The day of the wedding...
“Let's see...” said Twilight as she looked at her list over everything in Cadance and Shining Armor's wedding. “We got the dresses ready, catering is done...got some flower girls...hmm...am I missing something?”
“Yes Twily.” said Cadance as she tapped Twilight on the shoulder. “You need to get your dress.”
“Oh right...say Cadance?”
“Yes?”
“Um...are you sure you want me to be there at the ceremony?”
“Why are you asking that? Of course I want you to be there, you're about to become my sister-in-law!”
“Yeah, but...you do realize the nobles and pretty much everypony here hates me, right?”
“Yes I do Twily. But I don't care, you're part of my family even if it isn't official yet.” Cadance then hugged Twilight while showing a calm, heartwarming smile. “Don't worry Twilight, everything will be okay.”
“I know it will...it's just...you do know I don't really belong here, right? You know, around nobles and stuff.”
“I know you don't Twily, especially since you're a thief of all things. You really need to tell me and the rest of your family about that story sometime. I still have a hard time believing it.”
“I...” Twilight then slumped over, thinking about her family and her friends. 'Wow...I really did abandon all of them, didn't I? But...I didn't have a choice...if I had stayed...we would have all ended up captured and imprisoned eventually...'
“Still thinking about your friends Twily?” Cadance said while giving a concerned smile.
“Yeah...but I don't have a choice now...” Twilight then got up, “I need to get my dress, I still can't believe you were able to convince the royal dress makers to make me one.”
“Oh it was nothing Twily, now go ahead and get your dress, the wedding is sooner than you think!”
“I know.” Twilight then left the room with a small smile. However, the smile soon disappeared as she immediately met Trixie and Sunset in the hallway. “Oh boy...”
“Hello thief.” said Trixie in a dry, angry tone.
“Be nice Trixie.” said Sunset with a slightly annoyed face. She then turned to Twilight. “Is everything ready?”
“Yeah, according to my list, everything is ready. All I need to do is pick up my dress.” Twilight then nodded to Sunset.
“Good. I must admit, you're quite good at planning things, aren't you?”
“Sunset! Don't compliment the criminal!”
Twilight ignored Trixie as she continued to talk to Sunset. “It's nothing really. I'm a pony who tries to plan out everything to the very last detail.”
“I see...no wonder you're the boss of the Rainbooms.” said Sunset with a slight smile. “It's good to see the inheritor of Harmony at least has a good mind on her shoulders.”
“Don't you mean head?”
“I know what I meant.”
“HEY! STOP IGNORING TRIXIE!”
Meanwhile in an another part of the castle...
“So this is Rumble?” asked Shining Armor as he adjusted his suit. He gave a slightly curious look at Spike.
Spike then nodded, “Yeah, he's Trixie's neighbor.”
Rumble then nodded and extended his hoof. “Nice to meet you Mr. Armor. Thanks for letting me attend your wedding.”
Shining then gave Rumble a firm hoofshake. “Nice to meet you as well Rumble, and its no problem about attending. However, are you sure your parents in Manehattan are cool with you being here? Are you sure they don't want to come? I mean, I don't mind them coming, better to have a few ponies that aren't Canterlot noble snobs.”
“No...they are...um...” Rumble then gave a slightly embarrassed look, trying to find the right words to say. “Um...”
“Kooky?!” said Spike.
“Yeah! That's it Spike!” replied Rumble. “Let's just say my parents can be really strange.”
“That's fine.” said Shining as he adjusted his bow tie. “My parents aren't the most normal ponies either, but then again, who's are?”
The three then laughed a little bit. Shining then said, “Well, I'm glad to see you're making friends as well Spike. It will definitely help put Sunset in better spirits, especially because of what just happened recently.”
“You mean the fact that your sister is a thief?” asked Rumble bluntly.
“Yeah...uh...” Shining then began to trail off. “I still don't know what to think about that...”
“I think its cool.” Rumble then gave a huge smile.
“You do?!” both Shining and Spike said in unison.
“Yeah, why not?! I mean, she's the leader of the Rainbooms! In Manehattan, the stuff the Rainbooms do is of legend!” Rumble's eyes began to shine as he continued. “I mean, they single-hoofedly gave the police all three top mafia bosses like it was nothing! Some ponies think they even stopped a war with Saddle Arabia! All kinds of ponies in Manehattan think they're heroes!”
“Oh come on!” said Spike with a look of skepticism. “You can't be serious! A bunch of thieves stopped a war?!”
“Actually...” said Shining as he began to pull his collar. “Now that you mention it...that might be true Spike...”
“Really?!”
“Yeah...”
Spike then gave the most dumbfounded look he could give. “Wow...no way...”
Rumble laughed at Spike's expression and then turned to Shining, who was giving a rather confused look on his face. “Something wrong Mr. Armor?”
“No...just thinking...oh and just call me Shining, I don't mind.”
“Oh okay.”
Shining Armor just stood there for a bit, thinking about what Rumble just said. 'Huh...Rumble just made it sound like my sister and her friends are heroes...or vigilantes...Twily...just what have you been doing all these years?'
“Are you okay?” asked Rumble again.
“I don't know Rumble...I just don't know...”
Spike then gave a very deadpan look. “Well you better get okay. It's your wedding, isn't it?!”
In another part of the castle...
Twilight had returned the Cadance's chambers, now with her dress in tow. There, she saw Cadance with Twilight's mother, Twilight Velvet. “Mom...”
Velvet then turned around and saw her daughter in the doorway. She immediately ran up and hugged her. “Oh! My little girl!”
“Uh...”
Tears began to run down Velvet's face. “Oh...I missed you so much...”
Twilight then slightly hugged her mom back. “Hey mom...it's good to see you too.”
