The 63 files

by punisher143

Royal Wedding

>The following are some brief snippets of the events surrounding the Royal Wedding for this universe.<

“This is going to be awesome!” Rainbow Blitz shouted out to the rest of the ponies in the train car. Mostly everyone in the car was excited with the news of the wedding they would take part in and were chatting excitedly among each other.

Except for Twilight, who was staring out of the window with an angry look. Rainbow was the first to notice this and walked over to her and Spike.

“Is something up Twi?” Rainbow asked.

“What do you think?” Twilight asked quietly. Spike shrugged at Rainbow as he gently nudged Twilight.

“Are you still bummed about your brother? If it’s bugging you so much, why don’t you talk to him about it?”

“I plan on doing just that.” Twilight sighed before continuing with, “I just need to clear my head about my brother and this ‘Mi Amore Cadenza’.”

“Well we still have a while until we get to Canterlot, so you can think for a while.”

“And I thought you would be excited to see Shining Armor again,” Spike added.

“I am but… I just need to talk to him,” Twilight said. She looked out the window to see the Canterlot strangely surrounded by some kind of shield. Twilight heard some rustling next to her and felt a wing drape over her.

“Well, if you need to talk about anything you always have us,” Blitz said and nuzzled Twilight, which she returned.

“Thank you Blitzie. Actually, there is something I want to talk to you about. In private.”

“Ok,” Blitz said and got up to follow Twilight to the next car, with their friends noticing.

“Where are they runnin’ off to?” Applejack asked.

“They’re going to talk about something or other, in private,” Spike answered finger quoting the last two words, “probably boring couple things.”

“I totally get it,” Pinkie Pie shouted from her seat and waved a foreleg, “They’re totally-!” any further comments from Pinkie was muffled by Applejack’s hoof.

“That’s alright Pinkie, ah don’t particularly want to think about that kind of thing,” Applejack said.

“Jealous Applejack?” Elusive asked with a joking grin.

“What?! Ah quiet Elusive.” Elusive laughed at Applejack’s reaction and went back to discussing the wedding with his friends.

“This looks like a good room,” Twilight said opening a door. This car had a couple private compartments, most of which was empty for this trip. Twilight walked inside and shut the door once Rainbow was through. Twilight opened her mouth to talk, but Blitz suddenly kissed her forcefully, which caused her eyes to widen. Blitz pushed her up against the wall and wrapped his forelegs around Twilight, who returned the gesture and groaned into Blitz’s mouth. They kept kissing for another minute until Twilight pushed him slightly.

“So you wanted to talk?” Blitz asked and licked his lips.

“Y-yes, before you did that,” Twilight answered.

“So, what was it?” Blitz moved his head to Twilight’s neck to sniff her mane and lick her neck.

“D-don’t do that! It’s about us when we- oooooh,” Twilight moaned and hugged Blitz tightly as he lightly bit her neck and sucked on it, “W-when we get to Canterlot.”

“Mhmm,” Blitz mumbled into Twilight’s neck. Twilight managed to break out of her haze to push Blitz away.

“Rainbow, be serious for a moment! You can be such a jerk.”

“Alright, what’s up?” Blitz pressed his forehead onto Twilight’s as she thought something over. After about a minute she looked up into Rainbow’s eyes and sighed.

“When we get to Canterlot,” she started, “would it be alright if we… pretended to just be friends?”

“What?” Blitz asked in shock and pulled away from Twilight, “Are you breaking up with me?”

“No! No, that’s not what I meant at all!” Twilight pulled Rainbow closer and nuzzled him, “We’re just going to be really busy with the wedding and all. I just…” Twilight trailed off and hugged Blitz tighter.

“I think I see what’s going on,” Blitz whispered into Twilight’s ear, “It’s been a while since you’ve seen your brother, so you want to catch up with him without having to break the whole ‘I’m going out with somepony’ thing on him just before his wedding, right?”

“Yes, that’s it.” Twilight looked back into Blitz’s eyes, “So… will it be alright, just until the wedding is done?”

“You’re asking if we can be ‘just friends’ for a couple days? That’s easy Twi, especially after two months of playing that exact same game.” Twilight smiled up at him and placed a small kiss on his lips.

“Thanks Blitzie, you’re the best,” she whispered to him and squeaked a little when Blitz pulled her closer.

“You realize that we’re going to have to make this last for a couple days right?” he said with a huge grin.

“Mhmm.”

“So, anything in particular you want to-“

“Shut up and kiss me,” Twilight said and threw herself onto Rainbow, who was caught off guard by both the sudden weight and the feeling of Twilight’s tongue in his mouth. They both fell to the floor and lost themselves in each other’s smell, taste, and feel.

It was only the fast approaching city of Canterlot that kept them restrained to making out and eventual light cuddling.

“We should probably get back to the others,” Blitz said as he stroked Twilight’s mane.

“Yeah,” Twilight answered and shifted a little, “maybe in a couple of minutes.” Blitz chuckled softly and brought Twilight in for another kiss, probably their last one for a couple days.

The train pulled into Canterlot, passing through the shield surrounding the city without any difficulty. Twilight and her friends were waiting at the door and they left the train when it slowed to a stop.

“So are we all going to do what we need to do?” Elusive asked.

“Yes, I’ll check on you all later,” Twilight said and looked back to find Rainbow Blitz was gone, off to practice his tricks no doubt.

“Are you ok Twilight? You seem upset,” Butterscotch said quietly.

“I’ll be fine Butterscotch. I have something to do so I’ll see you all later.” Twilight started to gallop away and the others left to do their own assignments. Spike, with nothing more to do, decided to follow Applejack and wait for Twilight to show up.

