Fluttershy`s heart seemed to go berserk as she approached the rather large mansion. Here she would meet her future husband, the one she was forced to spend the rest of her life with. She hoped he would be nice and nice to her animal friends as well.
A revelation hit her, what if he didn’t like animals? What if he forced her to move to this large city? Never to see her little friends ever again! A single teardrop formed at the thought, only to be prevented from falling by the gentle hoof of her brother.
The blue stallion looked at her, a reassuring look in his eyes. A look that said it all, all that would ever be needed to be said. Those piercing blue eyes told her he would be there for her. That he would always remain there to help her in anyway he could. Though he could not do anything at all about the situation.
Lost in thought she had not noticed that the door was opening. The sound of a breaking jaw snapped her out her own little trance. A rarely seen glimmer of rage sparkled in her brothers eyes. On the floor in front of him lay a purple unicorn. Something about this stallion seemed familiar. Perhaps it was the build, or perhaps it was the color.
Mind racing to place this awkward feeling of knowing this stallion but not quite being able to place him. Fluttershy never saw or heard the door towards the living room open. A soft but stern voice spoke. Her two bright blue eyes looked up from the unconscious form in the hall way. There they met the visage of a pure white stallion. One she knew to be Twilight’s older brother; Shining Armor.
Was this Twilight’s parental house? Was that stallion her father? No, no that wasn’t it, for what she knew of her friends father his coat was bluish.
“Lieutenant Soarin’, care to explain why exactly you decided to knock out my uncle?”
Uncle? That explains why he seemed familiar; she must have seen him during the wedding.
The next few moments went by in a blur of mixed emotions. In the living room there had been no other stallions then Shining Armor, this Bright Shine figure, Twilight’s father and Soarin'. But for what she had figured from her father and the letter she was given to somepony of her own age. Not an old fart like that Lord Bright Shine.
Still looking for her husband to be, she saw one of the most heartbreaking views she had ever seen. There in the furthest corner lay a familiar lavender Unicorn. Her head was resting on the forelegs and she appeared to be simply staring out the window in front of her.
Fluttershy simply stared for a moment at her usually so lifelike friend, only to see that nearly all life had left the mare. Unresponsive to the world outside, not even reacting when the shy Pegasus called out to her. Without a second thought, Fluttershy had walked over and placed herself on a pillow next to Twilight. Gently nudging the Unicorn and whispering kind words, all in an attempt to aid her heartbroken friend.
About half an hour Twilight’s mother had explained the situation her brother had forced both families in. During the entire speech the elder mare had not let her vision dwindle from either Twilight or Fluttershy. After explaining the how her brother had come across the contract during his work as researcher in the royal archives she sighed. “And that is when this crazy plan started taking form. A marriage between my little Twilight and Miss Fluttershy. And for what he told us, your father seemed very eager to assist with his part. Shine always had a way with convincing others for his tricks. On behalf of my family I would like to apologize for this whole mess.” Her voice had been sincere, but the sad undertone told that she was even sorrier for not discovering this travesty before it could have come to pass.
Fluttershy looked at the still motionless mare next to her. She and Twilight? At least she knew her new mate. But still she couldn't say that she was very comfortable with the idea. Especially since it would mean disclosing her greatest secret with said mate. A secret she had sworn never to reveal again after that fiasco during flight school. The secret that her barn door was defective. At least that was what she had been told when she confessed to her very first crush and what had started the years of torment until Rainbow had come into her life.
A tear fell at the thought of her oldest friend, that poor mare had always been harassed. Because of her tomboyish behavior and unique mane it was easily to amuse that she had been a fillyfooler. How would she react to this news? With a small very quiet sniffle she asked herself ‘what would all of their friends say? Would they be accepted? Would Twilight accept her once she knew?’
In her heart a small voice told her everything would be alright, but experience told her something different. And drawing from that painful memory the voice in her mind grew ever louder. Creating an all too clear vision of her future.
