//------------------------------//
// 30-Reception 
// Story: The Life of a Non-Brony 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//

Married. Holy moley, I'm married now. Married.

In lieu of a kiss, I kneel down, and Cheerilee and I give each other a crushing hug. I don't run my hand through her mane the way she likes, Rarity would kill me for messing up her mane on her wedding day. But you know what? I'm not sure either of us really care. We're married, and that's what matters. Cheerilee leans into my shoulder and gently nuzzles me.

"I love you, TD," she whispers in my ear.

I give a single chuckle and nuzzle her back. "I love you, Mrs. Cheerilee Powell."

I become aware of a noise all around us, and I look up to see that every single one of the ponies is stomping wildly, cheering the new union that is us. I even notice that Cheerilee's mother is crying and her father is smiling in what I can guess is approval.

Well good. Even if he hated this idea, nothing can stop us now. Not Celestia, not him, not friggin' Discord. Cheerilee and I are married.

Whew.

I stand up and smile as the two of us turn to the crowd of uproariously applauding ponies. Cheerilee wraps her foreleg around my middle, and the two of us stand there and bask in the support of the ponies cheering us on. They think we can make this whole thing work. Yeah, we can, can't we?

After a solid five minutes of stomping, Cheerilee and I are allowed to go to one of the back rooms of Town Hall while all of the guests begin setting up for the reception. I would like to help them out, but man, I don’t even bother to ask. The list of ponies who won't accept help from either of us totals everyone who showed up to the wedding. Believe me, everyone in Ponyville can be stubborn when they want to be.

Cheerilee and I reach the back room that had been set out for us and immediately sit down on chairs that we see in the middle of the room. We both breathe a sigh of relief, and Cheerilee leans her head on my shoulder.

"We did it," she whispers. "We actually did it." She looks up at me with a happy smile. "How are you feeling now?"

I take a deep breath and lean my head back. "Exhausted. You've had that moment when all of the stress that's been keeping you going all day washes away, leaving you tired from all of the energy you've burned, right?"

Cheerilee nods and nuzzles into my shoulder. "Of course. But you can't be too tired yet, Mr. Powell. We've got an entire reception to go through, not to mention that train ride to Saddle Arabia. Rest when we're in the couple's suite in the hotel."

"No choice, Mrs. Powell."

And you know? Not much else needs to be said. Everything that we could have said about how happy we are to be together was communicated when we said "I do." For now, we can just bask in each other's company; enjoying our first private moment as husband and wife. Our first of many, I hope.

But it, unfortunately, doesn't last as long as I'd like. We only get five minutes of silence before there is a knock on the door. We both grimace.

"Yeah?"

"We're ready for you guys, TD," Twilight says. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna really helped clear up!"

I know Twilight can't see my grimace, but, you know, this is all for us. Our entire honeymoon is going to be spent doing just what we want to do.

"Okay, Twilight. We'll be there in a moment." I look down at my wife, who tightens her grip on me and nuzzles my shoulder. "You ready?"

"Yeah, I guess." Cheerilee lets me go and stands up. "It's just a few hours. Then we can have two whole weeks in Saddle Arabia to ourselves, right?"

"Yup. Besides..." I smile and stand up myself. "It'll be fun."

Cheerilee returns my smile. "Of course. If nothing else, my parents are going to want to ask you what Princess Celestia meant by you punching her in the face."

I laugh and nod as the two of us leave the room. Twilight escorts us back into the main room of Town Hall, where the chairs and stage have been replaced with a dance floor in the middle surrounded by circular tables covered in white tablecloths and red and white rose centerpieces. In the front of the room is a long table where the wedding party sat. Most of the guests have already taken their places at the various tables, including a slightly larger one for Celestia and Luna.

But there's one table near the one in the front with no one at it. In fact, it looks like it's surrounded by picture frames. I frown and the two of us walk over to it. When we reach it, Cheerilee and I both pause.

Yeah, it's picture frames holding pictures, but it's who's on the pictures that gives us pause.

I... I haven't seen a picture of my family in over a decade.

I quietly exhale and reach out to grab the picture frame. It's a photo I recognize, too. It's a picture of my parents and sister that I took after my high school graduation. I took it so that I'd have a picture of them when I went up to college. My parents and my younger sister. I glance over at Cheerilee who is staring wide-eyed at a pair of photographs next to mine. Hers are of two pairs of elderly earth ponies. I can vaguely see some facial features that look like they were passed down to Cheerilee. I glanced down at her and put a hand on her back.

