The Royal Wedding Pt. I
"LIGHTNING!" Cried a tan clad minataur as he dodged another tracer round of blue lightening. The spell light up the dead wood forest, exposing the entirety of the Liberty Syndicate force's position. The trees were slim, barely the width of any stallion's neck, they would provide little cover for the soon to be incoming volley of bolts and arrows.
Sin cursed under his breath and began running to the side to escape the volley. The unicorns on his side had long since abandoned any spell shields, there was no point when their enemy was using Dragon scale tipped bolts. He heard the dull release ahead and dived as far as he could, crashing through fallen leaves and dirt.
Behind him, cries of pain and the bellowing of orders for advance echoed throughout the trees. The voices of the dying superseding their superiors ten fold. He reluctantly looked back to his comrades position to see the soft glow of orange and yellow, the constant lightning spells had began to set the forest ablaze, it was only a matter of time before this out post was lost.
Part of the Federalist knew this was a dream, how many times had he died? How many times had he seen Ace die? Or Ragnerok? Or any of the members of the syndicate? But no matter how much he knew none of what was going on around him was real, he constantly felt the grief, loss and failure of knowing that their deaths were partially to blame on him. They were all supposed to protect each other, he was supposed to be their guide through the Deadwood, and there they were, dying by the dozens in a rain of arrows from an enemy they couldn't even see.
Another streak of lightening flashed where they were, with another volley soon to follow. Sin pushed himself up and crept through the wood, leaves softly crunching under his hooves. He listened, straining his ears to find the enemy's location through their own bout of order shouting, but he couldn't hear anything besides the cried pains of his comrades as they flailed for some measure of effective resistance.
He picked up speed when he heard the repeated thuds of cross bows discharging, how many more was that? Ten more dead? Ten more he failed to protect?
NO! No, this was war! This wasn't his fault, they all knew what they were getting into when they joined the Liberty Syndicate and their crusade against Malich and Gemini's authoritarian regime! Sin knew he couldn't keep blaming himself, but these guys weren't trained like Triple M. agents were. The Syndicate had a small number of those who'd ever tasted a real battle, most were just civilians who'd chosen to die on their feet rather than live on their knees.
But what time was there for training? They all had lives to attend to, jobs and families to support before the collapse. Even with the schedule to give combat training, there wasn't enough time or capital to make it the least bit effective or retained.
A small series of clicks made Sin stand his ground, there, directly in front of him, a growing silver light twinkled. He waited, his anticipation raising in his chest as he lifted his cross bow. Suddenly, the area lit up as the silver light shot forth in a brilliant display of magical lightning. Using the small window, the oaken stallion took count of the enemy... and felt his heart sink into despair.
Hundreds, there were literally hundreds of black coated agents of every race present. Sin watched helplessly as the front rows of Griffons raised their weapons, bringing down another death shower unto his companions. The force was overwhelming, too much for the poultry sixty or so rebels member who'd taken refuge here.
Helpless or not, the nightmare was becoming too much for the pony and he charged forth in a desperate attempt to save those he called friends. He loosed both the main load and the quick load, stricking two of the agents in the chest. Though, that was all he managed before about fifty cross bows were turned onto him and their bolts loosed to end his pitiful existence.
Sin awoke in a fright. Gasping for breath he felt his adrenaline pumping through him as he jumped up and swiveled his head around, looking for his enemy. A sharp and sudden pain in all of his legs bringing him crashing back down to his stomach, through that pain he tried to stand again, but much more slowly. As he took in the darkened room and bed infront of where he slept, the reality of the situation caught up with him and he forced himself to relax.
Why was he having these nightmares? He'd had the odd one occassionally before, but ever since Marry, or the alicorn of insanity, had visited him, there hadn't been a night of sleep that he'd describe as peaceful. He was hoping that with Discord's banishment of the alicorn, he'd taken the dreams with her. Clearly that didn't happen.
'Maybe it's because you feel guilty?'
Guilt? Guilt for what?
'You've always wanted that kind of future, right? I mean the one where society collapses and you revel in the suffering to come because the citizens deserve it out of their worship of the Gods. You've become much more emotionally available lately, maybe your experiencing a bit of empathy for how things will realistically turn out for them?'