It was a couple hours later and Twilight was watching Cadence talk with Applejack about the catering. Twilight tried to focus on the checklist in front of her, but she looked up at the pink alicorn as she accepted a bag of treats from Applejack only to throw them away when Applejack wasn’t looking.

“Spike, did you just see that?” Twilight asked the dragon and looked to find him playing with the cake decorations again. She watched him make some kissing noises before sticking her face toward him. “Spike this is serious!”

“Maybe she wasn’t hungry,” Spike said.

“Spike, that’s-“

“Excuse me,” a voice suddenly called out as Rainbow Blitz flew into the room and started looking for a snack.

“Oh Rainbow, how is your-“

“Going great, can’t talk now, gotta practice, see me later!” Rainbow yelled, grabbed a fritter with his mouth, and flew out just as fast as he came.

“Rainbow, those are for the wedding!” Applejack yelled after him.

“Well he seemed to be in a hurry,” Spike said with his attention still focused on the figures he was playing with, “When are we going to see him?”

“In a little while, but first we have to check on Elusive. Come on Spike.”

Rainbow Blitz pushed himself as fast as he could in the relatively small amount of space in the air of Canterlot due to the shield surrounding the town. Even then, Blitz made as much use of the space as he could. He pushed himself faster and faster until he could see the air bend around him and form into a cone in front of him.

It was nearly broken when Blitz slowed down just enough for the air pocket to bounce him back. Unlike the other times this happened, Rainbow rolled his body around and flapped his wings rapidly until he was stabilized and flying back to where Twilight was sitting. A small part of him was slightly disappointed when he saw Twilight was busy with her list, but every other part of him was ecstatic that he ‘still had it’. He slowed to a hover in front of Twilight and pumped a hoof.

“Did you see that Twilight? The Rainboom is good to go when it’s needed!” he shouted and did a couple of flips.

“So you’ll be ready for the wedding?” Twilight asked flatly. Her tone of voice caused Rainbow to land next to her, completely ignoring Spike who was still playing with the cake decorations.

“Yeah, given some more practice. Are you feeling alright?”

“Of course I am, I’m just… thinking is all. I have to go check on Pinkie Pie now, so good luck with your practice,” Twilight said rolling up her list as she got up and walked toward the castle.

“Thanks, and you know we’re here for you if you want to talk,” Rainbow yelled after Twilight.

“I know.” Rainbow gave Twilight a look and was about to take off when-

“Oh Shining Armor, please teach me the ways of the unicorn!” Spike said in a falsetto voice and motioned the two figures into kissing each other.

“Is that all you’ve been doing this whole time Spike?”

“Hey, I’ve been helping Twilight, I’m going to be the ring bearer, and I’m in charge of Shining Armor’s bachelor party!” Spike said gesturing to himself with the Cadence figure.

“Do you even know what a bachelor party is?”

“A… party for the groom, right?”

“…Well, yeah basically. By the way, Twilight took off over there, so you might want to hurry if you want to catch up with her.”

“Uh oh, I gotta go Rainbow Blitz. See you later.” Spike waved back at Rainbow as he chased after Twilight. Rainbow stretched his wings for a moment before flying back up with a new trick idea in mind.

“-And we have lights and balloons, lots of balloons, streamers, punch, some music to dance to. Oh, and there’s-“

“Pinkie!”

“Yes Twilight?”

“Are you prepared for the reception?” A simple question which had led into at least a five minute rant from the pink mare.

“Of course, but I am missing only one thing.” Twilight raised an eyebrow at Pinkie and scanned over her list quickly.

“What are you missing? Some streamers, punch ingredients, the cake?”

“The DJ!” That answer earned Pinkie another confused look.

“DJ? Oh no,” Twilight’s eyes widened in fear and looked around the room, “please tell me you don’t mean-“

Twilight was interrupted by the hall doors being kicked open alongside a massive bass drop, one which caused even Pinkie to jump in surprise. A glance at the door revealed the culprit to be an unfortunately familiar white unicorn with a blue mane and tail wearing a set of purple goggles and some form of massive boom box next to him.

“Pon-3’s in the house baby!” he shouted at the top of his voice and walked in calmly bobbing his head alongside the music. Pinkie Pie, who had attached herself to Twilight’s face, leapt off the purple unicorn with a loud gasp and bounced happily over to the other unicorn.

“Vinyl, you came!” she said and brought Vinyl Scratch into a massive hug.

“Course I did, I go where the party needs me.” Pinkie released Vinyl from the hug and led him in to where Twilight was coming to meet them. “Hey Sparkle sparkle sparkle, how you doing?”

Twilight sighed and said, “You know I hate that nickname.”

“I know, which is why I use it. None of your other friends mind my nicknames.” As if on cue to demonstrate his point, Rainbow Blitz happened to walk in at that moment with Elusive. “Hey Sexy, ‘Lusive, how ya doing?!”

The stallion’s reactions to this were, respectively, to immediately turn around and leave the hall and to huff loudly and continue along as if he didn’t hear him.

“See, they don’t mind at all!”

“I would very much appreciate it if you didn’t hit on my boyfriend for the next few days,” Twilight said and looked over her list again. “Anyway, I have to check on some other things, so can I trust you and Pinkie to handle yourselves?”

“Yup-a-rooney,” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Course, Sparkles,” Vinyl said with a flash of his trademark grin. Twilight just shook her head and turned to make her way to Elusive at a trot. “She seems testy.”

“She’s trying to keep her relationship with Rainbow a secret from her brother,” Pinkie explained and held a hoof to her chin, “At least I think that’s what she’s trying to do.”

