An Alternate Ending to A Canterlot Wedding

by MeadowRosePony

Operation BBBFF

Discord picked himself off the floor as the world around him shook. He looked around in confusion. "I don't recall scheduling any earthquakes..."

But just as he moved to snap his claws to conjure up an easy chair with some popcorn, (because hey, why pass up a chance at a show?) a beam of lights and colors blasted him through the hallways, sending him crashing through every door in his path, (and some of them that weren't) until he finally landed back where he started. The throne room. (Not that he noticed, he was too busy chasing the stars and ducklings dancing around his head.)

---

Shining Armor motioned for his team to follow closely behind him. There really was no reason for stealth anymore. He was pretty sure that between the cave-in, the battle with giant crystal things and the subsequent explosion, their cover was blown. But that didn't mean they would go shouting out their position for any pony, or draconaquus, to hear.

'Well, its not the worst mission I've ever been on...' Shining Armor thought back to one of his very first missions; Operation: Foal-sitter. It was back when Twilight was still a filly, before Cadance became her regular foal-sitter.

"Shiny! Shiny!"
"Whoa! Slow down Twily!" Shining Armor grabbed Twilight in his magic before she could topple over the bookcase on herself. She had been bouncing about the house since their parents had left this morning.
This was the first time Shining Armor had been trusted to babysit Twilight by himself for more than an hour or two. It's only been a few hours, and he was already worn out. They'd played make believe, read nearly every book on her bookcase and now she was turning a game of Hide and Seek into a game of Tag. 'A destructive game of Tag', Shining Armor thought wearily, looking at the books she'd knocked to the floor in her wiggling.
"We have to be careful with books." He said picking them up in his magic. He froze at her whimper. He knew that whimper. That was the whimper that always meant hysterics were just one wrong word away.
"Its ok. See?" Shining Armor scooped Twilight onto his lap and levitated a book over. He flipped through the pages to show her it was ok. "It's ok. Why don't you help me pick them up?"
Putting the books back took longer than expected, mostly because Twilight insisted on him inspecting each book before putting it away.
When all the books were back in their spots, he suggested playing with Smarty Pants. That should keep her occupied for a while. and was less likely to make a mess.
An hour later, Shining Armor was regretting that decision. He shifted uncomfortably on the too small cushion he had been sitting on for an hour. His hind legs were asleep, his front hoof was sore and he was about to fall asleep from boredom.
"Hey, don't we break for lunch?" he suggested, dropping the quill he'd been using to trace circle for the last hour on the table.
"You're supposed to raise your hoof first." Twilight pouted at him from her seat in front of her play chalkboard.
Shining Armor rolled his eyes, but he was grinning as he raised his hoof. "Can we-"
"You have to wait for teacher to call on you!" Twilight interrupted.
He closed his mouth and waited for teacher to call on him. Teacher was Twilight's doll, Smarty Pants. He waved his hoof a little; Smarty Pants was taking forever to call on him.
He swallowed a laugh as Twilight moved from her seat to stand behind Smarty Pants. Twilight had proclaimed herself teacher's assistant so she was the one who helped Smarty Pants talk. "Yes Shining Armor?" She said, moving Smarty Pant's head with her hoof in time to her words. Sort of.
"I'm hungry. How about we stop for lunch?"
Twilight thought about it. Then she arranged Smarty Pants into a thoughtful pose. "What's for lunch?" they said.
Shining Armor thought about it. There was some leftover casserole in the fridge, but he wouldn't feed that to his worst enemy, and he actually liked his little sister. Even if she did think he couldn't make a circle. "I can make daisy sandwiches." He offered. It was actually one of the few things he could make.
"But what about your circles?"
Shining Armor was pretty sure he would be able to get through life just fine without making a perfect circle. But he needed some sort of compromise. "How about after lunch we make cookies? Those are circles. We can call it a research assignment." He said.
She was weakening. He could tell by the widening of her eyes as they looked towards the kitchen. She just needed a little push. "We can make them chocolate chip..." He sang.
"Yes!" She shouted, jumping up and running towards the kitchen.
Shining Armor laughed and got up to follow her, jumping out of her way as she ran back in to pick up Smarty Pants and announce, "Class dismissed!"
He made them both daisy sandwiches, and cut Twilight's into triangles. Then cut his own in triangles because Twilight insisted. He got out a glass and some juice for Twilight.
"I can do it!" Twilight said, reaching for the juice.
"Ok." Shining Armor said. It wasn't very full. There was a limit to the amount of mess she could make with that. He passed her the juice and then turned to get his own glass out of the cupboard.
"Oops..."
Shining Armor turned around to see Twilight had knocked over her glass and spilled the juice across the table. And on her sandwich.
"It's ok." He said, passing her his untouched sandwich and getting a towel to wipe down the table. "There's no use crying over split milk. Or juice. You can have mine. I'll make another one."
He helped her pour more juice for them both and then fixed himself a new sandwich while she ate. When they finished eating they made cookies. Half an hour later, the cookie dough was in the oven, and everywhere else. "Why don't you go hop into the tub while I clean the kitchen?" Shining Armor suggested.
"Ok." Twilight said and ran out of the kitchen.
That was too easy. Shining Armor shook his head. He was being paranoid. How much trouble can she get into in the tub? He went about cleaning the kitchen, until he realized he hadn't heard any splashing in a while. Dropping the dishcloth in the sink, he ran up the stairs to the bathroom door.
"Twily? You ok in there?"
"Umm, yes? I'm fine! Nothing to see here! You can go back to the kitchen now!" Her voice sounded frantic as there was a loud splash behind the door. "Eep!"
"Twilight! I'm coming in ok?" He opened the door slowly, and then was soaked as a wave of water rushed by him and into the hall.
He stepped into the bathroom and had to fight to keep his balance. The room was soaked and the floor was slippery with a rainbow of bubbles piled everywhere. Judging by the amount of bubbles, Twilight had opened every bottle in the bathroom. But he didn't see her.
"Achoo!' A pile of bubbles sneezed out more bubbles.
"Twilight!" He waded through the mess on the floor and scooped her out of her bubbly prison. "Are you okay?' He asked.
"Uh huh." She whispered, "Sorry... Eep!" she squeaked as she was hugged tightly.
"It's ok. As long as you're ok." Shining Armor said, ignoring the slippery soap in her coat as he held her close. He laughed at her expression. She was so cute with bubbles everywhere. "Lets get you cleaned up." It took him a while to clean her up with all of the soap everywhere. "Did you use every shampoo we own?"
"I just wanted to try mommy's pretty smelling one." Twilight mumbled as he carried her into her bedroom and wrapped her in a blanket, since all the towels were soaked. She wrinkled her now, "Do you smell something?"
"Only you, Twily." Shining Armor laughed. With all the shampoos and soaps she'd used, she smelled like a perfume shop.
She shook her head. "I think something's burning."
Just then the smoke detector went off. "The cookies!" Shining Armor shouted, rushing down the stairs with Twilight close behind him.
"Shining Armor! Twilight!"
'Oh no.' Shining Armor froze at the bottom of the stairs. Twilight crashed into him, sending him crashing into his mother who crashed into his father, who sent the burnt charcoal bits floating in his magic field flying. It took him and his parents the rest of the day to clean up the bathroom and the hall. And the kitchen. And to clear the smoke... and Twilight needed another bath.

