engagement, giving him hugs and patting him on the back. Rigby was hanging back but smiling at Mordecai while everyone, including the new intern Thomas, was happy for him. After realizing that Rigby was missing, Mordecai turned and saw him but was confused as he saw him wearing a diaper. He said, “Uh, dude. Why are you wearing a diaper?” Back in Ponyville, Twilight had woken up from her nap, still happy that she was engaged and wanted to tell her friends about it. As she leaves her home, she is drenched in water, becoming annoyed as she yells, “Rainbow Dash! That’s not funny!” But instead of hearing laughter from Rainbow Dash, she hears Rarity as she says, “Terribly sorry darling, I’m-I’m afraid I’m not good with the thundery ones.” Twilight goes from confused to shocked as she notices Rarity’s cutie mark was replaced with Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark. After talking with Rarity, Twilight goes back home and wakes up Spike. They check on their friends and see that they each have had their cutie marks swapped. Rainbow Dash has Fluttershy’s cutie mark, Fluttershy has Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark, Pinkie Pie has Applejack’s cutie mark, and Applejack has Rarity’s cutie mark. From each visit she makes, Twilight sees that each of her friends is miserable as they each try to do what their new cutie mark is supposed to represent, but each fails to live up to their newly assigned cutie marks. Twilight returns home, and Spike asks, “What’s going on? Why is this happening?” Twilight frantically looks around her library and sees Star Swirl’s spell book. Realization hits her as she opens the book and turns to the last page. She then looked at the Elements of Harmony in the glass case and saw that the colors had swapped. Twilight says, “This is my fault. I cast this spell earlier, which must have changed everyone’s destinies.” Spike then says, “Isn’t there a counterspell for this?” Twilight looks through the spell book and says, “There is no counterspell!” Spike says, “What about that memory spell you used from Discord’s influence? Shouldn’t that work?” Twilight says, “No, Spike, it’s not their memories that have been swapped; it’s their destinies. I don’t think I can do anything to fix this.” Twilight sullenly walks upstairs to her room, unsure how to fix her created problem, creating misery for her friends and Ponyville. Spike goes upstairs and sees Twilight staring out her window as she looks at the rainy weather. Knowing Spike was in the room, she says, “To think this morning, I was just happy being engaged, but without my friends, it won’t mean anything if they aren’t who they’re supposed to be.” Spike places his hand on her shoulder and says, “Come on, Twilight, you’ll figure out how to fix this. These are your friends; who would know them better than you?” Feeling determined, Twilight gets out of bed and says, “You’re right, Spike.” She goes to a framed picture of her and her friends over the fireplace, smiling as she says, “They mean more to me than anything. My friends.” Twilight started glowing as she said this, confusing Spike with what was happening. Twilight opened her eyes as an idea came to her. She says, “I’ve got it! I know what to do!” Excited to hear this, Spike says, “You do?” She grabs the jeweled box and goes downstairs. She takes the Elements of Harmony out of the glass case and puts her element on, saying, “I may not be able to remind them of who they are, but I can show them what they mean to each other. They’ll find the part of themselves that’s been lost so they can help the friend they care about so much.” She gives him the jeweled case containing the other Elements of Harmony and says, “Come on, Spike!” The two leave their home and implement Twilight’s plan to fix the problem, starting with Fluttershy. After finishing his shift, Mordecai leaves the Park and drives to Ponyville as promised. Mordecai was in a good mood the entire day and had hummed a song to himself, thinking about Twilight. While he was driving, he sang: Twilight, you're my shining star, Guiding me, no matter how far. Your wisdom and your caring heart, Illuminate my world right from the start. So let this song be my serenade, For the love we share, no barricade, Twilight, you're the one that I adore, Forever and always, I'll cherish you, that's for sure. From Ponyville to the skies above, You've shown me the power of love, Your friendship and your magic fill my days. You've taught me lessons, made me grow, In your presence, my spirits glow, I'm captivated by your gentle ways. So let's embrace this wondrous ride, Side by side, our love can't hide, Through trials and triumphs, we will soar. With you by my side, I'm never alone, Together, we've built a love we've known, Twilight, you're the one that I adore. He kept singing this as he drove to Ponyville, thinking of more lyrics he would add later. One by one, Twilight started getting her friends to remember who they were, helping Fluttershy remember her ability to talk to the animals and take care of them, getting Rainbow Dash to control the weather and get rid of the storm clouds above Ponyville, getting Rarity back into being the fashionista that she is, Applejack to becoming an apple farmer and restoring Sweet Apple Acres from being an un-flourished wasteland and getting Pinkie Pie back to being the number one party planner that brings smiles to everypony, instantly making Ponyville happy again. Twilight and her friends embraced in a group hug after everything was restored, and she was happy to have her friends back to normal. Twilight then remembers the last part of the spell from Star Swirl the Bearded’s spell book, “A mark of one’s destiny singled out alone fulfilled.” An idea struck her as she gasped aloud and said, “Oh my gosh, the spell!” She exited the hug and dashed home, leaving her friends confused by the sudden outburst. They chased after her, wondering what she was talking about. She enters her home, picks