“Yeah, I’ve been there,” Vinyl said and lifted his goggles magically to rub his eyes. “Man, my eyes feel weird. Do they look weird Pinkie?” Vinyl opened one eye and Pinkie looked at it for half a minute.

“Nope, same red eyes you always had,” she finally said.

“That’s good,” Vinyl said and replaced the goggles over his eyes and gestured to his equipment being pulled by some unlucky unicorn attendant, “where should I put my stuff?”

“Out in the garden, just wait until you see it, it’s so fancy pants!”

“Awesome, I love fancy pants stuff!”

Later that night, Twilight was sulking in her room after having a minor meltdown at dinner with her friends. She felt slightly bad for yelling at her friends for that, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was horrendously wrong with Cadence. She had been thinking on the subject for nearly a half hour before she heard a knocking on her window.

‘I’m sure I know who that is,’ Twilight thought and got up from the bed, walked over to the window, and pulled back the curtains to show none other than Rainbow Blitz outside. “Hello Rainbow, what brings you here?”

“I’m sure you know Twilight. You mind if I come in?” Rainbow asked and tapped the glass again.

“Oh, of course,” Twilight said and lit up her horn to unlock the window. Rainbow flew inside and gently landed with the window closing behind him. “Are the others coming?”

“Butterscotch and Applejack are asleep, Elusive is working on the suits and dresses for the wedding, and Pinkie’s doing who knows what. Is Spike around?”

“I think he went to Elusive’s room. You know how Spike gets when helping Elusive.” Twilight walked back to her bed and looked at Rainbow once she was comfortable again. “So what can I help you with?”

“Well…” Rainbow started before looking over the bed and climbing on it with a shrug, “you seemed kind of mad earlier. Everyone was worried about you, so I volunteered to come here and ask what’s going on.” Twilight scooted ever so slightly toward Rainbow and sighed.

“It’s Cadence.”

“Who?”

“…Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the pony who my brother is going to marry?”

“Oh yeah. Sorry, but it’s been a busy day for all of us.”

“I never did tell you what I called her, did I? I just have a really bad feeling about her.”

“Didn’t we talk about this already? Planning and overseeing a wedding is a pretty stressful thing, so maybe you’re mistaking stress for being evil?”

“Rainbow, I saw Cadence hypnotizing Shining Armor with a spell. I saw his eyes go-“ at this point Twilight twirled her eyes and made a face that made Rainbow struggle to keep from laughing.

“Well…”

“And don’t say what I think you’re going to say. I know a mind control spell when I see one.” Twilight looked away from Rainbow and was suitably surprised when he managed to sneak up and hug her from behind.

“Maybe you should just relax a little,” he whispered into her ear causing her to blush and struggle a little.

“Rainbow, what do you think you’re- ah!” Twilight gasped when Rainbow bit down on her ear, sending a small jolt of pleasure through her. “Not fair,” she cried quietly and fell onto her bed along with Rainbow still chewing her ear.

“Ah quit whining, we never did say how this works besides not letting your brother find out,” Rainbow said and hugged Twilight tighter.

“I guess we didn’t.” Twilight rolled around just enough to see Rainbow Blitz and stared at him for a few seconds. “Oh, what the hay,” she said after a few seconds and jumped on Rainbow Blitz and kissed him, knocking them both off the bed in the process. Rainbow had no problem with this turn of events, as evidenced by his forceful returned kiss.

Meanwhile, Prince Artemis was keeping watch over Canterlot from the watchtower. He tried as hard as he could to focus on the task in front of him and ignore the excitable lump on his back. Which proved a hard thing to do since she insisted on playing with his mane every few minutes.

“Hm, it appears the east side is safe,” he said quietly and moved the telescope to the left, “what about- AH!” Artemis’ screamed and slapped the telescope, startling the passenger on his back. His subsequent shouting of, “CLOSE THINE CURTAINS TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” in the Royal Canterlot Voice did little to calm her. Thankfully for Artemis, the next time he looked through the telescope the curtains were closed. He sighed in relief and looked back at yellow and red eyes.

“We, um, apologize for our rude behavior,” he said awkwardly. That seemed to sooth the little bundle as she curled up into a ball on his back and started snoring softly. Artemis shook his head slightly with a small smile and looked back through the telescope.

“Thanks Rainbow, I needed something like that,” Twilight said as she nuzzled Rainbow’s neck.

“Heh, no problem Twi,” Rainbow said and returned the nuzzle. The couple didn’t do anything more for a few minutes.

“You should go back to your own room soon,” Twilight said and untangled herself from Rainbow Blitz, “Spike should be coming back soon anyway.”

“You sure you don’t want me to stay?” Rainbow asked with a sly smile.

“As tempting as that is, we both have a busy day tomorrow.” Twilight lit her horn and lifted Rainbow to the window, the pegasus struggling against it the whole way. Twilight soon let him go, causing him to flop onto the floor before getting up.

“Ok, I get it. We can talk after all of this is over right?”

“Of course we can.”

“Awesome, see you tomorrow babe!” Rainbow dashed over to Twilight and gave her a quick kiss before leaping out of the window. Twilight stood there for a moment before collecting herself enough to close the window and get back into bed. It was bound to be a long day tomorrow after all.

And it would be, though for reasons she wouldn’t realize.

Everything had come apart in record time. There was a mock ceremony for the wedding in the main hall, and Twilight thought it would be a good idea to confront Cadence during that.

The end result was Shining Armor all but disowning her, Princess Celestia very disappointed in her, and her friends ignoring her. The only reaction she got from them was Rainbow Blitz briefly looking back at her as he left.

