//------------------------------//
// The Wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance 
// Story: The Twilight Child 
// by Detectivefish 
//------------------------------//

There was darkness. There were noises, faint but tangible, and one that was far closer, which sounded almost like a low, guttural groan. After a few seconds Twilight Twinkle realised that was her. Recollection came to her.

'Wow. Way to be, Twinkie. Fainting just because Cadance asks you something.'

"Hey, she's awake!" she heard Rainbow Dash call out. She opened her eyes, and was rewarded with sunlight.

"Somepony tell Celestia to move the sun..." she winced, as she got to her hooves. She looked about, noticing she was still in the main hall of Canterlot Castle, then looked down at the pillow that had been beneath her head.
"What did I miss?" she asked.

"Not much" Twilight said from the other side of the room, where she was standing next to Shining Armor, the Element of Friendship noticeably absent from her head, "You were only out for a few minutes. We were just explaining... everything to Shining Armor."

"Everything?" Twinkle asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not everything" Twilight smiled, "Just everything about today."

Twinkle nodded, "That's good. Where'd you get to?"
"Well," Shining Armor said, "They explained about the shapeshifters, and the mind-control, and Discord."

He glanced at Twilight, then back to Twinkle. "I... wanted to apologise, by the way, about what I said-"
"Don't," Twinkle sighed, "You have nothing to apologise for."

Shining Armor frowned, "I think I do. I said some... incredibly unpleasant things."
Twinkle paused, before shrugging, "True. But you had no reason to assume I was anything other than a madmare come to sabotage your wedding. And before you say it, I'm pretty sure that none of what you said was because of the brainwashing."

Shining Armor gave this some thought. "No, probably not. But I'm still going to apologise."
Twinkle paused, before eventually just shrugging again. "If you insist."

She glanced around the room. Rarity was calmly gathering up what remained of the dress she'd designed for the disguised Chrysalis. Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance were talking to Twilight Velvet and Night Light about something. Rainbow Dash was still standing around trying to look nonchalant. Meanwhile, she noticed Comet Chaser sitting near Fluttershy, his eyes occasionally darting toward Twilight Sparkle, and then to her. Trixie was sitting on her own, her hat pulled over her eyes.

"Where are-" she started.
"Pinkie Pie felt she needed to double-check her party supplies, and dragged Applejack along with her" Spike said, the little dragon still carrying a quill and checklist in case Twilight suddenly remembered that wedding she was supposed to be planning. Twinkle just nodded, then turned to look at Shining Armor.

"So, how are you feeling?" she asked. The stallion stared at her.
"Well, a little dizzy, I guess. Kinda tired, but at the same time I feel like I could do anything."

"Well, after blasting away an entire army with the sheer force of your love, I bet you would. No dizziness? Headaches? Urge to speak in monotone?"
Shining Armor just gave her an impassive look. "No."

"Alright. Do you mind if I just take a look, make sure you've not got any side effects from all that brainwashing?"
He gave this some thought. "Yes, I do mind, actually."

Twinkle looked to Twilight and raised an eyebrow, then looked back to Shining Armor. "Tough."
She walked over to the stallion, and concentrated. Her horn glowed slightly, and she opened her eyes, looking at Shining Armor, and focused on him. Her view moved closer, and closer. There were a few seconds of hums. She took a step back, and rubbed a hoof against her chin. Shining Armor looked at her.

"What is it?" he asked. She glanced at him.
"It... I..." she focused, "I'll just give it another go."

There were a few more seconds, her examination being more thorough this time. Then she looked over toward Twilight.
"I don't suppose you'd mind, Twilight, but I would like a second opinion. Could you examine Shining Armor for a moment?"
Twilight nodded. Her horn glowed as she cast the same spell as Twinkle, and began analysing Shining Armor. Her expression changed as she looked over toward Twinkle. She shook her head and then double-checked. Shining Armor was now looking between both mares.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked cautiously. Twinkle looked at him.
"No. Not 'wrong', as such" she said, slowly. She frowned.

"I think we need someone with more experience in these matters" she said. She looked over to Princess Celestia, who had been walking over toward them.
"Hey," she called out, "Celestia, I'm guessing you've got some medical experience, right?"

The diarch's expression remained carefully neutral, before she answered. "I may have some medical knowledge, yes."
"Enough to rank as a doctor?" Twinkle asked, raising an eyebrow. Celestia's expression shifted slightly.

"What is it you require?"
Twinkle looked over toward Twilight, who was staring at Shining Armor with what looked like a mixture of concern, pride, and awe.

"Well, I think Twilight and I have reached a conclusion, but I think some of us would feel safe with a third opinion."
Celestia looked to Twilight, then to Shining Armor, who was beginning to look nervous.
"Very well" Celestia said. Her horn briefly glowed. Then, after the space of a few seconds she looked visibly affected.

"I see" she finally said.
"What?" Shining Armor asked, as Cadance walked over toward him, looking concerned herself.

"Shining Armor, you are in fact back to your usual self, and there appears to be no lasting physical harm. Save from the fact that you need some rest, you are good health" Twinkle said, pausing before she added, "Which is more than can usually be said for a pony whose been zapped with seventeen separate brainwashing spells at once."

There was a sudden pause as Shining Armor's eyes shrank. "What?"
Twinkle just tilted her head, "Seventeen, by my reckoning. Wouldn't you say so, Twilight?"

The unicorn nodded. "I wasn't actually sure how many spells had been cast on you, but seventeen does seem like the likely amount."
Shining Armor just stood there as he tried to process this, his face going pale, quite a feat for a pony with white fur. "I think I need to go lie down" he mumbled, before slowly walking away. There was a pause before Cadance spoke up.

"I should probably make sure he isn't distracted by some detail from work" she said, even as she began walking after him.
There were a few silent seconds, followed by Rarity walking past with several scraps of cloth, along with the discarded bridesmaid dresses.

"If anypony needs me," she said calmly, "I will be putting some finishing touches Princess Cadance's wedding dress. And fixing Rainbow Dash's. And if there is any justice in the universe, some tea. Delicious, nourishing tea..."
The mare walked out of the room, briefly pausing to shoot Rainbow Dash a Look as she went. Despite this, Rainbow Dash just grinned, before going back to looking nonchalant.

There was a small cough from Twilight, and Twinkle turned to look at her. There was a determined look on the mare's face.
"Twilight, we need to talk" she said, before a thought occurred to her and she added, "Again."

"About what?" Twinkle asked. Twilight looked at her.
"Well, I was wondering about the fact that you can now teleport. I am assuming that your little.." she gave a small smile, "Alicorn apotheosis came with an upgrade to your magic."

Twinkle gave this some thought. "I'm not sure it has," she said, "I think that the whole... series of events just unlocked whatever it was that was stopping me from teleporting. Which I'm guessing had something to do with that message you found when you went into my mind."
"And you're feeling alright?"

Twinkle paused. "I took on an enraged changeling queen, and survived. A changeling queen wielding enough raw power to knock a Princess down. I have wings, and I can teleport, and from the looks of things, nopony was seriously injured. I'd call that a good day."
Twilight frowned. "That isn't really what I meant at all. I... I don't mean to be blunt, but you did die."

Twinkle paused for a moment, before looking down at her hooves. "Not exactly."
"Not exactly?" Twilight repeated.

"Evidently I had not passed on completely. In fact, I think, based on all available evidence I... merely lost consciousness."
There was a noise that sounded amazingly like Rainbow Dash trying to hold in laughter.
"From the wording of it, I was at extreme risk of dying, if not at death's door, but not completely dead."

Twilight stared at her in confusion.
"You were only 'mostly' dead?" Celestia asked. Twinkle just nodded slowly. For an instant Celestia expression flickered.

"It's really alarming, considering the sheer beating I'd taken at that point. Both the literal one and the fact that I was suffering from a nasty poisoning as well."
"Poisoning?" Twilight asked. Twinkle was fairly certain she heard an alarmed gasp from Fluttershy.

"Yeah, the Changeling Queen, she sort of poisoned Cadance. And then I may have transferred the poison into me, but that was only because none of my other spells were working, and I didn't know what else I could've done and-" Twinkle paused, realising she was getting unusually worked up. As she tried to get her breathing under control Luna entered the room and made her way over to Celestia.

"Discord has been re-ensconced in the gardens, sister."
Celestia gave a small nod, "Very good."

There was a tiny noise from Fluttershy, "Excuse me, your highness?"
Both sisters turned to look at Fluttershy, "It's just that, well, I mean, you looked singed."

Luna and Celestia exchanged glances, and then glanced at Luna's coat, which did have a few patches that looked noticeably darker than they should have. Luna just stared at the patches the same way one would stare at muddy footprints left by a pet.

"Oh, yes. One of those... creatures did try to set me on fire." Luna said casually, "Do not worry, Fluttershy. I have burnt before. It will heal soon enough."
Fluttershy just stared at the Princess of the Night for a few seconds, before nodding.

"Anyway, have we discussed why Twilight Twinkle has wings yet?" Luna asked.
"We were in the middle of it" Twinkle said, as behind everypony Spike had somehow acquired a small chair and had taken out a small box containing sandwiches, and had shared one with Fluttershy. Trixie had wandered over to see what was going on, and turned down Spike's offering. Luna just gave an approving nod. Twinkle gave her wings a cursory flap.

"At least, I think we were" she added after a few seconds.
"And what happened to the wedding that was supposed to take place?" Luna asked, looking about the room.

"Oh, Shining Armor's gone to get some rest and Cadance went with him, and then there was me saying we needed a while to catch our br-..." Twinkle stopped cold as a terrible thought slithered into her mind.
"What?" Twilight asked. Twinkle stared at her.

"Shining Armor" Twinkle sighed, "should probably be kept on watch in case he gets cold hooves or something."
There was a sudden pause, before Twilight dared ask the question. "Why would he get cold hooves?"

Twinkle stared at her, "Because his fiancée was replaced by a shapeshifter for several days while he was brainwashed out of his gourd. Can't imagine why a stallion would start questioning his love for somepony if he couldn't tell it had happened. You know, despite the brainwashing."

There were a few seconds of silence, as Twinkle looked to Luna, who just stared back. Twinkle raised an eyelid. Luna's brow furrowed, before she was struck with realisation.
"I was going to go talk to Princess Cadance about..." her eyes darted toward Twinkle, "Nothing in particular, I suppose I could check in on the captain of the guard while I am there."

The mare calmly made her way out of the room. There was a noise from Rainbow Dash.
"Not that all this talking hasn't been the most fun thing I've done all day, but I'm gonna go practice my rainbooms more. Unless somepony needs help learning how to use her new wings or something" the pegasus said. Twinkle suddenly found herself remembering stories she'd overheard of Rainbow Dash's... unique method of training ponies to fly.

"No thanks," she quickly stated, "I'd prefer to break them in gently."
Rainbow Dash briefly stared at her, a look of mild confusion on her face, before that vanished, and Rainbow Dash took to the air, heading out of the window.

"We'll just be going on, maybe see if we can't find something to do, without getting in anypony's way" Twilight Velvet said, Night Light moving silently behind her. The ponies paused to briefly nuzzle Twilight before leaving.
"I suppose I should probably try and find where all my bird friends went to" Fluttershy said, "Unless there's going to be a change of plan with the wedding and you don't need them anymore, which I'd understand."

And with that the mare quickly made her own way out of the room. This left the Twilights, Celestia, Spike, who by now had finished his sandwich and was trying to look sharp and alert, Trixie, and Comet Chaser.
"Spike?" Twilight called out, "Have we got the checklist for double-checking the checklist?"

"Yeah" the little dragon said cheerfully, lifting up a checklist and a quill. Twilight turned to look at him and grinned.
"Alright then. Now let's double-check this checklist" she said, in the same jovial tones. The two began to walk, and upon realising she had nothing else to do, Twinkle began to follow after them. She noticed out of the corner of her eyes Comet Chaser slowly following after.

"You don't have to follow me" Twilight said. Twinkle just scoffed.
"You're the best mare, and I'm apparently the maid of honour. Pretty sure we're supposed to work together. Plus," she added, "It's not like I've got anything better to do."

Then a thought occurred to Twinkle, and she gave a small hum.
"What is it?" Spike asked.

"I've never been to a wedding before" Twinkle noted, smiling as she did.


*****


Cadance was sitting on a chair by the fireplace in Shining Armor's house, listening to the sound of the stallion making almost no noise at all in his sleep. Convincing the stallion to remove his dress uniform before he'd passed out had seemed like a small miracle, and now he was fast asleep upstairs. Cadance sat there, trying not to think about anything in particular. She was incredibly grateful for the gentle knocking on the door. Slowly, and ignoring the small twinges from her muscles, made her way toward the door. She opened it to find Luna standing on the doorstep, trying to look calm and collected, though Cadance could see there was something troubling her aunt.

