//------------------------------// // Arrival in Canterlot // Story: A Wedding at Twilight // by TheShadou //------------------------------// “I can‘t believe it has already been four months since you and Twilight started dating. My, how time flies when you’re in love.” Rarity sighed out loud after finishing her statement. “But Rarity, me and Twilight are the ones who are dating. It would make sense that time flies for us, but why would it affect you?” Rainbow questioned down to Rarity as she flew up to hang a banner on Town Hall. “Well yes, it is true that I’m not involved in any romances at the moment, however, Twilight and yourself are two of my very best friends, and you two being happily in love makes me so very happy myself.” Rarity said while she picked out some ribbons to tie to the posts on Town Hall. Rainbow Dash pushed the nail into the wooden post that held up the third floor balcony. She gave the banner a light tug to test its sturdiness. She then looked over at Derpy, who was hanging up the other side of the banner. Derpy smiled a big toothy smile at Rainbow Dash and waved to let her know that she had finished her part. Rainbow flew back a few feet to check if the banner was straight. Derpy flew up next to her, also checking to see if her work was satisfactory. Both pegasi nodded at each other when they decided that the banner was hung to their liking. “Thanks Derpy.” Rainbow said while she shook Derpy’s hoof. “No problem Rainbow Dash! I’m happy to help.” Derpy said joyfully. Derpy looked at the banner, then back to Rainbow Dash and added, “Congratulations on the engagement, by the way. I’m so happy for you and Twilight. You two make a great couple!” Rainbow Dash blushed, and swallowed nervously. She rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof and said “Thanks.” Derpy smiled even bigger before she flew off to see if anypony else needed any help. Rainbow watched Derpy fly away before sighing in relief. They managed to get things done here without any damage. Rainbow flew back down to Rarity and looked around at her work. Everything was looking great. Of course, Rarity was the one making the decorations, and she was also the one in charge of the decorating, so naturally, everything would look good. “There. That should do it.” Rarity said as she tied one more bow to another post. Rarity nodded at her work before looking up at the banner she had designed. It depicted Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash smiling at each other with two wedding bands overlapping one another in between the two mares. “It all looks magnificent, doesn’t it Darling.” Rarity boasted in a lady like tone. “Yeah. It all looks great.” Rainbow said as she looked up at the banner. “Rainbow Dash, are you sure that you wouldn’t rather be at Canterlot, helping Twilight with the wedding preparations? I’m sure that Applejack, Spike and myself can handle things here.” Rarity questioned. “It’s alright. Twilight and Pinkie Pie wanted me to stay here and help with Pinkie’s after-the-wedding party.” Rainbow informed Rarity. “I think that Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy can handle everything in Canterlot.” “Well, if you say so.” Rarity said, accepting her friend’s decisions. Just then, Spike and Applejack came walking up. Spike checked off a few items on the list that Twilight helped Pinkie Pie make for the party preparations before saying, “Wow! This place looks amazing! I bet it’s probably better than how Twilight would have imagined.” “Woo-Wee. Spike's right! Everything is comin together real nice.” Applejack added, excitedly. “I take it by that comment that Sweet Apple Acres is ready then?” Rarity asked in a sing-song voice. “Yes ma’am! Sweet Apple Acres is all ready to go. All that’s left is all the Apples’ home cookin. But that’ll have to wait until closer to time for this here party. We want fresh food after all!” Applejack answered as she pointed a hoof at Spike’s clipboard. “So Spike, any letters from Twilight?” Rainbow asked Spike. She sounded somewhat nervous. “Nope. Nothing yet.” Spike answered. Rarity noticed the nervous tone in Rainbow’s voice and said, “Rainbow Dash, are you all right dear? Are you worried about something?” “Huh? Me, worried? No way! I’m as calm as could be. I’m not nervous. Not even a little. Why would I be nervous?” Rainbow explained to Rarity trying to sound as cool as possible. “Well, I suppose you wouldn’t be. You are the one who proposed to Twilight after all.” Rarity said as she brought her hoof to her chin and remembered back to the story of Rainbow’s proposal that Twilight had told her. It was an interesting story. Twilight described the date night over tea less than a fortnight ago. The two love birds were enjoying a romantic dinner that Rainbow Dash had invited her to. Twilight said that Rainbow was acting rather odd the whole night. Then, out of the blue, she just blurted out, rather loudly, the question ‘Would you marry me?’ Twilight explained how she was somewhat caught off guard by Rainbow’s sudden proposal, but it didn’t take her long to say ‘Yes!’ So here they all were now, preparing for a wedding. “Ya know, I wasn’t really expecting you to be the one proposin, Rainbow. The whole deal that went down a few months ago with Twilight confessing to you, I thought that she would have been the one askin you ta marry her.” Applejack said while thinking back to that day. “Well ya know, this isn’t a one sided relationship, Applejack. I love Twilight as much as she loves me.” Rainbow said defensively. “Ah know, ah know. I didn’t mean to imply that you don’t love Twilight.” Applejack explained. “Yeah, I know. Sorry.” Rainbow said when she realized how snappy she was being toward her friend. “I guess I know what you mean. I didn’t even take my feelings for Twilight seriously until that day when we confessed to each other.” “You told Twilight a few day after that that you had always felt something special for her, right?” Spike said. “Yeah, I never really thought about it that much. Most of the time, I just told myself that it was nothing. But when Twilight confessed to me, I decided that my feelings had to be real, and that I really wanted to be with her. I haven’t regretted a day since then.” Rainbow said as she reminisced her time spent with Twilight. After a few moments of silence, Spike looked at his clipboard and said, “Well, everything seems to be taken care of on this end. Maybe we could all head up to Canterlot now.” “Well, if everything truly is ready here, then I would love to join the others.” Rarity said, cheerfully. “We got everything ready here early.” Applejack added. “Pinkie Pie wanted this party’s preparations finished early so it would be ready when we got back. But since it’s all ready to go, I don’t see why we couldn’t go an join everyone else in Canterlot.” “I bet that they would all be really happy to see us.” Rainbow said, excitedly. “Well alright! Let’s go get ourselves some train tickets.” Applejack whooped as she trotted off toward the train station. The four of them went off to get on the next train to Canterlot. During the trip, Rainbow Dash kept fidgeting as she sat impatiently in her seat. She hadn’t seen Twilight since she had left the day before, and she was excited to be reunited with her fiancé. But as they approached Canterlot, Rainbow felt a twinge in her gut, and the closer they got, the stronger it grew. They decided against sending a heads up letter to Twilight, because they wanted to surprise their friends. They figured that everyone would be happy to see their friends ahead of schedule, and learn that the Ponyville party preparations were finished. They each exited the train after it made its stop at the Canterlot train station. Rainbow Dash darted out of the door in a hurry to find Twilight and the rest of her friends. Next, Applejack came trotting out followed by Rarity. Spike came out last carrying only a few bags for Rarity. She had decided to pack very light because they were all excited and in a hurry to get to Canterlot. However, Rarity had also made all of the dresses that Twilight, Rainbow, she and the rest of her friends would be wearing. These clothes were in other suitcases, and Rarity had also brought along some of her sewing supplies from home in order to finish them, and also make some adjustments if need be. She only had about a week to make the outfits, and still needed time to finish and perfect them, after all. So really, Spike still had a few more things to carry. After they all started their walk to the castle, where they were sure that their friends would be, they were met with a very pleasant sight. It seemed that all of Canterlot was working hard to prepare for the latest royal wedding. Everypony seemed to be doing something around the city. Shop owners were either cleaning their stores, or decorating their shops in one way or another. Ponies were out in the streets cleaning and decorating said streets. Even the upper classes were out and about seemingly preparing, though, they were probably only thinking of their own status while they got ready. When the four fresh from Ponyville finally got through all of the bustle on the streets and made it to the castle, they were first met by, or rather they first met, Shining Armor and Cadence. The two ponies from The Crystal Empire saw the four friends and happily greeted them. “Well hello you four! It’s so good to see you.” Cadence chimed her greeting. “Hey. It’s nice to see you all again.” Shining Armor said after his wife. The four friends bowed to the prince and princess before giving their own greetings. “Howdy y’all!” Applejack replied. “Well hello. It’s wonderful to see you two.” Rarity said. “Hi!” Spike said, gleefully. “Hey. How’s it goin?” Rainbow Dash said lastly. “It’s going well.” Shining Armor replied to Rainbow. “So, Rainbow Dash, you’ll be marrying my sister in a couple of days.” “Yeah, I sure will.” Rainbow started out sounding confident, but she got a little nervous as her fiancé’s older brother stood before her with a serious expression. Rainbow gulped and laughed nervously in the looming presence of Shining Armor. Shining noticed how tense Rainbow Dash was and he chuckled. Then he smiled and said heartily, “You don’t have to be nervous around me. I couldn’t be happier for the two of you. I think that Twily found a great partner in you.” Rainbow breathed out a sigh of relief. It was good to hear that Shining Armor approved of her in person, instead of just from some letters. Duties in The Crystal Empire had kept him and Cadence from