//------------------------------//
// The Support of Parents 
// Story: The Canterlot Healing Process 
// by twilightsparkle3562 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 3

"The Support of Parents"

While her friends were at the castle and her brother was overseeing the repairs to Canterlot, Twilight and Spike were at her former home helping Twilight's parents clean their house up after the invasion. The house wasn't damaged very much, but much to the chagrin of Twilight's father, Night Light, the changelings had damaged his prized garden. Aside from that, there was no harm done to the Sparkle household. 

After a long day of cleaning, Twilight, Spike and her parents went into the living room before Twilight was to leave for Shining Armor's house. During the time Twilight was over with her parents, she had still not told them about what had happened at the wedding rehearsal a few days earlier. Now, the time was right for Twilight to tell them the truth, however, Twilight Velvet and Night Light had somewhat suspected that something was amiss when their daughter was not at the first wedding.

"Twilight," said Twilight Velvet, who was concerned that her daughter was not at the wedding. "There is something your father and I were meaning to ask you in regards to why you were not at the initial wedding ceremony. Did something happen to make you not want to come?"

"We just want to see if you were all right," added Night Light, who joined them on the sofa.  "It was not like you to miss something as important as your own brother's wedding."

Twilight knew that she had to tell her parents the truth, as much as it was going to hurt for all of them.  

"As a matter of fact," said Twilight Sparkle, who took an enormous gulp before speaking. "Something did happen at the wedding rehearsal the day before that resulted in me not being at the initial ceremony."

"What happened?" asked Twilight Velvet, who was now starting to become concerned for her youngest child.  "Please tell us, Twilight."

"Yes," added Night Light, who was just as concerned for Twilight as much as his wife was.  "We need you to tell us."

Taking another enormous gulp, Twilight told her parents the actual truth, not knowing how they were going to initially react.

"Well," explained Twilight, trying to hold back tears. "You eventually saw that 'Cadence' was really the Changeling Queen in disguise and I tried to warn Shining Armor that something was wrong with 'Cadence' and that she was not who she really was. I must have acted really foolish because I barged into the wedding rehearsal and called her 'evil' without any proof or evidence to begin with."

At that moment, small tears began to fall from Twilight's eyes. Twilight Velvet used her magic to give her daughter a handkerchief and Twilight used it to dry her eyes.  The pain of what happened at the rehearsal was beginning to show in Twilight's eyes and her parents knew it.

"It's okay, Twilight," she said, pulling her daughter towards her. "We're here for you. Go on."

"Well," sniffled Twilight, starting to choke up even further. "He went on to say that the wedding wasn't important to me and that he told me to forget about being his Best Mare and that I shouldn't even show up to the wedding at all."

At that moment, Twilight laid her head on her mother's shoulder and sobbed heavily as her father wrapped his hoof around her neck.  This was something that had never happened before in their family and the parents were shocked and disgusted by what had happened to Twilight.

"Oh, my little girl," cooed Twilight Velvet, as she hugged her daughter tightly. "Don't cry, it's okay.  We are so sorry for you."

"We are going to be here for you, my child," whispered Night Light, joining his wife in consoling their daughter. "We always will be here for you."

"I was only trying to protect my brother from an evil monster disguised as my foal sitter," sobbed Twilight. "Not trying to ruin his wedding in any way. I love him and that I would never live with myself if he made such a foolish mistake. I've known Cadence since I was a little filly and even if she would get stressed out, she would never take her anger and frustration out on us or anyone for that matter, even if it was pre-wedding stress, she would never do that. The only one being evil was the Changeling Queen as the fake Cadence and the real Cadence would handle anything with grace and dignity, even her own wedding."

Spike was also beginning to feel for his friend.  After all, he also walked out on Twilight with the others and this was a moment that he was starting to regret greatly.  He was her number one assistant and friend and to walk out on her was the biggest mistake of his young life.

"I know how you feel Twilight," said Spike, his scales drooping at the sight of his best friend crying in her mother's arms. "I should have been there for you instead of walking out with the others."

"No, Spike," said Twilight, facing her assistant with her eyes wet with tears. "You did the right thing by leaving me alone in the wedding hall."

"How could you say that, Twilight?" gasped Spike, shocked by what his friend had just said to him. "I'm your number one assistant and I swore to be there by your side no matter what. Instead, I left with your friends because I was scared that I would be treated horribly like you and be considered a traitor in the wedding party."

"It's okay, Spike," said Twilight, placing her hoof on his head as she sat there taking in ragged breaths. "It was not your fault. You were and are still going to be my number one assistant regardless of what happened."

Although reassured by his friend's words, Spike still could not help but feel guilty for what he did to his best friend when she needed him the most. Instead, all he thought about was the bachelor party that he was planning for Shining Armor.

"I can't believe Shining Armor would do this to you, Twilight," said Night Light, who now had a hint of disgust in his voice. "I thought I taught him once that two wrongs never make a right and the words he said to you were quite possibly the meanest so far. He should be ashamed of himself for what he did to you and our family."

But, Twilight was not willing to let her brother take the fall for what had happened.  As much as it hurt, Shining Armor was not to initially blame for what had happened.  It was Chrysalis and her changeling hoard.  Nevertheless, what Shining Armor had done to his only sister was very unforgiveable.

"Don't be too hard on him, Dad," replied Twilight, lightly sobbing trying to protect the colt who kicked her out of the wedding. "It wasn't his fault. He was fooled like everyone else."

Night Light knew that Twilight did not want him to go bananas on Shining Armor, regardless of what had happened at the rehearsal.  As much as he wanted to give him a piece of his mind, he couldn't do it for the sake of his daughter.  He didn't want her to be in much pain as she already was in.

"That doesn't matter my daughter," said Twilight Velvet, bringing Twilight back to her for another embrace. "You know how important it is to your father and me that you would be your brother's Best Mare. Nothing would make us happier than to see both of you standing at the altar awaiting Cadence to come walking down the aisle towards becoming a member of our family."

"Well, can I at least talk to him myself?" asked Twilight. "Before I came over, he asked me to see him and Cadence tonight at his house to talk to me about something important. It's the first time since the invasion that we have seen each other and I don't know how things are going to work out between us."

"Well, just remember," said Night Light, once again letting her daughter go from her embrace. "You have the support of your mother and me if things don't work out. We both love you and your brother and that the wedding is the most important event in the history of this family.  But, I want you to know that if Shining Armor doesn't let you back in his own wedding as Best Mare, your mother and I will force him to reinstate you."

"Well, I should be going now," said Twilight, calming down as she got up from the sofa and turning her attention to Spike. "Spike, can you stay here and help my folks continue to clean up the mess the changelings made?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said, saluting his friend and Twilight walked to the door where she hugged her parents and started to make her way towards Shining Armor's house with her assistant and her parents watching from the front door.

"I just hope Shining Armor understands what he had done," whispered Twilight Velvet, who then looked towards her husband.  "This isn't like him at all."

"Don't worry," he replied, still wanting to teach his son a lesson.  "Knowing our daughter, I think he will realize what he did soon enough."

There was no looking back now for Twilight, she was going to reconcile with her BBBFF and was not sure how everything was going to turn out. But, it would only be a matter of time now before the critical part of the healing process would take place that would repair the symbolism of what the Canterlot Royal Wedding was supposed to be.