Was that it? Was Sin growing to feel sympathy for the future of his fellow New Equines?
"No." He stated with absolution. He wasn't going to feel sorry for them, he wouldn't allow himself to do it. He was a stallion of consequences, a stallion of results and ponies laying in the beds they make for themselves. Their suffering would be self induced and they would deserve it. There was no point in feeling sorry for them, the future that awaits North New Equine was a future they bring on themselves. If his subconsciousness was just now starting to realize this from an emotionally empathetic angle, than it would need to accept the harsh reality of the situation and leave his ego in peace.
Sin had done enough for them, he tried to save his state, and they spat in his face. They were on their own.
An hour or so later, the sliver of light pinched over the horizon to bring in the dawn, and not too long after, a knock at the door brought with it Uppity.
"Morning Sin, sleep well?" She asked as she walked into his room.
'Nope, had another terrible dream that woke him up with a fright, but you're not going to say that are you? You're just going to say...
"Well enough, I suppose."
Ahh, yea, you hate liars, don't you? So long as it's not you who's doing it.'
"Glad to hear, how're your hooves doing?" She asked, reaching down and pulling one up for her inspection. Sin looked away and told her it was fine, but small speckles of red bled through the dingy gauze. "Hmm, yea, we need to change your bandages."
"Uppity, it's fine." He tried to dismiss, but the unicorn wasn't having it. Producing two pairs of fresh bandage rolls, Uppity demanded Sin take take a seat on the bed so she could remove and reapply fresh dressings. "Uppity, this isn't necessary, just give me the bandages and I'll-" His words slowly trailed off as the mare moved her face closer to his, her eyes instantly catching his own, sending him into a small trance as he gazed into her captivating stare of intent and curiosity.
She slowly lifted her hoof and gently pushed him onto the bed, maintaining eye contact all the while. Once he was situated, the unicorn smiled and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "There, was that so hard?" She asked before reaching down to undo the dirty bandages around his hooves.
Dude, what just happened?
'Feminine wiles?'
Is that what it was?
'Yea, not gonna lie, I'm not sure what that was, but you fell for it hook, line and sinker.'
Feeling cheated somehow, Sin glared down at his marefriend. "That wasn't fair."
"Oh shush, you." She dismissed as she finished removing the last bandage. Looking down, Sin cringed. Each leg was swollen to almost twice it's normal size with small lacerations and even a few chunks of his coat missing, revealing the raw, red skin beneath. Nothing looked infected, thank Tapio, but it was still no less cringe worthy to look at.
"Celestia..." He heard her say as she gently picked up on of his legs and began examining it. It was odd how comforting Sin felt for being as exposed as he was, still they had things to do today, and he made sure the fact was verbally reminded. Shaking her head, Uppity quickly took the other bandages in her magic and began wrapping them around his legs, an inch or so above so they wouldn't make contact. In no time at all, she used her own hoves to tighten the gauze and pin them in place. "Good as new. You ready to go?"
"The wedding's starting this early?" Asked Sin a little surprised. The answer was no, though. Uppity wanted to get to the Castle to get ready for it though. She'd left her dress and make up at the castle and wanted to have ample time to get her make up just right for the special event.
Oh joy he was being brought out into public hours early because of female things, yay.
The trip to the castle was as eventful as one would expect walking through the capital of a country where a princess was about to be wed. Despite the heavy guard presence, the entire town was alive with well wishes and merchants selling their Cadance themed wares. It amazed Sin just how big a consumer Item the Pink Alicorn was, there were even some pink and gold dresses made in her honor.
The castle itself was just as lively. Ponies of all all tribes were running about, setting up last minute details and decorations for the day's festivities. Banners were being placed up on their stands, tables lined with pink cloths set about, and of course, the bride herself coordinating the entire effort. Her foul mood from last night only increasing with time.
"No, no, no! I specifically said the square tables would be placed in a U shape around the circular ones and surround the Throne line." She groaned, slamming her hoof into her face.
'Yea, she's on the rag or something.'
No kidding.
"Alright, I'm going to go get ready, care to come with?" Uppity offered, the stallion declined however, he wasn't really interested in sitting around while the unicorn tried to dossy herself up. They weren't at that stage of the relationship yet. Shrugging the mare informed him the wedding ceremony would start at three o'clock and would be held in the main hall. "And, try to make yourself look decent, would you?"
