//------------------------------//
// 21. Prelude 
// Story: Rebirth of the Damned 
// by Borsuq 
//------------------------------//

"You have a brother?"
Twilight shot him a glare.
"The only thing I know about your family is that your mother knew a beautiful lullaby."
"Fair enough." Matt replied, shrugging. "But... forgive me, why are you upset about your brother getting married? Isn't that supposed to be something you should be happy about?"
"Oh sure, I'm very happy." she said in a sarcastic tone. "I'm so happy that my brother didn't see fit to tell me in person, or even introduce me to the mare he's marrying!"
Matthias was beginning to understand what everypony meant when they said that Twilight sometimes has this 'crazy eyes' thing when she is very angry.
"Twilight." he said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "Take a deep breath."
She shot him another irritated glare, but did as he asked.
"Now, tell me - calmly - why are you so upset."
"It's just that... Shining Armor and I were always... why are you smirking?" she asked Matt.
"No reason." he replied, putting a hoof on his mouth.
"His name is Shining Armor? Next thing I know, she will tell me he's a Knight-Captain or something."
"Please, continue." he said, getting a hold of himself.
Twilight glanced at him a moment longer, and continued:
"Shining Armor and I were alway very close. Before I came to Ponyville, I didn't have many friends; in fact, I only considered my brother and Spike as friends. We always did everything together, but now... I feel as if we are so far apart. He didn't even bother to come and tell me in person that he's getting married!"
"Twilight, I'm sure there is some reason for that." Matt said calmly. "You can ask him what that reason was when you see him. Speaking of, when is the wedding?"
"In two days in Canterlot."
"Wow. Quick, isn't he?"
Twilight again glared at him.
"Please stop doing that. You're scaring me." he said with quite well pretended fear.
That finally got her to laugh.
"Sorry." she apologised, chuckling.
"So you'll be going to Canterlot, I take?" Matt asked, supressing a frown at the thought of her of being away for few days.
Some time away from Twilight might give him the chance to sort out those stupid feelings.
"Yes, and it's not just me that's going." she replied, and noticing his confused stare, added: "Princess Celestia asked me and the other girls to help with preparations for the wedding."
"Why would the Princess... wait, all of you? As in, including Rainbow Dash?"
Twilight nodded, amused.
"What the hay can somepony like her possibly do to help with a wedding?!" Matthias asked, unable to comprehend that.
"The Princess asked her to perform sonic rainboom as the groom and bride complete their 'I do'." she answered, stoping herself from laughing.
"What in the name of the Light is a 'sonic rainboom'?" he asked, this time more intrigued.
Twilight was about to reply, but suddenly closed her mouth.
"You know what, I'm not going to tell you. You will have to wait and see."
"Fine then." he sighed, but then his mind registered what she said. "Wait, I'm coming too?"
"Well... " Twilight replied, looking away. "I just thought that, since everypony is going, you should come as well. After all, you didn't come with us to the Canterlot the other time, and we could have used your help at that..."
"As I told Pinkie, I couldn't ask the Light to 'heal' the cake that you all ate!" Matt said in frustration, reminded how the pink pony was badgering him about it when they returned.
"I didn't eat it! And that wasn't what I meant, anyway. I meant that we could have used your help with solving that mess." she sighed. "'Getting back to the topic, Applejack mentioned to me that she could use your help with getting the food there."
"Oh, so you want me there as a pack mule?" he said amused, and then quickly glanced across the river. "No offense."
"None taken." replied the mule that was walking on the road on the other side.
Twilight sighed again.
"Look, I know that what you're doing - or rather, trying to do - is important, but... you could use a little break, maybe?"
"You just want me there to heal your brother after you're done beating him, don't you?" asked Matt, who whirled at her comment about him not making any progress.
"No! I mean, I just... thought that maybe if you enjoyed yourself a bit, it would be easier for you." she said, looking at the ground. "And... it would have been nice to have all my friends with me there. In case I was going to do anything stupid to my brother."
Matthias sighed and looked at the Casterlot, once again noticing that it looked somehow different, thinking this through. Every logical part of his mind told him to stay. He needed to know why he was here, and the fastest way to know that was through meditation. Unless Medivh would have dropped by, but even then Matt doubted he would get any clear answers out of him. He also needed to stop thinking about Twilight as if she was Jaina, and going to the wedding of her brother wouldn't help with that.
"Then why do I feel that I have to go?" he thought, sighing again. He knew his logic wasn't going to win.
"It's not as if I'm making any progress here."
"So you're coming?" asked Twilight hopefully.
"I guess I am." he replied, and smiled back to her.