“What have I done? I could have had a sister, but instead I lost my brother,” Twilight said to herself before she collapsed on the small set of stairs with her face in her hooves. After a couple seconds of crying, Twilight felt a hoof on her shoulder and she looked up to see Cadence smiling softly at her.

“I’m so sorry,” Twilight said.

Cadence simply smiled and said, “You will be.”

“Oh my, are you sure about that?” Butterscotch asked worriedly.

Rainbow sighed and said, “I’ve tried it five times already and it ended the same way every time: I get bounced back and end up with a mouthful of dirt. Five times, always close but always doomed to failure.”

“But why? You’ve never had trouble with a Sonic Rainboom before.”

“I just can’t think straight Butterscotch. It’s like there’s something keeping me from focusing. And you know what, I think I know what it is.”

“Is it Twilight?” Blitz nodded and Butterscotch moved to hug Rainbow with one of his birds landing on the latter’s shoulder. “This has got to be hard for you, but Twilight did say some hurtful things.”

“You didn’t see her face when we left man. She looked so heartbroken and I wanted so badly to hug her, but I still just flew away. What kind of friend am I?”

“A very good one, don’t think otherwise.” Butterscotch gave Blitz one last hug and let him go saying, “Why don’t you go find her? There is still some time before the wedding. Um, if that’s ok with you.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll do that. I mean, Twilight couldn’t have left Canterlot right?” Rainbow took off with a wave to Butterscotch, who waved back before turning his attention back to his birds and found a familiar pink mare in front of him. He hardly had time to let out a squeak when Pinkie hugged him.

“The light’s coming from this way!” Twilight yelled as she pointed down one of the many corridors that the cave seemed to have. Cadence rushed ahead of her with a speed betrayed by her ragged looks.

“We have to hurry!” Cadence yelled back, pausing for a moment to inspect a nearby cavern before stopping to sit down with Twilight stopping next to her. “I can’t even imagine what is going on up there, with Shining Armor liable to marry someone who only wants to use him.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get up there in time,” Twilight said and placed a hoof on Cadence’s shoulder, “We just have to find that light.” Cadence looked over at Twilight searching the darkness of the cave and felt proud for the mare.

‘She’s changed so much since I last saw her, in so many ways,’ she thought. ‘There’s something else too, but I can’t place my hoof on it right now.’ She turned away from the unicorn and saw a twinkling in the darkness.

“There, this way!” Cadence said and rushed for the light with Shining Armor on her mind.

“So you haven’t seen her at all?” Rainbow asked Elusive, who was busy making some final adjustments to the suit Rainbow would be wearing.

“No, not since her little outburst earlier. I’m worried about her Rainbow and – stop twitching like that, this will take longer.”

“I don’t really care Elusive. I can’t focus on flying because I’m worried about Twilight, and even if I could I don’t think I’d want to.” Elusive made one last adjustment to the suit before taking it off of Rainbow.

“What do you mean?” Elusive asked as he put the suit on a mannequin.

“Do you really want me to tell you?” Elusive nodded and Blitz took a breath before saying, “I hate Shining Armor.”

“Hate him? Why would you-?”

“You know why! That whole speech he gave to Twilight earlier was totally, absolutely uncool. I was so close to kicking him right into the sun when he said that.” Elusive flinched back at Rainbow’s thinly disguised anger.

“Rainbow Blitz, maybe you should calm down just a tad.”

“Why should I calm down?! You didn’t tell Shining Traitor to calm down when he was blowing his lid!”

“Rainbow Blitz, that is just unfair!”

“And what happened to Twilight wasn’t unfair?! Oh forget it, I have the rest of the day to find her.”

“But what about the wedding?”

“It can go to Tartarus along with the groom! I am seriously one wrong sentence away from beating him down!” Rainbow walked to the window and flew outside, Elusive moving to watch him.

“I hope he doesn’t do anything rash.”

“I hope they’ll be ok,” Twilight said as the three brainwashed bridesmaids leapt after a decayed bouquet into the darkness.

“We can look for them when everything is done,” Cadence said looking around and up at the opening to the cave. “Twilight come over here. I think I can fly the both of us up there.”

“Ok, the faster we get up there, the faster we can stop the wedding,” Twilight said as she walked to Cadence, who spread her wings and held onto Twilight. She flapped her wings a couple times and the pair were lifted up to the light.

‘Dangit Twilight, where are you?’ Rainbow thought as he flew above Canterlot. He had already flown over the castle several times, and after seeing Pinkie and Butterscotch dressed up, he was fairly sure the wedding was starting.

‘Feh, he can have his bride. What kind of stallion trades his sister for a wife anyway?’ Rainbow then slowed to a hover as he realized something. “I’m really angry about this. I gotta calm down a little or this will end up like that Mare Do Well thing.” After a couple of seconds of looking around, Rainbow eventually saw a lone cloud floating by and flew toward it.

Much like anyone else, Rainbow Blitz had something to do for stress relief. For him, one of the best ones was an old one for him.

He liked to pretend to be a cloud by digging into it.

Don’t judge him.

After landing on the cloud and testing a couple of spots, Rainbow dug into it and let the cool moistness envelop him, keeping his wings extended outside of the cloud so he could continue his search. So Rainbow just kind of… floated along for a minute or so until he noticed a couple of ponies running on the ground.

‘Who is that?’ he thought and lowered a little to get a clearer view, focusing on the purple mare in front. ‘Is that-?’

“Twilight!” Blitz suddenly yelled and shot out of the cloud like a cannon.

“Did you hear something Twilight?” Cadence asked and glanced up at the sky, briefly seeing a rainbow streak.

