Spike slept in his basket peacefully for a long time. He enjoyed it. The time where he could just sleep and not have to worry about doing all his duties as Twilight's Number One Assistant. Sometimes he just wished that his naps and sleeping could last forever. Yeah, he was lazy. But Twilight was a very demanding mare at times.
Soon the sunlight began to creep in and Spike opened his eyes a bit. He sighed. Soon he'd have to get up and start with his duties. They started the morning off watching the library and giving books to anypony that needed to borrow them. Then they would have a break time where they could meet their friends. Spike knew everyone was still feeling bad about what happened in Canterlot. They'd not talked about it in a couple days now since the three parties. They'd smashed piñatas that were made in the resemblance of the Changeling Queen, which all of them had happily destroyed as it was the closest thing they could have to getting back at her themselves. Unless she came back, but Spike hoped she wouldn't. Hopefully she'd realized she couldn't beat the ponies of Equestria and left to wherever she came from before.
Spike had done what he could think of to make up for leaving Twilight. He'd made her favorite dinner and cleaned the entire library when they got back. Twilight said she wasn't angry and understood that he didn't want to miss out the wedding, and that she had partly been to blame as
well since she'd not acted rationally. Spike just wished there was something he could do to really make up for it, and he was sure the others did as well. But helping out around the library, parties,
cupcakes, and gifts just weren't enough to make the guilty feeling go away and wash away their failures as friends.
Still, Spike was grateful that Twilight was so forgiving. Things were going back to normal here pretty much.
Suddenly Spike's mouth opened and he burped out a scroll. The commotion was enough to wake Twilight who sat up in her bed with a sigh.
"Ugh! Who's sending us letters this early in the morning?" the lavender unicorn asked as she levitated the scroll in front of her and looked at its contents. For a moment she looked annoyed and half asleep, but her eyes soon widened and she gasped in delight. "Shining Armor and Cadance want to stop by on their way back to Canterlot!"
"Oh, great!" Spike said as he slowly got out of bed. "It will be nice to have them over. Maybe Shining and I can play Ogres and Oubliettes like we used to! Big Macintosh is my usual partner these days."
"I'm sure Shining would like that," Twilight agreed. "I hope he's doing okay! Luna said that he was having nightmares before we left Canterlot."
Spike looked down. "He's probably feeling just as bad as we are."
"He shouldn't though! If anyone's the least to blame out of all us it was him!" Twilight said. "I mean he might have been brainwashed."
"But what if he wasn't?" Spike asked. "What if he said those things himself?"
Twilight hesitated then said, "Even if he was himself I was way out of line! He was just trying to protect who he was thought was Cadance. I don't blame him! At the very least the queen probably had to erase parts of his memories whenever he spotted something that would give her away."
Spike nodded. Twilight then got off of bed and hugged her number one assistant.
"I know you probably want to make up for it. But let’s just put it in the past, please Spike! I had to spend an hour with Rarity to get her to clean her mane yesterday but she still insisted on wearing a goth outfit to make herself look like a bad mare for three days!"
"Leh!" Spike exclaimed in disgust for a moment. "Well, she'll probably still look beautiful!"
"She does!" Twilight managed a smile. "I was worried with her not looking her best she might drive her customers away! Shouldn't let her guilt get in the way of her business."
"You're right!" Spike said.
"Let’s just carry on," Twilight said. "This hurt and guilt will be around for a while. But I enjoyed the party all of you put together. It might not make up for it, but it did give me a good time. Especially when I shot that piñata that looked like the queen! I wish I could have done that to the real her!"
She took a scroll in her magic and used black ink to quickly draw a picture of the queen's head before blasting a hole right between its eyes. Twilight then glared at it before taking a breath.
"Ready to start the day?" she asked with a smile.
"Yeah!" Spike said.
They headed down and took showers, then had breakfast before opening the library. A few ponies came in and checked out some books. Twilight read to pass the time and Spike swept or organized the books that were returned.
Finally, the time came for their break and they headed out to Sweet Apple Acres.
They soon found Applejack bucking trees with Apple Bloom. The young filly gasped as she saw Twilight and her number one assistant.
"Twilight, oh Twilight are you okay?"
Twilight was surprised as Apple Bloom ran over and hugged her. "I'm fine Apple Bloom."
She looked at Applejack who just barely managed a weak smile. Twilight then looked at the younger sister. "Everything is fine between me and Applejack."
"Even after she and the others-
"Yes, I'm not mad at them," Twilight assured the filly.
"You're a real nice pony you know that, Twilight?" Apple Bloom said.
"I try to be," Twilight replied. "Just don't be too hard on your sister. She did what she thought was right when under the assumption I did something wrong."
"Even so, my heart wasn't in the right place," Applejack said. "I should have at least comforted you instead of walking out to check on somepony I barely I knew who turned out to be a real monster. So, Twilight, what brings you by? I'm just about done bucking for the day so we can hang out and do whatever you want."
"Well, there is something I'd like to talk to you and the others about,” Twilight told them.