Velvet then released the hug and dragged Twilight into the room. She then quickly closed the door behind her with her magic and then gave a huge grin. “Oh I can't believe it! Soon I'll have two daughters! I'm so happy!”
Twilight and Cadance looked at each other with small smiles and then looked back at Velvet. “Um...mom...”
“Yes, my little girl?”
“Uh...why aren't you mad at me?”
“Mad? Why would I be mad?”
“Um...haven't you found out what I really am?” Twilight then gave the most puzzled look she could give.
“Found out? Oh! You mean the Rainboom thing!” Velvet then went up and hugged Twilight again. “I don't care about that silly. No matter what you do, you're still my daughter no matter what happens!”
Twilight stood there for a second. Then, as if a faucet had just been opened, tears ran down her face. “Thanks mom...I...I'm sorry...”
“For what?”
“For being a bad daughter...I never treated you or dad right...I...”
SLAP!
Velvet then slapped Twilight and showed her the most angry face Twilight had seen in a while. “Um...”
“DON'T EVER SAY THAT! You are my daughter, Twilight!”
“Uh...”
“Me and your father love you! It doesn't matter to us what you've become or done, we will always be there to support you!”
“I...I...”
Velvet then hugged her again. “Please...no more apologizing...”
Twilight then slumped over in defeat. “Okay...I won't...”
Cadance gave a slight giggle and then hugged both of them. “Don't worry, Twily. It will all work out, you'll see.”
“Yeah...thanks...”
Twilight soon put on her dress and then left the room. There, she began to walk down the hallway while checking the list she had brought with her. 'Let's see...' she thought, 'Catering is done...music is done...got some flower mares...got my dress...everything should be in order...' Twilight then put away her list and said to herself, “Wedding is about to start...guess I should see Shining before it starts...maybe dad is there too...”
Twilight then began to walk the halls, noticing the other ponies stare daggers at her. She slowly walked as she made her way to the groom's room. As she turned a corner, she looked around, noticing that the guards were missing. 'That's odd...did Shining call them off?'
Twilight then walked down another hallway only to see that nopony was around. Then, she walked to a dead end. 'Hmm...did I lose my way? I'm still not used to this place...' Twilight looked down at her necklace, it was still holding the Element of Darkness on it. Twilight then turned around only to notice two little fillies standing in front of her. The two had devilish grins on their faces. “Um...can I help you?”
“Yes...I think you can.” said one of them as Twilight saw both fillies' started to show smoke come out of their eyes.
“What the...”
Then, in an instant, one of the fillies' shadow suddenly rose and turned into an unicorn stallion. Before Twilight could react, the stallion shot a giant blast of fire at her.
BLAM!
Twilight slammed into the dead end wall, her vision fuzzy from the blow. “Okay...that hurt...”
“My my...you're quite resilient.” said the stallion with a huge grin. “Sorry to say but I need that jewel around your neck!”
Twilight's body shook as she tried to stand from the blast. Her horn quickly glowed as she shot a beam directly at the unicorn. But the unicorn was just a bit faster.
BLAM! THUD!
Another blast hit Twilight and she fell to the floor like a sack of bricks. The unicorn than gave a slight laugh and then tore her necklace off. There, he then stared at the Element of Darkness. “At last...”
“Is that what you were looking for your majesty, King Sombra?”
“Yes...it is...” Sombra then showed a huge grin and then his horn began to glow as he tried to break the Element of Darkness open. But the element wouldn't budge. “Hmm...this is well made...it seems it was made to block out both light and dark magic...”
“Then...it can't be opened?”
“No...it still can...” Sombra's horn began to glow more and more. “It isn't made to fight magic that is both light and dark magic, in other words, shadow magic!”
Sombra continued to blast his shadow magic at the jewel and soon it began to crack. Then it opened.
BOOM!
A huge amount of dark magic surrounded the trio. The three began to laugh as the darkness went into all three ponies. Sombra's shadow form began to change as he became to look more like a regular unicorn. “Unbelievable...the dark magic fully restored my body...I must say...the darkness in that jewel is truly incredible...”
“Your majesty...I think me and Silver Spoon absorbed some of the dark magic too.”
Sombra then turned around and looked at his two pawns with a curious look. “Hmm...it seems you are correct...interesting...to think earth ponies could absorb this much dark magic.”
“Is that bad?”
“No...it just proves the evil inside both of your hearts...” Sombra then gave a huge smile. “You two are even worse than I first thought...Excellent...I must say Diamond Tiara, you were right when you said Silver Spoon could be useful when I first appeared to you a week ago...”
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon then looked at each other in slight confusion. They then turned to Sombra. “So...what do we do now?”
“Well...since you both absorbed some of the dark magic as well...I guess it would be good if you two came with me so I could teach you how to use the darkness you have just absorbed.”
“Okay...so what's are first move here? Isn't it dangerous to try that in Canterlot?”
“Yes...it is...” Sombra then scratched his chin in deep thought. “Hmm...how about you two go ahead and go back to Filthy Rich.”
The two looked at each other in confusion again. “Why?”
“You two can't do anything here right now. So instead...go ahead and join Filthy Rich. After the wedding, you two will leave Canterlot. Don't worry, because you two are earth ponies, the barrier shouldn't detect you. That and the dark magic seems to have already adsorbed inside both of you quite nicely.”
The two then nodded. “Okay, and what are you going to do your Majesty?”
“Well...I have some business to take care of in Canterlot and then I'm going to head to the Crystal Empire. My shadow magic allows me to quickly travel through any terrain. That and as soon as you two can, I want you two to head to the Crystal Empire after you get back to Ponyville. I'm sure you two can find some way to get to me later.”
“Okay, what do you have to do in Canterlot?”
Sombra then gave a huge grin. “Simple...I have to make a declaration of war!”