Outrage
Twilight Velvet was not happy.
It was her son's wedding day, a supposed happy occasion, but it ended up being one of the most frightening (and confusing) days of her life. First, she and her husband arrive to the news that Twilight had fallen ill, too sick to attend the ceremony. When she had pushed to see her, Celestia had assured her that she was in good hooves and to just enjoy her son's special day.
Then, suddenly, Twilight showed up, looking disheveled but in very good health. Then another version of her daughter-in-law. Then she nearly died in the ensuing invasion.
Then, in the clean-up, nopony would answer her questions about what happened. Twilight only told her not to worry, she'd explain everything after the wedding. Shining Armor seemed to get sick to his stomach just thinking about what had happened, and requested the same. Celestia couldn't even be reached, she was being waited on by her personal medical team after her defeat, and only came out for the ceremony.
Then, at the reception, both children continued to remain tight lipped. Every press or prod resulted in nervous, "Let's not talk about it now," and "After Shiny and Cadance leave, okay?"
Then Celestia flew off. Then, hours later, Luna followed. She returned, just missing her son leaving, but in plenty of time to snatch her daughter away before they had a chance to speak.
She was done.
Normally, her husband would have advised against this, but he was fed up as well. And that's how the pair ended up entering the throne room uninvited.
"Miss, you can't come..."
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do!" she yelled at the guard. "The Princess owes me an explanation!"
"But you can't..."
"Let her through."
Luna was sitting at her throne, which currently had a fold-out desk in front of it, and was looking through an old law book. "I'm combing through some of old protocols for war. It looks like we might have one soon. Please, sit down."
Luna was silent as the pair made their way down the long rug. "Now then, what troubles..."
"Where's your sister?"
"She's in bed." Luna responded to Velvet's fury with an unnatural calm.
"Then where's my daughter?"
"In bed with her... N-not like that!" Luna actually stuttered. "Twilight is by her side, comforting her."
"Comforting her? Comforting her? What about us?! Both of my children nearly died today and I still have no clue what happened. I think we have the right to know!"
"...Nopony told you. I can't say I'm surprised." She marked her book and put it down.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Velvet was so close to yelling that two guards stepped forward, but Luna waved them down.
"It's... a shameful event for all involved."
"What?"
Luna took a deep breath. "I was... not present when it happened," Luna said. "But... your daughter happened upon the Changeling Queen when she was performing her spell. When she tried to tell everypony, they... they assumed she was being jealous and..."
Velvet's response nearly shattered every window in the room. "WHAT? Do you mean to tell me that both my foals were in danger because your sister was too stupid?"
"...No. Your daughter didn't help her case by..."
"Don't pin this on her! You were on high alert and you let all this happen?"
"I think I need to remind you that it was your son that was responsible for guarding our kingdom. Perhaps..."
"Listen, you, I'm not going to sit here and listen to some lunatic tell me my children messed up. I want to see my daughter n-"
Both Velvet and Night found themselves lifted up by Luna's magic. Through clenched teeth, the Princess of the Night spoke. "I will not be insulted over something I had nothing to do with. If you are upset, I suggest you talk with Twilight Sparkle. Now both of you, out. I have work to do."
Before they knew it, both of them were outside the throne room, the large double doors slamming shut.
In a flash Twilight Velvet was pounding on the entrance. "Open up, I'm not..."
Her husband's hoof on her shoulder stopped her. "I want answers, too, but we're not going to get them from her. Maybe we should just wait until morning."
"Wha... buh..." And then Velvet started crying. "Why? Why is Twilight spending time with the pony that nearly got her killed and not us?!"
For a few moments, Velvet sobbed, while her husband patted her back, getting a little misty-eyed himself. "Let's just go to bed. We can find Twily and get things straightened out in the morning."
Velvet hiccuped and nodded. Getting to her hooves, she began wobbling to the bedroom reserved for them.
They had just gotten to the guest hallways when they saw her.
Applejack was pushing a large chest of bits into her bedroom. It was only halfway through when she noticed them. “Ah, hey there, you two. We didn’t get a chance ‘ta talk much, but...”