Twilight replied with, “No, what did you he-“ before she was tackled onto the ground suddenly, startling Cadence in the process. Once she slowed to a stop she found Twilight caught in a hug by a cyan pegasus with rainbow hair.

“R-Rainbow? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked trying to escape poorly from the hug.

“Looking for you. Do you know how freaked out I was when you just disappeared?” Rainbow said and let go of Twilight, who got up on all fours and brushed herself off a little.

“Well, thanks for worrying about me Rainbow. Wait, if you’re here, does that mean the wedding hasn’t started yet?”

“I think it has, I wasn’t planning on going because I don’t like your brother at all. Speaking of which, why is she here?” Twilight followed Blitz’s hoof to Cadence.

“The me that’s about to marry Shining Armor is an imposter, and if we don’t hurry then she’ll succeed!” Cadence said pointing down the hall. Rainbow Blitz blinked a couple of times before turning to Twilight.

“Yes, that’s more or less what’s going on. We’re running on borrowed time so I’ll have to explain later.”

“You promise?” Rainbow asked, to which Twilight nodded. “Alright but I’m doing it for you, not your brother.”

“Good enough for now, but we’ll have to settle whatever problem’s you have when this is over.”

“Fine.” Rainbow took off and flew into the castle past Cadence. For the briefest moment, Cadence saw Twilight smile softly and run after the pegasus with Cadence behind her. They soon caught up to Rainbow and along the way he and Twilight shared several looks.

‘I wonder…’

“This way!” Twilight shouted and turned left on a branching hallway that Rainbow shot past with Cadence behind her, though the pegasus was with them again soon and started flying next to Twilight.

“So how is there two of her?” Rainbow asked gesturing his head back at Cadence.

“I don’t know,” Twilight said as they came up to some large doors, “but I intend to find out.” Twilight punctuated this by throwing the doors open and yelling “Stop,” drawing the attention of everyone inside with the wedding well underway.

“I found Twilight, by the way,” Rainbow added.

“Why does she keep trying to ruin my special day?!” the Cadence at the altar yelled dramatically.

“Because it’s not your special day, it’s mine!” the real Cadence yelled next to Twilight glaring angrily at her doppelganger. Everyone in the room turned to the Cadence at the altar, eyes widening at this turn of events.

“What, how did you escape from my bridesmaids?!”

“We used the one thing no bridesmaid can resist.”

“Don’t say a word Rainbow,” Twilight whispered to Rainbow.

“I wasn’t going to say anything!” Rainbow replied slightly offended.

“But you were thinking something.”

“No I wasn’t!”

“Oh, something’s happening.” Indeed, things seemed to be literally heating up at the altar when the fake Cadence was suddenly engulfed in green flames. The wedding dressed burned away and the pink fur melted away to blackness while her hair’s bright colors gave way to a bright neon green. Once the flames died away ‘Cadence’ had transformed into something else entirely non-pony.

“What is that thing?!” somepony in the audience yelled.

“Why are its legs made of cheese?” Pinkie asked.

“Is that a guy?!” Rainbow yelled angrily.

Half an hour and one rather excellent fight later, Twilight and her friends found themselves captured by an invading changeling army, their task to get the Elements of Harmony a miserable failure. Rainbow Blitz eyed his captors on his forelegs in between looking at his ground based friends.

“This was your plan Twi?” he asked. When Twilight said she had a plan when they were surrounded, he had hoped it didn’t involve getting captured. Twilight didn’t say anything and just looked back at him with an annoyed look before looking ahead.

“Uh, Twilight…?” Applejack started to ask for probably the tenth time.

“Not now Applejack,” Twilight answered flatly.

“But-“

“We can talk all we want later. I need to focus right now.” Applejack looked hurt from the brush off, but didn’t say anything. Their group soon reached a set of gigantic doors which opened into the hall where the wedding was supposed to be held. However the colorful decorations of an hour ago were replaced by a slowly creeping black substance with a pod in the center holding Princess Celestia. Princess Cadence was bound to Twilight’s left while Shining Armor still stood at the altar in a trance and off to the right near a large window was the changeling king. Twilight and her friends, Rainbow especially, shivered when he turned to look at them.

“Ah, there you are,” he stated in a half formal, half flirty voice and looked up at Princess Celestia, “Sorry princess, but it looks like your backup plan failed.” Celestia glared at him, though the changeling king ignored it and looked back out the window. Rainbow Blitz was dropped onto the ground unceremoniously while the king awed at the chaos outside.

“Would you look at that! Feed my children, there’s enough love in Canterlot to go around.” The two changelings above the group looked at each other before silently deciding to heed their king’s wishes and left the hall.

“Not very bright, are they?” Rainbow whispered to his friends.

“I think those ones were just drones,” Butterscotch commented and looked at the King, “there may be a more dedicated breed devoted to protecting him.”

“We’re running out of time,” Twilight whispered. She gave one last glance at the King and, once she was assured that he wouldn’t do anything other than look out the window humming to himself, she quickly crawled over to the tied up Cadence. Twilight focused her magic on her bindings which shimmered for a few moments before bursting into sparks. Cadence looked back at Twilight who simply said “Go to him.” Cadence nodded and rushed to Shining Armor while Twilight looked at her friends and motioned to the Changeling king. They all nodded and got up while keeping an eye on the oblivious king.

Then the hall was filled with pink light and some kind of magical hum. Everyone in the room turned to Shining Armor and Cadence wrapped in some kind of magical aura that was slowly lifting him up.

“What, no!” the king shouted and frantically fired a spell at the two ponies. The spell bounced off of some kind of shield and in fact seemed to amplify whatever was going on. That was when the whole room filled with bright light, forcing everypony to close their eyes.