Sin quirked a brow. "Yea, I'll get right on that." The two parted ways and the Federalist looked for something to do to waste time. He and Uppity had left Shade in the tunnels since last night, hopefully he'd either gotten out already or would stay down there until the wedding was over.
"Hiya Sin." Rainbow Dash greeted as she hoovered down in front of him. He returned the greeting and asked how the prismatic speedster was doing. As usually, she proudly proclaimed her day to be "awesome" as ever and explained how she'd be giving the preformance of something called a "Sonic Rainboom" during the kiss of the wedding. He had no clue what that was, but congratulated her on the accomplishment none the less.
"Any way, what happened to your legs?" She pointed out. It was bad practice to tell multiple ponies multiple lies, so he stuck with the same one he told Uppity. "Ouch, you sure you're okay to walk? You could always fly you know." She quirked a brow. "You have been keeping up on your wing exercises right?"
Sin pressed his lips. "No, I have not been." This was apparently not the correct answer.
"Seriously? After all the time I spent on that?" Rainbow groaned. There really wasn't any excuse aside from the lack of interest, still though, it wasn't like they were completely useless so he gave a quick demonstration to show that progress had at least been maintained. "Well, I guess if you can hold them up without causing too much pain, it wasn't a total loss."
Well, at least she wasn't too peeved. "I assume the rest of your friends are here?"
Rainbow nodded solumnly and explained what each were doing. Fluttershy was helping to train the birds for their part in the cerimoney, Rarity was designing dresses, Applejack was playing head chef, Pinkie taking charge of the entertainment and Twilight was... "Well, I'm not sure what's going on with Twilight. She was really bumbed about something on the train ride up, but she's been on this weird binge about Cadance."
"Really. Aren't those two old friends?"
The pegasus nodded and began walking, beckoning him to come along. "Sorry, I'm excited and don't feel like standing still. But yea, Cadance was Twi's old foal sitter. But ever since we've gotten here she's been complaining that there wasn't something right about her. I mean, come on, it's her wedding day soon, of course she going to be stressed out and stuff."
Sin nodded in agreement. It wasn't his place to say too much, though. The two continued to walk and talk, popping in to the main hall to help out Pinkie with her decoration and party planning for a bit, then up to Rarity's to see how the dresses were coming. The Fashionesta was exhausted, evident by the small split ends and dark circles under her eyes. Had it not been for the unicorn reminding him of someone else who might be lurking the castle grounds, he might have felt sorry for her.
"Hello Rainbow Dash." She yawned and gave a small nod to Sin. "Sorry, I've been up all night trying to perfect these dresses, but Cadance just isn't satisfied yet." They looked fine enough to Sin, but what did he know about mare fashion? "Sweetie Bell, Applebloom and Scootaloo should be running around here somewhere, could you be a dear and make sure they aren't getting into any trouble?"
"Sure thing Rares." The two left the tired pony to her work, and descended the tower. Upon entering the main hall, they noticed a growing number of ponies were starting to sign in on the guest registry. Each guest giving a small bow to Celestia, who stood beside a white pony with a brown mane done into a bun.
"SINNY!"
The stallion froze mid step, he knew it was a high probablility that he'd eventually run into her, but he could never mentally prepare himself for the unbridled fear that shot through his spine. "Miss Dash. If I were you, I would fly away as fast as I possibly could."
Rainbow tilted her head at the pony before his name was once again called from the large, very large unicorn as she climbed up the stairs to greet him. "Why? Who is that?"
"Ms. Dash, trust me, you don't want to be here when she-"
"Sinny! It's so wonderful to see you again!" Fatchitaz proclaimed, approaching to give the oaken pony a hug. He put out his hoof and placed it onto her head, halting her advance.
'Oh my god, she's sweating! That's disgusting!'
"Sinny, don't be such a prude and give me a hug!" The blubbering mess whined, trying to push past his stiff legged defense.
"Lady Fatchitaz, to what do I owe this... encounter? I didn't think the royalty of Equestria had ties to your organization."