"Your grandparents?"

Cheerilee looked up at me, a watery smile on her face. "Yeah. I was pretty close with all of them. The last one died about a year before I met you." Cheerilee sniffles and wipes her eyes before looking at the picture of my family. "Your family?"

"Yeah. My parents and my younger sister, Kristen." I pick up the photograph and shake my head in disbelief. "I had... almost forgotten what they looked like, you know?"

"We are glad we could do that for you, then," I hear Celestia say from behind me. We turn around to find Celestia and Luna standing behind us, wide smiles on their faces. "For your dear wife it was simple enough to obtain pictures, but for you..." Her smile falters for a moment. "I hope you don't mind that Luna used some mind reading, but we felt that you'd appreciate this."

"You know, I think..." I taps the picture frame. "I think I'm completely okay with it. My family got to come to my wedding. That's... you can't imagine how amazing that is for me."

"Think of it as our wedding present to you," Luna says with a nod. "Those frames are magically protected as well. ‘Twould take much to damage them. They are yours forever."

Before I can say anything else, Cheerilee lunges forward and wraps her forelegs around Celestia. I smirk and throw my arm around Luna for a pseudo hug.

"Thank you so much," Cheerilee whispers. "This is amazing."

We hear a round of applause behind us, and realize that everypony has been watching the whole thing. I chuckle and put the picture frame back down on the table, allowing Luna and Celestia to go back to their seat. We go to the long table and sit down at our spots in the middle. All of our plates of food have already been set out, eliminating the need for ponies to serve us. We have a small snack and dessert table set up in the back for after-dinner stuff.

We sit down and motion for all of the guests to dig in. After the wedding, we feel that food would be best before all of the speeches and dancing and whatnot. As I pick up my fork to dig into the piece of chicken that Celestia managed to get for me, Cheerilee's father leans in towards me, a slight frown on his face. "So I'm glad you liked her gift to ya, but what was Princess Celestia sayin' about you punchin' her in the face? I mean, is that her jokin' or somethin'?"

I chuckle nervously and rub the back of my neck as Cheerilee giggle behind her hoof. "Er... no. Remember when you casually mentioned that it must have been a shock for me to wake up here to see Princess Celestia? Well, I kinda punched her in the face. Then I kinda did it again at the Grand Galloping Gala a few months later." Cheerilee's parents stare at me with wide eyes, but I raise a placating hand to them. "Now now, we've gotten better. She offered to let me punch her in the face a third time, but I declined after a lot of thought. I resisted my normal urges."

"I..." Cheerilee's father blinks once. "Why is this a thing for ya? She's the princess of all of Equestria! Ah'm surprised you've never got in trouble for it!"

I snort. "I wouldn't say that. Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash kicked me and smashed me through five walls the first time I did it, and the second time I did it, Luna snapped my spine over the back of a chair. Celestia made sure I was okay both times. If she hadn't, we wouldn't really be having this conversation."

"I wouldn't think so," Orange Picker says dryly. "It's a stupid thing for ya ta do!"

"Yeah, well..." I shrug. "Haven't done it in almost ten years."

"And you're not gonna do it again," Sky Flier says with a nod, triggering an eye roll from Cheerilee.

"You never know where life is going to take you." I take a bite of my chicken and look out into the crowd of ponies, all of whom seem to be enjoying themselves. We haven't brought out the champagne quite yet, but that's for later. Everyone glances at us every now and again, and I give them a nod when they do.

"So, TD, how's that... meat?" I hear Cheerilee's mother ask.

I smirk at the question. I know she knew that I was omnivore before this, but she's never actually seen me eat meat before. I know to her it used to be a living creature, but I'm the kind of guy who pillaged nests on my six year journey. If I saw one of those "Eat Moar Chikn" cows--wish I could remember the name of the place that had those commercials--I'd hit it in the face with a sledgehammer and eat well that night. I give my mother-in-law a chuckle and swallow my bite.

"Delectable. Perfectly cooked, nice and tender, excellent seasoning..." I tear off another strip with my fork, something that gets a flinch out of her. "Just the kind of stuff a guy wants to eat after not eating red meat with the regularity he did back on his home planet. It's too expensive in Equestria to eat that often."

