Octavia took her first step down the aisle. This was it, this was the wedding. Part of her wanted to just stand there for a moment and take it all in. She couldn’t believe all of these ponies were here for her and Concerto, and all the trouble that six ponies in particular had gone to make this day happen.
Delicious smells wafted past her nose. The Cakes had more than outdone themselves, and apparently somepony else had as well. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were standing on either side of an impressive buffet that spanned three tables. A dozen more tables were piled high with various apple-infused treats.
There must’ve been more deserts here than guests, and certainly more than enough wedding cake for everypony to have seconds. The wedding cake looked even better than she remembered; layer upon layer of white icing, ribbon, and musical notes made of frosting. Two miniature ponies made of sculpted sugar stood at the summit of the cake, the greatest testament of all to the Cake’s culinary skills.
She couldn’t stare at the cake. Not now. The real sight to see was down the aisle in front of her. Concerto, the stallion of her dreams, was waiting at the front next to his father. Princess Twilight was standing on the stage just beyond him. From here it almost looked like her eyes were closed, which was probably just a trick of the light.
A few steps were all it took to bring her and Concerto nose to nose. The wait was almost over; one quick ceremony and they’d officially start their life together. For a moment her eyes only saw his smiling face. Her ears told her something else entirely. The distinct sound of teeth chattering was overtaking the wedding music.
She glanced over and saw Fluttershy standing nearby. The best mare’s dress really did look good on her, although nopony in the audience would be able to tell if she kept shaking so much.
Concerto noticed too and whispered to her. “Fluttershy, are you okay?”
“I’m… f-fine. I just have to stand here… just have to stand here…”
Octavia gestured toward the stage, and Concerto followed. The music faded as they ascended the steps and approached Twilight.
They stood there for a moment, waiting for her to start the opening remarks. Twilight’s wings were spread in a traditional royal pose, and her eyes were shut. The smile on her face was almost too calm.
Concerto cleared his throat. Twilight didn’t move a muscle.
Somepony in the audience did the same. Guests shifted in their chairs and started to whisper.
Octavia leaned forward. “Princess? Princess Twilight? Are you awake?”
Twilight’s eyes shot open. “Mare and Colt!”
The whispering in the audience intensified. Twilight looked over the couple standing in front of her and tried to smile. “I… uh. Mares and Gentlecolts, we’re gathered here today to… today to…”
Her eyes slid shut and her voice dropped to a whisper. “To… page eight hundred and seven… vow… noun… solemn promise…”
Spike’s head popped up behind the stage. One clawed hand reached up and gave Twilight’s tail a sharp yank.
Once again she was awake. “Ah! Sorry about that everypony. Let me start over. We’re gathered here today to witness the union of Octavia Melody and Concerto. Their love is as deep and pure as…”
This time she wasn’t asleep, she was staring at the sky overhead. “What the hay is that?”
Octavia didn’t dare turn around to look. She was already having trouble breathing. If she turned and saw her friends and family squirming in their seats she’d have to be carried off the stage.
Somepony in the distance was shouting incoherently. Their raspy voice sounded familiar. Wasn’t that the pegasus from the weather team, Rainbow Dash? What was she saying?
The afternoon sun disappeared. For a moment she thought she was blacking out; then the rain drops started to fall.
Concerto tapped her on the shoulder and pointed up. “Uh, Tavi…”
Rainbow Dash zoomed overhead, her trajectory set on the barn’s open doors. “Run for your lives, it’s gonna blow!”
She looked and immediately wished she hadn’t. Deep black clouds were spreading through the sky like smoke. Sunlight didn’t stand a chance. Their wedding was instantly moved from two in the afternoon to two in the morning.
She turned back to Twilight. “Skip to the end.”
“Huh?”
“Just skip to the pronouncement so we can get this over with.”
“Right, sorry. I now pronounce you mare and–”
Thunder rattled the heavens and ground alike. Lightning immediately followed. Fluttershy let out a scream and tore down the aisle. One of her hooves caught on the carpet and she crashed into the third row of seats.
Pinkie came out of nowhere and pushed Twilight aside. She stood on her back hooves and tried to get the crowd’s attention. “Everypony, it’s okay! It’s just a little cloud cover. We can still have the wedding, we can still make it perf–”
Rain came down like water out of a firehose. Octavia stared at Concerto through her veil, which now looked more like a shower curtain. They stared at each other with the same look of incredulity: What do we do now?
From the stage they could see everything unravel. Their guests were running around in search of shelter and finding none. The entire reception area was boxed in by tables full of food; the only way out was the narrow opening at the far end of the aisle.
Vinyl Scratch’s voice, amplified by her sound system, boomed over the chaotic shouts. “Everypony in the barn! Everypony in the barn!”