Applejack would piece it together later, but at that moment it was like time itself decided to skip a few seconds. One moment she was greeting Twilight's parents, and the next she was knocked over the chest on the floor of her bedroom, her head splitting from a hoof to the side of the head.
"You bitch!" Velvet said, a bit higher than she meant. Night Light's anger was completely overcome by his surprise, and he began backing away.
"...I take it you heard about what happened," the cowpony said, trying to keep her voice level.
"Yeah, I heard. My daughter came to you with a problem, and you were too busy spreading your hind legs for that fake to listen."
All civility left Applejack at that moment. "Get out."
"Um, dear..."
"No, I want answers! Why didn't you listen to her! Were you just that excited to pretend that you were good for something other than playing in the dirt?”
“Get out.”
“I’m not leaving until I get an explanat...”
The next thing Velvet knew, she was quite a few feet down the hall, thanks to Applejack’s strong hind legs. As she skidded along the rug, her husband ran to help her. By the time they got their bearings together, Applejack has gotten her trunk into her room, and locked the door.
“You come back...” Velvet began, but a duo of guards stopped her.
“Miss Velvet... Mr. Light... I’m afraid I must escort you back to your room.”
“What? Why?”
“You’re causing a scene.” The guard that spoke looked at them sternly, but there was some sympathy showing on his face. “Princess Luna asked us to keep an eye on you and confine you to your room if you proved problematic.”
“Me, problematic? That pony just bucked me down a hallway.”
“You hit her first, if you don’t mind me getting foalish.” The stallion lit up his horn, and Velvet was in the air. A moment later and Night Light was as well.
“I want to see my daughter!” Velvet demanded, but that’s all she got out before the guard in question silenced her with a spell.
“I understand. But Miss Sparkle made her decision. She informed me she would talk to you in the morning.”
The pair still struggled, but the guards paid them no mind. “If it means anything to the two of you, I’m really sorry for not believing her. I was just a rookie when she came to live here, I saw her grow up... she was the sweetest thing.”
As they placed them in their room, Night Light swore he saw a small tear from the veterans eye. The door closed, being locked by a magic spell.
Velvet banged on it for an hour before giving up, breaking down crying in her husband’s forelegs. He cried just as hard.
Sleep eventually came, though it was the kind that left them both feeling tired in the morning. A servant came in to take an order for their breakfast, but they still weren’t allowed to leave. It was nearly noon before a door unlocked and the pony they had wanted to see came in.
“Twilight!”
Both ponies rushed in and hugged her. She hugged back, deeply and warmly, but after a few seconds she parted from them.
“You heard what happened.”
“Yes we did!” Velvet exploded, before her husband could get a word in. “Everypony abandoned you. Everypony! And you didn’t tell us anything! Why’d you go off with Celestia instead of telling us?”
Twilight looked at the floor. “Maybe I didn’t handle this exactly right,” she said, in a tone so small her parents had to strain to hear her. Then, resolve started to enter her voice as she went on. “Listen... what happened between me and the others was painful, and I’m sorry this has to be your first impression of them. But they’ve all practically begged me to forgive them, and I had as much to blame for them not believing me...”
“Twilight, do you really want them back? After what they did to you?”
Twilight was silent for a moment. “Yes. I do. Because what they did recently can’t break what they’ve done for me before."
"And what have they done for you?"
"They've... changed me," Twilight said. It was clear that she was stumbling over the words. "Two years ago I thought having friends was a waste of time. Now I don't think I'd last without them. These last two years, they've been the happiest of my life. And even after this, I think it's only going to get better. I..." she trailed off a bit to think. "I think they might have saved my life."
"Saved your life! They nearly got you killed yesterday!"
"I told you, the whole mess was my fault too... but never mind that. The point is that they helped me when I was hurting, and I thought it was appropriate to do the same. Maybe I should have come and talked to you... no, I certainly should have, but it had been a hard day, and I just wanted to put it behind me."
Velvet was silent, but tears were in her eyes. Her husband, normally a quiet stallion, decided to step up and speak. "Twilight... we were so worried about you. And you seemed to be avoiding us all evening. Have we really drifted apart that much?"