Meanwhile across Canterlot, Vinyl Scratch was just barely waking up and preparing for the coming night.

“Oh Dave, I’m so glad you could come with me. Our plan for world domination is coming along perfectly, but first we got to straighten out your scales.” His intricate planning session was cut short though since a large bang made him jump out of bed just as a magical wave slammed through his room. His eyes burned slightly, but Vinyl didn’t really care since he wanted to see what happened. Once he had rushed to the window all he saw was a bunch of black dots flying to the horizon and maybe a far off scream.

“The hay were those?” Vinyl asked himself and looked up at the sun. “Noon huh? Guess I better get ready.” Vinyl turned away from the window and itched at his eyes a little.

The light finally dimmed enough for everypony to see the room again. Twilight Sparkle rubbed the dots out of her eyes to see Shining Armor and Cadence standing woozily at the end of the hall and a broken window where the changeling kind was. She could also see that there were no changelings buzzing around outside.

“Ugh, what happened?” one of her friends said from behind her. She looked back at Applejack adjusting her hat on her head.

“Ah…think we won,” she said looking around uncertainly. The pod holding Princess Celestia chose that moment to give way as it split open and poured the sun princess onto the floor.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight yelled and rushed over to her teacher followed by her friends, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, just give me a moment to collect myself,” Celestia said and stood up slightly drowsy. Twilight moved to her side to help her up, which Celestia nodded her gratitude. “Thank you, I’ll be ok.”

“Are you sure? Maybe I should- gah!” Twilight struggled to breathe when Rainbow suddenly brought her into a crushing hug.

“That was awesome Twi! Did you have all that planned out?” he asked.

“Not really. I can’t really breathe Blitz,” Twilight gasped out while struggling against the pegasus.

“Hugs!” Pinkie yelled and leaped at Twilight and Rainbow, eliciting shouts of surprise from both of them. Celestia stepped away just as the rest of Twilight’s friends converged on her for a massive group hug.

“Guys stop, this is embarrassing.”

“Then we’re going to keep doing it,” Blitz said with a large smile.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia said drawing the group’s attention, “I have to commend you for all you’ve done again. Even when faced with incredible doubt, you still pushed forward and saved Canterlot. You have my thanks.”

“I’m just glad everypony is safe,” Twilight said with a glance to Shining Armor and Cadence.

“Indeed, I am too.”

“Too bad ‘bout the wedding,” Applejack commented and motioned at the destroyed hall, “All of that work too.” Twilight blinked and looked at each of her friends before untangling herself from the pile.

“Guys,” she started and looked back to see her friends lined up and ready for duty, “We have work to do, and I need a checklist.”

And so the preparations for the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadence began. Again. This time it was more enjoyable for everyone involved, which Twilight was thankful for. She and Cadence had just finished checking in on Applejack and were on their way to meet Butterscotch when Cadence decided to speak up.

“Twilight, can I ask you something?” Twilight didn’t immediately answer since she was caught up in her plans and checklist. Cadence leaned closer and said her name much louder.

“What? Oh, sorry Cadence I was distracted,” Twilight said and rolled up the checklist, though she kept it floating next to her.

“I wanted to ask you something. I hope you don’t mind if it’s a little… personal.”

“Personal? Do you mean what I think you do?”

“Well, yes. Are you and that rainbow maned pegasus… close? It seemed like it when we were rushing to the wedding.”

“You noticed that huh? Who am I kidding, of course you noticed.” Twilight took a deep breath if only to stall the inevitable for a moment and said, “Yes, we are close. I wouldn’t really say ‘close’ close, but pretty close. No that doesn’t make any sense; what I meant was-”

“Twilight, there’s nothing wrong with admitting he’s your boyfriend,” Cadence said with the most innocent of laughs when Twilight blushed. "I apologize if I’m embarrassing you, but I think you two make a cute couple.” Twilight’s face deepened even further and she rubbed it to hide it.

“Um, thank you. Anyway, um, Butterscotch is next. He’s in charge of the music for the ceremony and- what was that?” Twilight jerked her head up and looked around the sky frantically.

“What was what?” Cadence asked and looked up as well. After a couple of seconds Twilight shook her head.

“It’s nothing. I just thought I saw-“ immediately a flash of blue and rainbow swooshed by and took a screaming Twilight with it, leaving only her checklist on the ground and a very confused Cadence behind. She blinked a few times before realizing what happened and laughing quietly.

“So,” she said to herself and levitated the list up as well, “the east courtyard then.”

As for Twilight, you would think she would be used to this when Rainbow Blitz has done this exact same thing several times in the past. But no, it always was the same thing, her screaming for her life as she held on to him as tightly as she could.

“Rainbow, if you even try and joke about dropping me, you are going to regret it!” She would have added emphasis to this by hitting him if she wasn’t scared of letting go. One thing she also will never get used to was the sudden stopping, with this instance being right into the depths of a cloud. She didn’t realize that until after a few seconds, as evidenced by her screams, and when she did realize it she gave the pegasus above her a hard glare.

“You’re a jerk.”

“You say that every time I do this,” Rainbow said and moved some cloud to form a pillow under Twilight’s head. She rolled her eyes and lifted her head to allow it and tried to resist a smile when Blitz started nuzzling her neck.

“So is there a reason you kidnapped me besides to cuddle?”

“Do I need a reason?” Blitz looked up at Twilight and was glad to see her smile and laugh. “Well, yes I’m supposed to make sure you know that we want to talk to you about what happened earlier.”

“Why, what do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. We’ll make our case there, but I want you to know now I am really, really sorry.”