visiting, and Twilight and Rainbow decided that they shouldn’t disturb them with a personal visit. Twilight had gotten upset with Shining Armor for not telling her about his own wedding until the invitations were sent out, so she wrote him a few letters telling him about her new relationship with Rainbow Dash and about the upcoming wedding. She didn’t want to be a hypocrite after all. “Thanks. That’s a relief.” Rainbow Dash said. Cadence giggled and said “Were both so happy for the two of you, falling in love, and now getting married. I’m so excited to be here to see you two start a wonderful new chapter in your lives together.” Rainbow blushed a little and smiled. She liked receiving attention, but this kind of attention was a little embarrassing. “Yeah, marriage is an exciting new step for a couple, and I bet Twilight is a lot more excited about her wedding than she’s been letting on. If I know my sister, she probably stops and jumps for joy every chance she gets.” Shining Armor said while he chuckled to himself. “Oh yeah. She may be acting calm and cool, but I can see in her eyes that she is just ecstatic.” Cadence added. “She’s really taking this that well? Ah suppose that sounds about right though. She usually gets a little over excited about these things. But she has gotten better since we’ve known her.” Applejack said. “I can only imagine the stress that she must be going through. This is her big day were talking about. I know that she is going to want it to be the best day ever.” Rarity said after Applejack. Rainbow thought about Twilight and what she might be doing right now. She was getting impatient to go and find her fiancé. That, and despite the fact that Shining had basically just given his blessing, Rainbow still felt a little uncomfortable with him standing over her. “So, do you know where Twilight is?” Rainbow asked. “She’s in the throne room with Princess Celestia. I think they are preparing the rehearsal, so your timing couldn’t be better.” Cadence answered. She turned her head around and looked toward the stairs that would take them to the room in question. “Thanks. See ya later.” Rainbow quickly said before she tried to dash off to the throne room. But before she could get past him, Shining Armor stopped her. Rainbow looked down at the hoof that blocked her way and then up to the unicorn it belonged to. Rainbow was getting even more nervous now. Shining Armor was still smiling when he lowered his head and loudly whispered, “I’m happy for the two of you, but don’t you go breaking my little Twily’s heart, alright.” Rainbow gulped and smiled awkwardly. She was already feeling uneasy, but now that Shining said that, she had to force herself not to shiver. “Yeah… sure thing!” Rainbow managed to say with as little of a shaky voice as she could manage. Shining Armor lowered his hoof and let Rainbow pass. She took the opportunity and trotted off as quickly as she could without full out running away. Her wings weren’t really working with her, and she didn’t want to let on that she was nearly terrified of Shining Armor. Cadence nudged Shining’s side and gave him a stern look. He smiled apologetically at his wife and chuckled. Shining Armor didn’t realize that his joke didn’t reach Rainbow Dash the way that he intended, but Cadence did notice her nervous demeanor. “Well it’s nice seein y’all here. We’ll see ya later.” Applejack said to Cadence and Shining. The three left behind by Rainbow Dash bowed their heads and trotted off to catch up with her. Shining and Cadence bowed their heads and waved good bye to Applejack, Rarity and Spike. The three almost caught up to Rainbow Dash when they saw Pinkie Pie bouncing along. She saw Rainbow Dash and quickly ran up and tackled her to the ground. Pinkie joyfully bounced around the fazed pegasus who was now lying on the ground. “Rainbow Dash! You’re here! You’re here!” Pinkie sang at the top of her lungs. “You’re just in time too! We were just about to-“ Pinkie saw the rest of her friends and stopped mid-sentence. She gasped excitedly and jumped at them, but she suddenly stopped midair and said “Wait a minute!” She then fell to the ground and landed flat on her face. Pinkie looked up at her friends from the ground and said “What are all of you doing here?! Don’t you have a town to be getting ready for a party for?!” “We already finished with all of the preparations Pinkie. So we decided to come here to Canterlot. We thought that we might be of some help here.” Rarity said as she helped Pinkie to her hooves. “Wow! Really? You’re already done? That has to be some kind of record!” Pinkie Pie said enthusiastically. “I don’t think that I could have been that fast if I tried.” Applejack helped Rainbow to her hooves before saying, “We had the help of everypony in town. They were all so excited about the weddin that they all insisted on helpin out.” “Wowee! This is great news! Now you’re all here and we can start with the rehearsal! Twilight and Princess Celestia are getting things ready for it in the throne room! I bet they’re probably writing a letter to Spike right now!” Pinkie Pie turned and looked at Spike with a huge expecting grin. Spike looked around and back at Pinkie. He put a claw up to his chin and turned his eyes to his right. He waited a bit, but looked at Pinkie