"So that's a rare treat for you, then." Sky Flier nods. "I see." She turns her head to Cheerilee. "And this doesn't shock you?"

Cheerilee shakes her head. "Not really, Mom. I mean, the griffins, minotaurs, Diamond Dogs and dragons all eat meat, and I do extended lectures on all of them to my students. It's not difficult to imagine TD eating meat." She shrugs. "Or watching it."

"I see." Cheerilee's mother takes a bite of her salad to think over her words before responding. "So... you wouldn't try to eat anything like that, would you?"

I become very interested in finishing my meal as Cheerilee easily shakes her head. "Of course not, Mom. I'm not a meat eater. I'd never even think of trying chicken, or anything like that."

Man, I could never lie to my parents that well. But the story of how I held her unkempt mane out of her face while she threw up the entire piece of chicken she ate isn't one we really want to tell them, especially not today.

Hey, she was curious, and... I was too, alright? She told me she didn't mind the flavor so much.

But other than that, things go pretty well. No big disasters happen. I'm TD Harrison Powell, and I always have disasters, especially when I don't want them, but now... now things are going pretty well for me.

It's kinda nice.

How is the universe going to balance it out, I wonder? The wedding itself was perfect, so the reception is going to be a disaster? Lot of things could go wrong still.

No, TD! Nothing is going to go wrong! It's going to go fine... right?

After another twenty minutes or so, everybody has pretty much finished up the main course, so Berry Punch grabs an unused bread knife and taps it against the side of her water glass. Half of me expects the glass to shatter, but Berry Punch has some sense, and hits the glass with the flat of the knife. The entire hall goes silent, as Berry gets to her hooves.

"Mares and gentlecolts, princesses and..." She falters for a moment. "Phoenixes. In lieu of the Best Stallion doing the wedding speech, because, well, he's a phoenix and he'd awkwardly squawk for a few minutes, it has been decided that I will be doing the traditional toast." Bon Bon and Lyra both put their hooves up to their muzzles to hide their giggling, something that makes me a touch nervous. However, I know that a bit of a roast is all part of the wedding toast. Berry Punch takes a sip of her drink and clears her throat before continuing.

"Now, then, TD..." Most of the ponies in the room chuckle. "For the past ten years, it has been a major mystery all around Ponyville about what exactly your name stands for. I imagine that in the down time between the ceremony and the reception, you finally told your wife, which might just be the greatest wedding present you could give her. Thankfully, I've decided to not leave everyone in the dark, so..." Berry picks up a nearby piece of paper. "Here are some of the best guesses I've heard for what your name stands for."

The entire crowd is giggling, and even I have a large smile on my face. This should be good. Berry cracks her neck and pretends to put on a pair of glasses.

"Number one: Total Domination." A giggle goes through the crowd. "Number two: Thraequusymachus Demetriquus."

I snort and roll my eyes. "I hardly think my name stands for the names of two ancient pony philosophers."

Berry shrugs. "Worth a shot." She looked down at the paper again. "Number Three: Thwack! Down!"

That one gets the biggest laugh yet, as I figure it would. I glance over at Celestia who is giving me a vaguely smug smirk. I shoot her a look that plainly says "never gonna let that one go, huh?" and she responds with a subtle shake of her head. I roll my eyes and turn back to Berry.

"But all joking aside," she says, throwing the paper down, "you have been very good to my dear friend Cheerilee. I know that you two are going to be extremely happy together as long as you both shall live, or whatever the wedding vow is. Sometimes I think that she might be crazy for marrying this..." She spins her hoof. "Thing that the Cutie Mark Crusaders found lying in a field somewhere and brought for Show and Tell, but then I think of all of the things that she's done ever since I've known her and, well, I think that you might be the crazy one." Berry Punch grins. "And I like that! But speaking of crazy..." Berry Punch gives a signal, and Applejack and Twilight leave the room, coming back a few seconds later with trays of champagne and sparkling cider, which they begin placing in front of the guests. "Cheerilee, of all of the things you've done, this might be the most bizarre." She shrugs. "Well, other than being obsessed with Hoof Lickin' Good when you were a filly, but that was before I met you, so I'm not quite sure if that one counts."

Cheerilee blushes and flattens her ears when the guests chuckle, and I can see her mother smirk at that. I can imagine that Hoof Lickin' Good was the subject of many conversations in their household before Cheerilee moved out.