Unfortunately, this piqued Rainbow's interest and she asked if the alabaster unicorn was from the same country as he was. Fatchitaz was all too eager to reply in the affirmative with a small whip of her hair, presenting herself as if she was some beautiful demi-god who had any business drawing attention to herself. "Yes dear, my father is quite the impressive pony in my country. Sinny here is the brother of the pony I'll be marrying as soon as I return!"
Breaks screeched, glass shattered and every single thought in the Federalist's mind came to a sudden halt at the implication. She'd be marrying his brother? This... pony, the epitome of everything Malich despised and worse, was going to take his hoof in matrimoney to have and to hold till death do them part?
"Come again?"
The Lady beamed proudly. "You heard right, my dear. Your brother Malich accepted my wedding proposal!"
...
...
It started out as a few hick up and grunts, Sin's body shaking in an attempt to restrain himself from the forign feeling that threatened to bubble up in his chest. A few more snickers escaped him, then some chuckling and finally full on, side splitting, tear wrenching laughter.
"Hahahaha! Oh Tapio, oh sweet Miliki Bluecloak help me! Pftahahahaha" He couldn't help it, he honest to Tapio Bearking's beard could not help himself. The comedy of the situation was just too much for him. "You- You and Malich- pft hahaha- You're- you- you're gonnahahahahah!"
He could feel the other guest's eyes scorn at his roaring lafter with severe disapproval, but Sin didn't care. This was the greatest joke he'd ever been told in his life, and wasn't about to let some snobby upper-crust ponies ruin it for him. A full minute and two aching sides later, Sin finally managed to calm himself down enough to look at Fatchitaz without going into a fit of giggles.
"Okay, okay, I think I'm good. Oh boy, oh man, I haven't laughed that hard in years." He admitted through shallow breaths. Rainbow was just looking at him wide eyed and Fatchitaz continued to beam with pride.
"I know, he's the quiet and reclusive sort, but he's also got that dark and brooding persona that I do find oh so attractive." Fatchitaz admitted with a wistful sigh.
"Huh?" Rainbow asked in confusion. "Umm, you do know he's laughing at you, right?"
Sin's smile almost became ear splitting as Rainbow tried to explain that he was mocking her, though Fatchitaz was immune to such criticisms, seeing his jolly attitude as a congratulations for her finally wearing down Malich's internal defenses and convincing him to marry her. If it wasn't for the fact both of his sides were already sore, the irritation Rainbow was experiencing would have sent him into another rib splitting state of laughter.
Spike slowly exited the room provided to him and clenched his fists to boost his confidence. He didn't get a wink of sleep last night, his mind and nerves keeping him awake as he replayed over and over in his head what he was going to say to each of the girls if they tried to stop him, and to Twilight herself.
Now all he could do was track her down and hope his words would be enough. The prospect of her wanting nothing more to do with him made him almost throw up.
Echoing voices boomed from the entryway and Spike began making his way through. As he turned the corner, a loud, boisterous laughter serenaded through the hall. He felt his claws tighten farther as he saw who the source of laughter was. Seeing Sin, the pony who shouldn't have even been here laughing made the drake angry. Not only was his friend here, but he was even having a good time? How dare he?
'Simmer down, what happened wasn't his fault and you know it.'
Still though, seeing him... laughing like that put Spike on edge. With how much he was suffering inside, it wasn't fair how carefree the stallion was. But he didn't have time to dwell on that, he needed to find Twilight. He saw Rainbow standing beside the pony and approached her.
"-no, you're not getting it. He's not laughing because he's happy for you."
"Well of course he is dear, why else would he be laughing?" An unpleasently plump unicorn reasoned.
Steam was starting to shoot out of Rainbow's ears in frustration and Spike decided it was a good time to intervene. "Hey Rainbow." He greeted, all three of them drew their attention, he and Sin shared a brief stare down before the stallion motioned to the unicorn to give him and the pegasus a moment.
"Hey Spike, I thought you weren't coming." She seemed happy enough to see him, maybe Twilight didn't tell her about it. "Glad you did though, Twilight's been a mess ever since we got here."