"Well... Shining Armor isn't the only one who never comes by for a visit."
Her parents both winced at that. "I guess we haven't been as attentive as we should," Night Light admitted. "Hearth's Warming is the only time we see each other."
Twilight nodded. “We’ve been drifting apart these last few years. I don’t know when it started, but somehow it did. You got so caught up in your work. Mom, I’m happy your books are selling, and Dad, I know any judge in the courts is going to be busy, but it doesn’t really make for good together time. I guess... I’m to blame too. My studies are so important to me, and I do so much...”
The three formed a hug for a little while. After it broke apart, Twilight went on.
"You've never met any of my friends before yesterday. They're good ponies, really, and I wanted to be there for them."
“They weren’t there for you!”
“Maybe... but me doing the same to them won’t solve anything. Look at what happened with you.”
Twilight Velvet blushed at this and looked at her hooves. Night Light rubbed the back of his neck. Twilight went on.
“Part of me wanted to yell and scream at them, but it wouldn’t have accomplished anything. It would have just widened the gap between us. I... I can’t do that. Even though they hurt me, I still care about them so much. I can’t do that to them.”
“Maybe we didn’t handle this the best,” Velvet admitted.
“Maybe?” Twilight said. This time there was actual anger in her voice. “I’ll say. You’re going to apologize to Applejack and Luna, believe me. I’m a little mad at them too, but it’s my issue.”
“Twilight... I don’t like that you were treated that way...”
“I’ll deal with it, Mom. I know what I’m doing.”
Velvet cried. But she smiled a bit. “I missed you grow up... I’m sorry.”
“I think there’s blame to share. Our family’s been falling apart.”
“Then let’s get it back together. Why don’t we come visit Ponyville for a week?”
At that, Twilight put up a hoof. “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. There’s still one little thing about this whole thing I haven’t wrapped up. Poor Spike...”
“Our grandson?”
At her mother’s words, Twilight’s face pinked. “Wh-what? No, no, it’s not like that...”
Velvet gave a knowing smile. “Of course dear.”
“He doesn’t care about me that way, and it wouldn’t be fair of me to ask him to when he might have a real dragon mother waiting for him.” Twilight’s tone made it clear that last possibility actually worried her a bit.
“I’m sure she wouldn’t have done half as good a job as you have.”
Twilight blushed, but kept powering through. “Well, he hasn’t said a word to me. I think he’s afraid to talk to me. Just give me some time to get through to him.”
Night Light brightened up. “So we’ll visit next week then.”
“Yeah, but... look, when’s the last time you two took any time off? Really?”
The couple looked at each other. “I guess it has been a while...” Night Light admitted.
“Then why don’t you take a vacation. Leave Canterlot a while and go do something. Take some alone time.”
Night Light rubbed his chin. “That does sound pretty good.”
“Twilight, are you sure?”
The lavender unicorn waved her hoof. “Please, after what happened it’s all going to be clean up around here anyway. I doubt you’ll miss much.”
“Well... if you say so...” Night Light smiled. “We’ll get packed.”
“After you tell Luna and Applejack you’re sorry.”
“Of course.”
“Yes,” Velvet said. “And I hope there’s a nice stallion in Ponyville you’re going to introduce us to.”
Twilight’s eye twitched. “Mom...”
“Spike shouldn’t have to grow up without a father, you know.”
Twilight moaned. “Mom.”
“I mean, if Shiny can find a mare almost a great as you, certainly you can...”
“MOM!”
Night Light just laughed.
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Kinda have a tpyo here:
But other than that, this was a nice one-shot. I think there are more than a few people (including myself sometimes) who feel upset about how Twilight's friends acted, so I can't really blame Velvet for her actions. I kinda wish this was more fleshed out, but it's still a nice addition to the Nuptialverse.
First off, you redeemed Pinkie's parents, and although they overreacted I would hardly say what they did counts as bad parenting. And second, why do you wish to make Rarity's parents so neglectful? Even from what little we've seen of them in the show, I would hardly consider them bad or neglectful parents. And yet you're giving a pass to Twilight's parents for not seeing her for two years?