"But that aside, you two are the craziest couple I've ever met, and I just know it's going to work out primarily for that reason. You're too ridiculous for it to not. I can see beyond a shadow of a doubt that you two love each other more than anything, and that's just amazing to see. It's been a pleasure to watch you two grow and develop your relationship over the years." Berry Punch picks up her glass and raises it. "So TD, hurry up and get Cheerilee a foal so that I can be "Cool Aunt Berry Punch" and totally spoil him or her."

Now I'm blushing. I don't know if that would even work.

"That aside..." Berry Punch tilts her glass slightly. "To TD and Cheerilee. May the rest of your lives be filled with joy."

The rest of the crowd repeats her statement, and we all raise our glasses and drink. Berry Punch finishes her champagne in a few gulps, sets it down with probably a touch more force than necessary, and wipes her mouth with the back of her hoof.

"Alright, screw that sentimental happy nonsense. Let's party!"

The crowd cheers, and Cheerilee and I dutifully stand up and walk over to the dance floor for our first dance as husband and wife. We give each other awkward smiles, as we are both aware that this is going to be kind of weird. Even standing on her hind legs Cheerilee is shorter than I am, and our dance is going to be more like her leaning on me and stepping around. But it's the symbolism of the thing that's going to make it romantic, and we picked a relatively short song for this very reason.

We reach the middle of the dance floor and turn our heads to Sweetie Belle, who has taken up her position behind the DJ stand. I give her a single nod, and Cheerilee gets on her hind legs and puts her forelegs around my shoulder. However, before, Sweetie Belle can push the button to start the song, she's interrupted by Bon Bon.

"Wait wait, that looks ridiculous!"

Cheerilee and I look over at her, both of us with a slight glare on our faces. "Yeah, we know, but we love each other, so who cares, Bons?" Cheerilee growls.

"Well, I'm just saying that it would be easier if you were the same species is all," Bon Bon says, holding up a placating hoof. "Like if Cheerilee was a human, you know?"

Wait...

A wide grin crosses Bon Bon's face, as she knows I've already figured it out. She raises her hoof, and it morphs into an eagle talon, which she promptly snaps. I see a flash of light beside me, and when it fades, I turn and see that Cheerilee is... human again. She looks down at herself, her eyes wide, before looking back to Bon Bon.

"I... er..."

I ignore the muttering of the crowd, and the fact that Celestia and Luna have gotten to their hooves. I have no doubt that they're not happy. Bon Bon giggles before snapping her talon again. In a flash of light, she changes back to a he. A rather familiar he that I in no way invited to my wedding.

"Gosh darn it, Discord," I growl. "You weren't invited!"

"Oh come now, TD, I'm just doing you a favor," Discord says, flicking a piece of lint off of the bridesmaids dress he's still wearing. "You get to dance with your wife now! Think of it as my gift to you two."

"I..." I grimace and look over at Cheerilee. "Yeah, okay, that... yeah. Thank you. Thank you a lot. But barging in like this isn't appreciated!"

"Yeah," Cheerilee growls, letting go of me. "Besides, where's Bon Bon?"

Discord rolls his eyes, but snaps his talon, causing a rather miffed bound and gagged Bon Bon to appear beside him.

"DISCORD!" Celestia, Luna, Cheerilee, the Elements, Berry Punch, Lyra, and myself all shout while the rest of the crowd mutters nervously.

"Fine, fine, I guess you would want all of the bridesmaids at the wedding." Discords snaps his talons again, freeing Bon Bon and setting her gently on the floor.

"You are insufferable!" Bon Bon screeches. "I have half a mind to gather a bunch of stones and make you a bodysuit to trap you in forever!"

"Yes, well, I'm sorry about taking your place, but like I said..." He grins and spreads his arms out towards Cheerilee and I. "You two can dance now!"

"And that's the only reason I haven't banished you to the moon, Discord," Celestia growls. "We talked about this before, remember?"

"Yes, yes I do." Discord shrugs. "He wouldn't let me give him his wedding gift any other way though, would he?"

"When did you even switch places with Bon Bon anyway?" Lyra asks. "I've been standing next to her all day!"

"Hmm..." Discord taps his chin thoughtfully. "I believe the first thing that I heard was 'so hurry up, TD and give Cheerilee a foal so I can be Cool Aunt Berry Punch.'"

