//------------------------------//
// Option 2 
// Story: Defenders of Harmony 
// by chillbook2 
//------------------------------//

	“Honey, can you come up here?” called a voice from upstairs. 
“Coming, babe!” I called. I pushed Angel off of my lap, whispering my apology. I got to my hooves and walked up the cottage stairs. I approached the bedroom door and slowly pushed it open. Sitting on the bed was Fluttershy, in nothing but her undergarments. I sat down next to her, pecking her on the cheek.
“What’s up?” I asked cheerfully.
“Pinkie said the cake was done, and I wanted to know if we should go check it out.” she said.
“Sure thing. I’m sure Pinkie did a great job. When are we leaving?”
“As soon as I put some clothes on.” she giggled. “Unless you want me to go outside in my bra and panties.”
“No way! That’s for my eyes alone!” I said, feining outrage. “Don’t want other stallions getting any ideas.”
“Oooh, jealous much?” she teased.
“I’m your fiance. That’s part of my job.” I said, kissing her again quickly. “Are you gonna get dressed so we can go?” She quickly threw on a top and skirt, slipped into some shoes, hooked her arm around mine, and we stepped out of the house. We strolled into town, heading towards Sugar Cube Corner, the workplace of one of our best friends. We entered the shop, empty except for one stallion. He had a gray coat, a slick, black mane, and stunningly red eyes. He shot us a polite smile and walked past, whispering to himself.
“Will this be it? Will this be your choice?”
“What was that?” I asked, turning around. Nopony was there. “Anypony else hear that?”
“Are you ok? You seem stressed. Wanna talk about it?” asked Fluttershy.
“It’s… fine.” I replied uneasily, “Just a bit of a headache. Let’s see this cake.”
“Did somepony say ‘cake’?!” came Pinkie’s voice from the back room. A second later, she came out wheeling a cart with the most amazing cake I’ve ever seen. 7 tiers of pure white, pure delicious cake. On the bottommost layer were names of the lucky couple, Fluttershy and Silver Rift.
“Wow.” I said. “Pinkie, this is amazing! How did you do this?”
“It was easy! Baking is my whole life! Well, not exactly, because if baking was my whole life, then I wouldn’t have time to talk to other ponies, and if I can’t talk to other ponies then I can’t make friends, and if I can’t make friends, I can’t find ponies to bake cakes for, and if I can’t find ponies to bake cakes for, then I don’t have a job anymore, now do I?”
“I suppose not.” said Fluttershy quietly. “I love it Pinkie. I’m sure it’s amazing.”
“You don’t think that I made you this super-duper amazing wedding cake without making super-duper amazing sample wedding cupcakes, do you?” said Pinkie, pulling three cupcakes from under the cart. They were decorated similarly to the cake. She passed one to me and Flutters, then shoved one in her own mouth. Me and Fluttershy did the same, and melted at the deliciousness of the cake. Soft and fluffy and sweet. So good!
“So, what do ya think?” asked Pinkie eagerly.
“Amazing!” shouted Fluttershy. Well, she kinda shouted. In her own, whispering way.
“Fantastic!” I said. “How long did it take you to make this?”
“I was up all week! It was fun!” she said excitedly.
“A week?! You haven’t slept in seven days?” I asked.
“Nope, not a wink! That’s why you haven’t seen too much of me. I only left the kitchen to get more ingredients!”
“Pinkie, that’s crazy. Even for you! How could you work non-stop like that? Aren’t you at least a little tired?”
“It was nothing.” she said slowly. “What are friends for? If you can’t trust me to make a huge, super-ginormous, amazing, not-to-toot-my-own-horn-but-toot-toot awesome cake, then who can you trust?”
“Are you sure?” asked Fluttershy concerned. “You don’t look so good.”
“I-I’m good. Just a little… run down. I just need… a little.. nap.” yawned Pinkie Pie. Seems like the excitement that was keeping her awake has been exhausted.
“We can’t thank you enough, Pinkie. This was amazing! But please, go to sleep. That can’t be good for you.” said Fluttershy.