"Auntie?" she asked. Luna looked almost shocked at being addressed.
"Cadance. I was hoping to talk to you."

"Of course, come on in," Cadance smiled, "Just be careful. Shiney's getting some sleep right now."
Luna's expression shifted to one of mild confusion. She stood in the middle of the room, looking about nervously.

"Would you like something to drink?" Cadance asked, "I could make some tea if you'd like."
Luna shook her head, "I've never been one for tea, Cadance. You know that."

For a minute the mare shuffled on her hooves. "Cadance, I wanted to speak to you about..." she trailed off into mumbling. Cadance tilted toward her.

"About what?"
Luna repeated herself, as a pace too quick to be properly understood. Cadance decided to hazard a guess.

"You wanted to ask me something about the wedding?"
After a few seconds, Luna nodded. "I was just wondering, if it isn't an imposition, that is, whether I could..." she looked down at her hooves for a moment.

"If it isn't too much trouble to ask, could we perhaps give you away?"
In an instant Luna found herself being set upon and practically crushed by Cadance.

"Of course you can!" Cadance smiled, before adding, "Why in the world would you think I'd find you asking me that an imposition?"
There were a few moments as Luna's brain desperately struggled to think of an excuse. It decided on smiling nervously.

"I suppose I was just being foolish" Luna said. Cadance just grinned.
"Thank you" Luna added, before a small smile overcame her.

"Anyway, I have... other things I need to do today, so I shall leave you in peace" Luna said, turning toward the door, though not before giving one more smile.


*****


Finding Applejack and Pinkie Pie had been easy enough. The wedding cake itself was utterly untouched, though according to Applejack she was required to make a whole new batch of apple fritters, though any further discussion of why was forestalled by Pinkie Pie waving a sheet of paper in front of Twilight's face.
"What-"

"It's the song you gotta sing, at the start of the par-tay!" Pinkie said, "Me and Vinyl wrote it. She made the actual tune but I did the lyrics."
Twilight stared at it for a moment, but Pinkie Pie continued.

"But I was kinda annoyed because I was hoping to find a dance teacher who could teach you how to dance by tomorrow and they were all" her face shifted to a grimace, "And then they kicked me out, and you two still can't dance."
"I can dance" Twinkle instantly said defensively. There was a snort from Spike, along with looks of scepticism from Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

"Didn't look like it back at Twilight's birthday party" Spike laughed. Twinkle frowned at him.
"That was different, I was just-" she stopped in her tracks when she realised Twilight was staring at her.

"Nopony else was dancing with her" Twinkle muttered. There were a few awkward seconds as Twilight looked at everypony.
"What's wrong with my dancing?" she asked, confused.

"Nothing" Spike said quickly, "It's great."
"It's unique" Pinkie Pie suggested.

Twilight turned to look at Applejack, the bearer of the Element of Honesty herself, who was staring at the oven in front of her.
"Applejack," she said, her voice sickly sweet, "Dear Applejack, the most dependable of ponies. You will tell me what's wrong with my dancing, won't you?"

Applejack began to sweat. "Sorry, Twilight," she stammered, trembling as she spoke, "But ah'm checkin' on these fritters. Which ah'm cooking. Right now. Real busy."
"Those fritters?" Twilight asked. Applejack nodded vigorously.

"The ones in the oven?"
Again Applejack nodded.

"Which isn't on" Twilight noted with a leaden voice. Slowly Applejack's eyes looked at the oven.
"Consarnit" she muttered, before sighing.

"You never learnt to dance, did you?" Twinkle said out loud. Twilight turned to face her.
"Of course not. I had more important things to do."

Twinkle raised an eyebrow. "More important than dancing?" she asked, looking toward Comet Chaser as she said this. The pony didn't seem to react to her strong emphasis on her last word. Twilight meanwhile just stared at Twinkle.
"Why didn't you just say I'm not a good dancer?"

"Because I didn't want to hurt your feelings?" Twinkle suggested, before seeing the expression on Twilight's face. "Which, even if I point out it was your birthday doesn't count because of what happened afterward, which is then invalidated by what happened after what happened after that, and I'm rambling again."

There were a few seconds as nopony said anything, before Twilight shook her head. "And nopony considered just telling me that I couldn't dance?" she asked.
"If it's any consolation, I can't dance either" Comet Chaser said, quietly. Twilight just stared straight at him.

"You're doing it again" Twilight informed him, to which the stallion looked confused.
"Well, it's not like you can't teach her some of the basics, right?" Twinkle asked Pinkie Pie, who looked momentarily distracted before giving it some thought.

"I can try."
Twilight frowned at this, but raised no objections. She turned to look at Spike. "Okay, so we've checked the apple fritters" she said, "What next?"

"Check on the wedding dress" Spike informed her. Twilight's expression shifted.
"This would really be better with Cadance here" she noted, "After all, it is her wedding."

She frowned for a moment, before motioning with her hoof, "Anyway, to Rarity."
They turned to leave the room, and as they walked out of the door Twinkle noticed Spike was thinking about something.

"Hey," the little dragon spoke up, "What happened to Trixie?"
There were a few seconds as everypony suddenly found themselves noticing the absence of one Trixie.

"I thought she was right behind us" Twilight frowned, before shrugging.
"She'll probably turn up."


*****


Trixie stared at the object in front of her, not exactly sure how her search for a good drink had wound up taking her to the gardens, where a mare with an electric blue mane was more or less describing how amplifiers worked to her, with what almost sounded like motherly pride. Trixie suspected Pinkie Pie had some part in this series of events. The mare, who either called herself DJ or Vinyl Scratch, was currently waving a hoof at a panel, each of which was inlaid with rows up numbers.

"These numbers all go up to eleven. All across the board" the mare grinned.
"And?" Trixie asked.

The mare scowled, although her expression was slightly inscrutable with those glasses she insisted on wearing.
"Most amps just go up to ten" she said, with a notable amount of defensiveness in her voice.

"So, this is louder? Is it louder?" Trixie found herself asking. The mare nodded.
"Well, it's one louder. It's not ten." Vinyl added, "You see, most ponies will be playing on ten, and you're on ten, you're all the way up there, all the way up, on ten. And where can you go from there? Where?"

Trixie blinked. Evidently the mare was expecting an answer, despite the fact that Trixie's general knowledge on singing was limited to whatever she could sing in the shower.
"I don't know" she said.

"Nowhere," Vinyl nodded, "Exactly. And what do we do, if we need, like, an extra push, to really get over the cliff?"
Trixie felt she could answer that one, at least. "Put it up to eleven?"

Vinyl grinned. "Yeah, exactly. You're catching on."
A thought occurred to Trixie. "Why don't you just make ten a bit louder? Make ten the top number and make it a bit louder?"

Vinyl stared at Trixie for several seconds, moving her glasses out of the way to stare at Trixie. From the mare's expression, Trixie might as well have just asked her the meaning of life.

"These go up to eleven."


*****


As the three ponies and one dragon made their way toward Rarity's room in the castle, Twinkle couldn't help but notice Comet Chaser occasionally glancing at her. Of course, she was also glancing at him every few minutes. And she was fairly certain Twilight was glancing at both of them. Indeed, the only one of all four of them not glancing was Spike, who was in fact just staring straight ahead.

"You know," Twinkle said, "You don't need to follow us about."
"Me?" Comet Chaser asked. Twinkle just gave him the most deadpan stare she could manage.

"I'm not... okay, yeah, I suppose am following you around, but it's not like I have anything else to do. I mean, aside from going home, getting some sleep, I could do that. It's a public holiday, after all. But... I don't really feel sleepy. Which might have something to do with everything that's happened today."

Twinkle stared at him for a moment. From the sound of it, there was something he wasn't mentioning, but on seeing his expression, she decided not to question it. Not yet, at any rate.

Eventually they reached the door to Rarity's makeshift workshop, and opened it. Almost immediately upon entry Twinkle found herself seized by a bright blue glow and dragged into the middle of the room.
"Hello Rarity" she said slowly. The mare turned to glance at her. Suddenly Twinkle found herself surrounded by a whirl of measuring tape as the mare occasionally glanced at her to tut.

"The last time I took your measurements" Rarity said, "You were taller, and of course I did adjust the plans for a dress to account for your previous stature, and now you have not only increased in height again, you have wings."
Strangely enough, she didn't look or sound anything more than mildly irritated.

"Fortunately it will be a simple matter to adjust the size of the dress, though I am wondering..." the mare paused in thought, utterly ignoring the others standing by the door, "Perhaps I should just make an entirely new dress. And of course Princess Cadance's dress is ready but she is not here. So I will have to make do testing out your dress."

Twinkle opened her mouth to object to this, before she realised something. She was in fact required to be there. Even if she hadn't actually given an answer to Cadance's offer, she was still attending the wedding.
"I suppose we'll just have to wait for her" Twilight offered, looking to Spike, who just gave a casual shrug. What resulted was several minutes of everypony sitting and waiting, as Rarity worked on Twinkle's dress.

"So, what does a maid of honor actually do?" Spike asked. There were a few seconds as both Twilights exchanged uncertain glances.
"Oh, that's easy enough to explain, Spike" Rarity said, in-between staring at her creation, which Twinkle couldn't help but notice was an alarmingly familiar blue colour, "The maid of honor is the head bridesmaid, usually (ahem) the bride's sister, or best friend. As far as duties are concerned, her job is the same as the other bridesmaids, in that she is supposed to attend the wedding and provide support. And also give a speech at the reception. In some territories, such as Trotland, for example, there is no such term as 'maid of honor', and she's just the head bridesmaid. Apparently in more modern weddings, it has become a custom for any brother of the bride to function as the head attendant, which..." a noticeable look of disgust came across Rarity's face, "is probably unlikely to happen with this one."

There was a pause, before Rarity's smile returned, and she went back to her work.
"You seem to have that memorised" Twilight noted. Rarity looked up and gave a sly smile.

"Of course I do."
A thought occurred to Twinkle, "And I bet you've got your wedding all planned out, just in case."

Rarity's expression went passive, "No. Not at all."
Twinkle stared at Rarity, and after a few seconds the mare looked up at her. "Alright, maybe I do, but one can never be too prepared. Just in case."

Twinkle looked over to Spike, who was looking mildly alarmed.
"Oh," Rarity said, "I also forgot one thing. The maid of honor is apparently meant to give a speech at the reception." she looked over to Twinkle once more, "But that shouldn't be too hard for you, given your track record with such things."

"Yeah" Twinkle said nervously, "Shouldn't be too hard, even though most of those speeches were spur-of-the-moment things. And I've got about twenty-four hours to write it."
"I'm sure you'll do fine" Twilight and Comet Chaser both said, before staring at one another with mild annoyance.

"Thanks," Twinkle said quickly, trying not to laugh at their expressions.
After that, the room went silent once more, save for the occasional hum from Rarity working away. This continued for several minutes until the mare spoke up.

"And there it is" she smiled, turning to Twinkle, "Your dress is done."
Before Twinkle could go much further she found herself being practically dragged across the room by the mare, and shoved behind a screen. After a few seconds a dress was thrown at her. She examined it, and noted the familiar blue colour of the dress with alarm.
"Rarity?" she asked, "This dress looks really familiar. You didn't, by any chance-"

"No" the mare responded, "Rest assured, it is not the same dress. I just used the same material in it's construction."
Twinkle stared at it. It did look very nice. Somehow Rarity had managed to merge the design of the bridesmaid dresses with a unique design based on Twinkle. Shrugging, she quickly got dressed. After a few seconds of cursory examination, she stepped out. She quickly found herself being examined by Rarity, who eventually nodded approvingly. Then Twinkle noted the hair-brush.

"What's that for?" she asked. Rarity stared unflinchingly at her.
"Hair?" she asked. Rarity nodded.

"Hair."
Rarity turned to look at Twilight, pointing the brush at her. "And you're next by the way."

"I am?" Twilight asked. Rarity stared at her.
"Oh, yes, of course."

Styling her hair didn't take very long, though Rarity found her attempts stymied by Twinkle's passivity toward her attempts. Then Rarity grabbed Twilight, and gently nudged her behind the screen, before hoofing over another dress. A short time later, and Twilight reappeared, before getting her mane set upon by Rarity. Some vigorous styling and combing later, and Rarity took a step back, giving an approving nod, before turning to Spike and Comet Chaser.
"Well?"