"Yeehaw!" Applejack managed some enthusiasm before looking worried. "It’s not a bad thing, is it?"
"No, not at all!" Twilight clarified, hoping to ease her friend’s concerns.
The cowgirl pony let out a breath of relief. "Well alright then! Just give me a few minutes then we can round up the others.”
"I'll get Fluttershy," Twilight said. "She can tell Rainbow Dash if she's up the sky."
"I'll get Pinkie!" Applejack volunteered before looking at a few more trees. "As soon as I'm done."
"And I'll get Rarity!" Spike blushed before running to find his crush.
...
About half an hour later they were all at Sugarcube Corner.
"So, what's going on Twilight?" Pinkie asked with a smile.
They kept silent about the wedding rehearsal, not wanting to mention it any more than necessary as they'd already apologized around half a dozen times each by now. Everyone looked normal, except for Rarity who was now wearing a dark colored goth collar with her mane in a pony tail. After her first day back, a customer had looked at her and said she must be the most unfashionable pony in all of Equestria due to her mane's current state. That had forced her to change her method of hair related atonement to a goth style. She even wore a shirt with the words, I've been a Bad Pony on it.
As she looked at the new display, Twilight sighed. "Rarity, you can lose the atonement attire now!"
"No darling, it’s staying on for at least three days or until I do something worthy of seeing myself redeemed!" Rarity objected.
Twilight groaned, this was going rather far. But then it was the drama queen among them after all. "Well, Shining Armor is going to be on his way back to Canterlot soon and he and Cadance want to stop by!"
Everypony's eyes widened.
"Oh, we must give them a royal welcome!" Rarity exclaimed before looking at her current wardrobe. "Maybe I should consider a different attire in the presence of the princess! She may not be Celestia but she is a very lovely and important pony nonetheless!"
"We'll create a banner like we did the time the parasprites invaded!" Pinkie said. "Hopefully nothing bad happens this time!"
"Eh, we just defeated those changelings!" Rainbow Dash scoffed.
"Nothing's gonna happen!"
"Um, we didn't really do anything," Fluttershy reminded her. "It was all thanks to the Princess and Shining Armor... oh and Twilight of course."
"Oh yeah," Rainbow acknowledged. "Man for once we didn't really do anything."
Twilight just smiled. "We may have saved Equestria twice together but we can't do it everytime I guess."
"Well, it should be dandy to have your brother in town and get to know him better," Applejack said. "You made him sound like a real great stallion when you told us about him in that song before we left."
"He is," Twilight said. "Most of the time at least."
She cringed as she recalled his reprimanding her, as well as him beating up a colt that hit her on the playground when she was a filly. His wrathful side was not a pretty picture when he got provoked. But she loved him as a brother and he loved her, she knew. They didn't often fight, but they'd always forgive each other when they did, just like she and her friends.
"We'll give them the best welcome possible," Twilight stated. "I'm sure a few citizens won't mind right?"
They soon stood in front of town hall. Though some of the ponies, having heard or been there themselves during the invasion, looked at many of the Mane 6 with distrust and narrowed eyes. Twilight was the only exception.
"We will be having a very special set of guests coming in a couple days!" Twilight spoke. "Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, the former captain of the guard and now her prince!" This caused many ponies to murmur excitedly at the prospect of a royal visit.
"We will need decorations put up!" Twilight said.
"And outfits!" Rarity added.
"Cakes and sweets!" Pinkie said.
"I can help out with the meals!" Applejack offered.
"I'll make sure the weather is nice and clear!" Rainbow promised.
"And I can gather flowers for Princess Cadance!" Fluttershy said.
One of the ponies glared at them, and pointed a hoof. "Do you really deserve to help out after what you did?"
"Yeah! Yeah!" Several angry ponies agreed, some even threw fruit at the Mane 5, with Rarity receiving a tomato in the face.
"Oh! Please! Oh!" Rarity begged.
"Hey cut that out! Ow!" Rainbow Dash yelled and growled as a pebble was tossed at her by a unicorn.
"You're the most unawesome Pegasus in Ponyville!" the unicorn shouted.
Ouch. That hurt Rainbow’s ego.
"Some Element of Kindness!" an Earth Pony called at Fluttershy who sniffled.
"Enough!" Twilight said putting up a shield around herself and her friends. The projectiles were not aimed at her, though a few lay at her feet. "My friends are sorry for what they did! All of you have a right to be angry but they have done much good for Equestria! They helped me defeat Nightmare Moon and Discord! Are you really gonna stay mad at them forever knowing they were the ones who saved you before?"
The ponies looked at them, some expressions softening. Rainbow Dash and Applejack glared at them and had to resist the urge to fight, knowing it would make them look worse than they already did.
"We get we made a mistake, and we've spent all this past week regretting it," she said.
Rarity wiped off the tomato from her face and frowned at the crowd but admitted, "I suppose I deserved that."
"We are all very sorry," Fluttershy said. "We can't erase our past mistake. But we can try our best to make sure you are safe in the future."