Well, that's a pretty big relief. It means that Discord hasn't been impersonating Bon Bon all day. Just for the past few minutes or so. She still got to see everything.

"But I can tell when I'm not wanted," Discord says with a shrug. "I just wanted to tell you congratulations on the whole wedding thing. The spell will wear off once you're on your way to your honeymoon."

"Right..." I motion to the door. "See you, Discord."

Discord snaps his talons and is gone again.

"Jerk," Bon Bon mutters, glaring at the spot where he had been.

"Yes, and this will not go unanswered," Celestia says with a frown of her own. After a moment, a smile crosses her face. "Having said that, it was a nice gift."

Cheerilee and I look back at each other, and our smiles return full force. She gets to be human the whole reception? Heck yeah! I look back over to Sweetie Belle and give her a nod. She returns it and presses the "play" button. Slow, romantic music begins playing, and Cheerilee once again wraps her arms around my neck. I put my arms around her waist, and the two of us begin swaying to the music. She's still a little clumsy, having not really walked on two legs before, but given that her spine is now designed for it, she's taking to it much easier. She smiles and leans her head on my shoulder, completely content. We continue swaying until the music ends, after which, the audience applauds.

And since Cheerilee is a human... we finally get a kiss. I mean, a real kiss.

We break apart, gigantic smiles on our faces. We don't need to say anything. We just know that we love each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together, and that's enough for the two of us. If nopony else was here, this would still be an amazingly perfect day, just as long as we got to be married.

"I love you, Mrs. Cheerilee Powell."

"I love you, Mr. TD Powell."

"But there's one thing we still have to do."

Cheerilee smirks at me. "Yes, I agree."

I turn to the audience. "We gotta really party!" I point at Sweetie Belle. "Hit it!"

Sweetie Belle grins, pushes down on the "play" button again, and loud, enthusiastic music begins playing. Cheerilee and I start wildly dancing to Livin' La Vida Loca. Would a version for today be Livin' La Vida Cheerilee? Ah, who cares? We're having a blast!

After a minute or so of us... well, we wouldn't call it dancing, but it's nice, the rest of the crowd slowly starts spilling onto the dance floor and dancing along with the two of us. Even Celestia, Luna, and Cheerilee's parents get in on it. Cheerilee and I hold hands to keep ourselves together amidst the enjoyable chaos, which just makes the whole thing more awesome.

Eventually the song ends, and Sweetie Belle turns the music player off, allowing Orange Picker to stand up on a chair. "May I have your attention, please? In a few minutes, we are going to be cutting the cake, but first, a more important ceremony must take place first." Orange Picker bows his head to Princess Celestia, who nods back at him and ignites her horn. A document appears out of thin air next to her. "The signing of the marriage certificate!"

The crowd cheers, and Cheerilee's father leads the two of us to the head table, which has been magically cleared away and cleaned since the songs. Celestia sets the document down in front of us, and puts a pen down next to it.

"TD, if you would."

I nod and pick it up, signing where necessary. I pass it over to Cheerilee, who takes it in her hand. She bites her lip and looks down at the pen. "I'm not so sure I can write with my hand. I've never done it before." Cheerilee shrugs. "Might as well do it the normal way, then." So, to my amusement, she puts the pen in her mouth and signs the paper that way, quite well, actually. Berry Punch goes next to sign as a witness, and for me we put one of Oswald's talons into some ink and have him stamp the document. Celestia assures us it's legal now because she says so.

"Alright, everypony," Celestia says, taking the document and making it disappear, "I think it's time for cake."

Luna snorts and rolls her eyes. "'Tis always time for cake with thee, Tia."

Celestia gives a sarcastic chuckle. "Yes, well, I was talking about their cake."

"Right here!"

We all turn to the entrance and applaud when we see Pinkie Pie coming into the room, wheeling a giant cake in front of her. Cheerilee and I grin and walk up to it when Pinkie Pie stops just before the long table. Featherweight gets behind us with his camera, he's been taking pictures all day, thank goodness, and snaps a shot of Pinkie cutting the cake for the two of us.

"Alrighty, you two, who's going to feed who first?" Pinkie chirps.

"I think I will," I say, picking up the plate Pinkie has put the cake on. Cheerilee rolls her eyes, but dutifully walks closer to me and opens her mouth, ready for the cake.