"You look great" Spike said instantly. There was a small nod from Comet Chaser, who looked like his brain had gone elsewhere for some reason.
"I'd say they look lovely, myself" said Cadance. The mare was standing in the doorway, smilingly gently.

"Sorry for being so late," she continued, "I wasn't sure where you were. I tried looking in the kitchen first, and I proved unable to turn down the chef's samples of apple fritters. And the small bag of more apple fritters 'for later'. And then I met Lyra and her marefriend in the corridor..."
There were a few seconds as she looked down at her hooves, before rebounding, "Anyway, I'm here now."

"So, if you're here, who's looking after Shining Armor?" Twilight asked.
"He can look after himself, you know" Twinkle muttered.

"Your parents volunteered to watch him" Cadance said, her expression shifting mildly, though her smile didn't leave her face. "By which I mean they told me to 'stop worrying about him' and practically had me escorted from the room."
"He's only asleep" Twinkle said, "It's not like he's really going to go anywhere."

Cadance nodded, "I suppose" she said, though she sounded less than convinced. Then she looked over toward Rarity.
"Shall we?" she asked. Rarity blinked, and then seemed to remember where she was.

"Oh, yes, let's" she smiled. The two quickly walked off. Twinkle looked over toward Twilight, who looked back at her.
"What?" Twilight asked. Twinkle just blinked.

"Nothing," she quickly stated, her wings fluttering, "I was just... elsewhere."
She looked back toward Comet Chaser, who had a faraway look on his face.

"And it seems I'm not alone there" she observed. Comet Chaser's eyes darted as he noticed he was being watched.
"No, I was just thinking about... things" he said, shuffling slightly.

Twinkle said nothing at that, and tried not to grin, especially at the way Comet Chaser was most certainly not trying to look at Twilight.
After a few short minutes of awkward glancing, Rarity returned, and for the first time Twinkle noticed that her mane looked incredibly rumpled.

"Presenting" Rarity said, with a broad smile, "Her royal highness, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!"
"Cadance is just fine, really" the mare laughed, before she stepped out. Twinkle was incredibly certain Spike's jaw had just dropped, if not Comet Chaser's as well. Actually, she was beginning to get some suspicions about her own jaw. Not that anypony would ever blame her. Cadance, after all, possessed the sort of looks that could turn the most intelligent, witty and urbane being into a dribbling, smiling mess on the floor even on an average day. At the moment, she had looks that would knock the wind out of anypony, before turning them into a dribbling, smiling mess on the floor.

"How do I look?" she asked nervously. There were several seconds of staring, as Twinkle's mind tried to rally its forces.
"You look... amazing" Twinkle said in awe. Cadance smiled at that, and Twinkle was fairly certain she heard the sound of scales hitting the floor.

"Let me see" she said. Rarity brought over a mirror. Cadance gasped, and then broke out into another smile, which quickly spread to Rarity and Twilight.
"It's beautiful! I love it!" Cadance declared. To this, Rarity and Twilight grinned in triumph.


*****


Celestia sat on the balcony of her room, looking out over the city. There was a mild breeze, but the sun was out, and she could hear birds singing, though with her hearing she wasn't one hundred percent sure whether those were birds native to the city, any of the ones from the varied gardens the castle had acquired over the centuries, or Fluttershy practicing for the wedding. At the thought of the wedding, she gave the smallest of breaths, which if carefully studied would have sounded suspiciously like a sigh.

There was a chirp from the phoenix sitting next to her. She gave a small smile. There was the sound of hoofsteps behind her.
"Is there something wrong?" Celestia asked. The hoofsteps got closer and closer.

"No, or at least, nothing that I am aware of" Luna said, as she approached her sister, and sat next to her.
"What troubles you, sister?" she asked. Celestia looked at Luna, who simply frowned.

"And don't say 'nothing', Tia. Something is quite obviously giving you concern."
Celestia stood up, and turned to look at Philomena. "It's what happened this morning, with Cadance, and the Changelings."

There were a few seconds as she said nothing, before shifting. "You knew about them, didn't you?" she asked. Her voice was clear of any emotion. She was not accusing or suspicious, just simply asking her younger sister a question.
"Yes. I knew of them. As did Twilight Sparkle, her friends and her daughter, who was the one who informed me of their presence."

Celestia's face went impassive, as she looked at Philomena. "Was there a specific reason you didn't inform me about them?"
Luna looked down at her hooves, and took a deep breath. "Tia, you are many things. Strong, noble, steadfast, patient. You are my sister, and I do love you, but..." against her will, a smile started to bloom on Luna's face, "You can be so annoyingly stubborn when you want to be. If we had told you of what had transpired with Cadance, you would have confronted that... creature on what she was doing."

Celestia looked at Luna and nodded, "Yes. I would have. Of course I would."
"And that monster had access to Shining Armor and our niece. Now imagine if she had felt threatened."

Celestia's expression went through a dozen micro-changes in an instant.
"That is why she asked us not to tell you" Luna said, calmly, "and because you would not have won that fight. And you would have tried to fight her anyway, no matter what, so don't bother trying to tell me otherwise."

For an instant a tiny smile spread across Celestia's face. Then it vanished.
"But I should've noticed Cadance had been replaced. I should have noted the complete change in her behaviour. How can I protect my subjects if I cannot protect just two of them from being harmed?"

There were a few seconds of utter silence as she looked at Luna. "I-"
"Don't apologise" Luna sighed, "I know you meant no offense, sister. And there is no point dwelling on could-have-beens and what-ifs. What happened to them was horrible, yes, but you cannot allow yourself to become stuck in a quagmire of querying as to whether you could have done something different. We failed them, yes, but if we do not attempt to make up for it, then we only fail them further, as you well know."

She glanced briefly toward the sky, before looking back to her older sister, "And if you are concerned as to whether these events have had some effect on our niece, why don't you just talk with her, instead of just sitting here?"
"Alright then," Celestia said, "If you insist, sister, I will."

"It's not as if Cadance is the sort of mare who would hold a grudge anyway" Luna pointed out. Celestia nodded.


*****


After Rarity and her dresses, the group had moved on to Fluttershy and her bird-chorus. It had been an unusual event, considering Fluttershy's usual difficulties with meeting others, and Cadance's usual friendliness, Twinkle had expected some nervous muttering, and instead the two had gotten on almost alarmingly well. It probably hadn't hurt that the birds in Fluttershy's choir swarmed over Cadance, at which point the pegasus and the Princess got into a long discussion over their favourite type of birdsong.

On seeing the two ponies talking, Twinkle felt a small stabbing pain, which she quickly, and unsuccessfully tried to shake off.
After that, they moved on, looking for Pinkie Pie. They eventually found her in the gardens, engaged in a strange, circular conversation with Vinyl Scratch and Octavia about something. Nearby to the three mares was a completely confused looking Trixie.

"What happened to you?" Twinkle asked. The showmare turned to look at her. She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, then frowned.
"You know, I'm not actually sure" she said, quietly.

"Hey, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie called out, bouncing over to the mare.
"I think this is gonna be the most super-enjoyable wedding that ever happened even if you don't know how to dance but that's alright because everything else is all super-spectacular and amazing and we've got everything you could need for a wedding, and I even found a band that plays both kinds of music!"

"Both kinds?" Twilight asked. Pinkie Pie nodded.
"Yuh-huh. It's gonna be so amazingly awesome I can barely wait and I'm never gonna get to sleep tonight because and I'm gonna be all smiled out because I can't stop smiling even though I couldn't stop smiling even if I wanted to because this is just going to be the best wedding ever!"

There were a few seconds as Cadance just stared at Pinkie with the usual expression of somepony who'd only just met the mare. Then she smiled.
"But you still don't know how to dance, Twilight" Pinkie said, shaking her head  "But that's okay, 'cuz Auntie Pinkie has a song for that!"

There was a sudden look of shock on Twilight's face.
"Pinkie, that isn't really ne-"

But Pinkie was already singing, heedless of any attempt to stop her. Twinkle watched this scene, and tried not to laugh. After a few verses, Cadance decided to join in, much to the shock of the grey-furred mare watching from nearby. Twilight briefly looked on in alarm, before smiling as well.
"Guess that means Spike can tick another item off the checklist" Twinkle said. Twilight nodded, turning to look at Spike, who was already scribing away.

"Which means," Twilight said triumphantly, "the only things left are for Rainbow Dash to successfully achieve a rainboom tomorrow, and for the wedding to go off without a hitch."
There was a sudden silence, save for Pinkie Pie and Cadance still singing and dancing behind them, even as Vinyl Scratch removed her glasses to make sure she was seeing what she was seeing.

"Twinkle?" Twilight asked, "Are you alright?"
The mare stared at Twilight and blinked. "What is it?" she asked.

"You didn't reprimand me for 'tempting fate' again" Twilight said, giving a nervous smile, "Are you sure you're alright?"
Twinkle just gave a small smile back. "But it's not going to go wrong. Not when Twilight Sparkle's here to make sure of that."

Twilight blinked in surprise.
"What?" Twinkle asked, "Am I not allowed to be cheerful?"

Twilight shook her head, "I didn't say you weren't allowed to be cheerful. It's just not like you."
"I can be cheerful" Twinkle frowned, "I can be very cheerful."

"You don't exactly look cheerful" Comet Chaser observed, in-between staring at the two dancing, prancing pink ponies, before his expression flashed.
Twinkle shrugged.

"Well..." she trailed off, and frowned. "I..." she stated, before trailing off again. Comet Chaser tilted his head.
"Yes?" he asked. Twinkle noticed her tail flicking, and shook her head. Then she noticed Twilight looking at something.

"What?" she asked. Twilight smiled, and raised a hoof.
"Look."

Twinkle looked, to see a familiar rainbow-contrail spreading across the sky, several small blue dots following behind it.
"Guess Rainbow Dash is taking a break at the moment" Spike commented, before shrugging. "I'll just cross her off the list."
Twilight moved over toward Spike and examined the checklist, before looking up and smiling.

"Alright then. All we need to do now is wait until tomorrow morning" she glanced at Twinkle, "And hope that the wedding goes off without any hitch."
There was a sudden rumbling noise. Everypony turned to look at Twilight, who was grinning nervously.

"Sorry, I must have missed breakfast."
Twinkle tried to look serious, "Then in my capacity as a genius, I suggest we got get something to eat. Like lunch."

There was a sudden zipping noise as Trixie appeared beside them, an unnerving smile on her face.
"I am all for any eating of luncheon" she said quickly.

"Me too" Pinkie Pie beamed. Twilight prepared to question Pinkie Pie suddenly stopping her song and dance routine, and then decided not to. It was Pinkie just being Pinkie, after all. Twilight looked toward Cadance, who had by now finished dancing as well.
"Cadance, would you like to get some lunch with us?"

Instantly Cadance nodded, "I'd be delighted."


*****


Some twenty-five minutes (and some difficult signalling) later, and all four of the others had been gathered up. Twinkle couldn't help but notice Rarity and Rainbow Dash sharing giggles about the wedding. Comet Chaser was keeping as far away from Twilight as possible, while Fluttershy and Cadance continued their conversation. Pinkie and Spike were engaged in their own random discussion, while Applejack just smiled warmly. Considering the mare's tendency toward looking vaguely irritated by something, Twinkle found the smiling unsettling. Trixie and Twilight were meanwhile talking about certain types of magic, which Twinkle wasn't listening to. Every now and then her eyes would move back toward Fluttershy and Cadance talking, and then she'd find a cold chill running down her spine, and her hooves beginning to tingle in a strangely painful fashion. She focused, trying to drive those thoughts from her mind at the m-

"Princess Celestia!" she heard Twilight call out. She opened her eyes, and saw that Princess Celestia was indeed standing there, an odd smile on her face.
"Hello, Twilight Sparkle. I was wondering if perhaps I might borrow Princess Cadenza for just a moment."

Twilight looked over to Cadance, who had a mild look of confusion on her face, but otherwise seemed unsurprised.
"It's alright, Twilight. I'll catch up with you" she smiled. Everypony else kept moving, while Twilight and Twinkle looked at Celestia for a moment, before moving themselves, Twilight occasionally glancing back as she went.

"What is it?" Cadance asked, once everypony else was out of sight. Celestia looked at the young mare.
"I just wanted to talk to you, see how you were doing."

Cadance tilted her head. "Well, aside from feeling somewhat woozy, and slightly worried for Shining Armor, I feel fine, auntie. I can't really explain it, but I think it had something to do with that blast of love Shining and I created."
Celestia nodded slowly. Cadance looked at her.

