//------------------------------// // Side Chapter: A Canterlot Wedding Part 2 // Story: Continuing the Dream // by Blue Breeze //------------------------------// Author's Note: Since I can't stop plugging myself up the ass... that sounded kinda wrong. I'm here to say, to any of my viewers who don't know, I recently did a review of the recent season finale at my blog right here. Now, on with the story. Did I mention how much I hate Dark? Yes? Well, I'm saying it again. I BUCKING HATE DARK! First this whole mess with Twilight and cadance, now Dark is trying to force a hooker on Shining. Shining looks over at the mare and nervously raises up a hoof. "Um, yeah, it's my bachelor party." FOOL! NEVER ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM A PONY LIKE THAT! The mare walks up to Shining seductively and brushes her face with her tail. "Well then I guess I oughtta give you a VERY special present." "P-Present?" Shining's normally white face starts turning a beet red from the mare. Dark chuckles at Shining. "Yeah, now this is going to be a real party." On one hoof, yay, a hooker. On the other, our marefriends would be pissed at us. Yeah, I'm going with the latter. I grab Dark and pull him to the other side of the room to have a "talk". "Hey, what's the big idea? I'm gonna miss the show." "Show? Show?!" "Yes, a show." "How do you think Twilight would feel if she knew you hired a hooker for her brother's bachelor party the night before he gets married?" He shrugs. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her. Besides, with everything else that's been going on, I think she's got bigger problems to worry about." I lean into his face and glare at him. "Make her leave. Right. Now!" "Can't." "Why not?" "I already paid her for the night." "Paid her for the night?! Since when do hookers take money in advance?!" "I know. It's awesome, right?" "I am seriously going to murder you. I'm going to rip your head off and use your open neckhole as my new toilet." "Cool story, bro. Now, if you don't mind, I've got a show to go watch." He trots away from me, leaving me with my face red and steam coming out of my ears. He's so dead. I go back to the rest of the group and watch Shining as he is terrified of the mare. Captain of the Royal Guard right here folks. He turns back to look at us. "Help me." he mouths quietly. I hate to see a bro like this. I guess I'll help. Time for one of my trademark out of nowhere yet still totally awesome ideas that'll probably not end up as well as I thought. You gotta admit, at least I'm honest about them. Turn behind myself too see a table wil a bunch of drinks on it. Yep, that'll do. I look over to Drax. "Drax, come with me." "Uh, sure, okay.." he says. We get up from our seats and Drax follows me over to the table I picked out from before. I take my hooves to my head to try and get a proper image of Shining in his seat to help judge for distance. Hmm, that should be good. "Okay, Drax. Just give the end of this here table a good hit." I say, patting the table. "Hey, what are you doing?" one of the stallions sitting at the table asks us. "Sorry, gentlemen. We'll be needing your drinks to save the Royal Guard Captain." "Like hay you wi" "NOW, DRAX!" Drax takes his muscular foreleg and slams on the end of the table. All of the drinks go flying through the air, everypony in the bar stpping what they're doing to watch in shock. The drinks fly over and barely miss Shining, hitting the hook right infront of him. She huffs as she turns around. "Ican tell when I'm not wanted. You were the most uninvolved customer I've ever had anyway." She leaves the bar and Dark looks back at us. "What the buck? I was watching that!" I facehoof. "Quit whining." "Well, it's kinda hard not to when you just almost instantly ended the whole night!" "Oh, you're night's far from over." the stallion from before says as he gets up. The rest of us friends follow his lead, getting ready to attack. There's five of them, just like there's five of us, minus Shining. Perfect. "Well, if you boys wanna party, I'd be happy to oblige." Dark says. Well, guess talking our way out of this just flew out the window. The stallion near Drax throws a punch at him only for his hoof to get caught and have Drax hoist him into the air. Drax takes him and slam him through the table. The stallion near me goes for a body slam, but I narrowly avoid him and buck him in the ribs, sending him crashing into the nearby wall. Another stallion comes after me, but Ice makes an ice trail that slips him up. While he's off balance, Ice stomps his hooves, making a flattened ice pillar shost up below the stallion and smashing him against the ceiling. Being the maniac he always is, Dark didn't even allow the stallion he was closest to to react. He took and electrically charged hoof and touched the stallion with it. "Dark!" I shout at him. "What? It wasn't enough to kill him. Just knock him out." I can't believe Dark sometimes... Scratch that. All the time. The last stallion was very shaken from seeing all of his friens be put down so easily. Zephyr looks at him as shakes with fear. Zephyr gets right in his face and jumps. "Boo!" The stallion shrieks before fainting over. Wow. Zephyr would get the easy job. We all do a group high hoof in celebration. Nothing more fun than a group flank kicking. We turn to Shining, who is just