This time the food tables didn’t stop them. Apple pies, cupcakes, and fritters splattered on the ground as ponies stampeded for the nearest roof.
Concerto started down the steps and motioned for her to follow. “Come on Tavi, let’s run for it!”
Pinkie dropped to her knees and held out a hoof. “No, don’t go! You’re getting married, you have to! I promised you’d get married. I promised it’d be perfect…”
Octavia followed him down the steps. As soon as her hoof touched the first step she felt the weight of her now soaked wedding dress holding her back. It felt ten times heavier, but she could still manage. She reached for the next step and heard a pop. She glanced back as she walked and saw the thin fabric tearing apart under the strain.
Amid all the commotion she could still hear Rarity’s scream. The white unicorn was in the second row, bawling into the back of one of the chairs while Spike tried in vain to comfort her.
Octavia kept walking. The dress continued to tear until the back half fell off on the ground. It didn’t matter now. The dress was ruined, and so was the wedding.
She wasn’t going to run for the barn, not when she was already soaked. Instead she stared at the rainwater pooling around her hooves. “So much for my hooficure.”
She stomped a hoof down and water splashed in her face. It didn’t matter what she said or how loud she said it, everypony else was in the barn by now. “So much for the wedding, so much our our perfect day! Thank you Pinkie Pie, if it wasn’t for you we’d be…”
Her reflection stared back up at her. In her mind the abysmal skies in the background were replaced with the ballroom at Canterlot Castle. This was the Grand Galloping Gala all over again.
“Every time we meet, Pinkie. Every single time you show up something bad happens to me. First the Gala performance gets ruined, and then… and then…”
She saw something else in the reflection. Her engagement ring was still hanging around her neck. A few minutes ago it’d been safely tucked inside her dress. Now it was just dangling there; a year and a half of Concerto’s savings distilled down to one shiny expression of his love and commitment.
“Did you know he proposed to me that night, Pinkie? Even after I got home at three in the morning, missed my own surprise party, talked his ear off about what a horrible night I’d had… Who cares if the Gala was a mess. I still got engaged, right? And so help me we’re still getting married.”
Put one hoof in front of the other. That’s all she needed to do. The barn’s open door was a square of welcoming light; the only safe haven from the drenched midnight of the reception.
As she was about to enter the crowded scene inside the barn, she heard something new. Amid the wails of inconvenienced guests was the soft and unmistakable sound of somepony crying. She peeked around the edge of the building and saw a pink form sitting on a hay bale.
“Pinkie, you’re going to catch a cold if you stay out here.”
“Go on inside, just leave me here.”
“But–”
“I’m so sorry I ruined your wedding, Octavia. I tried so hard to make the Gala up to you, I made a Pinkie Promise and… and…” She was lost in tears.
Octavia walked over sat down next to her. “Pinkie, this was my wedding, I’m the one who should be crying. Do I look like I am?”
“N-no. Why not?”
Octavia shook her head. “I don’t really know. I mean, yeah this is a disaster, but right now I don’t care.”
“I wish you’d told me no. I didn’t deserve to plan your wedding, not after the Gala.”
“Pinkie, do you know where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for you?”
“Happily married.”
“Hah, I wish. I’d be sitting in some stuffy orchestra pit in Canterlot, counting bits in my head and wondering how many years until Con and I could afford to have a party half as fancy as this one.”
“Really?”
“Really. Want to know what I really want? It’s not a huge reception, fairy tale dress, and giant cake.”
Pinkie rubbed a hoof across her teary eyes. The rain made her effort nearly pointless. “What do you want?”
Octavia held up the chain around her neck. The diamond on her engagement ring glittered in the low light. “I want to have some fun with my friends, I want to eat some great food, and I want to get a photograph of Con and I being happy on our special day. Most of all, I just want to get married to my special somepony.”
Pinkie’s familiar smile reappeared. “Sounds to me like you want a party!”
“I guess I do.”
“Then let’s get in there and make it happen!”
---
The interior of the barn was a war zone. Ponies were everywhere, and none of them were happy. Some were trying to wring water out of their jackets and hats, others were sitting despondently on bales of hay, and all were muttering about what a travesty this was. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were crying over what little remained of their signature creation. The wedding cake was now missing most of its frosting and the sugar sculpture on the top looked more like abstract art than ponies at the altar.
Octavia and Pinkie pushed their way through the crowd until they reached Vinyl’s DJ booth.
Concerto ran up to his bride and offered her a towel. “There you are, Tavi, I thought you were right behind me. Are you okay? Applejack’s bringing everypony towels and cider.”
“I’m fine, Con. You still want to do this, right?”
“Marry you? Of course I do.”
“Then get ready, we’re not leaving this barn until Princess Twilight makes it official.”