"You weren't asking about my physical health, were you?" she asked. Celestia sighed.
"No. I wasn't" she looked at Cadance, her eyes betraying a noticeable hint of sadness, "Cadance, I-"

The mare held up a hoof. "Don't, auntie. Please, don't. I don't blame you for what happened, or Aunt Luna, or anypony else. I couldn't. You were not responsible for what happened with her. Or for what happened to Shining Armor."
Celestia frowned, "But I didn't notice anything had ha-"

"I'm not blaming you, auntie. Even you make mistakes, as you've told me so many times over the years."
She looked along the hallway, and ruffled her wings, "You hold yourself to a higher standard than any other pony auntie. You blame yourself for any minor pain a pony suffers, you even feel bad if somepony gets a paper-cut on your watch, but that... that part of you means you throw yourself off the metaphorical cliff if you make a mistake. But you aren't infallible, and before you say it, nopony expects you to be."

Celestia nodded.
"Although," Cadance said quietly, "That doesn't mean I'm in denial about what I went through, because I'm not. I couldn't escape from down there, auntie. Not on my own. I couldn't free myself and I was powerless as she hurt the stallion I love, and I... felt so helpless. But," she said, her voice regaining it's strength, "That still doesn't mean I'm about to start ladling out blame and scorn. The Changeling Queen has been driven away, and Shining Armor is safe, and almost nopony was hurt. And tomorrow, I can marry the pony I love with all my friends and family there, and some ponies who I honestly would never have expected to attend."

Both mares grinned at this. This might have been because Cadance's mood, now focused on the wedding again, was infectious.
"Now, please, auntie, please cheer up." the mare moved closer to Celestia and hugged her. "It's not your fault, and I will keep saying until you accept that."

After a few seconds Celestia returned the hug. Then there was a noise from Cadance, who began grinning.
"I forgot to tell you, auntie, guess what aunt Luna said!"


*****


"This is quite the nice restaurant" Rarity sighed. A problem with going to a restaurant with everypony was the difficult in finding one Rarity approved of, and one that met Rainbow Dash's peculiar standards, while at the same time not seeming too 'fancy' for Applejack's tastes, too 'snooty' for Trixie's, or too filled with staff willing to tell Pinkie Pie she was making a scene. The one they had chosen seemed pleasant enough, and the staff had barely raised an eyebrow when Rainbow Dash had shoved two tables together. In fact, the only real problems came from Fluttershy trying to obscure herself, and the odd glances everypony kept giving Twinkle.

Twinkle nodded in agreement at Rarity's statement, as she eyed the menu.
"Hey," Applejack whispered to Fluttershy, "What're half of these things?"

"I..." Fluttershy examined where Applejack was pointing, "I really don't know. Sorry."
Every few seconds, Twinkle couldn't help but notice Rarity's eyes dart toward Comet Chaser. She felt her stomach clench.

"Well, girls," Twilight grinned broadly, "We've got everything set up and ready for Cadance's big day."
"You know," Rarity said, "she wasn't entirely what I was expecting. From a Princess."

There was a sudden pause, as everypony looked at her.
"What'cha talkin' 'bout, Rarity?" Applejack asked, as she pondered what an 'appletiser' could possibly be.

"It's just, after Their Royal Highnesses, I was expecting her to act somewhat like... well, a Princess."
"She does act like a Princess" Twinkle noted. Rarity rolled her eyes.

"I realise that, but I meant like..." she frowned, before turning to Twilight, "What exactly is her relation to Celestia and Luna? I believe I heard her address Princess Celestia as her (ahem) 'auntie', but, given what I do know of the royal family, it seems a bit incongruous..."
Twilight looked uncertain. "I... don't know. It never really occurred to me to ask."

"Don't look at me" Twinkle said, her wings fluttering as all eyes turned to her.
"Although," the royal blue mare said, "I did once hear somepony state the differences between those three in a rather simple fashion: Celestia is basically like everypony's mother, or grandmother, Luna is the unusual aunt (only with more demon-slaying and adventuring than usual), whereas Cadance is basically like your cooler big sister, or failing that, cousin."

"Do you have a cousin?" Pinkie Pie asked. Twinkle shuffled, and suddenly found herself unable to speak.
"That, ah, well, I mean, that is to say" she coughed, "Well, I do count myself as having five (more-or-less) aunts, Pinkie. That is all I shall say on the matter."

"So, isn't that a 'yes, but I can't tell you'?" Fluttershy asked. Twinkle sighed.
"I cannot tell you because the answer may in fact shock and alarm some of you. Particularly Rarity."

"Why me?" she asked. Twinkle gave this some thought.
"Alright, a thought experiment for you, Rarity. Imagine a dozen Pinkie Pies."

"Whoa" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "Goosebumps."
Pinkie Pie looked mildly hurt at this.

"Now imagine a dozen Pinkie Pies, all the exact same age as your own little sister."
Rarity blinked.

"Hay," Applejack exclaimed, "Ah think ah'm getting the shivers." she glanced over at Pinkie Pie, "Sorry, nuthin' personal, Pinkie, it just sounds a bit... alarmin'"
"Exactly like Sweetie Belle, you say?" Rarity said, with several odd pauses and emphasis peppered throughout.

"More or less" Twinkle shrugged (which she noted still felt kind of weird with the wings).
Rarity fell face-forward onto the table in an instant.

"Is she... alright?" Comet Chaser asked. Rainbow Dash leaned over the table and gave her a nudge. There was a barely audible moan.
"Yeah, she'll be alright" Rainbow Dash grinned, before looking towards Pinkie Pie, "Hey, c'mon, Pinkie. What would you do with a dozen tiny Pinkie Pies?"

Pinkie Pie gave this some thought. "I dunno. Maybe throw a super-special Pint-sized Pinkie Party?" she shrugged, "Or maybe a dozen super-special Pint-sized Pinkie Parties, each one betterer than the last."
She stared at Rainbow Dash and Applejack, "But I don't get why anypony would be so terrified of that."

"I think it might have something to do with the idea of multiple Sweetie Belles, rather than there being a small swarm of Pinkie Pies" Twinkle said, calmly, before frowning, "Although I'm not sure what the correct term for a group of Pinkie Pies would be."
There was suddenly a polite cough from a waiter, "Are madams and sir ready to order?" the waiter asked, in a mildly clichéd Prench accent, before glancing uncertainly at the collapsed Rarity.

"Don't worry about her" Twinkle said, "She's just having a moment."
"Am not" Rarity declared, before slowly righting herself. She glanced at the waiter.

"Oh, good. A waiter. Just what I needed. I shall require your strongest wine, good sir. And perhaps a large salad"
"Of course" the waiter said, calmly, before turning to look at everypony else. Most of the group just ordered smaller meals, though Pinkie Pie demanded a small army's worth of food, which made the waiter pale.

"Pinkie?" Twilight suggested, "Why not order something smaller?"
Pinkie Pie gave this some thought.

"Okay, I'll just have a hay burger. No, wait, two hay burgers. No, wait super-extra large hay burger with fries!"
The waiter stared at Pinkie Pie for a moment, looking towards everypony else for assistance, before finally trying to look nonplussed.

"Hay burger with fries" he repeated slowly, before tearing out the page he'd been writing on. "Very good."
And with that he turned, and left. Pinkie Pie didn't seem to notice.

"No, wait, do I want fries? Because those get in the way of actually eating the burger..." she frowned, and started making small humming noises to herself, before shrugging.
"Oh well, next time, I guess."

For a few seconds she just smiled merrily to herself, while everypony just shook their heads. Then Rarity looked over toward Comet Chaser and frowned.
"So, Comet Chaser, wasn't it? Why don't you tell us something about yourself?"

The stallion blinked for a moment. "Like what, exactly?"
"What you do for a living, perhaps. What your interests are, that sort of thing. Seems a bit rude to follow a lady around and not tell them anything about yourself."

He blinked again, before glancing over toward Twilight, then to Twinkle. "Not following anypony about," he mumbled, "Not even sure what I'm doing here. One minute I went to fetch some coffee, the next I'm talking with the pony who apparently I will one day..." he frowned, and rubbed his eyes, "And then there's an invasion, and a chaos god, and her with wings, her who I met all of once before today" he said, pointing a hoof at Twinkle.

"It's been a very weird day" he mumbled. Several ponies glanced at Twinkle, then back to the confused looking stallion.
"Don't worry" Twinkle said, "Today's weirdness supply's been used up by now."

"You are sure about that, right?" Comet Chaser asked. Twinkle shrugged.
"There is something I wanted to ask you," Twilight said, slowly, "You are from the House of Starcatcher, right?"

Comet Chaser nodded.
"Then why are you just an astronomer? Isn't your family rich?" Twilight asked. The stallion paused for a moment before responding.
"It's not really that long a story. The details, I'd rather keep to myself, and there are some I am required not to tell, but... I ran away from home."

There was a small noise of intrigue from Rarity, who suddenly looked interested.
"This might have been because for one reason or another my family have generally been recluses. And certain individuals in my family were... shall we say, insistent, that I continue the family tradition. And eventually I simply decided to get away from that and seek my fortunes elsewhere."

He looked down at the table and gritted his teeth. "Which sort of, kind of, utterly failed spectacularly. But through a convoluted sequence of events I managed to get a job working in the Royal Canterlot Archives. Although it does require large amounts of caffeine."
He frowned, "I've never really been one for adventures, so all this stuff about shapeshifters and Princesses and chaos gods is really weirding me out."

He paused before adding, "Though not as much as seeing an older version of myself and the pony who is apparently my daughter, which as far as weird stuff goes is pretty unbeatable."
"It is, isn't it?" Twilight said, "Although in my case she was only older by about half a week, and I hadn't found out Twinkle was my daughter yet, but the point still stands."

Her expression shifted as she glanced toward the pony and then down at her hooves.
"Not that I'm admitting we have anything in common, of course. Because we don't."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanged meaningful glances at this. Then there was a gentle cough behind them.
"Afternoon, everypony" all heads turned to see a majestic sight. A pony that looked almost like they had been carved out of the finest marble, standing with their coat practically glimmering in the sun, added to which was a bright smile.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Twilight asked. Shining Armor just looked at her.
"I'm not going to spend all day in bed, Twilie. Not when I've got other things that need to be done." he said, still smiling broadly. As he pulled up a chair, sitting in-between Twilight and Rainbow Dash, several waiters appeared carrying the varied ordered foodstuffs. One waiter asked if Shining Armor wanted anything to eat, but he gently refused. Up until he saw the glower on Twilight's face.

"What?"
"You need to keep your strength up" the mare insisted, jabbing him with a hoof for good measure. He made a mock-expression of irritation.

"You're sounding like mom, just there" he said. Twilight jabbed him again.
"Fine, fine, I'll order something. And try not to go mad with hunger watching everypony else eat before me."

"Not everypony" Twinkle said, "Pinkie's already finished her burger."
There was a small satisfied belch from the mare to confirm this, before she looked down at her empty plate.

"I thought I ordered more than this" Pinkie frowned, lifting up the plate to examine underneath it, her face the picture of disappointment as she saw there was nothing underneath. Then Twinkle said the magic words.
"You could always order seconds."

Pinkie Pie's face seemed to practically glow. "... seconds?" she whispered in an awed tone.
"Oh, good going, me" Twinkle sighed, as Pinkie began speaking at a pace too fast for anything that wasn't a dog to understand. Twilight just signalled a waiter in order to forestall any Pinkie related disasters.

"So," Shining Armor said, "What's everypony been up to while I was sleeping?"
"Going over wedding preparations," Twilight said, "Making sure everything is ready for tomorrow."

"Like making sure Viny doesn't make her amps too loud" Pinkie Pie said, "Because a party really stops being fun when your eardrums burst."
"Amps?" Shining Armor asked. Then he noticed Twinkle staring at him.

"Yes?" he asked, not quiet certain what to feel about the mare staring at him.
"Feeling better now?" Twinkle asked. He nodded, to which the mare's mouth curled just slightly.

"And you're not feeling nervous about anything?"
He stared at her, his face the picture of shock. True, he was uncertain about the wedding being tomorrow, after a massive invasion, but considering how long he'd managed to delay actually proposing to Cadance, he was now certain if he delayed any further he would just be dragged down the aisle. By whom, he wasn't certain, but if he had to guess it would have been a combination of the Princesses and his sister and his mother.

"No. Of course I'm not." he said. The mare raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"

"Really. I would never do that to Cadance, not now or ever."
"That's incredibly good to hear" a new voice said, one that instantly made Shining Armor's brain turn into a gooey mush, and he began to smile oddly as he felt a pair of lips on his face, followed by Cadance moving to sit on the other side of the table from him, where Rarity had dragged over a spare chair. Cadance quickly sat down and smiled warmly at him, making Shining Armor's brain-mush bubble slightly. There was an uncertain cough from Twinkle.