and said “Nope. Sorry, I got noth-“ Just then his cheeks blew up and he burped out a cloud of green fire and smoke. A letter materialized and fell to the ground. Pinkie squeed and quickly picked up the letter. Everyone else looked at each other with slight confusion, but quickly brushed it off. They all looked at Pinkie and waited for her to read the letter. Pinkie Pie quickly opened up the letter and read it silently to herself. Her eyes moved back and forth over the letter at a speed that was impossible to actually read at. She squeed again and tossed the letter into the air. She then proceeded to jump around and laugh. Spike caught the letter and decided to read it out loud himself. “Dear Spike, please gather all of our friends and tell them that we here in Canterlot are ready for you all to come over. The preparations are nearly complete, and we only need everyone to come and help with the fine details that are left. If the preparations in Ponyville are complete, then we would greatly appreciate it if you all would come here as quickly as possible. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle.” “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! This is perfect! They won’t be expecting you for some time now! But you’re all already here! AAAHH! I’ll go tell Twilight now!” Pinkie shouted as she jumped into the air and started to ‘fly’ off to the throne room where Twilight was waiting. Just then, Rainbow flew up and caught Pinkie’s tail in her mouth and said through her closed teeth, “Hold on hinkie hie!” Pinkie froze in midair. Her neck was stretched out and her legs were stopped in various positions as she was just ‘running’ in the air. She looked back at Rainbow Dash with only her eyes, not turning her head or changing the facial expression she had. Her mouth was open in a big smile and her eyes were wide open as well. Rainbow spit Pinkie’s tail out and watched in confusion as she just floated in the air, still frozen in place. “How are you..? Never mind. Pinkie Pie, I actually want to surprise Twilight. She isn’t expecting us just yet, so maybe you could wait until after I sneak up on her, ok?” Pinkie gently fell back to the floor and landed on her tip hooves. She gasped and laughed excitedly. “Oh! My! Gosh! That’s a great idea! She would be so happy to see you. She has been missing you since we left yesterday. Ooooo! This is so exciting!” Rainbow sighed in relief and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She looked down to her friends and motioned to them to follow her and said, “Well, come on. Let’s get going then.” Everyone smiled and started following Rainbow down the corridor. They all talked and laughed along the way, catching up with each other. After a few minutes of walking, flying and talking, they finally made it to the closed doors of the throne room. Standing in front of the doors, about to knock and go in was Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash quietly shouted to her saying, “Fluttershy! Wait!” Fluttershy jumped slightly and turned her head to see where the voice came from. She smiled and turned around to greet her friends that had just arrived behind her. “Oh my. I didn’t see you all there. Hello.” Fluttershy said, happily. “Howdy Fluttershy.” Applejack greeted first. “Hello dear.” Rarity said next. “Hi!” Pinkie Pie chirped. “Hey.” Spike said next. And lastly came Rainbow Dash who said “Hey Fluttershy. I’m glad we caught you.” “I was just about to go and see if Twilight or Princess Celestia needed my help with anything else since my song birds are done practicing for today. But I wasn’t expecting to see you all here so soon.” Fluttershy explained. “Well like Rainbow Dash said, we're glad we caught you before you went inside. You see, we all wanted to surprise Twilight with our presence, since we only just received a letter from Twilight asking us to come to Canterlot a few minutes ago.” Rarity informed Fluttershy. “Yeah. I wanted to sneak up on her and surprise her. I wonder how exactly she‘ll react when she sees us?” Rainbow said as she landed next to Fluttershy, grinning mischievously. “Oh I bet she’ll be really happy to see all of us here. Especially you, Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy said. “But I guess since you’re all here already, that you all finished with everything in Ponyville?” “Eeyup. Everything’s all ready to go.” Applejack said, proudly. “Well then, we should go in and surprise Twilight. Oh my, I’m a little excited.” Fluttershy giggled. “Alright. Here we go.” Rainbow whispered as she turned around to face the door. Rainbow Dash slowly pushed open the door. She peeked her head in and looked around the room. She almost got caught up on how great the room looked. Twilight was obviously working hard to make sure the wedding was coming together perfectly. But Rainbow didn’t let herself be distracted for too long. She looked down the long room and saw her target. Twilight was standing in the center of the throne room, facing away from the doors. She was talking to Princess Celestia, who was facing toward Twilight and the double door entrance. They were talking about the rehearsal when Celestia saw movement over and behind Twilight. Rainbow Dash was stalking closer and closer towards them, like a wild cat hunting