The mob nodded in slight satisfaction and agreeing to help.
"Everything will be fine girls," Twilight said to her friends. "It just needs time."
They all nodded.
"Guess one little thing can cause a real upset huh?" Applejack said. "Your parents sure weren't happy about it either."
Flashback:
It was the day after the wedding and the Mane 6 had just fished their first day of community service to help Canterlot repair the damage. Twilight had gone to see her parents whom she hadn’t seen in a while.
“Where were you during the first wedding when the imposter was in Cadance’s place, Twilight?” her father Night Light asked.
“I was… trapped in the caverns beneath Canterlot,” Twilight told them.
“What?” Twilight Velvet exclaimed.
Reluctantly, Twilight told them about the events that had led up to that. How she’d become suspicious of Cadance, and tried to tell everyone at the rehearsal but Shining Armor just berated her and left to check on Cadance with her friends and Celestia following suit. Then she was sent down to the caverns where the real Cadance was.
Twilight Velet glared at the other five mares. “You abandoned my daughter!?”
The Mane 5 as well as Spike looked down at the table.
“We’re awfully sorry Mrs. Sparkle,” Applejack said. “We-
“YOU THINK A SIMPLE APOLOGY IS ENOUGH TO MAKE UP FOR THAT?!” Velvet roared, her horn light up in a lavender aura much like her daughters. “My Twilight could have been killed! My son was brainwashed! And from what my daughter said it was PRETTY OBVIOUS that something was off with the pony you thought was Cadance!”
“We thought it was just stress!” Rarity defended herself. “I-
“You must have been the most gullible quintet of mares in Equestria then!” Velvet snapped. “I was expecting better from Twilight’s best friends!”
“Mom!” Twilight tried to speak up.
Velvet merely glared at her daughter and silenced her before turning a much fiercer gaze at the others. “If Twilight was still living under my roof I’d forbid her from seeing all of you after that!”
A chill ran down all of their spines at that. Velvet then turned to Spike with a look of disappointment.
“And you… you’re supposed to be her number one assistant!” she said. “I know you’re a baby dragon, but I’m very disappointed in you.”
“I’m sorry… Mom,” Spike said.
Velvet sighed. “I know that it was an important event and to be put in charge of putting it together is a great honor. But you are all entrusted with the Elements of Harmony. You are supposed to be the first line of defense against powerful enemies like this! You should not put anything else above your friendship and listen to each other when they think something is off.”
“You’re right Mrs. Sparkle,” Applejack said getting off her seat at the large dinner table. “We let Twilight down thinking she was possessive of her brother. I swear though, we won't let her down like this ever again!”
Velvet glared at her. There was a moment of silence and the elder mares hoof struck the younger one’s cheek.
“Mom!” Twilight exclaimed.
“You had better not,” Velvet said looking away.
Applejack rubbed her cheek painfully. “I deserved that.”
“I daresay we all do,” Rarity said before walking forward. “If you wish to give me a nasty bruise then…”
“Once was enough,” Velvet stated. “And I don’t really feel better.”
Night Light didn’t say anything, but his expression was one of equal disappointment. Not exactly a great first impression from their daughter’s friends.
End Flashback:
“They’ll come to forgive you in time,” Twilight assured them. “You are all great ponies, no matter what.”
“Thanks Twilight,” Applejack said as she hugged the unicorn. “I don’t know how, I don’t when. But one day we will make up for this. You forgive us, but we haven’t forgiven ourselves yet and nor has the rest of Equestria or your parents. We’ll change that somehow. But I think we’ve felt sorry for ourselves long enough.”
“Indeed, time to put this sorrow behind us,” Rarity agreed as she removed her goth collar and shirt before summoning a hairbrush and returning her mane to its normal elegant state.
Spike’s eyes lit up with hearts as he looked at her usual beautiful form that he loved most of all.
“Yay! Time for a let the happiness in party!” Pinkie announced happily as she appeared to pull her confetti canon out of thin air. “And soon we’ll have a Your Brother’s Here party for Twilight! What should we do? Oh how about the Sisterhooves Social?”
“Um, those are for sisters,” Fluttershy said.
Applejack thought for a moment. “You know, we could have a little sibling social that doesn’t have to be sisters only. Kinda unfair for the stallions to be excluded from the socials.”
Rarity wasn’t usually interested in the sisterhood socials, but she’d begun doing them for Sweetie Belle. And she’d do this new one for Twilight as well.
“I’ll have to set something up with Sweetie Belle but I’m sure I can make it and have some fun,” the fashionista said.
“Maybe I should see if my brother can come,” Fluttershy said.
Rainbow Dash shivered at the thought of that. “Eh, Zephyr Breeze? Good thing I don’t have a brother or sister then! Cause I don’t want to be around him if I can help it! Uh, no offense.”
“None taken,” Fluttershy said. “My brother is a bit of a… well.”
"I know," Rainbow said.
And so, they had a welcome party to put together for the upcoming royal visit.