"Cadance, would you like to swap seats? That way you two don't have to stare at each other across the table."
Cadance kept staring at Shining Armor for a moment, before she noticed. "Sorry?"

"We're swapping seats" Twinkle informed her, trying not to shake her head as she did. The two mares slid off their seat and then swapped seats. As Twinkle sat down again, she noticed Cadance had an bemused smile on her face.
"What?" she asked. Cadance's smile changed.

"I was just thinking, you... you don't really act like what I thought any child of Twilight Sparkle would act like."
There was the sudden absence of noise of a certain unicorn falling off her chair.

"I'm okay. The ground broke my fall" the mare stated quickly.
"She's got a point," Rainbow Dash chuckled, before looking at Twinkle, "I mean, sure, you look a lot like Twilight, but you really don't act anything like her."

"Fair point" Twinkle said, in-between eating. There were a few seconds as she just calmly chewed her food, before adding "I did once believe I'd been swapped at birth or something, which... I don't know what I was thinking. I think that might have been, in part, because of some ponies who were around during my formative years."
There were a few seconds before Fluttershy asked, "Who were they?"

Twinkle just stared at Fluttershy for a moment, trying and failing to not look incredulous.
"Am I the only pony who thought Pinkie Pie was gonna ask that question?" Trixie asked. The deadpan stares indicated she wasn't.
"Except for you, Trixie, and Applejack."

There was a confused noise from Applejack. "What do ya mean?"
Twinkle shrugged, "I never met you. Which, in all likelihood, would probably have helped with that 'irrational hatred' of you."
There were a few seconds as Applejack's glum expression returned. Then Shining Armor spoke up.

"So, if you're from the future, w-"
"No, Shining Armor" Twinkle said.

"You don't even know what I'm going to say."
"You are going to ask me something about your future, and I'm not going to tell you. And I really mean it. You are not getting any spoilers out of me."

She saw the look on Shining Armor's face, which was almost, but not quite, as effective as an upset Pinkie Pie.
"But I might give some friendly advice: Just..." her face became a mild rictus, "Look at that, I honestly can't bring myself to say it. Don't try to be the best there is, just be there. Be you. That's all."

Shining gave this some thought, "Okay then" he eventually said.
"I would've say 'don't worry', but then..." Twinkle sighed, "I'm beginning to really dislike time-travel now."

"Why don't we talk about something else, then? If nopony minds, that is" Fluttershy suggested.
"Like what?" Rarity asked.

"Pretty sure ah saw somepony what looked an awful lot like Apple Bloom at the 'wedding' this mornin" Applejack said, "Bit curious as to how she wound up here."
"Yeah, and I saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle" Rainbow Dash said. "Did they know about this wedding before we did, or something?"

"They must have" Rarity said, "Though why they, of all ponies, ended up being flower girls..."
"I think that might have been me" Cadance said, quietly, "I think I mentioned having flower girls at the wedding would have been nice, but since it's been so long since I've foalsat for anypony, I wouldn't really know any little fillies capable of the task. I suppose Aunt Celestia chose them, probably because they already knew you as well."

"Keeping it within the family" Twinkle muttered, before a thought occurred to her. If that was the case, that the Princess had contacted the Cutie Mark Crusaders, how had Celestia got in contact with Scootaloo? How had that happened? She wasn't certain she'd ever seen the filly with parents, or even heard her mention them.
And then she heard Rarity speaking, and all those thoughts vanished.

"Luckily, I made sure to lock my workshop before I left it, and am certain that those three cannot possibly gain access to it."
There was a pause, as a knowing grin spread across Rainbow Dash's face.
"Sure about that, huh?"

"Very" Rarity nodded. Then after a few seconds doubt managed to get a foothold in her mind, though she bravely tried to fight it down.
"Do excuse me. There is something I must check on." she slipped off of her chair, and slowly cantered away, her pace quickening rapidly, before she eventually yelped and broke out into a full gallop.

Back at the table, heads shook.
"So, Princess Cadance," Fluttershy started, before Cadance just smiled warmly at her.

"It's all right, you don't need to call me 'princess'."
"Oh, alright then," Fluttershy gave a small grin, "Cadance, I was wondering how you got your Cutie Mark."

Cadance blinked, before realisation dawned on her.
"Oh, this thing" she grinned, looking toward her flank, "Well, you see..."


*****


The rest of the meal passed slowly, slow enough for Rarity to return from her mad dash to her temporary work-space, apparently distracted by some well-muscled gardeners she'd noticed. Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, ordered seconds and third servings, causing Twilight to speculate as to whether the mare would either explode, or just pass out from sensory overload. Instead, Pinkie Pie passed on desert, causing Fluttershy and Applejack to gasp in horror. Eventually though, the meal was finished, and everypony began walking back to the castle in order to continue preparations for the wedding. Every now and then, Twinkle noted Comet Chaser glancing at her, then glancing away again. She frowned, and made a note to have a serious talk with him soon. Pinkie Pie meanwhile, seemed none the worse for wear for her excessive consumption, merrily bouncing along the street as usual, humming an extremely random tune to herself. Twilight and Cadance, meanwhile, were catching up on old times.

"Wait, an actual cockatrice?"
"Yes. It took me by surprise. If it hadn't been for Fluttershy, I'd probably still be stone."

"Oh, well, that's not entirely true. I only yelled at it a bit."
"And saved my life, and the life of three fillies. And a chicken."

"Oh, yes" Fluttershy said, her eyes suddenly beginning to water, "Edwina..."
There was a sniff, and in an instant Rainbow Dash was upon Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie had produced a sample of tissues from absolutely nowhere. Cadance just looked at the scene in front of her, looking to Twilight.

"Edwina was one of Fluttershy's chickens, and about the same time Twinkle appeared, Edwina... randomly exploded."
"Oh, my" Cadance gasped.

"It's okay," Fluttershy said, a noticeable tremor in her voice, "I'm okay, really."
"You sure? Because you really don't look okay" Pinkie Pie informed her, leaning in toward her.

"Do you want to go sit down somewhere, maybe have something to drink?" Cadance asked, "Some tea, perhaps?"
Fluttershy paused in consideration. "I... I wouldn't mind some tea right now, actually."

"Alright then. Now all I need to do is remember where the tea is" the Princess said. And with that the small procession worth of ponies began to walk down another corridor. Twinkle however, remained where she was, and after a few seconds Comet Chaser noted and walked over to her. She looked up at him.

"How are we going to do this?" she asked. He paused, mid-step and blinked. She sighed.
"Something is clearly bothering you, and I doubt you've been walking around with us all day because you were just in some state of shock."

He stared at her for a moment, and then looked down at his hooves with a sullen expression. "I... okay, I did want to talk to you, I guess."
"About what?"

He shuffled slightly, before scowling. "This was a mistake" he muttered. Twinkle walked over to him.
"What?"

"I thought... No, I was just..." he sighed, "Did I do something wrong?"
Twinkle stared at him in confusion.

"Is there some reason you avoided me? Did I, or future-me, do something wrong?"
For a few seconds the mare said nothing, before finally sputtering out a few syllables, her wings occasionally fluttering.

"What? No. No, no, you di- you didn't do anything wrong. Why in the world would you think that?"
The stallion shrugged. "Because you only talked to me once. You just showed up out of nowhere, told me you were my daughter and didn't even tell me your name. Hay, I had to learn it second-hoof. And I just wondered if, because that future-me that was with you isn't here, perhaps I'd done something to upset you?"

Twinkle paused. She tried to remember the incident, but seeing as it had taken place directly after the unfortunate mess with the Nightmare, she wasn't surprised to find the memories blurry.

"No, you didn't. But... I... I think I can see why you reached that conclusion. But..." she gave an irritated sigh, and tried to look him in the eyes. It was harder than she'd thought, "I wasn't trying to-... I mean, - It-... I'm sorry. I don't really have a reason why, but... I didn't exactly plan any of this. I'm sorry. I should have tried to explain things better, but I'd just been through a horrible day and I wasn't exactly in the mood to talk at the time."

She slouched down, and looked at him. His expression was unreadable.
"The main reason I've been spending most of my time around Twilight is because, well... I don't... I don't know. I should've spared some thought for you, but things... things just went so strangely after that, and then I-..."

He sat next to her, and his expression changed. "It's okay. If there's something you don't want to tell me, that's okay, I'd understand."
"But it's not okay" Twinkle said, "It's not. I'm sorry. You didn't do anything to me. And I could never be mad at you, even for your awful sense of humour."

He blinked at this, as the young mare leaned on him. "I could never be mad at you."
She gave a heavy sigh. "I really am sorry."

There were a few seconds as both ponies sat there, in the middle of the hallway, the only sound being Twinkle's deep sighing.
"I suppose that explains that" Comet Chaser eventually said, "More or less. Shall we see if we can find where they went to?"

There was a small noise from Twinkle, as she still leaned against him, her eyes closed. He gave a small cough and her eyes shot open, and she instantly went upright and began looking around.
"I... sorry, again. It's just... before everything I hadn't seen him since..." she looked him in the eyes and then looked down at her hooves, a small nervous smile on her face, "For a long time."

Then she nodded, "Yeah, let's try and find everypony else."
After roughly ten minutes of walking, they found everypony else in one of the smaller guest halls. Most of them were engaged in conversation, and gave no heed to the pair's entrance.


*****


The rest of the afternoon passed without incident, and indeed, most of the evening as well, as everypony went about either fine-tuning or re-checking preparations for the wedding, or just trying to relax. At diner, everypony ate in one of the castle lunchrooms, and due to a suspicious seating arrangement, Twilight and Comet Chaser happened to be placed directly across from each other, resulting once more in a lot of side-glances. Twinkle did briefly consider confronting Cadance about this, but the mare was busy talking with Princess Luna, and so she decided to hold off talking to the mare for the time being. Halfway through her main course, she noticed she'd been chewing the same piece of what had probably at some point been lettuce for the last several minutes. She stared at whatever it was she had ordered, which turned out to be a finely prepared salad, which in what was likely a total coincidence, was designed to look like a love heart. She stared at it for a few moments, still chewing, and then looked up. Everypony else was engaged in conversation. Whatever Pinkie Pie and Trixie were discussing seemed to require Pinkie Pie to make a lot of odd gestures. Rainbow Dash, for whatever reason, was busy talking about something. Or rather, Shining Armor was talking, and Rainbow Dash was listening, and evidently quite eagerly at that. Twinkle frowned, and slid off her seat, before quietly making her way out of the room.

Twilight, in the middle of a conversation with Luna, noticed the mare's exit, and frowned.
"Sorry, Princess Luna, but could you excuse me for a moment?"

Luna raised an eyebrow, her eyes darting toward the empty seat before she nodded. "Of course."
Twilight quickly made her way out of the room after the young mare. The mare's trail eventually lead her to a small balcony, one which looked out towards the lands beyond Canterlot. Twinkle didn't seem to notice her, so she gave a small cough. The mare jumped, and turned to look at her.

"Hey, Twilight" she said. Twilight walked over to the mare, and looked her in the eyes.
"Twilight, what's bothering you?"

The royal blue furred mare opened her mouth to say something, and Twilight held up a hoof.
"And don't say something isn't bothering you. Anypony who sighs her way through dinner, and then slopes off to go look over a balcony is clearly bothered by something."

There was a tiny hint of surprise on the mare's face as Twilight spoke. She looked up at the moon beginning to move over the sky.
"I'm fi-... I'm... I..." she trailed off, and looked down at her hooves.

"I got my dad back, I've got wings. I can teleport. I got rid of the Nightmare squatting in my soul. Today went without anypony getting hurt. Guess you could say I got almost everything I wanted..." there was a small noise from the mare, as she slouched forward.

Twilight looked at the mare and noticed she was beginning to tremble.
"I'm-..." she paused, before sighing. "I'm not fine. I'm not anywhere near 'fine'"

Twilight wrapped her leg around the mare, who just carried on trembling. "I was going to die. I was going to die, and my parents... they wouldn't ever know what happened to me. And I..." she suddenly broke off. There was another tiny noise from the mare, and Twilight held her closer. She wasn't entirely certain what to say. Then she felt Twinkle's wing moving over her back.

"Sorry" the mare said, "Haven't really figured these things out yet."
Twilight just felt the mare squeezing her closer.