Spike cringed and asked if Rainbow knew what was bothering her. To his surprise, it wasn't him that was the source of her woes, but Cadance. According to Rainbow, Twilight had been constantly complaining about something being off about the Alicorn. Spike suggested that it was the pre-wedding stress, but that's exactly what Rainbow and her friends told her and the lavender unicorn wouldn't hear a word of it.
That was odd, Twilight could be neurotic and a stifler against change, but surely even she could see that ponies' could be stressed out and act differently. Cadance being a little short and irritated shouldn't have been that surprising.
"Rainbow, there you are!" Applejack interrupted as she descended the stairs. "Rainbow- Oh Hey there Spike, glad tah see ya." The cow pony greeted with a warm smile. "Sorreh, but Rainbow n' Ah need ta get goin', we've got a wedding rehearsal to attend."
Figuring he'd have the best chance of finding Twilight there, the drake followed the pair of ponies as they hurried through the castle, but maybe it was a final refresher before the real thing this afternoon. Entering the blue checkered room, Spike took in the lovely scene before him. All five of Twilight's friends were present, preparing themselves to begin walking down the the velevate lline isle from the door to where the bride and groom were.
"Spike, you made it!" Shining smiled, the drake smiled and ran over to give his 'uncle' a hug. "It's good to see you, little buddy."
"Glad to be here, sorry but have you seen Twilight? I need to talk to her."
The room descended into silence, everypony looking at eachother uncomfortably at the name. Shining was about to speak but before he could, the doors to the hall burst open, revealing the unicorn he sought.
"Everypony, listen up!" Twilight decried, paying no mind to any party present, save a stern look at Cadance. "I'm not going to stand next to her! And neither should you!"
Gasping all parties quietly watched as Twilight slowly began to approach the alter. Shining's ears flattened to his skull, his muzzle taking an awkward smile as if trying to save face. "I'm sorry." he turned to his fiance, "I uh- I don't know why she's acting like this."
Spike had an idea, but Cadance made a comment to ignore her friend. A move Spike found both questionable and out of character for the alicorn.
Without missing a beat, the librarian continued her walking, dismissing both Applejack and Fluttershy as they tried to console and calm her. "She's evil!" Twilight proclaimed, pointing an accusatory hoof, a hoof Shining Armor stood in front of to defend the honor of his bride. She continued her tyrade, teleporting around and listing off a trio of grievances, ranging from disappearing brides maids to casting some kind of mind control spell on the groom.
Spike was taken aback to the point of speechlesness. Why was she saying these things? Cadance was one of her best friends, why would she do anything of what the unicorn was accusing her of?
The entire thing went into a finale as the pink alicorn broke down into sobs, questioning how Twilight could accuser her of being evil before the distraught bride ran out of the room in tears, Twilight giving her one final taunt as she retreated.
Bitting his lip, Spike looked away as her brother scolded her about how stressed out Cadance was due to his lack of invovlement in all the wedding planning. The dragon wasn't sure what he should do, defending her outright didn't appear to be the best option, he had no idea what was going on or what she'd observed. He looked to her friends, who each glared daggers at the element of magic, they weren't going to be much help either.
"C'mon ya'll, let's go check on the princess." Applejack proclaimed.
As if what happened ago wasn't bad enough, each and every one of her friends walked right by the lavender unicorn as she sat in utter defeat. Even Celestia passed her by with not a kind word to say. Finally, the doors slammed shut behind the lunar goddess, leaving both Spike and Twilight alone.
Spike heard his mother sob and dashed forward, embracing her in a hug. "Spike?" She asked before taking him into a crushing hug. "Oh Spike, I'm so sorry. I- I messed up."
"I'm sorry too, Twi'." The dragon cooed words of comfort and support. He didn't know what was going on, but she needed him, now more than ever. He wasn't going to tell her she was right, but he would sit here until she stopped crying. "I'm sorry." He heard her say again.
"You will be."
His remaining eye shot wide at the threat, but even wider as sudden bouts of green flames began sprouting in a circle around him. He looked back to see Candace smiling evilly at the trapped pair before a solid green sphere of magic confined him and slowly pulled them beneath the floor.
"I can hear you..." Shade whispered seductively. The crying, he'd been hearing it all night throughout the cave. Problem was that he could hear it too well and with the reverberation off of the cavern wall, couldn't pin point exactly where it was. Walking around in utter darkness didn't help either, maybe Sin was onto something with that whole light thing.
