Vignette Ten - A Canterlot Wedding
An optimistic smile was on Applejack’s muzzle as she watched the mare before her thoughtfully chew the pastry in her mouth. It brightened as the mare took hold of a second one with her magic and swiftly ate it as well with gusto. “Twilight’s letters weren’t kidding, Applejack! These are delicious!”
The farmmare managed a nervous laugh. “Right kind a’ya to say, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”
“Only because it’s the truth.” The princess smiled back gently. “And please, just ‘Cadance’ is fine.”
“Alright, Cadance.” Applejack turned to Twilight as the unicorn made another mark on her checklist. “Ah know Ah’ve said it already Twi, but Ah’m sorry for not listenin’ to ya earlier. Somethin’ tells me you’ll be hearin’ that a lot for a while.”
“Well, don’t be too hard on yourselves.” Twilight bowed her head in slight shame as she admitted, “Even I was fooled.” She turned to Cadance as she admitted, “You being kidnapped and replaced never even occurred to me. It’s going to be a while before I can get past thinking that you’d changed for the worst.”
Cadance came over and took her former charge into a warm hug. “Don’t beat yourself up too much, Twilight. Based on the information you had, me getting replaced by the queen of the changelings was probably one of the less likely possibilities. Still, we all made mistakes while all of this was going down, including me. I’m the one who got captured and replaced, remember?” That eased the mare’s mood before she continued, “In any case, it’s thanks to you that we’re all safe, and I can finally do what I’ve wanted to do for years.” At Twilight’s worried expression, she explained with a smile, “Call you family. And have it be official.”
Twilight broke out into a big smile and took her sister-in-law-to-be into a tight hug, while also thanking the heavens above that nopony was present who’d make some sick joke. “Me too! I mean, you and Shining are so perfect for one another! And after so many years of helping to spread love, it’s about time you had a little for yourself!”
Cadance giggled softly as she hugged the young mare in return. “Twilight, I’ve never been lacking for love in my life. I’ve had it ever since I can remember, even if I didn’t have as close a family as most ponies did.” She smiled sadly as she admitted, “But it will be nice to finally have a mother and father in my life, in-laws or not.”
Applejack shared the alicorn’s sad smile before it turned into a frown. “That reminds me’a somethin’. You spreadin’ love with your magic, Cadance. You wanna elaborate on that? Ah mean, you ain’t manipulatin’ emotions and forcin’ folks to fall in love with one another, are ya?”
“No, definitely not.” The princess’s tone became one of disgust as she explained, “My magic can’t create feelings of love in anypony, or anything, and it certainly can’t coerce anyone. The most I can do is encourage what’s already there, and even that is skirting a dangerous line.” She turned shameful as she admitted, “One that, sadly, I crossed from time to time when I was younger. I still remember the scolding Aunt Celie gave me for doing that once while looking after Twilight.”
“And given everything that’s happened, I think you might be able to see why I did that.” Heads turned to the door to find Princess Celestia standing outside the kitchen. “I’m sorry for interrupting, and for sounding so cross over that. That’s the last thing you need right now. Cadance, may I borrow your wedding planner for a moment?”
“Of course, Auntie.” Cadance beckoned Twilight onwards with a smile. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere this time.”
Twilight smiled, then stepped outside and followed her mentor as she made her way to a secluded section of the halls.
Applejack’s expression turned sheepish as Cadance turned her attention back to her. “Now, if’n you don’t mind my askin’, how close of an aunt is Princess Celestia to you? Ah mean, she and Princess Luna ain’t currently married, and Equestria would know if’n they had siblings.”
A sad smile crossed Cadance’s face. “It’s a long story.”
-
“I fear that you’re going to be hearing this quite often from me and many others in the near-future, Twilight, but it needs to be said. I’m sorry for not listening to you.” Celestia bowed her head as she turned to face her student. “As much as I was fully aware of the threat to Canterlot, it never occurred to me that the enemy might already be in the gates. And it should have. It’s just the sort of trick Chrysalis would perform.”