“Rainbow, you and the others have nothing to be-“

“Twilight, why do you have to do that?” Rainbow scooted up and leaned in closer to Twilight’s face. “Every time we do something incredibly wrong, you always have to assure me it’s not as bad as it is.” Rainbow then suddenly kissed Twilight, which caused her to fight back in shock before giving in with a happy groan. Rainbow pulled away sooner than either of them really wanted and said, “why do you do that?”

“Because… it really isn’t?” Twilight answered and looked away. “I honestly could have handled everything a lot better than I did. Maybe if I had acted differently, maybe things would have-“

“Twi, you’re blaming yourself again,” Blitz said and hugged Twilight closer, smirking inwardly at the cute way she blushes, “can’t you let us all be wrong this once?”

“No, because you’re not-“ Twilight stopped at the look on Rainbow’s face and sighed, “can you put me back on the ground? We all have work to do after all.”

“Can’t we have five minutes to ourselves?” Blitz asked and did his best to pull puppy dog eyes on Twilight. It must have worked since giggled at the act and kissed him on the snout.

“I’ll be counting.”

Twilight Sparkle looked up at the beautiful night sky. The shining stars, infinite and unknown to all except Prince Artemis, seemed to provide the perfect backdrop for the wedding reception. It took a lot of hard work cleaning up after the invasion and to get everything ready, but the wedding went off perfectly. Shining Armor and Cadence were having their first dance while everypony watched silently. Twilight felt a wing drape over her back and knew immediately who it was.

“You enjoying yourself?” Rainbow asked and nuzzled Twilight.

She returned it and said, “Yes, but are you sure you should be doing that?”

“You said until after the wedding, and I asked Pinkie and she said the reception doesn’t count as part of the wedding since it’s celebrating it. You get what I mean?”

“…That is the most ridiculous line of logic I’m going to agree with. It’s for the best I suppose, I have to tell Shining Armor about us anyway.”

“I suppose,” Blitz said less than enthusiastically. Twilight noticed this and gave him an questioning look. “I still don’t like him.”

“Why? He hasn’t-“

“Alright everypony, time to get this party started!” Pinkie called from the DJ booth and somehow pulled Vinyl Scratch from behind it.

“We’ll talk about that later,” Rainbow whispered in Twilight’s ear, “sounds like you’re up.” Rainbow gave Twilight a quick kiss on the cheek and trotted away. Twilight rubbed the cheek and looked at Pinkie waving a microphone.

“Hey Twilight, wanna sing?” Pinkie shouted at her.

“Yes, I’ll be over in a second.” Twilight barely had a moment to start walking when Vinyl put on a record and Pinkie threw the microphone at her. Twilight caught it deftly and started singing the first thing that came to mind. The party seemed to liven up as ponies started dancing with the newlywed couple.

“Twilight’s a good singer, don’t ya think?” Vinyl asked Pinkie.

“Mhmm, but isn’t that true for everypony?” Pinkie asked back.

“Yeah, I guess everyone has to with you around. Never know when you’ll start a song and dance number.” Vinyl pushed down on one of his goggle lenses in an attempt to scratch them and mumbled something under his breath.

“Are your eyes still hurting you? Maybe you should use eye drops.”

“Maybe, but I swear they’ve gotten worse since that weird pink bubble splashed through the city.” Vinyl lifted up his goggles and rubbed his eyes.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure it’s no-“ Vinyl opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times, “Oh my god!”

“What, what happened?!”

“Your eyes changed color!”

“You can’t be serious, eyes don’t just change color.”

“They did, look!” Pinkie pulled out a hoof held mirror and held it up to Vinyl.

“Oh my god, you’re right!”

“I told you!”

“They’re purple!”

“Magenta actually.”

“Whatever!”

“Oh my god!”

“Oh my god!”

“Oh my god!”

“Oh my god, look at that guy. What is that dance?”

“Where?”

“That guy, on the edge of the dance floor,” Vinyl said pointing to a stallion and moved his goggles over his eyes.

“Wow that looks like fun! I’m going to go try that.” Pinkie leapt over the table and hopped onto the dance floor. Vinyl double checked the settings and scratched his head when he saw everything was alright.

“What were we yelling about?”

“Thank ya kindly, hope ya enjoy it,” Applejack called to the unicorn customer with a wave. Applejack looked at her stand and was happy to see her stock was almost half gone. A much better turnout than the Gala.

“Hey AJ, how’s it going?” Rainbow Blitz asked suddenly appearing next to her table.

“Well enough, as ya can see. Ya want something?”

“Nah I’m good for now, though I would appreciate it if you could save a fritter for me.” Inevitably, Rainbow’s eyes were drawn to the centerpiece of the stand, a big and very delicious looking apple pie. “Wow, that looks good.”

“What, the pie? Yep, and it’s fresh from the oven too. Ah had to make a new one because one of those changelings got to it.”

“Did someone say pie?” Both Rainbow Blitz and Applejack leapt back about a foot at Soarin’s sudden appearance.

“Gah! Where the hay did you come from?!” Rainbow yelled and looked back at the crowd.

“Oh, I was mingling. Can I have that pie?”

“Oh uh, yeah. That’ll be six bits.” Soarin gave Applejack the bits and she passed the pie to him. Soarin’s mouth was practically watering until his ears snapped up in recognition.

“Oh right, you’re Applejack right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Do you have a cousin named Jazz?”

“Yeah, do ya know her?”

“Yep, and she wanted me to tell you that she’s sorry she couldn’t come, but she’s looking forward to the next family reunion. I think that’s what she wanted me to say.”

“Ah, that’s good to know. How do you know her exactly?”