The crying had to be coming from some where, and in that somewhere, he knew he'd find it. The truth about foals would be exposed to the world, and they would give him all of their chocolate covered crickets! He'd be a hero, and then they'd find Fluffy!
'Shade, can you hear me?'
NO! You're not allowed to talk, you've NEVER been allowed to talk, you're wrong, you've always been wrong and you'll always be wrong! Now go sit in the corner and think about just how wrong you are with your wrongness!
'But- but I've been doing that for the past ten year-
The buck did I just say?
He hated the voice of reason, no matter what it just never understood him. "Now where was I? Oh yea. Chocolate covered Crickets... Mmmm."
Feeling the air shift, Shade stopped where he was and opened his mouth. The stallion closed his eyes and clicked his tongue in just the right way, his sensitive ears listening for the nooks and curves of what lay before him. The tunnel branched into a two way split, if memory served, he came in through the one on the right, so the one of the left would be the way to go.
But he went right anyways, just to show logic that the bat pony didn't need him. Bucking logic, trying to make sense of everything and show consequences for actions rendered. Dick, who did he think he was?
His lack of adherence to the laws of reason paid off with the cries and sniffles he'd been following growing louder. He clicked his tongue and found that the cave would end in a small cavern, a familiar cavern at that. Shade approached, mindful of the inner map in his ear. He dodged quite a few sharp stalagmites and stalactites the grew from the caves roof and floor. Well he did until the chore became to bothersome and elected instead to just go crashing through them. Buck head aches, what did he need to protect his head for?
Again, the sound of crying shifted, much louder now than anywhere else. Still, his echolation told him that this was a dead end.
"Discord dammit all!" He shouted, slamming his hoof into the ground. "Hey, that felt good." He slammed his hoof against the ground again, chuckling to himself.
"Hello?" A voice called, Shade's ears perked. He couldn't hear the crying anymore. "Is anypony there?"
"Where are you? Are there any ponies in white coats around? Don't be afraid! Just tell me where the factory is and I wont hurt you!" Shade called, his chest raising with hope.
He heard the sounds of stomping behind him and clicked his tongue to find nothing but an extremely smooth rock wall. "What manner of sorcery is this?"
"This wall! It's fake! Please, help me!"
The wall was fake? OF COURSE! How could he be so stupid? Of course they wouldn't make it somewhere he could just walk to! The sneaky bastards.
With renewed hope, Shade slammed himself head first into the wall, it didn't break like he'd hoped, but it did have a give to it. He backed up and charged forward again, using his wings for a little extra momentum and smashed into it again. He felt the wall begin to crack, or maybe that was his skull? Hard to tell through the splitting migrane.
"It's almost broken!" The voice yelled. Shade staggered back to his hooves and ran to charge once, though at the last minute he pivoted on his front hooves, swung around and bucked with all of his might against the wall, shattering the stone in a loud crumbling crash. His vision blury, he found a bright blue light blinding him.
"Oh thank you for... Star Shade?" That voice, he knew that voice.
"Candy?" He asked, rubbing his head. "What are you- are you in charge of the foal factory?"
Cadance tilted her head. "Foal what? Never mind, Shade, please listen to me. We need to get back to the wedding! Shining is about to marry an impostor!"
Impostor, Shining Armor, in trouble, none of these things Shade found the least bit interesting. All he knew was that after wondering down in these Discord forsaken tunnels for who knows how long, he'd finally found a secret passage way. Pushing past the mare with glee, he entered the chamber she was in and clicked his tongue.
"What?"
He repeated the motion, straining his ears as much as he could, but it was no use. The cavern ended here. "Oh Come ON!" He yelled slamming his hoof down. "Secret passage, trapped princess, what? Is my factory under another castle or something? What at rip off!"
"Shade, please you have to help me get out of here. Please." The Lunar pegasus didn't hear her, he was too busy pouting and sulking. It wasn't here, it just wasn't here. How could it not be here? There was no way he could be wrong, could he?
Just then, a dim green light began to spill forth. He looked up to see an orb slowly drifting from the ceiling until it hit the floor, depositing one unicorn he didn't care for and one dragon who he didn't mind seeing.