Twilight tilted her head in confusion. “Chrysalis?”
“The Queen of the Changeling Hive. I have the great misfortune to say that she and I have history. I thought she and her kind were dealt with the last time I faced them, but clearly, I was wrong.” She looked out a window to the city below and noted, “Canterlot will recover, but it might be some time yet.” She turned back to Twilight and amended, “For now, I can just hope that you’ll accept my apology, and my praise.”
Twilight offered a smile. “Of course. Nothing that happened to Cadance was your fault, and with the wedding, well, I can understand you thinking that she was just under pressure.”
“Perhaps, but her somehow convincing Shining Armor to hold off on telling you about the engagement should have been a dead giveaway. But once you saw her, you knew that something was off. Today’s victory was as much yours as it was theirs, and I think we both learned a valuable lesson today. That we should trust our instincts when they tell us something is wrong…” She extended a wing and wrapped it around Twilight in a hug. “…And that I should listen more to my faithful student, otherwise I could be in even worse trouble.” Twilight gently hugged her back before Celestia beckoned her. “Now go on. You still have a wedding to finish planning.”
Twilight did as she was told and moved back to Cadance’s side as a Guardspony approached the princess to offer a salute. “Your Highness.”
“General Tomahawk. What have you to report?”
“So far as we’ve been able to ascertain, the changelings have been driven from Canterlot. Whatever Colonel Shining Armor and Princess Cadenza did, it’s sent them flying clear to the Badlands. Perhaps even further.”
Celestia nodded. “I almost hope for their sake that they don’t get as far as Abyssinia. They aren’t particularly welcome there after what Chrysalis did during Queen Katrina’s reign. And casualties?”
“Light, thankfully. A few minor injuries, but nothing worse than a broken bone here and there.”
The alicorn’s expression soured. “I mean for both sides, Colonel.”
The soldier nodded. “Apologies, ma’am. We’ve recovered the corpses of many of the changelings that were part of the invasion. We’re still counting, but the last talley I had was past four hundred. I expect that will climb as time goes on. Regardless, I’d recommend that we have somepony make absolutely certain there aren’t more acting within Equestria’s borders, and that something like this doesn’t repeat.” He scowled slightly. “As I understand it, there already should have been somepony doing exactly that.”
Celestia’s scowl matched his own. “Indeed. I’m going to have a number of talks with Minister Blacklight regarding today’s events. This is exactly the sort of thing that the organization he oversees was meant to prevent.” And not the last time that SMILE had fumbled in recent memory, the princess considered to herself bitterly. “For the time being, have our sentries and border patrols be placed on high alert in case anything happens. Also, I’d like the names of those Guardsponies who alerted us to the threat, as well as those who lasted the longest. The wedding will go some way towards easing the population’s concerns, but an award ceremony won’t hurt either.”
“I’ll have their names to you within the hour, ma’am.”
“Very well. Dismissed.” As the general departed, Celestia found herself quietly hoping that the next major threat to Equestria would take its time. Given how much had happened since her sister’s return however, that seemed a faint hope at best. Perhaps it was time she took some steps to ensure greater security for her subjects. One high-risk idea came to mind, but preparations needed to be made first, and even then, there was no guarantee that it would work.
Still, desperate times often called for desperate measures.
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Celestia’s scowl matched his own. “Indeed. I’m going to have a number of talks with Minister Blacklight regarding today’s events. This is exactly the sort of thing that the organization he oversees was meant to prevent.” And not the last time that SMILE had fumbled in recent memory,[/i
I really really want to see Celestia confront this moron over what happened and what she does.
9198505
Give me time.
You know, that last bit with Twilight is really something I don't recall seeing in other handlings of the Canterlot Wedding. Sure, people have done the whole "Twi's friends having guilt over not listening to her" and all, but I really don't think I've ever seen Twilight admit guilt of her own about thinking that Cadence had truly changed for the worst. I like that.
Solid work as always. I especially liked the scene with Celestia and Twilight. That was quite well-portrayed in my humble opinion.