'Operation foalsitter' was deemed a failure, and that was the last time Shining Armor watched Twilight alone for a while. For which he was appropriately thankful. And he learned a valuable lesson. Never let Twilight out of your sight, even for a second.
'At least one good thing should come out of this,' Shining Armor thought in grim satisfaction. 'Since Plan A is pretty much toast, that means that Plan B is go.'
It was pretty obvious to Shining Armor that these crystal caverns weren't safe. He would be neglecting his duty as a royal guard if he left a civilian in them. He would have to rescue Twilight, and escort her out of these caves and back to safety in Canterlot. 'And then I am never letting her out of my sight again.'

---

"So... how exactly are we planning on finding them?" The group paused as the tunnel they were following split into three.

Silver Shield looked pointedly at Rainbow Dash, then at the path of destruction that was the tunnel on the right, then back at Rainbow. He didn't have to say a word as he started walking.

Applejack just gave Rainbow that look she was so good at and followed him.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly and followed them, "He heh.. I suppose we could just follow the rubble..."

---

Shining Armor kept his eyes moving as he led his team through the crystal hallways. There was no doubt in his mind that they had found the place where Discord was hiding. The only problem was, he was equally sure that Discord knew they were there. He was watching them somehow. Just waiting for something.

Shining Armor bit back a groan before it could get farther than the bottom of his throat. 'Why did it have to be Discord? Why not a dragon lord or a group of griffon mercenaries or some rich crime boss with an army of minions?!' Heck, he'd even take another changeling queen! At least then he'd know what to expect! Not to mention how to defeat them... But no, he had to get Discord, the supervillian who's entire existence was unpredictable...

Shining Armor frowned, bringing his thoughts back to the mission at hoof. He needed to focus. Getting distracted on this mission could put not just his team, but all of Equestria at risk. He shuddered to think what his genius of a sister would be able to do if she joined Discord in a quest to dominate Equestria. Between her genius and power and Discord's lust for revenge and a thousand years of planning, he didn't know what could stop them. But he did know one thing; If Twilight ever truly turned evil, she wouldn't settle for just one country. No, she'd want the world.

---

Discord grinned as he saw the group of misfit guards wander by, "Well they're a little early, but no matter, I'll just have to move up the schedule a bit." He pulled a chart down from the tapestry he was currently occupying and scribbled out some figures. "There! Now to begin the fun..."

Comments

[Mpatton17]

This can't be good

[The Fiery Phoenix]

Well this will be a disaster. Everyone hit the deck.