I'm not holding that against this story, it's a wonderful story. But is there a reason why you're favoring them over Rarity's parents? Why can't Rarity's parents be good parents as well?
6546794 Actually, it is. That was an oversight on my part.
Okay, I was not expecting this story, but it is warmly welcomed.
And yeah, Twilight Velvet was... kind of unlenient.
totally unnecessary
That's... Pretty much how Velvet acts in every other ACW followup fic I've read. But as grating as she can get, I can never begrudge her a bit of Mama Ursa anger. (And heck, better than what Rites of Ascension did to her.
) I'm just glad it didn't drag out too much, and I hope things smoothed over between Twilight's parents and her friends eventually.
...I just wonder where things are going to go that you have to drag Rarity's parents into it too. Not much room for that currently in Direction, and it feels like things are only going to escalate from there. Not to mention wondering if you're going to squeeze in Rainbow and Fluttershy's families too.
...Wait. That old backstory for Twilight's parents was what you retconned out of About Last Night, wasn't it?
A mother's love is a powerful force, but not necessarily a tactful one. This should certainly be interesting...
I...I don't know what to say. Bravo, Bravo sir.
This is why this and Post Nuptiuals will always my favorite Wedding fics. Because you look on both sides of the veil of the characters. You don't turn characters into mouthpieces and instead focus on who they are as actual living adults.
You respond with questions like
why would you stay with them.
With a very adult
This shows how strong their friendship is, and how close they are. This is what a good writer should do, and you do it brilliantly.
Yes, I know you see Post Nuptituals as your weaker work, but I still love it anyway. I love it so much...well, lets save that for later.
This is a really impressive job. I can believe that Twilight's parents would not take kindly to their daughter being put in danger because her friends and mentor ignored her. But their talk with Twilight in the morning was great as well. I especially like the part where Velvet calls Spike their grandson, even they can see the obvious relationship. Another great story!
6547323 Yeah, that's as far as it got. This just reminded me of that and made me wonder if Darth might have shared that bit of headcanon among his universes.
...Which in turn reminds me of wondering what Darth's contribution is to the Longingverse, and how much its... interpretation of Rarity's parents might color this.
Great job, though I feel I should point out by story cannon, its not been a full year. In fact the end of season 3 was revealed to be a full year. Since Season 4 starts with the first Sun Set Celebration with Luna.
A minor detail but still one to point, explains how Twilight almost went insane well, doesn't it. Anyway, great update and hope you keep up the good work.
6547496 A drama/slice of life series that starts here.
Yes, yes, that was what I needed. A wedding story where Twilight doesn't become an unlikable brat or sobbing wreck because of the rehearsal incident. I approve.
...Okay, I guess I skimmed over this bit before:
Damn, mare. You've still got reason to be angry, but slurs like that don't come from nothing.
(After I already said this hadn't pulled a Rites....
)
6549048 That was a refrence to AJ being a farmer, not an Earth Pony. Niether of Twilight's parents are racist. Of course, it can be interpreted that way, which is why you shouldn't throw out insults like that.
6546799 My interpretation is that Rarity's parents aren't bad, but they've retired and think they deserve some fun time. They honestly don't seem to get how much their constant vacations are hurting their relationship with their children, or that Rarity might not appreciat having to be a parent at a young age.
6546939 ,
6547323
No, I had something different in mind for ALN, and I edited out specifically because the story was too jumbled already (yeah, I can't keep things simple, can I?) and Twilight wouldn't have had time to deal with things.
6549459 Ah, just a little classist then.
This was really good. There's always these things in the background of the show that you never get to see.
6551282 It's an ongoing pre-season 3 Twilight ascension fic with boatloads of adventure and politics, so it's difficult to summarize. Velvet doesn't come into it much until later on and is something of a neglectful social climber and tribalist, but Twilight eventually calls her out on it, and due to circumstances she's gotten rather better.
Another great story. You also bring up a very good point. I think we've seen less of Twilight's parents than we have other parents that have appeared in the show. I don't think we even heard them speak yet.