Which I pick up and--mostly--smash in her face. Cheerilee squawks as best as she can with a half a mouthful of cake, and she nearly topples over as the crowd absolutely roars at the display. She manages to regain her balance, and grabs a napkin that Pinkie offers her to wipe her face off with.

"TD, what in Equestria was that?!" she sputters. "Feed me the cake! You're supposed to feed me the cake, not assault me with it!"

I shrug nonchalantly. "Bit of a tradition where I come from, I'm afraid. Sorry if I surprised you." Except not at all. If Featherweight snapped a picture of the exact moment that I got her, I'll be happy forever.

Cheerilee isn't so amused.

"Oh is it now?" She tosses the napkin aside and takes an ominous step forward, an evil smirk spreading across her face that I'm not really enjoying. "Well, then, who am I to not incorporate some of your Earth customs into our wedding? Pinkie!" She holds out her hand. "My cake, please."

I sigh and hang my head, but I still have a grin on my face as I walk up to my vengeance-driven wife. When I reach her, I raise my head and open my mouth in anticipation of the inevitable attack.

She doesn't disappoint.

Foregoing picking up the cake and even mimicking feeding it to me, she abandons all pretense and just smashes the whole thing in my face. Some does make it into my mouth, I do so enjoy chocolate and Bavarian cream filling, but as for the rest of it? I'm going to need another shower. A napkin isn't going to cut it.

Cheerilee takes the plate off of my face, and I feel someone put a napkin in my hand, which I use to begin wiping the cake off with. Much to the amusement of the crowd. I can even hear Oswald giggling behind me. When I can finally see again, I notice that Cheerilee still has that evil smirk on her face.

"I'm so glad that I was able to do that with you, TD," she says with no shortage of smugness in her voice. "Any other fun Earth wedding traditions that you haven't told me about?"

I finish wiping my face off and throw the napkin in a nearby trash can. "No, none that I can think of."

"Well that's too bad. You looked quite silly with all of that cake all over your face."

With that settled, Pinkie Pie moves on to cutting the cake for the rest of the guests. Cheerilee follows up our cake war with throwing the bridal bouquet behind her to all of the eligible bachelorettes in the crowd. Of all ponies Twilight manages to catch it, something that makes her blush and Celestia chuckle. I follow that up by shooting Cheerilee's garter out, where it is caught by Big Mac.

Of course, the dude is taller than everyone else there, so of course he got it.

So since they both go it, maybe Big Mac and Twilight will...

Nah.

Following that, the main wedding party takes a bunch of photographs. A ton with Cheerilee and I, some with the two of us, the bridesmaids and Oswald, the two of us and the princesses, the two of us and her parents, and so on. We're going to have a lot of pretty amazing pictures to put in our wedding album. But the interesting thing, especially for when we have a foal, is that all wedding ceremony pictures are going to be of Cheerilee as a pony, but all reception pics are of her as a human.

Well, our relationship was always kinda weird like that. It makes sense in context, right? Still, the first time any foals look at the pictures is going to be an odd experience for him or her.

And... after that, it's pretty simple. The two of us just go around doing whatever we want as the hours tick on by. We get another piece of cake each, eating it correctly this time, dance to a few more songs, greet, and get congratulated by, every pony in the room at some point, take note of all of our wedding gifts and arrange for them to be sent to Manderley once the ceremony is in order.

Basically, we just enjoy ourselves. We just make sure that we're having fun, and that our guests are too, and we all just bask in the joy that is our marriage. We eat snacks from the buffet snack table, we dance to the crazy music we've picked out, we swap stories and catch up... it's just awesome.

But, it must end. At least for us.

I glance at my watch and realize the time. I nudge Cheerilee, who is talking with Lyra and a much less irritated Bon Bon to get her attention.

"Hey Cheers, it's eight-thirty. Our train leaves in forty five minutes."

Cheerilee's eyes widen, and she gets to her feet. "My goodness! We'd best be heading out then, yes?"

"Indeed." I bow and motion to the door. "Saddle Arabia awaits!"  

"Well, then..." Lyra stands up on her chair. "Mares and gentlecolts may I have your attention please?" The crowd noise dies down, and the music shuts off. Lyra nods approvingly. "Thank you. It has come to my attention that the train carrying the bride and groom to their honeymoon destination of Saddle Arabia leaves in forty five minutes. As such, I believe that it is time for the happy couple to be on their way."