She knocked on the side of the nearest speaker. “Vinyl, mind if I borrow your microphone?”
Vinyl held out a hoof to help her up to the booth. “You got it Tav. Are you okay?”
“I’m better than okay, and I’ll tell you why.”
She tapped a hoof on the mic. “Everypony, I’d just like to say…”
Nopony other than Concerto noticed.
“Hey!”
Her amplified shout bounced off the barn walls and brought everything to a standstill. Suddenly the only sound was the rain battering the roof overhead, and all eyes were on her.
“That’s better. Thank you everypony, for coming to our wedding. I know this isn’t the high-class affair you all expected, but that’s not what’s important. Pinkie, could you come up here please?”
Pinkie jumped onto the stage and stood by her side. Octavia put a hoof around her. “I’d like to thank Pinkie Pie and all her friends for making this day possible. This might not be a glitzy Canterlot ballroom, but if it wasn’t for them Con and I would still wondering how we’d be able to afford one. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Princess Twilight, Mr. and Mrs. Cake; you’re the reason Con and I are here today, so let’s make it count. Pinkie?”
Pinkie took the mic and stood up tall. “All right everypony, it’s party time! Applejack and Rainbow Dash, get us some chairs on the double. Fluttershy, get Twilight something sugary to eat. Mr. and Mrs. Cake, get in that kitchen and save the wedding cake. Rarity and Spike, make this barn sparkle!”
She leaned away from the mic and smiled at the DJ. “And Vinyl? Some montage music please, and make it loud.”
“You got it, Pinkie.”
Thirty minutes passed by in a blur. Suddenly every guest had a seat, warm towel, and a mug of steaming hot cider. The refrosted cake, now decorated with apple slices, was topped with two wooden bows borrowed from the pony jazz quartet. Any decorations that survived the downpour were now gracing the barn’s interior walls.
Octavia leaned against Concerto and smiled. “Is this the same barn?”
Rarity approached them with a small cloth bundle floating next to her. “It most certainly is not; this is your wedding venue, not a smelly old apple barn.”
“I heard that!” Applejack shouted in the distance.
Octavia smiled. “It’s wonderful, Rarity.”
She looked away and blushed. “I’m terribly sorry about your dress, darling. I suppose I could’ve restrained my creative vision a tad more for the sake of longevity.”
“It’s fine Rarity, really it is. I don’t think any wedding dress is meant to survive a rain storm.”
“You’re too kind. Still, I can’t let you get married in the remains of that frock, not when you could be wearing this instead.”
The cloth bundle unfurled to reveal a new wedding veil studded with jewels. “Oh Rarity, it’s beautiful.”
“Don’t thank me, this is simply my amends for a, dare I say it, crime I committed against fashion itself.”
Pinkie tapped on the microphone to quell the quiet chatter. “Is everypony ready?”
Concerto glanced at Octavia and nodded. “We’ve been ready for two years.”
Twilight, fully awake and slightly wired after downing half an apple pie, was standing at the front of the assembly. “I’m so sorry about before, everypony. I tend to study when I get nervous and… well the idea of marrying two ponies has me pretty nervous. I’ve read at least ten thousand different wedding speeches over the past week alone, but if it’s all right with the bride and groom I’d like to say something that I thought of myself.”
Octavia and Concerto stepped forward. He spoke while she donned her new veil. “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Family and friends; we’re gathered here today to witness the marriage of Octavia Melody and Concerto, two ponies that I wish I’d met years ago. Getting to know them during the past few months has made one thing abundantly clear to me: they’re more than two ponies in love, they’re best friends that care about being with each other more than anything else. When they first asked me to marry them I was nervous about doing it wrong, but now that I know them I see that that isn’t possible. It isn’t about the wedding vows, it’s about who they’re for. These two ponies deserve each other, and I couldn’t possibly keep them apart a minute longer. Octavia and Concerto, I now pronounce you mare and stallion.”
If applause followed, Octavia didn’t hear it. Tears were running down her face as she stared into her husband’s eyes. “I love you, Con.”
“I love you too, Tavi.”
One kiss later, a whine traveled through the speakers. The couple turned to see Vinyl Scratch standing nearby with a two sheets of hoof-written music floating next to her.
“Tav, I get that you’re gonna open your wedding presents later, but this one can’t wait. Think you two can cut it?”
Octavia took the sheets from her and looked over the notes. “This looks an awful lot like one of Beethooven piece’s played at double time with a lot more bass.”
“I call it Vinyl’s Fifth Symphony. It’s got parts for violin and double bass, and your instruments are in the back corner with my records. Wanna jam?”
Octavia and Concerto looked at each other and started to smile in unison. She gestured to the DJ booth and set her veil at an angle. “This is our party, let’s make some music.”