"Great! We're going tomorrow morning, so you better go to Sweet Apple Acers and see what Applejack will need your help with."
"Very well, but please, first tell me: why is the Princess so interested in this wedding?" he asked the question he almost forgot earlier.
"Oh, well, my brother is marrying some Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, so it must be one of her nieces."
"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?" said Matt, searching his memory. "Odd. I don't recall reading about anypony named like that in that book about Equestria's royal family you borrowed me." he almost rolled his eyes at the thought that he memorized the whole family tree of the royal family up to the cousins of Celestia and Luna.
"Old habits die hard."
By going over the list, he reminded himself of that "Prince" Blueblood Rarity had mentioned to him. He wondered if he would stumble upon him in Canterlot. He was itching to teach that snob how a prince should behave.
"How did your brother managed to get a princess to marry him?" he asked, getting back into subject. "He must be a great pony."
"Well, obviously, he's great. They don't just make anypony the Captain of the Royal Guard, you know... Why are you laughing?!" she asked the stallion that was rolling on the grass.





"Pity I never had a chance to take a ride on Deeprun Tram, maybe then this ride would be more comfortable for me." Matthias thought as the train rode toward Canterlot.
"A sonic rainboom?" said Rainbow to the others in daze. "At a wedding?! Can you say 'best wedding ever'!"
Matt frowned as Pinkie screamed: "Best wedding ever!", and her voice was echoed by the cave they just rode into. Warned by Twilight, everypony refused to tell him just what this 'sonic rainboom' was, except that it was the 'most awesome thing ever', according Dash and Pinkie.
"So you all get to help with the big fancy wedding," was saying Spike. "but I'm the one who gets to host the bachelor party! I have just one question. What's a bachelor party?"
As everyone laughed at dragon's question, Matt poked Applejack.
"Whose idea was it to let a baby dragon host a bachelor part?" he asked her.
"Ah don't know." she replied, chuckling.
Matt sighed and looked for Twilight. Her brother was about to be deprived of 'man's last night of freedom', as Muradin had called it. But all the thoughts and ideas about this problem evaporated from his head as he saw Twilight laying on the compartment 's bed.
"Oh great, now she's sulking." he thought.
He once again poked Applejack and pointed at Twilight. Understanding what he meant, she went over to talk to her.
"Why the long face, sugarcube?" he heard her ask.
"I'm just thinking about Shining Armor." Twilight replied. "Ever since I moved to Ponyville we've been seeing each other less and less. And now that he's starting a new family with this 'Princess Mi Amore Cal-whatshername', we'll probably never see each other."
"Come on, now. Ya're his sister. He'll always make time for ya."
Hearing that, Matthias couldn't help but feel pain in his heart at the thought of his sister, Calia, who he would never see again, even if she was still alive.
"Couldn't seem to make time to tell me he was getting married." Twilight snorted and rolled down the blinds.
Matt got up and started walking toward them to tell her she should consider herself lucky, but before he got to them, Pinkie started screaming:
"We're here, we're here!"
Suddenly, a pink wall of energy went through the compartment.
"What was that?" thought Matt. The feeling he had when it phased through him... it reminded him of a scanning spell.
He was even more confused as they got out of the train and saw that the station was full of guards.
"Whoa, what's with all the guards?" asked Rainbow
"So, there aren't so many guards here normally..." he mused, looking at the armor they wore. "They fight in this?! I hope it's magically enchanted or something, it looks as if it could break with one hit!"
"I'm sure they're just taking the necessary precautions." Rarity replied to Dash. "Royal weddings do bring out the strangest ponies."
"I wouldn't be so sure that's the issue..." Matt muttered as he looked around, but his words were stifled by Pinkie sneeze. He was about to turn and say 'bless you,' when he noticed that the sky around Canterlot appeared to be pink, until it glimmered and he knew it wasn't sky at all.
"No wonder I thought yesterday that there was something different and strangely familiar about it." he thought as he recalled the glowing dome that the Kirin Tor erected around Dalaran as they rebuilded their city.
For some reason, a similar dome now protected Canterlot.
"What is going on? Increased number of guards could be explained by the wedding, but not this!"
He was about to say his thoughts aloud, but at that moment Rarity said:
"Now let's get going, we've got work to do!"
"And ya've got a big brother to go congratulate." added Applejack to Twilight
"Yeah. Congratulate. And then give him a piece of my mind." she said angrily as she marched away.
"Eee... should I go after her in case she plans on killing her brother?" Matthias asked, worried.
Everypony chuckled, thinking he was joking.
"Come now, we need to get movin'with the food." said Applejack.