Tears slowly fell at the thought of losing the few friends she had because of something out of her control. But they mainly fell because she would have to face living with a pony who was disgusted by her, and the treatment she would receive because of it.
But still she could not help it but let her eyes wander across the body of the mare she was to marry. Well, all in all Twilight was decent looking; some might even say she was pretty. But not in any way like her crush Flitter. But honestly who could match that lovely light blue mane combined with those cute and innocent magenta eyes. A well trained body with just that teensy bit of fat on the haunches that made her plot so hypnotizing. Just thinking about the sight made a small blush appear.
The mare next to her on the other hand, she was a bit on the chubby side, mainly due to the fact she did not get enough exercise due to all that reading. But unlike, with a certain pink cakeaholic it filled out in the right places. Giving the Unicorn rather nice curves. And up close it was pretty obvious Twilight knew how to take care of her body, her coat and mane were soft and lush but it showed that days of distress had caused some serious neglect in the form of knots and up springing hair.
Her mind wandered to hopeful future days, a cold winter evening with a nice cup of hot coco and a cozy fire cuddled up close with each other, snug under a warm blanket. She almost lost herself completely in a thought which had dispelled the earlier doom scenarios. Thinking about the scenario in her head she felt a slight sparkle of hope however unreal it seemed.
Although the mare next to her was not an athlete like preferred, she seemed to be gifted with a body seemingly made for cuddling. Almost on instinct Fluttershy huddled closer until with a gasping *EEP* she noticed the soft touch was not the pillow, she had laid down on, being extra fluffy and fuzzy but she had snuggled up against Twilight Sparkle.
The squeaking sound coming from the Pegasus mare was enough to snap the rest of the room’s occupants out their conversation. Several sets of eyes looked towards the corner where the two mares were. The attention elected a second squeak from Fluttershy as she attempted to hide her face behind her mane and facing away from the eyes directed at her.
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Slowly but surely Twilight moved her head at hearing a very odd sound, like combining the sound of several singing birds into one muffled mess. All sped up into a single bursts. That sound and the strangest sensation she had ever felt filled her mind, drowning out the thoughts other than how she had failed in finding a way to counter this disaster. The best way to describe it was that it felt as if Lotus or Aloe were massaging her sides but then rather vibrating their hooves instead of rubbing. A nice warm fuzzy object shivering against her, to her it felt weird but the more she concentrated on it the nicer it felt. A soft sigh escaped her muzzle as the gentle but swift vibrations rubbed the stress out of her stressed out muscles.
Still she knew her fiancé would be there somewhere. No matter how nice the ministrations felt the lavender mare knew she would have to face the music at some point, for that was the entire reason she was in her parents’ house after all. 'Might as well get up and to it and meet the one who is going to ruin my life'.
Slowly but surely she willed her eyes to open so she could see her fate. With her luck as of late she would most likely be shipped off to be a trophy to some crony of Blueblood, or worse with her current streak of bad luck it would be that high strung wannabe prince himself.
Slowly her vision came to first in the form of a few colorful blobs. Still almost absentmindedly she stared across the room. A soft smile appeared as she saw a few blobs resembling her family. But also a strange blue one, was this, the stallion she was sold to? What would he be like? He seemed familiar but not of any court ordeal she had been to.
Almost completely lost in thought again she felt something warm and fuzzy gently nudging her left front shoulder.
Confused she turned her head and attempted to focus her eyes. The moment the world got a bit into focus she was looking straight into a pair of bright blue eyes slightly hidden by strands of pink mane. Eyes overflowing with worry and for some reason a pinch of sadness.
Slowly her narrowed vision, captured by these bright blue orbs, enlarged itself. Revealing the somewhat smiling face of one her friends. 'How nice, Fluttershy is here to help me through this difficult time. That is nice of her; I should thank her for that once I meet.....'
The thought stream stopped suddenly as all kinds of alarm bells started going off inside her mind at the same time. Something was not right here, something was definitely not right. And it wasn’t this whole arranged marriage stuff. Why was Fluttershy here? Besides Spike, she had not told a single soul about what would happen today.