“Okey-dokey… lokey.” said Pinkie drearily. She pushed the cake back into the kitchen and dragged herself upstairs. We heard the snoring from downstairs.
“That was great!” I said. “What do you think we should do now?”
“Um… If it were ok with you, I’d like to go see Rarity. We have to make sure the rings fit, and you need a suit.” replied my fiance.
“A suit, huh? Alright. Rarity’s gonna kill me, I put it off so much.” I said, grabbing her hand. We left Sugar Cube Corner and made the short walk to Rarity’s boutique. We entered. the bell ringing as we opened the door. We stepped forward into Rarity’s workspace and called for her.
“One second, darlings!” came a voice from upstairs. “Just finishing up!” A minute later, Rarity climbed down the stairs, covered in sweat, but otherwise happy. She was holding a pillow with two silver wedding rings. On one of them were tiny diamonds encrusted all the way around. She presented them to us as though we held her life in our hands. Fluttershy slipped on the diamond one, while I put on the plain silver. Mine fit perfectly. I held it some distance away from my face to inspect it. I loved it!
“Beautiful, Rarity! You’ve outdone yourself. It’s just so… me. Plain and silver.” I said happily.
“Well, I tried to capture your essence in your rings. Speaking of essence, what do you intend to wear?” she asked.
“Uh… The thing is… I don’t really-”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know! You must know! You are getting married tomorrow, and you don’t know what you’re wearing? Have a seat, darling, I’ll find you something nice to wear.” said Rarity, pulling shirts and jackets and shoes and ties out of the closet, holding them to my body, checking sizes and… I honestly don’t know. I was never the most fashionable. She was doing something seamstress-ish. I dunno, the point is, she got me in a proper tuxedo within an hour, and she didn’t rip my head off for procrastinating. It was a good day. She put away the tux, promising to take good care of it, along with Fluttershy’s dress. She sent us on our way, telling us to enjoy the rest of our day. We decided to stroll through town, just relax, for the rest of the day. We walked past shops and stalls for a while before we ran into possibly my best friend, Rainbow Dash, soaking wet and holding a water gun.
“What’s up Rainbow?” I said.
“Nothin much. Hey, have you guys seen Aj?” she asked, looking back and forth nervously.
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Why do you think, stupid? She doused me and ran! I’ll get that mare if it’s the last thing I do.” she said, only slightly grumpily.
“You don’t seem too upset.” said Fluttershy.
“Yeah, well, ya know. It’s Aj.” she said, blushing. “What are you going do? Anyway, I gotta jet. See you two love birds later.” She flapped her wings in search of Applejack. She had been acting like that for a while. Always with Applejack. It would seem like my wedding wouldn’t be the last. We continued our walk, eventually ending up at Twilight’s library. I knocked three times then let myself in.
“Twily! It’s us!” I called, taking a seat next to Flutters.
“I keep telling you not to call me tha-. Oh, what’s the point?” said Twilight from upstairs. She slid down her banister and took a seat facing us. “What can I do for you guys?”
“Nothing, really. We just wanted to hang out. All the preparations for the wedding are done, so we have some free time.” I said. 
“Oh, ok. I just have to send out these letters.” she said. She closed her eyes for a second, willing her horn to glow. We heard a faint POP from the next room, the pop of a teleportation spell.
“Who were the letters to?” asked Fluttershy.
“Vinyl Scratch, Octavia Melody, and Princess Cadence. Octavia is performing at the ceremony, Vinyl is doing the after-party, and the princess wants to be there to congratulate you.”
“How nice.” I said, my head reeling. I kept hearing whispers, deep, growling whispers.
“Choose.”
“What was that?” I asked.
“We didn’t say anything, Silver. Are you ok? You’ve been like this all day.” said Fluttershy concerned. She scooted closer to me and nuzzled her cheek against my own.
“I’ll make some tea.” said Twilight, getting up. She left to the kitchen, where she began to fill a kettle. I turned to where she sat and saw the stallion from Sugar Cube Corner, sitting in her spot.
“Just as nice as the last one. Which will you choose? Guess we’re about to find out.” he growled. With a snap of his fingers, the world melted into black.