sitting there in silence along with the rest of the bar. "Hehe, sorry about all that, Shining." I say. He shakes his head. "Oh, it's fine. Thanks for saving me from that mare." "Save you from her? She was awesome!" Dark said. Maybe hanging with Dark for too long is why Twilight's been acting so weird. Oh well. "Well, anyway. the fight was no problem. You guys have really got some skills. Normally I'd have to take in for startinga fight, but I think I'll let it slide this time." Dark goes up to Shining and wrapos a hoof around his sholders. "Yeah! Now that's my future brother-in-law." "Brother-in-law?" I clear my throat, getting their attention. "Speaking of wedding, maybe we should be heading home. It's gonna be a big day for everypony tomorrow." "Yeah, I think that'd be a good idea." Shining says. We exit the bar and wave each other off. "See ya, Shining!" He waves back to us. "See ya tomorrow at the wedding, guys!" We all continue to walk back to the castle to meet up with out marefriends and rest up for the big day tomorrow. I'm getting that bad feeling again And usually it's right. Curse my senses. We reach the hallway to our bedrooms and stop for one last good night. "Well, see you guys in the morning." I say. "Yeah, I just hope Twilight's okay." Dark says. "Wow. Focusing on Twilight instead of partying, Dark?" Ice says. "Hey, I know I can be a real jerk, but I honestly do care about Twi." "Well, good luck, bro." I say. Everypony except ark goes their seperate ways into their own rooms except for Dark, who is just standing there and looking at the floor. "I really hope she's okay." he says. He enter his room to find that Twilight is not there and only Spike is. "Where's Twilight?" "Don't know." Spike says. "But I'm really worried about her." Dark climbs into the empty bed and covers himself up. "Yeah, me too." The next day(still using my lazy ass transitions) Dark slowly opens his eyes to see that Twilight never returned during the night. He gets up, sighing to himself, before going to the bathroom to get ready. This is gonna be a lomg day for him. Over to your favorite pony, me I wake up the next morning and stretch myself out as usual. Even in a bed as comfy as this, I can't help but have to stretch myself awake. Dash yawns as she wakes up next to me. "Hey, Blue." "Hey, Ms. Sonic Rainboom. Ready for the big day?" I joke. She shoots up as she smiles confidently. "You kidding? With all the practicing I've been doing, it'll be a snap." "Hehe, you've gotta teach me how to do one of those sometime." "You? Do a sonic rainboom?" "Yes." "Don't make me laugh." I put myy forelegs to my sides in annoyance. "And why is that funny?" "Just look at you." she motions at my body(you know you want this). "You're too bulky. You're a fighter, not a flyer." "Heh, I'll show you one of these days." "Yeah right." "Anyway, any idea on Twilight last night?" She starts frowning at my question. "No, I have no idea what's gotten into her." "Well, she's got everypony worried. Even Dark." "Dark? Really?" "Believe it or not, yes." "Woah, I guess this is serious." We sit there in silence for a minute before getting up. "Well, all we can do now is go on about our business and hope things work out." "I hope you're right about that." Yeah, so am I. We both get ready, Dash doing her hair and getting into her dress with my help, and myself getting into a tuxedo with Dash's help. Celestia, this is even worse than wearing those stupid bandages. At least this is only for a few hours. I fidget about in my tuxedo a bit. "Why are these things so uncomfortable?" "Hey, you think I like wearing this dress?" "Heaven forbid a tomcolt wear a dress." "Hey! I'm not a tomcolt." I look at her bemused. "Okay, I am. But still. That's not it. It's just not that aerodynamic, even with the adjustments Rarity made." "Well, it's only for a few hours." "Yeah, a good thing too." We exit the room and walk out into the hallway, having about the millionth coincidental meet up with the others. It's pretty creepy how many times this has happened. We all look at Dark, him with a sad look on his face. "No Twilight, huh?" I ask. He shakes his head in response. I put a hoof on in sholder in reassurance. "It'll be fine, buddy. I'm sure of it." He looks at me and gives me a small smile. "Thanks." After that, we all head down to the ceremony room. The room is aAs the bride's maid approach Twilight and Calready filled with ponies taking up the sots on both sides of the carpet. Princess Celestia, Shining Armor, and Spike all stood at the front of the room. The girls sepearated from us and took their spots on each side of the stairs. The guys took spots on the left side of the carpet. Just then, the doors open with the Cutie Mark Crusaders hopping infront of Cadance, dropping flower petals. When did they get here?! They weren't on the train?! *mental sigh* I've gotta stop questioning things. "Finally the moment has arrived for me to be one lucky bride!" Cadance sings as she walks down the isle. Um... okay. I don't get it. She takes a spot next to Shining Armor up front. Um... Why are his eyes glowing green? Celestia begins to start talking, silencing everyone. "Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to announce you-" "STOP!" Twilight screams from the front door. Everypony is very confused by all this. "Err. Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?" Cadance says. She then starts playing the crying bride card. "Why does she have to ruin my special day?" "Because, it's not your special day, it's mine!" a pony that looks like a messier Cadance says. Everypony gasps in shock. "I found her in the secret gems cavern buried beneath Canterlot. She was being held there as a prisonner by whoever that is." Twilight says, pointing to the Cadance on stage. "What?! But, how did you escape my bride's maids?!" she demands. Flashback to the cave As the bride's maids approach Twilight and Cadance, Cadance notices something. She uses her magic to grab a nearby bouquet, why that was there, I don't know, and tosses it down a hole. "I want it!" the bride's maids shout as they jump after it. Mares and weddings, I swear. Back in the wedding room "Clever, but you're still too late." the fake Cadance says. "What the buck is going on?!" Dark shouts, some electricity coming off his hooves. "She's a changeling." Cadance says. "She turns herself into somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them." Love is OP apparently. The fake Cadance's eyes go green as a circle of green fire circles around here. The circle shoots up into the air, completely enveloping her. Everypony gasps yet again. She starts changing form, growing insect like wings with holes, a pitch black coat, sickly looking hair, a crooked horn, and fangs. She starts flying. "Right you are, princess. And I Chrysalis, as queen of the changelings, am responsible for finding food for my subjects.. she starts walking towards Cadance. "Equestria has more love than any place I have ever encountered." You don't say. "My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we ever dreamed of!" "They'll never get the chance! Cadance barks back at her. "Shining ARmor's protection spel will keep them from ever reaching us!" Chrysalis giggles. "Oh, I doubt that. Isn't that right, dear?" she asks Shining, her horn glowing. "Mmhmm." he says, nodding at her. Cadance starts running at Shining, but Chrysalis gets in her way. "Ah ah ah. Don't want to back to the caves now, do you?" she threatens. Cadance backs off from her. Chrysalis turns and around starts doing the most cliche villain thing ever: monolouges. "Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. EVery moment he grows weaker, and so does his spell. Even now my minions are chipping away at it." Looking outside, we see hundreds of black dots pounding away at the bubble shield. Buck. Chrysalis laughs once more. "He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control now." Isn't marriage pretty much the same thing? "And, I'm sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as Captain of the Royal Guard." "Not my Shining Armor." Cadance says. "Soon my changeling army will break through. First, we take Canterlot, and then, all of Equestria!" "No, you won't." Celestia says. Finally, she's going to do something useful. You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self..." the two of them start clashing horns. "I can protect my subjects from you!" Celestia flies up and shoots a beam down at her, Chrysalis shooting her own. The two beams go back and forth, but Chrysalis' own out powers Celestia's and takes her down. "Princess Celestia!" Twilight shouts. All of us go over to our fallen leader. Scratch that about me saying she'd be useful. "Ha! Shining Armor's love for you is stronger than I thought. Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!" Chrysalis says. All of us are silent as we watch Celestia on the floor. "The Elements of Harmony, you must find them and use their power to defeat Chrysalis." We all nod to each other as the girls throw off their dresses and the guys throw off their suits and we head out. Oh yeah! It's flank kicking time! Rarity stays back, trying to catch the dresses and suits. "RARITY!" we all ahout. She drops the dresses and follows after us. "You can run, but you can't hide!" Chrysalis houts from behind us. As we run through Canterlot, we look up to see cracks start forming in the shield. The changelings manage to break through and start flying down after us. Fire forms around them as they dive down and crash into the ground. One lands infront of us and I send it flying with a Hurricane Hoof right to the face. We stop as we are surrounded by several dozen changelings. "Well, looks like we'll have to do this the hard way." Dash says, pounding her hooves together. Celestia, I love that mare. "That's what I'm talking about!" Dask says. Just then, the changelings start talking on our forms. "They're changelings, remember?" Twilight says. "They're changelings, remember?" a few Twilight clones say. Real mature. "Don't let them distract you. We need to get to the Elements of Harmony." We begin fighting off our dozens of clones. Vine stands surrounded by her own clones. "Oh, hay no!" she growls. Her hooves glow as she summons a bunch of thorned vines and to wrap around them all. Ouch. A clone of myself tries to use a Hurricane Hoof against me, but I block it with my charged up wings. I release the waves of energy and cut him down. They my have our powers, but they definitely don't have our skill. Ice stands as he too is surround by his own clones. He stomps his hooves down, making a bunch of large pillars impale his clones. Pretty brutal. Dark flies into the air as he