Excellent job on this vignette. I absolutely loved how it addressed the mistake everybody made (including Twilight) as well as the clarification about how Cadance's magic worked. Plus, the nods to the comics (both as far as Chrysalis's origin goes AND the knowledge of Chrysalis's name in the main comic's VERY FIRST arc) AND the movie (the mention of Abyssinia) were great too . And yeah, Celestia showing enough thought to ask about the ENEMIES' casualties as well as her own was a great touch too.
And, yeah, I have a really bad feeling concerning what "desperate measures" Celestia might be thinking of.
Anyway, splendid job on the characterizations and exchanges. I don't think I've seen a handling of the aftermath of Chrysalis's invasion THIS well handled and even-handed since Darth Link 22's first "Nuptialverse" story.
9198649
Thanks. Twilight's perfectly capable of admitting when she's messed up, and feeling bad for messing up. Thankfully for her, Cadance is plenty forgiving.
And so far as I'm concerned, that's how the talk between the two of them should have gone in that episode.
9199292
Hey, what's the point of having a mess of stuff to draw from if you don't draw from it?
Say what you will about most interpretations of Celestia, mine recognizes that enemies or no, the opposition were still living beings and deserve to be acknowledged and respected. As for those desperate measures, well, canon's answered that for me - the desperate measure was releasing Discord. While that's had mixed results in canon, for my stuff...well, I have plans.
And thank you for the kind words. I haven't read anything from that 'verse, admittedly, though I've heard good things.
So, I've got time to kill, and I just realized that between the timeline you've given us and the A Canterlot Wedding vignette being numbered as 9, it may be possible to figure out what might be coming for future vignettes, so I think it's time for round 2 of speculating about what remains for the remaining vignettes.
At the end of my first round of speculations, it was revealed that of the eight I guessed, three of them were correct. Thus far, two of the three that I guessed have been made into vignettes. HOWEVER, it was also revealed that three new vignettes were added to the list since then, and that my previous guess of One Bad Apple was one of the three.
Therefore, the list of remaining vignettes contains at least 2, and at most 4, of the following:
The Mysterious Mare Do Well
Too Many Pinkie Pies
Luna Eclipsed
Hearts and Hooves Day
Winter Wrap-Up
Secret of my Excess
Of those six, Secret of my Excess places before vignette 4 on the timeline, so that's out. Which means we have between 2 and 4 of the following:
The Mysterious Mare Do Well
Too Many Pinkie Pies
Luna Eclipsed
Hearts and Hooves Day
Winter Wrap-Up
Now, there are 4 vignettes that fit between A Bird in the Hoof and A Canterlot Wedding. Let's go through those point by point and try to narrow down the 4 most likely:
-The Best Night Ever: Possible. There's still the matter that although Celestia got what she wanted, and the night turned out okay-ish for the Mane Six, the Gala was still ruined for everyone else.
-Baby Cakes: Unlikely. The one lingering question - why neither Pound nor Pumkin are of the same race as their parents - can easily be explained without unfortunate implications by mixed heritage somewhere in Cup's and/or Carrot's family tree(s).
-Sleepless in Ponyville: I don't think so. From what I've seen, I seem to be the only one freaked the f*** out by Luna's dreamwalking and the unfortunate implications therein, and it's already been revealed to me behind the scenes how said implications don't apply in the Quiververse, so there's not much reason to go here.
-The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well: I'm almost certain this is going to get one given how cruel the rest of the Mane Six and Spike were towards Dash in it.
-The Last Roundup: Potentially. There is the aftermath of everyone abandoning Rarity and Pinkie in the desert to consider.
-Family Appreciation Day: Doubtful. There isn't anything here that needs correcting here as far as I can tell, and it doesn't really feel incomplete.
-Owl's Well that Ends Well: Probably not. I'm assuming that any issues surrounding Spike will be addressed in A Dragon's Worth.
-The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000: Going into detail here would involve spoiling inside information, so I'm just going to say here: almost definitely not.