Dafuq?! Weren´t you watching over Canterlot with your telescope? Were you under an enthrallment spell like Captain Shining Armor? Isn´t your city and your kingdom?
I think Lulu should accept some of the blame before shifting it to others
I'm pretty sure having nothing to do with it is exactly why you're being insulted right now, Luna. Just a thought.
Also I really can't blame Velvet for getting mad at everyone here. If I were in her shoes I would have been absolutely livid, especially after being refused the opportunity to see my children (who were in very serious danger thanks to the extreme negligence of everyone on 'high alert' - Cadence's magic was green FFS) and nobody explaining anything about what the hell just happened. Especially at Luna after that little quip of hers:
I take it Luna didn't get the memo about Shining Armour being mind controlled by the obviously fake Cadence? Because that's heavily implying some very wrong, very stupid things. Luna deserved to get called out on it as one of the ponies in charge of security, and her reaction to it IMO shows she's woefully underequipped to deal with her own failings.
The last bit was funny. A mother pressuring her daughter into finding a boyfriend so she can have grandchildren!
Ever since I played the WAlking Dead game, the scene where you get a choice to kill the asshole Larry or save him. I thought of another ACW storyline where the characters still get called out upon but not screamed and hollered at.here's also where the forgiveness takes a long process instead of instant forgiveness.
Long story short, a thumbs up.
Ooh, nods to the fact that "Families" hasn't happened yet.
6553066
6553307
Shining Armor was in charge of security in Equestria. The whole reason he was brainwashed was because he let Cadance get kidnapped and replaced on his watch, I established that in Honeymoon. Luna began watching the night after high alert, when Chrysalis as Cadance was in bed. Luna might be willing to take some of the blame, but the big screw up here is on Shining Armor.
Adding to that, Velvet and Night Light aren't mad at Luna for the security lapse, but for everypony not listening to Twilight. She had nothing to do with that.
6557210
I just re-read Honeymoon, and in that story you also establish that nobody - not even the millennia year old monarch - even knew that Changelings existed. Blaming Shining Armor for not being able to prevent something like that is like blaming a bouncer for letting the Invisible Man into a nightclub. It was entirely unpreventable by anyone involved.
Now, nobody noticing that Cadence has suddenly become incredibly rude, that her magic is now green, and that she doesn't actually remember anything about her life? That was where the plot became stoppable, and by that point Shining Armor had been knocked out of the running.
6558839
Shining Armor still let an enemy slip under his radar. Regardless of how understandable it was, the blame's going to fall on him. Life ain't fair.
And yes, the plan was stoppable, through the guards Shiny was supposed to train. Even if they were disorganized from whatever weird instructions brainwashed Shining had them do, not lasting more than five minutes doesn't speak well to his abilities.
6558975
The Guard was hamstrung by dodgy orders, vastly outnumbered, and caught by surprise by an enemy that probably knew everything about their deployments thanks to Chrysalis. They didn't stand a chance.
There would be pockets of stiff resistance, sure, but any sort of cohesive defense would have been easily shattered inside those five minutes. Especially if, for example, they were ordered to do solo patrols around the city by Shining before the attack. Guardsponies aren't some sort of superheroes; even the very best will be quickly defeated when surrounded by extremely agile opponents who shoot laser beams and green goop that sticks their hooves to the floor.
The Guard was struck down by an invisible, unknown and unknowable enemy long before the fighting started and there was nothing any of them could have done to change that outcome, barring some some minor miracle where one of them knew Cadence well enough and spent enough time with her to come to the conclusion that she wasn't just having an off day and raise the alarm. And even then that might not have even done anything, because Shining the puppet is at the top of the chain.
Twilight and whoever else knew Cadence well (presumably Celestia at least) were the only ponies capable of doing anything about it before it was too late.
6559502
The problem with that is, from what we see, the Changelings don't exactly have it together either. If Chrysalis was feeding her army information about the guards, bets are good she told them about the Elements, and given the army swarms the Mane 6, that's likely. The thing is, the Mane 6 utterly decimate them, even vastly outnumbered. And these six have no proper training. Yes, they're strong in different ways, but being strong and knowing how to fight are two seperate things. The only one shown with combat training is Rainbow, through that black belt, and that was just a one time thing.