through tall grass. Behind her were the rest of Twilight’s friends, slowly and quietly sneaking up to them. Rainbow Dash noticed that Celestia had spotted them and motioned to her that she keep quiet. Celestia’s smile grew slightly, and she looked back down to Twilight, who was oblivious to what was about to happen. Rainbow continued sneaking across the room until she was just behind Twilight. She smiled to herself and had to keep from laughing out loud so as not to blow her cover. She stood up and looked at Celestia one last time. Celestia saw an opening and quickly winked. Rainbow’s smile grew wider as she raised her front right hoof. She tapped on Twilight’s flank and waited with anticipation. Twilight jumped and turned around to see who had just tapped her flank. Once she was completely turned, she gasped and her expression quickly changed from inquisitive to overjoyed. Rainbow Dash was standing right behind her, smiling and waving her raised hoof. Twilight burst into excited laughter and threw her fore legs around Rainbow Dash’s neck. Rainbow started laughing and wrapped her own fore legs around Twilight’s neck. As they laughed and hugged, Twilight saw her other friends standing behind Rainbow Dash. They broke their embrace and she smiled at her friends. They all gathered around the gleeful couple and started with their happy greetings. They all talked and laughed together for a few minutes. They each explained their own parts of the story of why they were here so soon. They each also told Twilight about the finished preparations in Ponyville and how everypony there helped and said that they couldn’t wait for the big day. After a few minutes of catching up, the group of friends looked to Celestia. They each bowed to the princess, except for Twilight, who was told a few times before that she did not have to bow to her. Celestia smiled and bowed her head to Twilight’s friends, showing her own respects for the ponies before her. Pinkie Pie was the first to speak, “So now that were all here, well accept for Shining Armor and Princess Cadence who are probably gonna come later anyway, we can start with the wedding rehearsal, right?” Pinkie smiled at Princess Celestia expectantly. Celestia chuckled before answering Pinkie’s question. “No, the rehearsal isn’t until later tomorrow. The big day isn’t until the day after tomorrow after all.” Pinkie frowned and said with a disappointed tone, “Aaawww.” “It is pretty late and besides, the rehearsal is supposed to be the day before the wedding.” Twilight added, trying to comfort her friend. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Not much point in rehearsing now. Especially since all of us only just got together today. I just can’t wait though. I’m just so excited!” Pinkie said as she cheered up again. “Yeah, but I’m pretty beat after all the work we did today.” Spike said while he stretched and yawned. “Well, how would all of you like to join us for dinner?” Celestia asked. “That sounds great!” Pinkie said, accepting Celestia’s invitation. “Oh. I hope that we won’t be a bother.” Fluttershy said shyly. “Oh, don’t worry. You’re not a bother. I’m sure Luna and Shining Armor and Cadence would love it if all of you joined us.” Celestia reassured Fluttershy. Celestia looked over at Twilight and added, “And I’m sure that your parents and Nyx would enjoy having dinner with all of us as well.” Twilight smiled and nodded her head in agreement. Celestia nodded back and said, “Then I’ll send someone to their room and invite them down.” They all followed Celestia as she walked over to the door. All except Rainbow Dash and Twilight. Rainbow was about to take off and fly after her friends, when she noticed that Twilight wasn’t coming. She stopped and watched as Twilight looked around the room at all of the decorations. Twilight was checking everything over again, probably for the umpteenth time. Rainbow smiled as she watched Twilight. One of the things she both loved and found kind of annoying about Twilight was her somewhat neurotic attention to detail. Standing here, looking at the mare she was going to be married to in a few days, it filled Rainbow’s heart with joy. Twilight turned back to face Rainbow Dash after a few seconds of checking everything to make sure that it was all In place. She was watching her with her usual happy expression. Twilight smiled back at Rainbow Dash, but noticed that her other friends were a little ways ahead. “Sorry, we can go now.” Twilight apologized. Rainbow just smiled and laughed. Then she put her wing over Twilight’s back and nuzzled her muzzle to Twilight’s muzzle. Twilight smiled and nuzzled back. After they finished nuzzling, Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a quick peck on the lips. Rainbow smiled and kissed her back before they started off after everyone else. She was feeling pretty blissful as they walked out of the throne room. However, as they were leaving, Rainbow glanced over at some of the decorations that hung from the walls. At first, she smiled to herself as she thought about the upcoming day, however, the more she thought about it, the more she remembered just how nervous she was really feeling. The big day was coming very soon, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but feel a little scared.