"'m sorry" Twinkle added. Twilight tried to think of something reassuring to say. She couldn't. For a few moments the two just sat there. Then Twinkle spoke up again.
"You finished your speech for the wedding reception tomorrow?"

Twilight blinked, and bit her lip. "More or less."
"That's good. That's good."

There was another sniff from the eighteen year old. For a few seconds there was complete silence, save the distant sound of conversation coming from the dining hall.
"Twilight?" Twinkle eventually said.

"Yes?"
"What was in the message... 'you' put in my mind? I can't seem to figure out how to find it, and I was wondering if you... if you could tell me what it said."

There were a few seconds as neither said anything. Twilight frowned.
"I guessed you'd ask about that sooner or later. I wasn't really sure if I could remember all of it, but I wrote it down shortly after what happened, just in case I forgot..." her horn glowed, and in an instant a small scroll appeared. Twinkle looked at it, and slowly dragged the paper over toward her and opened it. She turned away from Twilight and began reading. For a few minutes there was utter silence. Then the scroll dropped to the ground.

"Twilight?" Twilight Sparkle found herself asking. Then in an instant the mare swivelled around, and Twilight found herself on the receiving end of a near-bone breaking hug.
"Twilight?" she repeated as she found her vision blurring. "Twilight?! Twilight?! ... Twinkie?! Can't breath!"

The young mare quickly slid off Twilight, a sheepish smile on her face. She raised a hoof, wiping a few tears out of her eyes.
"Thanks" she said quietly. Twilight just smiled back.

"If it's not too much to ask, I wouldn't mind some time to myself right now. I've got some things I need to think about."
Twilight nodded. "Of course." she turned to leave, and was just at the door when she heard the mare sigh, and whisper to herself.
"Thanks, mom."

She paused, and then saw the mare shuffle, her wings briefly ruffling, and then turned to head back toward the dining room.
Twilight Twinkle, meanwhile, stared up at the sky. She flapped her wings once more, and then a thought occurred to her. She looked over the edge of the balcony, and smiled. She crouched, and then leapt into the sky.


*****


Eventually, dinner wrapped up, and as the castle staff cleaned up the dishes, Princess Celestia was the first to speak.
"I suggest we all go to bed soon, rather than staying up through the night. We do have to get up early for this wedding, after all."

There were several blank stares, one of which was from Shining Armor.
"Or," she said, trying not to grin at the almost adorable looks on everypony's faces, "We could stay up until the early hours of the morning like we were having a slumber party."

"We could have been having a slumber party?!" Pinkie suddenly yelled. "WHY DID NOPONY TELL ME?!"
"Pinkie, don't take this personal, but please don't go yellin' in my face. Yer breath smells like cabbage right now." Applejack said calmly.

"Sorry, Applejack."
"I don't think anypony here is going to be getting any sleep tonight, aunt Celestia" Cadance said, glancing toward Shining Armor with a grin. The captain of the guard, on his part, just stared blankly.

"Nevertheless" Celestia said, looking like she was trying to resist the urge to facehoof. Nopony said anything. You just couldn't argue with a 'nevertheless'.

Reluctantly, and with a speed best described as 'glacial', everypony moved in the direction of their rooms, or in the case of a certain Princess and her betrothed, house. However, half an hour later, six of those ponies, and one baby dragon, gathered at Shining Armor's house to have a slumber party anyway, much to the guard captain's dismay, eventually resulting in the stallion heading out into the night to find somewhere devoid of giggling to get some rest. This had the unfortunate result of Shining Armor being supplied drugged coffee by some of his troops, who had been mysteriously supplied orders to make sure Shining Armor got to sleep and stayed asleep. It also resulted in the truly bizarre sight of several guardsponies trying to move their captain across the city in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle could not get any sleep. She sat on her bed, tossing and turning, and after what turned out to be all of half an hour's worth of furiously attempting to sleep, she decided to try and go for a walk.

Eventually, her wandering took her to the observation tower. She smiled in remembering the time she'd studied the night sky when she was ten with Princess Celestia, staying up all night trying to memorise every star in the sky, which, in hindsight she had admitted was not her greatest move. Her smile vanished as she noticed the pony sitting by the telescope. It had taken a second to notice the stallion due to his deep blue fur, though if she hadn't been trying to get to sleep she would've admitted the free-floating mane was a bit of a giveaway.

"What are you doing up here?" she asked. Comet Chaser looked up at her in surprise. He pointed a hoof at the telescope for a moment.
"Astronomer" he said. Twilight frowned.

"I couldn't sleep," he added, "Probably from all the caffeine (which does raise the question of just how much I've drunk tonight), so I figured I'd do some stargazing, see if that would help me get to sleep. What about you? What brings you up here at this time of night?"
"Couldn't get to sleep, decided to go for a w-... is that a sleeping bag you've got there?"

The stallion looked at the sleeping bag next to him. "Yeah. In case I get sleepy, because otherwise I'd have to trudge all the way back to my house, and by the time I'd get there I probably wouldn't get to sleep."
Twilight gave this some thought. "Okay" she eventually said, walking over toward the telescope. There were a few awkward seconds as both ponies looked at each other.

"I'm quite certain no day will ever match this one for sheer weirdness" the stallion frowned. Twilight looked at him. He stared back.
"I guess not."

The two ponies sat next to the telescope. He looked up at the stars. "Very beautiful night, isn't it?"
Twilight looked up. "Yes, very."

Seconds passed, as they both glanced nervously at each other. "Look, we're clearly both rational ponies, right? We both admit we're not required to fall in love or anything just because there's a version of our daughter from the future around, right?" Comet Chaser frowned.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, we both agreed to that. And we can both accept that we have similar interests. That's hardly a prelude to romance."
Comet Chaser nodded. "Of course."

Twilight frowned. "I think perhaps what's happening is easily explained. We're both feeling awkward, and perhaps... there is some form of..." she began blushing, which with her fur colour and the fact that there was only a tiny lamp nearby, was barely noticed, "But our lack of experience means we're both mistaking mutual embarrassment for some manner of infatuation."
"Perfectly plausible theory" the stallion nodded.

"So, now that we've established that we can look at the stars without any mistaken presumptions of romance, like mature, rational students of science."
"Indeed."

"Right away."
Both ponies leaned in toward the telescope, and then glowered at each other when their heads banged together.

"I'm going first" Twilight said.
"But I was here first!" Comet Chaser retorted.

"Which means you had your turn!"
"I'm not finished yet."

"You can wait for me to finish."
"Make me!"

There was a pause as Twilight yawned. "What time is it?"
"Half past one am."

There was an irritated sigh.
"You can go first" Twilight said, grudgingly.

"No, you."
"I insist."

"Ladies first."
"You wanted to use it!"


*****


Eventually, the night passed, and the sun began to rise. Twilight Twinkle opened her eyes, as the sun began to gently brush across her face. She lay there, smiling contently as she stared at the open window of her suite, watching the curtains billow. And then recollection came back to her, and her eyes went wide. With a yelp, she practically leapt to her hooves, her wings flapping in panic, followed by another yelp, before she stared at the wings.

"Oh yeah, wings" she said, shaking her head. She frowned, and tried to remember where everypony was. She looked at the clock. It was thirty seven minutes past seven. She frowned.
"Late!" she yelped. She focused, and with a flash and a small 'bloink' she vanished.

A second later she reappeared outside of Rarity's temporary workshop, and opened the door, and rushed in. Nopony was there. She shook her head, and frowned. Gears began to spin in her head as she tried to determine where everypony else was.
'Okay, not sure where they are, but... night before big wedding, big party, big dinner, they're probably all together. Rooms are too small to hold traditional slumber party, which knowing Pinkie she would try to throw, Cadance wants to get to know Twilight's friends, so...'

She gasped. "Shining Armor's house!"
She rushed out of the door to the gardens, and took to the air, her ability to teleport instantly forgotten in her rapid movement. She quickly made her way to Shining Armor's house and landed in front of the door. She paused as her wings folded back in, and after a few seconds trying to get her breathing under control, walked up to the door, and gently rang the doorbell.

Seconds passed. She frowned, and rang the doorbell again. There was more silence. She was aware of a small burning smell from her mane.
She slammed her hoof against the door. After a few seconds she heard several terrified yelps, and the door opened, as Rarity rushed past.

"LATE!" she yelled, as she ran down the streets of Canterlot, in her dressing gown. After a few seconds a mildly dishevelled group of ponies followed after.
"Should we go after her?" a bleary-eyed Trixie asked, a sleeping cap patterned with stars and moons covering her hair. A strangely boxer-short clad Rainbow Dash shook her head.

"No point."
"What time is it?" slurred a non-clothed Pinkie Pie.

"'bout quarter past seven" an already dressed (or undressed, in a sense) Applejack said, before staring at the clock she'd used as a reference. "Huh. Slept in."
"Where's Twilight?" Spike asked, as he stretched.

"Not sure" Twinkle shrugged, "Don't worry, she'll show up."
A cold bucket of water splashed over her not-yet woken mind as she looked about. She shook her head.

"Alright, since she's not here, we're gonna hafta wing it without the schedule and checklist. Everypony go get some breakfast."
There were nods and mumbles.

"Where's Cadance?"
"I'm already up" the mare called out from another room, "Breakfast will be just a minute."


*****


Meanwhile, Canterlot Castle was hit by the strangest security breach in several months, as a dressing-gown clad mare barrelled through the half-asleep guards as if they weren't there, screaming a strange battle cry that sounded amazingly like the word 'late' at very high volume.

On top of the fifth highest tower of Canterlot Castle, Twilight Sparkle's eyes opened. Then she blinked as she stared at the odd sight in front of her, which was that of the deep blue coloured neck of a curled up stallion. To her utter mounting horror she found her forelimbs were wrapped around him.

In an instant, and without actually appearing to move she was on her hooves. She was vaguely aware of a blanket falling off her, and the distant sound of what sounded incredibly like Rarity yelling the word 'late'. Next to her, the slumbering Comet Chaser stirred, stood up, and yawned. Then he saw Twilight's brute force Stare.

"Yes?" he said quietly. Twilight frowned, and then was aware of the torn sleeping bag beneath her hooves. Her memories were strangely fuzzy on what had happened last night, but from the embarrassed look on his face, and the warm feeling on her own cheeks, she was formulating an idea.
"We didn't-" he quickly blurted.

"No," Twilight said, "But it doesn't matter. Anyway, gotta go. Late."
Her horn began to glow, and then she glanced at him again.

"Thanks for letting me use your sleeping bag" she said, before she vanished. He stared at the torn sleeping bag and sighed.
"Anytime, I guess."


*****


Breakfast at the Armor house was interrupted by the appearance of a manic Twilight Sparkle, who glanced around wildly before seeing everypony.
"Oh, good. Everypony's here" she said, before glancing around, "Except Shining Armor and Rarity."

"Shining went somewhere last night in the middle of the slumber party" Cadance informed her, "and Rarity ran off when she woke up. Now, why don't you sit down and have some breakfast. We have plenty of time."
Twinkle blinked for a moment. "We... what?"

"Well," Cadance smiled, "the wedding isn't going to go anywhere just because we have some breakfast, since I'm guessing we'll probably have to skip lunch."
"Lunch and mid-afternoon snacks" Pinkie Pie stated.

Twilight frowned. "Not important. Need to know where Shining Armor is."
"Twilight" Cadance said calmly, "Sit down and have some breakfast. I am fairly certain Shining is alright."


*****


Shining Armor found painful consciousness coming to him. He blearily opened his eyes, and was up with a shot when he realised the bed wasn't his. Then he noticed the guard standing there staring straight ahead.
"Big Lug?"

"Sir" the bulky pegasus rumbled.
"Where am I?"

"Guest room, sir."
"Can I get past?"

The red-eyed stallion paused as his brain slowly began to work.
"Under orders not to let Shining Armor leave this room, sir."

"From who, Big Lug?"
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, sir" the soldier said. That settled it. He wouldn't be able to countermand an order from both Princesses, not with Big Lug standing guard.


*****


After an admittedly hurried breakfast, Twilight quickly summoned all her energy, and spoke with a natural energy.
"Alright, everypony, all we need to do is find Shining Armor, and then we can get underway."
There were a few cheers from everypony, at which point they began filing out. As Cadance and Twinkle walked past the doorway, Twinkle looked at the mare.

"Cadance, can I ask you something?"
"Of course" the mare smiled. Twinkle leaned in close.

"I know your talent is spreading and fostering love but... stay out of Twilight's love life."
Cadance's expression was the picture of innocence.

"I don't know what you mean."
"Cadance..." Twinkle said sternly. The mare gave a small smile.