If civilians did that good, the army should do better. And remember, by the time of the invasion the princesses were involved in security as well. Such orders would set off too many bells, especially after Twilight's accusation. It was blown off, but when such poor orders come through Celestia's red flag would be raised.
Plus, given how many holes Chrysalis' plan was, I think you're giving her skills too much credit. Seriously, having bridesmaids guard her prisoners instead of guards? We never see the Changelings do anything but zerg rush, and there was no hint that anymore were in the city before they broke through the shield. There was a period between Chrysalis dropping her disguise and the shield being dropped that a well regulated milita could have gotten together enough that they shouldn't be caught completely off guard (alarm sirens are confirmed to exist in Equestria). And I don't think they ever used the slime in combat, or even their shapeshifting outside of arbitrarly making doubles that don't seem to impair their opponents (heck, Rainbow uses it to her advantage).. Even if the guards losing was inevitable, ther still should have been more resistance.
Yes, Celestia has just as much blame, if not more. A whole chapter of PN was written about just how badly she screwed up. But Shining isn't exactly off the hook here. Believe it or not, I've been accused of going too easy on him.
been thinking about my response to this and I felt like I should explain why I said it's totally unnecessary. I just don't think this verse needs more lousy parents. And even if they aren't BAD parents, they don't come across as very good parents.
6558975 what if their weird instructions had them exhausted out of position and Chrysalis had relayed the Guards orders to the changelings?
6559922 If Chrysalis was able to capture and imprison Cadence, then impersonate her without being seen or rasing suspicion, I think it's safe to say that the guards Shining Armor had with him were probably not doing a very good job, and got taken by surprise because of it.
Either that, or they were waiting for their captain to instruct them on what to do for whatever reason (brainwashed Shining Armor's instructions, poor training of the guards, etc.)
Velvet should apologize to Applejack for the physical violence, but that's it. She has every right to be furious about the larger issue.
As to Luna? Yeah, she rates an apology, if only for the insults.
6553307
That was a pretty big screw-up on Luna's part, that she was ill-equipped to deal with! I mean, there's a reason that she should be known as Emo-Princess, and not Gamer Luna. 
Luna's ill-equipped to deal with her failings? And you just now realized this? What about Nightmare Moon?
6694866 Just the physical violence? Not even for accusing her of being a brain dead servant who would do anything for that bug? AJ had, in fact, one of the best reasons for falling under Chrysalis's spell. She needed business for her farm so that her family would be in the black. Rarity has enough money to own her own place and buy materials for her shop on a regular basis. Dash's only hope for the wedding is getting the Wonderbolts to see her. Fluttershy already takes care of a lot of the music business in Ponyville with her bird choir. Pinkie has a job and lives with the Cakes. Do not yell at AJ. She is not, by any means the most guilty or the least guilty. But that doesn't change the fact that AJ had a reasonable explanation for ignoring Twi.
7533859 That's not a good reason so much as it's an explanation of why she was so easily exploited and swayed into ignoring one of her closest, most trusted friends.
So, yes, do yell at A.J. The fact that she needs money does not excuse what she did.
7533946 Man. You are a person who knows his logic.
7677267 Thank you.
...honestly i'm with the opinion velvet shouldn't need to apologize... if anything luna committed a crime against them and there should be a handling of that issue, frankly the only correct response out of lunas mouth at the time was 'yes, my sister failed your daughter, she was stupid and short sighted and it nearly killed both your children as well as most of the city, i only wish i could give you something more fitting then an apology, rest assured my sister and the elements foolishness well be made a matter of public record."
this was lunas only good response for the situation, everything else is pride getting in the way.
7533946
Ma`am or Sir, I just want to kiss you for having a brain.
I know im gonna get bullshit for this, but her so easily forgiving them for what they did is just as unrealistic as her exploding at them.
You should have given her that cold emotionless voice.
8927917
I feel like they did, or atleast that's what I imagined.