Could Spike have told her? No, if that was the case all her friends would have been present. A lazy glance across the room told her that this was not the case. No, Shy was alone here. Well for as far as alone one can be in a room filled with anxious ponies. Another mystery was the presence of Soarin'.
Soarin'..... Small gears started grinding in the Unicorns head, those small gears in turn started driving larger gears until the beautiful and usually well-oiled machine that was her brain went into normal mode once again. The Wonderbolt was only about 6 years older than her, from what Rainbow had told her he was single. And not to mention wealthy enough to be interesting to her uncle.
But that just didn't make sense. He could get anypony he wanted, mare or stallion. Why pay a heap of bits for her? She was just a bookish nerd. Nothing to gawk over, nothing to be desired. When she was still in Canterlot she had learned this the hard way. There was only one interest in a purple freak like her, as her ex-coltfriend had so adequately put it, when a pony thought it would get them in better with the princess. Either that or they expected her to be easy bragging rights.
So why, why would a world renowned athlete want to be associated with her? No that was not it, it could not be. He would have shown more interest when she had looked at him. But then why was he here? Was he per chance a friend of her husband to be? Family perhaps?
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
During the tale and the silence that occurred after, Bright Shine had woken. Asides from a jaw-ache, the first thing he had planned for after this little meeting was to go to the hospital to get it checked out. Because he knew something was wrong if one couldn't move it without massive jolts of pain.
But relieving his pain could wait; he needed to give his niece and her new partner their first and only gift from him. He never understood why his business partner had insisted on getting a horn-ring and wing-ring from the more expensive category. It was not like they were worth it or something. And besides, his niece would most likely only wear it for the week after the ceremony just like the useless bit of trash she is.
But as the lord of the Sparkle House and the highest noble of the two merging houses it was his job to provide with the rings. Igniting his horn with a simple levitation spell he wrote a few words on a bit of parchment and included two small black boxes in the spell. Only to forcefully throw the boxes and the scrap of parchment at the mares in the corner.
As the boxes had hit Fluttershy on her side the parchment fell on Twilight’s nose.
Good luck with the rest of your lives together, at least you could have thanked me for making sure a few pieces of wasted horn and feathers would have somepony to come home to.
Your 'happiest day' is set on the day of the first full moon of spring. So you`ve got about six months to prepare.
With that said/written he looked at the mottled group of shocked ponies in the room, saluted and stumbled towards the door. He had a doctor to see and a bar tab to fill to the max in celebration to a plan well executed.
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Twilight looked in awed horror and realization between the scrap of parchment, the mare next to her and the now opened boxes. Each had a single silver ring inside. Both had sacred symbols engraved on them. Both had the Gebo but were one held Kenaz the other held Berkana.
Those words, did he mean that she and Fluttershy were supposed to marry? As in two mares being together in such a way without being part of a herd? It was not unheard off, but it was generally frowned upon. Even herds were uncommon, an obsolete concept now there were enough stallions around for every mare.
A prolonged glance at her winged friend said enough, it was true. They were given to each other. Before her mind could break down once again she felt something soft against her. Two yellow hooved legs had enclosed her in a hug, a gesture she returned. Wrapping her friend and apparently soon to be wife in a hug of her own.
No words were being spoken, they were not needed. No tears had fallen even though they would face an uncertain future. There was only acceptance. Acceptance of that fate at least had been kind enough to give them a friend.
Authors note:
Symbols:
I am talking about Norse runes when I spoke of the symbols on the rings.
Gebo stands for gift. Its meaning includes; relationship, love, marriage and partnership.
It brings luck and overall strength to a relationship.
Kenaz stands for the torch. Its meaning includes; wisdom, problem solving and insight.
It assists with mental tasks like study and creating inspiration for creativity and conquering fears.
Berkana stands for the birch. Its meaning includes: health, growth and new beginnings.
It assists with healing and making a new start in life.
On other note; hope this chapter won’t disappoint you guys. And same as always, if you find errors I`ll try and edit them out right away.