The crowd cheers, and they follow the two of us out to a carriage that has been hired to take us to the train station. Of course, it has the horseshoes tied to the back and a banner that says "just married" as well.

"Your luggage is in the trunk, TD," Celestia says, walking up to the carriage. "Have a safe trip, and say hi to Mesud for me if you happen to run into him."

I chuckle and nod. "I'll be sure to do that. We are in the capital, after all, so maybe I'll catch a glimpse of him. I know if he sees me he might want to stop and chat for a moment."

"Probably, but at any rate, you two have a train to catch."

I look over at Cheerilee, who is being hugged goodbye by her parents. She breaks away and walks over to me, allowing me to open the door to our carriage for her. She steps inside and I quickly follow, shutting the door behind me. Once the driver knows we're set, he takes off to the train station.


*  *  *  *


So, my father is married now, and I have a mother to call my own. An actual mother. Not, ah, a mother misinterpretation. I must admit that I have warmed up to the stripe maned pony. She has proven to be a kind and loving pony, and my father does love her. 

So I suppose that I will be calling her “Mother” now, despite her not having anything to do with my hatching like Father did. For their marriage trip, I have been told that I will be staying with the yellow bird pony who likes other animals. The one that my own mate has stayed with once. I have stayed with her before myself while Father and my new mother are spending time together. I watch their wheeled transportation go with some sadness, but they will be back. 

I hear something flutter close by, and turn to see Philomena land next to me. I coo happily, and the two of us nuzzle each other. 

You’re gonna miss them, huh?

Of course I will. But they will be back. They always are.

I guess. Philomena moves a bit closer and nudges me with her wing. You know, if you’re feeling lonely tonight, the party isn’t over, and there are a lot of empty rooms...

Yes! I say immediately.


*  *  *  * 


The moment Cheerilee and I realize that the wedding party is behind us, we both breathe a huge sigh of relief, like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders.

"It's over," Cheerilee groans. "All of that planning and worrying and high energy on the go stuff of today is over." The moment she says that, she's engulfed in a flash of white light that fades away just as quickly, leaving Cheerilee sitting beside me as a pony once more. She looks down at her body and clicks her tongue. "I suppose it really is over, then."

I sigh and nod, sort of wishing that she could be human forever. "Yeah, but hey at least we're together for the next two weeks. Just the two of us spending time in Saddle Arabia. And nothing is going to go wrong if I can help it." Cheerilee raises an eyebrow and crosses her forelegs, causing me to roll my eyes. "Okay fine. I'm hoping that things don't go terribly wrong. Today went pretty smoothly, Discord aside, and even he kind of worked out for the best. Unless you ask Bon Bon."

"Yes, she's not going to take that one lying down," Cheerilee agrees with a nod. "She didn't want to miss a moment of my wedding, and she certainly didn't want to spend any of it tied up who knows where with Discord impersonating her."

"Yeah, Discord still needs to learn the concept of boundaries," I grumble. "Remember when he made a mess of that one date?"

"Of course I do," Cheerilee says, leaning against me and wrapping her forelegs around my arm. "Today wasn't the first time Discord turned me human."

"Well, that and the mushroom steak I made for you sprouted wings and flew out the window, on top of the part where he teleported Celestia onto my bed." I sigh and rub one of my temples. "He does stuff like that."

"But none of it really matters now, does it, TD?" Cheerilee gives a contented sigh and nuzzles my arm. "We're married now, and things are going to be even better than they were before."

The carriage stops at the train station after a few more minutes, and I step out to open the other door for my wife. The driver takes our luggage out of the trunk and levitates them beside him as the two of us walk to our train. One of our wedding gifts was that Cheerilee's parents paid for a private sleeper car to Saddle Arabia, so our tickets already waited for us at the station. We made it with twenty minutes to spare.

The driver hoofs the bags over to a porter, who escorts us to the private car when he sees our tickets. He opens the door, allowing us to walk inside after I take my carry on bag from him. The car is rather nice. It has a small kitchen, closet, bathroom, shower, and two fold out beds. Of course, we'll only be needing one. Cheerilee and I look at the interior of the car, then at each other, and nod. We spend the next ten minutes taking off our wedding outfits, and by that point... we're really too tired to do anything else. We walk over to the bed and both slide into it, and are out like a light before the train even starts moving.