up Star Swirl’s spell book, and goes to the last page. She grabs a quill with her magic and writes the second half of the spell, saying, “From all of us together, together we are friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there’s magic without end!” After writing the second half of the spell and ending it with a period, Twilight happily closes the spell book and puts it away. Her element starts to glow, triggering everyone’s elements as magic beams blast Twilight, covering her in the magical light. Everyone, including Twilight, is confused about what is happening, but Twilight doesn’t fight what is happening as the light glows brighter and subsides in a flash. Everyone opens their eyes as the blinding light diminishes and sees that Twilight is not seen among them, leaving a scorch mark of her cutie mark on the floor, shocking them as they didn’t know what happened to their friend. Mordecai arrives in Ponyville, unaware of what happened after he left for work. Now that it is nighttime, he sees her friends standing outside as he approaches Twilight’s home. He also sees a bright light. He stops the cart and covers his eyes, trying to shield the brightness as it comes from the sky and lands on the ground. As the light started to subside, Mordecai saw a silhouette in the light, recognizing that it looked like Twilight. His suspicions were confirmed as Applejack said, “Twilight, is that you?” With the light completely faded, he saw Twilight stand up, and his jaw dropped as he saw a pair of feathered wings open up. Twilight’s friends were very excited to see Twilight with her new wings. Rainbow Dash hugged Twilight and called Twilight her new flying buddy. Rarity stated that she was now an Alicorn. Pinkie Pie swung by and yelled, “Alicorn party!” with balloons and streamers coming out of nowhere. The thing that really caught Mordecai off guard was Fluttershy as she said, “Wow! You look just like a princess.” Princess Celestia lands before the ponies and says, “That’s because she is a princess.” As Twilight and her friends hear this, Mordecai hides from them and is shocked to hear this. “A princess? A princess?! Twilight’s a princess?!” He thought to himself, still trying to understand what was going on. After talking with Celestia, Twilight noticed the golf cart parked next to her home and remembered who was supposed to be there. She happily runs to the golf cart and sees Mordecai. She says, “Mordecai!” She hugged him, catching him off guard as he was still lost in thought. He nearly jumps from the sudden hug but keeps his composure and says, “Twilight? What happened to you?” The rest of her friends see him and go to the couple. Twilight let go of Mordecai and said, “It’s a long story; I’ll tell you about it soon.” She turned around and saw her friends and Princess Celestia behind them. Twilight turns to them and says, “Oh, good. You’re all still here. Before we went through what we went through today, I had an announcement to make.” Surprised to hear this, Mordecai says, “You didn’t tell them yet?” Twilight said, “I didn’t get the chance to. What happened today is what also turned me into an Alicorn.” She showed everyone her ring still on her horn, and everyone, excluding Spike, gasped in surprise. Rarity spoke up first and said, “Is that what I think it is, darling?” Twilight nodded her head and said, “Yes, it is Rarity. Last night, I was on a date with Mordecai, and he popped the question. And I said yes!” Rainbow Dash said, “So not only a princess but you’re engaged too? That’s so awesome!” While everyone congratulated Twilight, Mordecai was still at a loss of what he felt seeing Twilight as an Alicorn. The next day, a coronation was held in Canterlot, and Twilight was introduced as the new princess in Equestria. She spoke about how far she had come from her studies and how important her friendships had become. From the day she moved to Ponyville to her ascension as the new princess, she wouldn’t trade anything away for this. With Twilight celebrating with her friends, Mordecai and the Park workers were enjoying themselves at the celebration. Rigby tried to dance on the dancefloor with pants on, hoping not to have to reveal his diaper-covered half, but Muscle Man wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily as the two did a dance-off, Muscle Man pantsed Rigby on the dancefloor and revealed his diaper to everyone. He whispers to Rigby, saying, “A bet’s a bet, bro. No matter where we go, you’re not getting out of it.” While the two had their dance-off, Mordecai, Benson, and Skips sat at a table. Twilight’s coronation was finished, and she returned to the castle, getting hugs from her friends. The two looked at Mordecai suspiciously, seeing that he was lost in thought rather than going to Twilight, and he was quiet the entire time. Benson spoke first, saying, “Mordecai, is something bothering you?” He looked up and said, “Huh?” Skips said, “Your fiancé is back, and her coronation just ended. Why aren’t you celebrating with her?” Mordecai turned in his seat and saw Twilight with her friends, smiling as she was still overjoyed with everything. He turned around and said, “I just thought she should enjoy this with her friends.” He rubbed his ring after he said this, making Benson and Skips worried about this action. Sensing that Mordecai is intentionally being distant with Twilight, Skips says, “You’re not having second thoughts right now, are you?” Mordecai doesn’t answer Skips as he gets up from the table and leaves. Pops comes to the table with a plate with cake on it, and he looks worried as he sees Mordecai leave the room. He asks, “Is something wrong with Mordecai?” Benson says, “I don’t know. He just might be feeling the engagement nerves. I’m sure he’ll snap out of it.” Pops still felt worried but didn’t push the matter further and started eating his cake. Unknown to them, Shining Armor overheard the conversation, and he glares at the door, his brotherly instincts kicking in.