"Alright, I won't."
"I mean it."

"Cadance, Twinkle, come on! We're burning precious daylight!" Twilight yelled from the front door. The two mares exchanged looks, at which point Cadance grinned a grin that was the exact sort of grin that spread to others. The two mares made their way toward the door.

"Oh, wait!" the mare exclaimed, as she passed the threshold, before rushing toward the stairs leading to the bedroom, soon rushing down with a gently folded uniform held in her magic.


*****


Rarity sighed. The guards had seemed totally willing to keep her inside once she'd made it clear she wasn't some terrifying, silk-clad ninja assassin berserker, and once Princess Luna had calmly informed them she was in fact one of the bridesmaids. She was calmly taking a drink of tea, helpfully supplied to her by one of the guards once the situation had been cleared when one of the doors slammed open.

"Rarity!" a tiny voice squeaked. To her credit, Rarity scarcely blinked an eyelid at the sudden entrance of Sweetie Belle and her friends.
"Good morning Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo. What brings you here?"

"We just wanted to say 'hi'" Sweetie Belle smiled, "Y'know, before the wedding. Which we're helping with."
"I remember. However, Sweetie Belle, I would like a bit of calm to finish my tea before my friends arrive"

Sweetie Belle turned to her friends. "Can we help?"
Rarity sighed, and her horn glowed. Three tiny dresses floated toward the fillies. "You can help by getting ready."

Three sets of eyes fixed Rarity with sceptical looks, before they marched off toward one of the changing rooms.
"Don't worry, I'm sure if your help is required you'll be asked. They also serve those who stand and wait, after all."


*****


Shortly thereafter, the small assemblage of ponies (and one dragon) arrived at Rarity's workshop, minus Twilight, who'd gone to deliver Shining Armor's suit to him, and with the additional presence of Lyra, Minuette and Twinkleshine, which caused Rarity's face to briefly twitch, before she smiled wildly.

"Okay, Fluttershy, you're first" the mare said. Fluttershy looked around.
"I am?"

"Yes. You are the one providing the wedding march, after all."
"Oh, yes, of course. I forgot."

In an instant the mare was being gently nudged toward one of the spare changing screens. Then she turned to everypony else.
"Please, don't wait for me," she smiled, "everypony find your dresses. Princess Cadance, I would ask that you wait for everypony else to get dresses, of course. And if certain ponies - Rainbow Dash - would refrain from being difficult, we can get through this without any difficulty."

There was a pop and a flash, as Twilight appeared in the room, smiling. "Okay, Shining Armor's uniform has been supplied, one thing off the list."
Twilight suddenly found herself grabbed by Rarity and dragged over to toward one of the screens before she had a chance to react.


*****


Elsewhere, Comet Chaser was wandering down one of the corridors of the castle, carrying his still-torn sleeping bag. As he progressed down one corridor he found his way barred by several almost-intrigued guardsponies who stared at him with suspicious eyes. He tried to press his way past them, finding himself nervously smiling. Once on the other side he found his pace increasing by the second, occasionally glancing backward to make sure none of them were glancing at him, which did mean he didn't notice when he collided with the two ponies walking the other way.

"Sorry" he said, "Didn't see where I was going."
Then he saw the two ponies staring at him, a stallion with a dark blue coat, though not as dark as his, and a mare who made his heart practically stop in shock. This might have been because she looked almost exactly like Twilight Sparkle, only older and with a different colour coat and mane.

"You again" the mare said.
"Me?" Comet Chaser asked, his mind temporarily having stepped outside to get some air.

"From yesterday. You were with our daughter, and-..." the mare's mouth suddenly clenched shut. She turned to look at her husband, who raised an eyebrow, and nodded.
"So, you're what, exactly?" Twilight Velvet asked, "Her father?"

Comet Chaser suddenly found himself thinking of himself being dragged to a chopping block. There was something about the combined stare from both ponies that made him feel compelled to answer.
"Yes'm."

The mare just nodded for a few moments. "So, are you attending the wedding?"
Comet Chaser blinked. "No."

The stallion raised an eyebrow. The mare meanwhile just gave an odd smile. "No? Oh, dear. So, you and my daughter, how long have you two known each other?"
"Twenty four hours?"

Twilight Velvet raised another eyebrow, and turned to look at her husband, before tuting. "Well, that just won't do" she said, "Let's see if we can't find something for you to wear."

Comet Chaser opened his mouth to object, but something in the mare's eyes convinced him that talking back would doubtless result in some brand of horror only a parent could devise. He began to follow the two ponies back toward the throng of guards.


*****


"Okay," Twilight beamed, "Dresses?"
"Check" Twinkle beamed.

"Flower girls?"
"Triple check" Twinkle ignored Twilight's glower, and tried not to smirk at the enthusiastic salutes from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

"Bird choir?"
"Almost there" Fluttershy smiled.

"Bridesmaids?"
"All seven of them, present and correct" Twinkle said, glancing toward the gathering of ponies. Lyra and Bon-Bon were still kissing each other goodbye, as the confectioner proved reluctant to let her marefriend out of her sight.

"Maid of honor?"
Twinkle gave Twilight the most deadpan stare she could manage, resisting the urge to nudge part of her mane, which had been curled to within an inch of it's life by Rarity, and the deep blue dress she was wearing.

"Princess Luna?" Twinkle looked about. There was no Princess Luna to be seen.
"Princess Luna?" she repeated. Silence answered. Twinkle sighed.

"Has anypony seen Princess Luna today?" there was still no response, "Alright, we'll just leave that unchecked for the moment."

"Bride?"
"I'm here" Cadance said, as Rarity performed some last minute adjustments to her dress.

"Boquet?"
"Yeah" Cadance said, lifting the bunch of flowers.

"Somethings old, borrowed, new and blue?"
There were a few seconds before Cadance nodded.

Both Twilights examined the checklist.
"That everything?" Twinkle asked. Spike nodded.

"That's everything."
"Almost everything" Twinkle noted, to which Twilight stared at her again. Twilight glanced at the clock.

"And that's twenty-three minutes past twelve, everypony. Not bad." she allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction.
"Now all we need to do is double-check the groom-side checklist" Twinkle sighed. She turned to look at Twilight, and the two nodded. There was a flash and a pop, and the two mares vanished out of thin air.

A few seconds later there was the sound of hoofsteps, and the door to Rarity's workshop smashed open once more, to which Rarity gave an annoyed sigh as Princess Luna entered.
"Apologies, my niece. I have no excuse for my lateness."

Cadance just smiled. "It's alright, aunt Luna. You aren't actually late yet."


*****


Twilight's checking off the checklist for Shining Armor's side of the wedding was ruined by the fact that firstly she'd seen Comet Chaser wearing what looked like a suit, which had caused Twinkle to raise an eyebrow. Not helping the matter was that Shining Armor, alongside Twilight Velvet and Night Light had foreseen Twilight's arrival, and already made and completed a checklist.

"Oh" Twilight said, trying not to let her disappointment show and failing, "Alright then."
Her glance moved to Comet Chaser and she leaned in toward her mother. "What's he doing in here?"

"Isn't he your friend?" Twilight Velvet asked, with about as much forced innocence as she could muster. Twilight just bit her lip and turned to look at Twinkle, who was trying not to grin.
"Okay, we can skip the groom-side checklist, then."

She turned to look at Shining Armor and smiled, before hugging her brother. "See you there."
"See you there, Twily."


*****


Twilight Twinkle looked around the room, and at the many ponies beginning to fill into the room. She tried not to smirk as she saw her 'father' standing near Twilight Velvet and Night Light. She looked over toward Rarity and Applejack, who were engaged in a whispered debate over Applejack wearing her hat. Trixie, meanwhile, was standing in the audience, sans her own hat, which she had argued bitterly over for all of a few minutes. She was standing next to Bon-Bon, who was waving to Lyra, who was grinning like there was no tomorrow. A thought occurred to Twinkle, and she briefly shuffled over toward Celestia.

"Hey, Princess" she whispered. The mare glanced at her.
"What is it, Twilight Twinkle?"

"Well, it's just, I know you, I know how you think, so can I just ask that..."
"Yes?" Celestia asked.

"Please, please resist the temptation to announce the bride and groom 'Mare and colt'."
Celestia's mouth twitched slightly, but she nodded. Twinkle stared at her.

"I have your word?"
Celestia nodded. Twinkle smiled, and then shuffled back toward Rarity, who looked at her.

"Problem?" the mare asked. Twinkle just smiled.
"No, no problem. Just dealing with a last minute issue."

"Oh, good." Rarity said.
Twinkle took a deep breath, and glanced over toward Twilight, who was staring straight ahead, and then looked over toward Shining Armor, and then noted the fact that his uniform was noticeably disarrayed. Then she saw Twilight glancing over toward Shining Armor, followed by adjusting his shirt, and smiling at him.

She gave another sigh, and looked out at the crowd, as it finally finished filing in. A hush slowly settled over the crowd as everypony seemed to realise as one that the doors had closed. Twilight nudged the headband around her mane for an instant.

Then, she heard the several dozen birds sitting on the balcony overlooking the hall began to sing as one. The doors opened, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders began skipping their way down the carpet, followed by Princess Luna leading Cadance, looking as solemn as possible (but with a hint that she was desperately trying to resist the urge to smile her heart out). Cadance's mane had been touched up, and had several white roses carefully placed in it. Twinkle couldn't help but notice Cadance's train, which in addition to being extremely long was being held by birds. She resisted the urge to shake her head. Then she was aware of a whispered conversation between Twilight and Shining Armor, followed by several quiet sniffs from Rarity.

The wedding march ended as Cadance arrived at the steps, and stood next to Shining Armor, smiling warmly, as both Twilights moved into position, and Luna moved to stand beside Twinkle, still trying not to grin, thought Twinkle was certain she heard the mare squeak.
"Mares and gentlecolts," Princess Celestia spoke out, "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of the real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza."

"Princess Cadance is just fine" Cadance laughed. Princess Celestia made a small noise in response, then smiled.
"The union of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. The strength of their commitment is clear. The power of their love, undeniable."

She looked to Spike, who was sitting by her with a small cushion carrying both rings.
"May we have the rings please?"

Spike stood up, and the two rings were wrapped in Princess Celestia's aura.
"I now pronounce you mare, and stallion" she declared, as she placed the rings over their horns. In an instant, there was a massive explosion of cheers, so much so that Twinkle could not hear herself cheering, much less Luna's own spirited efforts, and the ground seemed to shake at the hoofs of everypony's stamping, as Shining Armor and Cadance moved out onto the balcony overlooking a massive crowd assembled outside the palace, at which point the cheering managed to increase a thousand fold, even as the gathering of bridesmaids and groomsponies gathered to see the couple waving. Twinkle nudged Pinkie Pie.

"Tissue" she whispered. Pinkie Pie nodded, and produced a small box from her mane. Twinkle's horn glowed, and she lifted a tissue up and began dabbing at her eyes. Princess Celestia walked over to them, smiling in the manner of a proud parent, and looked to the group.

"This is as much your victory as it is theirs" she said. Anything further was cut off by Twinkle.
"Shush, you. Just be silent and enjoy the moment."

The monarch of the sun raised an eyebrow, before giving a wry smile. Then, as Shining Armor and Cadance kissed once more, she leaned over toward Rainbow Dash.

"That's your cue" she whispered. Recognition and joy flashed across the mare's face, just before she took to the air, quickly disappearing into the skyline, until seconds later there was a massive explosion of light and sound. For an instant, the crowd was temporarily silence by the sight. And then they went right back to cheering, although they seemed louder than before, as if energized by the sight.


*****


For whatever reason, by the time it took to get everypony gathered at the gardens where the reception was being held, the sun was setting. At the main table, seated next to Cadance, Twinkle noticed that Comet Chaser was sitting at the same table as Trixie, Bon-Bon and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She also noticed several Wonderbolts in attendance, along with Fancy Pants and his wife, and Octavia sitting near her own band, all of who were looking uneasily toward Vinyl Scratch's amplifiers, though Octavia didn't look so much uneasy as anticipatory. She looked down the long table toward Twilight, who was sitting next to Shining Armor and found herself waving. After a while, everypony began clamouring for a speech, to which Shining Armor stood up.

"Thank you, everypony, thank you. I know you're probably expecting me to make some speech. Sorry about that" there was a sudden roar of 'awws' as Shining Armor looked to Cadance, "But... I don't really think I could ever do a speech justice, so instead I'm going to be a total jerk and force my little sister to read her speech instead."