starts shooting down dozens of lightning bolts at all kinds of clones. "THis is awesome!" he shouts. Why am I not surprised? Drax and Zeph each stand back to back as a crowd of changelings surround them. They each look at each other with a smirk as Zeph gives Drax his forelegs and DRax spins Zeph around. Zeph's legs smack the crowd of changelings away as Drax lets him go and they brohoof. Fluttershy shakes in fear as a group of her evil clones approaches her. She then starts pretending like she's one of them and just walk by her. But as she runs away, she is cut off by a group of Rainbow Dashes. One of them kicks the others away and picks up Fluttershy, giving her a... Wait. "Dash, did you just kiss Fluttershy?" I asks her. Both of their faces start going read. "What?! No! It was just, like, a play kiss! Honest!" "Well, okay." I'm disappointed. I was hoping we could ask Futtershy if she would be up for a three... Nah, what am I saying? That's crazy talk... Crazy awesome talk. But that can wait. Fight now, sex later. As the fight continues on, Pinkie grabs Twilight and starts repeatedly pulling down on her tail, firing out magical spells like a gattling gun. Through everypony's combined efforts, we eventually break off the crowd. Where Pinkie got her party cannon from, I will never know. We run into the chamber leading to the elements only to stop at a far, far larger crowd of changelings. With being tired from our last fight, we have no choice but to be captured. Back in the throne room Princess Celestia wakes up from her unconsciousness to find she is now in some kind of green, gooey cacoon. Cadance is also held to the floor by the same substance. "You won't get away with this!" she yells at Chrysalis. "Twilight and her friends will-" She stops as the front doors open with all of us captured. Chrysalis looks at her smugly. "You were saying?" she then looks back to us. "You do realize the reception has been cancelled, Don't you?" she looks up to her minions. "Go! Feed!" and with that, they fly out of the room. "It's funny, really. Twilight was suspicious of my behavior all along. Too bad the rest of you were caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were true." I walk over to Twilight. "Real sorry, Twi." "Yeah, so am I." Vine says. All of the others start saying they're sorry to her. "I told you she was a bi-" Dark is cut off by an apple that suddenly appears in his mouth. He spits it out in anger. "Where did that even come from." "The censors." Pinkie says. "The what?" Chrysais flies outside as she begins singing again. Really? Singing right now? That's just lame. Twilight goes over to Cadance and zaps the goo off her hooves. "Go to him. Nows your chance." she says. Cadance goes over to Shining and start crying. She pulls him into a hug as her horn starts giving off electricity. A heart pops out of her horn and onto Shining's face. The magic of the heart snaps him out of his trance as he shakes his head. "Huh? Wha? I-Is the wedding over?" Chrysalis lands with a thud infront of them. "It's all over!" "Your spell! Perform your spell!" Twilight shouts at them. "Hahaha, what would that do? My changelings already roam free!" "No." Shining says. He tries to perform his spell, but is too weak to do so. "My power is useless now. I don't have the strength to repel them." "My love will give you strength." Cadance says, embracing him. "What a lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment." Chrysalis laughs. Cadance and Shining's horns begin to glow as they touch, making an aura around both of them. They begin to levitate as they grow brighter, eventually making the aura expand and literally repel all of the changelings out of Canterlot. Like I said, love is OP apparently. The couple descends as they hold each other lovingly. Twilight runs over to Celestia to check on her. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Celestia says. "Now you have a real wedding to put together. Later that day, after resetting everything up(nothing happens, so don't worry about missing much) Everypony once again is standing at their places in the wedding room. The Cutie Mark rusader Flower Fillies enter while throwing flower petals. Cadance follows behind them. Cadance talk a spot next to Shining and they smile at each other. Celestia then starts the speech. "Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of the real Princess Mi Amora Cadenza-" "Princess Cadance is fine." Cadance says. Good. I have trouble remembering her full name. "The union of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. The strength of their commitment is clear. The power of their love undeniable. May we have the rings please?" she asks Spike. He holds the pillow holding them up. Celestia uses her magic to put their rings on their horns. "I now pronounce you mare and colt." Everypony shouts for the new couple louder than any crowd this size I've ever seen. Celestia leans in on Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash, that's your cue." Dash takes off her dress and fliex out of the room. She speeds through the air, creating a sonic rainboom. She wasn't kidding when she said it'd be a snap. And then they fu-I mean, and everypony lived happily ever after. Author's Note: For anyone who didn't know, Ice and I are doing a collab fic, the first chapter of which is available right here.