The next day, everypony had gathered in the wedding hall for the rehearsal. Princess Celestia stood at the top of the alter with Shining Armor and Spike on the right side and Prince Jewelius on the left. Wedding music played from an organ. The five bridesmaids proudly marched toward the alter.
“Perfect, girls. No need to rush.” Celestia complimented them.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash quietly giggled with excitement.
“Then of course, Cadance will enter.” And right on cue, the guards opened the doors and in walked Cadance. Shining Armor beamed with happiness at see his bride. “I’ll say a few words, and then we’ll begin with the vows.” Shining and Cadance rubbed each other’s horns affectionately. “Shining Armor, you’ll get the ring from your best mare.” Shining turned to his left, but his sister was no where to be found.
“Do you? I do!” Spike was still playing with the cake toppers until he realized Twilight wasn’t in her place.
“Hey… has anypony seen Twilight?” Shining asked. Suddenly, the doors burst open to reveal Twilight Sparkle, and she did not look happy.
“I’m here!” she declared. “I’m not gonna stand next to her! And neither should you!”
A nervous look came across Shining Armor’s face. “I’m sorry, I… I don’t know why she’s acting like this.”
“Maybe we should just ignore her.” Cadance bitterly suggested.
“You have to listen to me!” Twilight yelled.
“Oh, goodness! Are you okay?” A concerned Fluttershy asked Twilight.
“I’m fine.” Twilight said stepping away from the yellow pegasus.
“Ya sure about that?” Applejack asked suspiciously. Twilight responded by pulling her hat down over her face.
“I’ve got something to say!” Twilight said marching over to the alter. The other girls looked really nervous. “She’s evil!” Twilight declared pointing at Cadance. Shining Armor jumped defensively in front of his bride. Everyone in the room, with the exception of Jewelius, started chatting as if she was crazy. “She’s been horrible to my friends!” Then Twilight teleported onto the alter right behind Cadance and Shining. “She’s obviously done something to her bridesmaids!” Twilight started advancing on the bride driving her into a corner. “And if that wasn’t enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all-!” She made a cooky face spun her eyes.
Cadance stood cornered by Twilight, who sported a sly grin, while all the other looked absolutely bewildered. Then she started whipping up some tears. “Why are you doing this to me?!” she said with tears in her eyes and ran off the alter.
“Because you’re evil!” Twilight proudly declared as the bride ran out of the room crying. Then she teleported to the door. “Evil! And if I don’t stop you, you’re gonna ruin my brother’s life!” She yelled after her. Twilight turned around and proudly trodded back into the hall, only to be stopped by her brother who looked very angry. Realizing she was in trouble, she smiled nervously, but that didn’t help.
“You want to know why my eyes went all-?” Shining Armor made a weird face with spinning eyes. For a moment, he got another headache but angrily continued. “Because ever since I started having to perform my protection spell, I’ve been getting terrible migraines. Cadance hasn’t been casting spells on me. She’s been using her magic to heal me!” Twilight opened her mouth to speak but Shining continued. “And she decided to replace her bridesmaids because she found out the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding was so that they could meet Canterlot royalty! And if she hasn’t been on her best behavior with your friends, it’s because with me being so busy, she’s had to make all the decisions about the wedding!”
“I think everypony should calm down for a moment.” Jewelius nervously suggested. “This is probably just a huge misunderstanding.”
“Hush, Jewelius!” Princess Celestia commanded her nephew as she watched Shining scold Twilight.
“I was just trying to-” Twilight tried to explain herself but was interrupted once again by her brother.
“She’s been completely stressed out because it’s really important to her that our big day be perfect!” Shining angrily continued. “Something that obviously wasn’t important to you!” He stopped for a moment feeling another headache. Twilight extended a helping hoof to her brother but he rejected it. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and comfort my bride. And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t show up to the wedding at all.” With that, Shining Armor stormed out of the room leaving a sad Twilight desperately reaching for him but to no avail. The poor unicorn sat on the floor and turned to her friends with a face that pleaded for help. Almost all of them looked sorry for her except for Applejack, who looked positively disgusted.
“C’mon, y’all. Let’s go check on the princess.” AJ told the others. One by one, they all went past Twilight, ignoring her, not even bothering to look at her. AJ, however, shoot her a cold glare as she passed.
Twilight noticed Princess Celestia, her beloved mentor, coming her way and tried to speak. “I was-”
“You have a lot to think about.” The princess coldly told her not bothering to even look at her.
That was it. That was the final blow to her heart! Twilight’s eyes started watering with tears as she watched everyone she loved walk away from her. The last one to leave was Prince Jewelius, who stopped for a moment to look at her with eyes filled with pity and sympathy.
“I’m… I’m so sorry.” He said softly. “Truly I am.” And then he continued on his way. He was the only one who looked back at Twilight as he left with a face of sadness. As he exitted the room, he used his magic to slowly close the door, but stopped for a moment leaving the door cracked a little. The face of sadness he once had changed to a face of suspicion as he looked around to make sure he was alone. Once sure, he hid behind the door and peered into the crack to watch Twilight.
Back inside, Twilight walked sadly up to the alter deeply regretting her actions. “Maybe I was being overprotective. I could’ve gained a sister. But instead… I just lost a brother.” She lay on the steps in a puddle of despair and tearfully sang her BBBFF song.
“He was my big brother, best friend Forever…”
“And now, we’ll never do anything Together…”
As she lay crying, she felt someone stroking her head. She looked up to see Cadance warmly smiling down at her.
“I’m sorry!” Twilight tearfully apologized.
“You will be!” Cadance vengefully declared. Suddenly, a ring of green fire appeared around Twilight. Then a green sphere entrapped the now frightened unicorn and she slowly sank into the floor, and then she was gone.
Cadance smiled sinisterly as she walked through the alter arch and disappeared. Jewelius, who had seen the entire thing, came out of his hiding place and stared at the spot Twilight had been. He had a very serious expression on his face as he looked up at the alter. Deep within the depths of his brain, a plan was evolving.