There were a few laughs, and an odd number of hisses, at that as Twilight Sparkle stood up, lifting a small speech. Twinkle thanks whatever deity was listening, even all the way to the Creator Herself, that Rarity and Pinkie Pie had been there to 'suggest' where it was an idea to trim her speech.

"Thanks for that, big brother" Twilight sighed, "Very brotherly of you."
She coughed, and shuffled her notes.

"Shining Armor. Cadance. You two are... the first friends I ever made, and it's been incredible knowing you two, it has. Just absolutely incredible. You have helped so many of us, and so often for so long. I doubt even half of us would be here today were it not for you two. You've helped guide us, nurture us, teach and defend us. You've always been there, just when we needed you, and... I think it's fair to say, without any sense of hyperbole, that you two are the best friends any of us could ever possibly ask for." There was a loud 'woo' from Rainbow Dash.
"And that you two are the best family anypony could ever ask for. I love you both. We all do. And we always will."

Twilight sat down again, and almost immediately there was an outburst of cheers. Then everypony looked toward Twinkle, who smiled nervously as she stood up.
"Now, I can't really compete with that" she said, "But, I might as well read this thing anyway."

She cleared her throat, and took a deep breath, before smiling toward Cadance and Shining Armor.

"I do agree with Twilight. You two. You two are an inspiration, to all of us, to everypony. Just... I have seen miracles, and horrors, and gods and monsters and everything in-between. I have spent my life in the company of the most magnificent ponies who will ever live, and you two outshine all of them. You do. There is, and I am willing to go out on a wing here, since I have one now, no love, anywhere as pure, and - and true, and wonderful and simply honest as the love you two have for one another."

She paused, and was mildly disconcerted to find herself thinking of Shining Sapphire.

"Princess Mia Amore Cadance. Shining Armor. Aunt. Uncle. Brother. Sister. Son. Daughter. Mother. Father. Friend. You have been our consciences. You have been our voices of reason. You've protected us in the darkest of nights, and helped make the brightest of days. And more than anypony, you two deserve to be together, and to be happy together. And on behalf of all of us, and for those who cannot be here, and those who are yet to be, I wish you the happiest of ever afters."

She smiled warmly at Cadance and Shining Armor, both of whom had a look of barely controlled shock, seconds before the first 'hear, hear'.

Once that was done, and the cheering stopped, there was the cake, which was ceremonially cut, followed by the dancing. Octavia and her group readily supplied the appropriate music for Shining Armor and Cadance to dance to.

Then Twilight turned to Pinkie and nodded. The mare grinned, and rushed over toward Vinyl's amplifiers. Twinkle looked over toward Luna, whose expression shifted to exasperation as Pinkie yelled out.
"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

There was the sudden sound of music starting up, and a microphone was hurled toward Twilight. The mare grinned and smiled as she began to sing, and everypony else began to dance along. As the music began, Twinkle felt a fear gripping her soul that she would be unable to forget the tune.

She would later turn out to be right.


"Love is in bloom
A beautiful bride, a handsome groom,
Two hearts becoming one
A bond that cannot be undone,

because love is in bloom
A beautiful bride, a handsome groom"


Twinkle found herself rapidly beginning to dance alongside everypony else, and quickly became caught up in the beat, along with everypony else. She didn't even notice as she began to laugh with joy.

Lyra and Bon-Bon danced together, each holding on to one another as they did, both keeping incredibly close.

Rainbow Dash danced alongside several of the Wonderbolts, spending at least twenty minutes alongside Soarin', the Wonderbolts second officer wearing dress uniform instead of the group's usual flight outfits.

Applejack kept near her relatives for most of the night, at point managing to acquire a fiddle, or a violin, and playing it alongside her family.

Pinkie Pie practically demolished the spare cake (made by Pinkie Pie in case of cake emergency).

Twinkle found herself dancing alongside first Shining Armor, and then Cadance, both of whom asked what she'd meant by the appropriate remarks re 'mother' and 'father', to which she'd just kept silent.


*****


"Aren't you going to dance?" Comet Chaser asked the mare sitting across from him, as she sipped from a martini glass.
"Non, not yet. Trixie is not properly inebriated yet for dancing."

He nodded, not quite sure what the mare meant, barely able to hear his own thoughts over the sound of the music. In the crowd he saw Twilight gently bobbing along to the music, a broad smile across his face. For the briefest second, he considered rushing out and offering to dance with her, and then stalled. A dozen fearful possibilities rushed into his mind.

Trixie, meanwhile, slouched off in search of drink, leaving Comet Chaser to think as he saw Twilight Twinkle doing a strange dance alongside the purple unicorn. He sighed.

"A tricky decision you must make," a strangely accented voice behind him said, "As to which path you might take."
He turned to see the owner of the mystery voice, and saw a smiling zebra mare, calmly sitting in a rather casual dress, just looking straight at him. Her eyes seemed to be boring straight through to the centre of him. He blinked, not certain whether she'd been there the last time he'd looked, or at all.

"Yeah, I get it. Dance with her or don't. But... I don't know which way I should..." he frowned, and then looked at the zebra, who simply smiled.
"The choice then is simple, stranger. Take the risk and bide the danger, or wonder till it drives you mad, what could've happened, if you had..."

He sighed, turning to look at Twilight Sparkle again. "That easy a choice, huh? Got any advi-" he stopped as he turned to see the zebra was gone. He stared at the scene for a moment.

"Of course she vanishes, don't know why you're surprised, Comet Chaser."
He sat there for a moment, listening to the sound of the song.


"I said love is in bloom"


He stared down at his hooves. What had he done with his life? The same as every other member of his house. Stayed at home, played it safe, never got in the way of history. An old agreement made over a thousand years ago. And all he wanted to do was just have one dance with a mare. If it worked out, that was great, if it didn't, no big loss, he could live with it.

He clenched his jaw, and slowly got off the seat, and standing straight, made his way toward Twilight Sparkle. The mare didn't notice his approach, being too into the singing to see him. He reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to look at him, her smile flickering as she did.
"Yes?"

"I was wondering... Miss Twilight Sparkle, would you care to dance with me?"
The mare's eyes went wide, and he was fairly certain he could hear the fashion-designer one hissing 'say yes, you idiot' over the noise of the music.

Twilight Sparkle stared for a moment, before a small grin overtook her face. "Well, under normal circumstances, I'd probably decline, but... after everything that's happened, I suppose I might agree to one dance. One."
He nodded, and smiled, "Shall we?"

As they walked into the group of dancing ponies, he noticed the sheepish, and incredibly adorable grin on Twilight's face, "I should warn you, apparently I don't really know how to dance."
"Neither do I" he smiled. Twilight stared at him for a moment.

"I guess we can figure out what we're doing wrong pretty quickly."
He laughed. "I'm sure we will."


*****


Twinkle and Rarity both sat down to watch the ponies dancing. Rarity looked over at Twinkle.
"Enjoying yourself?"

Twinkle nodded. "Yeah. I am, actually"
Suddenly a certain regal pony made her presence at the table known.

"I've never been one for dancing" Celestia smiled, "Luna's usually been the dancer of the two of us."
Twinkle grinned, "You surprised me."

"Princess Celestia," Rarity said, "Would you like me to see if I can find some tea for you?"
For a second the diarch considered this, then shook her head.

"Oh, no thank you, Rarity. But if you could find some red wine, I'd be incredibly grateful."
With that the mare quickly rushed off, returning a few minutes later with a small glass of red wine. As she handed it over to the Princess, her eyes fell upon Twilight Twinkle.

"Is there something wrong?" Rarity asked. The mare blinked.
"What do you mean?"

"You look like you have something on your mind."
Twinkle frowned, and realised what she was thinking about. A certain pink-furred, blue-maned pony, and a certain golden-brown, blue-eyed stallion beside her.

"I guess" she sighed.
"What is it?" Fluttershy suddenly asked. Twinkle stared at her.

"How long have you been there?"
"A few seconds. I probably should have announced myself" the pegasus said.

"Just thinking about something I need to do."
"Don't keep it a secret now" Rarity sighed superciliously.

"It's... back in my darkest hour, there was a pony who risked their life to try and save me. I owe it to that pony to return the favour."
There were a few seconds as the three ponies looked at her. "So, you're leaving?" Fluttershy asked. Twinkle gave this some thought and then smiled at Fluttershy for a moment.

"Not yet, Fluttershy, not just yet. Still got plenty more dancing to do."
Then she saw the noticeable grin on Celestia's face. "What?"

The Princess nodded toward the crowd, and after a few seconds, Twinkle saw what she was indicating. Twilight Sparkle and Comet Chaser's truly unique method of dancing, which was gathering more than a few looks. However, despite all the oddness, there was something genuinely sweet about the smiles both ponies had on their faces, even if they didn't seem to have a clue how to dance between them.
"I think when we get back to Ponyville," Rarity said, "I'm going to 'suggest' Twilight get some dancing lessons."


*****


The two spent ponies slumped onto the nearest chairs they could find. The garland of Twilight's dress was beginning to slump and her mane was beginning to reassert it's natural shape, and both ponies were incredibly out of breath, but they were still smiling.
"That was interesting" Twilight said. Comet Chaser just nodded.

"Definitely was."
"We should do that again in a few minutes" she grinned. His eyes went wide.

"Let me get my breath back first, at least."
Twilight just smiled at him. After a few seconds he looked at her.

"What?"
"Just thinking" Twilight said. As she thought, she found herself comprehensively ignoring all her apprehensions about dancing with the stallion. And then she found a part of her thinking, most emphatically, 'good!'

Then a different thought came into her mind, one which didn't seem to have any logistical origin or motive, but still seemed like a good thing to say. She raised a hoof and tapped the dark blue stallion on the nose.
"Face it, tiger" she grinned, "You just hit the jackpot."

She leaned in closer toward him. After a few seconds some part of him that was still working realised what she was doing.


*****


Cadance, in the middle of dancing with Shining Armor, felt a sudden jolt to her, and began looking about the crowd. When she saw the sight in the small corner of the gardens, she couldn't help but grin broadly.

"What is it?" her husband asked. Then she felt her joy increase. She was married to Shining Armor. Married. Her. To Shining Armor. At long last. And for the fifty-seventh time that night, she chose to express this joy immediately. And this did keep Shining Armor from noticing what his little sister was getting up to, which was probably for the best as well.

"I love you" she whispered.
"I love you too, Cadance" Shining Armor responded, smiling like a school-colt on Hearth's Warming Eve.


*****


The night continued, the dancing continued, though strangely enough, Rainbow Dash seemed to quit for a while, taking to fuming and sitting next to Rarity for several minutes, talking at length on something Twinkle couldn't hear, not that she was trying to, at any rate. She soon re-joined the dancing when Soarin' reappeared, though evidently with some reluctance at first. Then, eventually, an ornate golden carriage appeared, and Cadance and Shining Armor both looked towards it. Everypony gathered round as the varied bridesmaids gathered (save, Twinkle noted, Rarity). Twilight stood next to Twinkle, nervously adjusting her garland as if she'd been caught with her hoof in a cookie jar, before rushing over to Shining Armor. The two talked, and then Cadance motioned for Twinkle. She quickly walked over to the mare, and suddenly found herself being embraced by the mare.

"Thank you, Twilight Twinkle. It's been wonderful knowing you," she said, her smile changing, "But I can't help but feel like I won't see you again."
Twinkle gave a sad smile, "You never know, aunt Cady. And besides, you of all ponies should know you don't really need to see a pony, to remember them."

Cadance nodded, before smiling again, "You know, normally I'm the one being sappy."
"I learnt from the best."

Cadance laughed, and then kissed Twinkle, before leaping into the carriage, an effect undone by the sheer mileage of her train. Twinkle took a step back, re-joining her friends, just in time to see Cadance throw the bouquet. She saw it head towards Lyra, Minuette and Twinkleshine, before there was a loud yell.

"IT'S MINE!" Rarity roared as she shoved the three mares out of the way. They glowered at her as she laughed nervously, still holding the bouquet. Then the carriage departed, carrying Shining Armor and Cadance.
Twilight sighed. "Now this, was a great wedding."

There was a general chorus of agreements as they stood there. Then Pinkie Pie smiled.
"Hey, the party's not over yet, you guys!" and with that, she turned and rushed back toward the throng, the others following her. Twinkle lingered, looking toward the departing carriage in the very far distance. She looked back toward the party, and after a moment's consideration, smiled and walked back towards it.

Pinkie was right, after all. The party wasn't over just yet.


*****


And that was that for the grand story of Twilight Twinkle's adventures messing around with causality, at the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance.
Which meant of course, it was time for me to go home, where my future, and whatever it contained, awaited me.