“We’re good friends.” Soarin grabbed the pie in his mouth and said a muffled thanks and walked back into the crowd.

“He sure is an odd apple. So anyway Rainbow, ah-“ Applejack blinked a couple of times when she realized Rainbow was no longer at the stand and was following Soarin into the crowd.

“Applejack, there you are!” Applejack’s eyes widened and she pulled her hat down over her eyes as Elusive trotted to her.

“Ah crud.”

After Twilight finished her song, her parents had caught her and the three of them had spent the last few minutes catching up. Mostly it was Twilight talking about life in Ponyville and the friends she had made (and accidentally slipping her relationship with Rainbow), but her parents didn’t mind listening.

“Well it sounds like you’ve been having fun in Ponyville,” her father said and hugged Twilight, “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks dad, and I’m sorry I haven’t had time to visit you and mom recently. It’s been kind of hectic lately.”

“Don’t worry about it honey,” her mom said with a small smile, “you’re a grown mare now and you have your own life.”

“I know, but I’ll try to make some time to visit you two.” Her mother nodded and they both looked at her father who was staring at something to the left.

“Is that Rainbow Blitz over there?” he asked and pointed at something. Twilight looked and resisted the urge to facehoof when she saw Rainbow practically gushing about something or other to Soarin. Neither of them noticed a quick flash of a camera from somewhere.

“Yes, that’s him. And it looks like he’s fan spazzing and making a fool of himself.”

“Well, I recall a little filly that was very excitable. There’s not much of a difference that I can see.” Twilight really couldn’t respond to that besides blushing and gaping at her father in shock. She managed to get herself under control and desperately changed the subject.

“So, you want to meet him? I’m sure he’ll be happy to meet you.”

“That’s alright. We can wait for a more convenient time for both of you. You can tell him we said hello though.” Twilight nodded and gave her parents a quick hug.

“It really was good to see you again,” Twilight said and waved at her parents as they moved on to another part of the reception. She then sighed and started walking to Rainbow Blitz, who seemed to have noticed her and quickly wrapped whatever conversation he had with Soarin.

“It was really nice talking to you. Thanks, really.”

“Ah, it’s no problem. I’m always happy to chat with a fan.” Soarin regained hold on his pie walked to some lonely corner to enjoy it.

“So, I take it you’re enjoying yourself too?” Twilight asked suppressing a giggle.

“Of course, I got to talk with Soarin one on one! That’s just so awesome!” The way Rainbow flared his wings showed he was only a moment away from pulling some kind of aerial stunt to let off excess energy.

“Oh, so it is true anything Wonderbolts related gets you excited.” Twilight placed a hoof over her mouth and smiled deviously, “I’ll be sure to make a note of that.”

“Wha- wait, what does that mean?!”

“Nothing. You look cute when you blush.”

“Oh, very funny Twi.” Blitz shook his head and Twilight giggled again, though it was on the brink of a full on laugh. “So do you want anything while you’re here; an apple fritter or something to drink?”

“Well…”

“Hey everypony!” Twilight, Rainbow, and pretty much everypony turned when Vinyl Scratch’s voice echoed from the loud speakers. “Fun fact number 36: I, the amazing DJ Pon-3, have incredibly keen eyes and right now I’m spying a whole bunch of couples just splitting off and talking among themselves. So how about this, I am going to dedicate these next few songs to anypony who would like to dance and let the world fade away until it’s just them and their special somepony.”

As he was saying this, he took off the record stopping the upbeat party music that had taken over the air of the reception and replaced it with a slower track perfect for slow dancing. Twilight smiled widely and grabbed Rainbow’s hoof.

“Come on, you have to dance with me!” she said and started pulling him to the dance floor.

“W-wait, I can’t dance to this! It’s just not-“

“Oh don’t be like that. It’s easy.” By this point, Twilight had gotten Rainbow on the rapidly filling dance floor. A quick glance showed Shining Armor and Cadence in the center, Pinkie and Butterscotch close by and, amazingly, Elusive had managed to talk Applejack into dancing with him. Blitz swallowed some of his nervousness and looked to Twilight for some kind of direction.

“I’ll lead the first few steps and you repeat them. It’s a simple ballroom dance.” Twilight crossed her neck with Rainbow’s and did just that: two steps back followed by a half turn and two steps forward. Rainbow soon got the hang of it and started leading Twilight and, much like how the DJ predicted, the world and its worries from before that moment faded away until it was just them and the music surrounding them. Twilight closed her eyes and nuzzled closer against Blitz, feeling stray strands of his mane tickling her face.

And then Rainbow Blitz attempted first degree moment killing.

“I’m a little surprised that you actually know how to dance,” he whispered into Twilight’s ear.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Twilight whispered back unamused.

“I can’t get your last birthday and that amazing dance of yours of my head.”

“I was into the music, and I didn’t see you trying to dance then.”

“Well…”

“Shush. You’re such a jerk.”

“And…?”

“…And I probably wouldn’t love you as much if you weren’t. It highlights how you make up for it really well.” Rainbow let out a small chuckle and pulled away to look into Twilight’s purple eyes.

“I love you Twi.” Twilight smiled and wrapped a foreleg around Blitz’s neck.

“I love you too, more than you’ll ever know.” Twilight pulled Rainbow down for a kiss that lasted only a couple of seconds before breaking it and returning to the dancing position. This small moment was witnessed by two ponies besides them: one being the all seeing DJ, and the other being Shining Armor.

‘Well that explains his colorful rant earlier,’ he thought. He then let the thought go for the moment to focus on his new wife, hoping tonight would be but the first in a lifetime of nights like this.

He wouldn’t be the only pony to think that tonight.