-The Return of Harmony: Unlikely, but possible. We still don't know why Celestia returned Twilight's friendship reports (and if we're assuming she knew Twilight needed them, we don't know how she knew that).
-Luna Eclipsed: Again, unlikely but possible. On one hand, we already know from A Shimmering New Year that Pinkie realized how badly she screwed up here, so a scene here isn't entirely necessary. On the other, we've been told that the events of the episode itself remain unchanged, so Twilight still hailed Pinkie as a genius instead of chewing her out for how she hurt Luna and sabotaged her attempts to be accepted, so the question of how Pinkie had her Heel Realization is still unanswered.
-Hurricane Fluttershy: It could definitely use one. Sunrunner may have ripped Spitfire a new one over her crap in seasons 3 and 4, but her just standing back and watching while the Ponyville fliers failed to muster enough wingpower to get the reservoir water to Cloudsdale still goes unanswered for. Then again, Echo did mention the possibility of a future story further tearing into the Wonderbolts and their questionable actions...
-Fall Weather Friends: Not too likely. There's how nonsensical it is that AJ and Dash's squabbling caused the Running of the Leaves to fail, but alas, the lack of logic regarding Equestria's climate doesn't seem to be that high of a priority to address, especially in the face of all the show's other problems.
-Over a Barrel: I don't think so. Was there anything there that needs to be addressed?
-Read it and Weep: I highly doubt it. I can't think of any reason why there'd need to be one here.
-Ponyville Confidential: Has the Mane Six's hypocrisy over enjoying Gabby Gums' articles until they were the ones in the crosshairs been addressed in the Quiververse yet? If not, it should be.
-Too Many Pinkie Pies: It could certainly use one. Were the Pinkie clones their own beings, or just non-sapient magical constructs? If the former, why hasn't Twilight been executed for mass murder yet? If the latter, why would the real Pinkie be in danger of the spell that returns the clones to the Mirror Pool? And either way, if Pinkie's life was on the line, why would such a risky, all-or-nothing strategy be used?
-MMMMystery on the Friendship Express: I can't think of any reason this would need one.
-Dragon Quest: See my comment on Owl's Well that Ends Well
-It's About Time: All the questions here revolve around the mechanics of time control in Equestria, which I'm assuming will be answered in A Mad Pony in a Box, so I'm going with "no" here.
-A Friend in Deed: Still torn here. On one hand, again, Pinkie got off way too easily for very nearly ruining what remains of Cranky's already so-far miserable life, but on the other, how could Pinkie be made to see the severity of her actions without actually ruining his life?
-Spike at Your Service: Spike-centric, so I'm assuming A Dragon's Worth will address any problems here.
-Putting Your Hoof Down: Unlikely. There's Pinkie's and Rarity's apparent bigotry against Minotaurs to consider, but that might be addressed later, and either way, there's bigger fish to fry.
-Hearth's Warming Eve: See my comment on Fall Weather Friends, but replace the Running of the Leaves problem with the question of how Equestria was a fertile land before the ponies migrated there.
Here's where A Canterlot Wedding falls on the timeline, so vignettes 5-8 are from this list of episodes. My guesses are:
-The Best Night Ever
-The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well
-Ponyville Confidential
-Too Many Pinkie Pies
This includes 2 of my remaining previous guesses. Assuming both are correct, there's still room for up to 2 more.
The remaining four vignettes would come after A Canterlot Wedding, given that it's #9, and thirteen are currently planned. Let's go through the episodes that come after:
-Hearts and Hooves Day: Potentially. As the episode stands, the stated problem isn't that the CMC used a love potion, but that the potion they used was classified as a "love poison", however that's supposed to be different - the implication being that love potions are accepted in Equestria. There's also Twilight just handing them the potion's recipe to consider.
-The Crystal Empire: Successful in saving the Empire or not, Twilight did fail Celestia's test. I could see a potential scene where Twilight admits to this and begs Celestia not to disown her, and Celestia's response.
-Wonderbolts Academy: No. Sunrunner already tore into Spitfire over this.
-Winter Wrap-Up: Possibly. The above comments about how low-priority explaining Equestria's screwy climate appears to be still applies to the nonsense of having to end winter manually, but that still leaves how harsh AJ was to Twilight over using magic during the wrap-up. A following scene with AJ apologizing wouldn't be amiss.
-Party of One: I don't think so. Things seem to have been wrapped up by the episode's end.
-Magic Duel: Almost definitely not. Saying more than that might risk revealing insider information (I forget what on this topic has been made public and what's remained in PM), so I'll leave it at that.
-Apple Family Reunion: I don't remember much about this episode, but I don't think there's a need here.
-May the Best Pet Win: Unless we're adding a scene with Fluttershy ranting at Dash for making her potential pets fly through Ghastly Gorge, I don't see any room for something here.
-Games Ponies Play: This episode was too cringe-inducing for me to ever finish, but from what I've heard of it, I don't think there's a need for an extra scene here.
-Just for Sidekicks: See my comments on other Spike-centric episodes
-Keep Calm and Flutter On: Discord isn't being sent back to his prison before the events of the Quiververse, so no.
-Magical Mystery Cure: This one seems to be slowly fixed/explained as the Quiververse progresses, but the question of what Starswirl's spell actually does, both complete and incomplete, still remains.
After that is the first Equestria Girls, which transitions into the beginning of the Quiververse proper with The Sun Also Rises.
Of the following, my guesses as to the most likely candidates for vignettes are:
-Hearts and Hooves Day
-The Crystal Empire
-Winter Wrap-Up
-Magical Mystery Cure
That puts my new full list of guesses as follows:
-The Best Night Ever
-The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well
-Ponyville Confidential
-Too Many Pinkie Pies
-Hearts and Hooves Day
-The Crystal Empire
-Winter Wrap-Up
-Magical Mystery Cure
Am I close?
9233606
Three of your eight guesses are correct, though I hope you understand me remaining silent on which ones you've correctly guessed.
That being said, you're right in that there will be future stories addressing things that you've raised here, with some coming sooner than others.
9198563 For the quality of the stories you write?
Gladly.
9294992
Works for me.
9295064
Fair enough.
9295014 Cool.
9791946
Well, I never read said comic, so I thought I'd just keep mum on that particular front.
9842854 Good point.
Short and sweet is cool, too, imho.
And consider it marked!
Looking forward to it!
Wait.......
That's Halloween!
Interesting............
Oh dear. Seven really did eat nine.
Edit: Vignette numbers joke while I still can make it.
9921868
In my defense, I had every intention of releasing these in order. But between my hard drive getting scrambled and having to redo my timeline nearly from scratch, plus time constraints, some things were just unavoidable.
That said, I know exactly what the ninth installment for this series is going to be. Said installment just hasn't been written yet, nor shall it be written for a while yet.
Ah, yes, this episode. Many a Fix/Accusation Fic was made over this one and I almost joined the ranks, I'll admit. I didn't, though, because 1) it felt like it'd be bad, and 2) everyone else already did it and a few actually managed to do it right, rather than stoop to revenge porn. And you, my friend, were among those who did it right
Time to hit the hay! "waves" Why is there no Luna emoji?
11046898
I'm not really one for that sort of thing. I admit to imagining nasty things from time to time, but in practice, I tend to let go...or just complain bitterly. Anyway, glad that you liked it.
This would have been good in the show. Considering twilight even though she probably didn't handle the fake well was probably upset that her brother couldn't even bother to tell her he was engaged and then Celestia had to invite her and her friends to the wedding and someone who practically family acting like you're a stranger to them and the girls barely listening didn't help much. Every time she said anything they brushed it off and they hadn't even been paying attention to anything but the wedding. Of course ignoring the possibility that the guy in charge of the shield around the city is under a evil spell was stupid.
11594596
In Shining Armor's defense, it's easy to get caught up and distracted with your job. Not telling your own sister that you're getting married, though, does leave a black mark. It gets you to wonder how much the season was planned ahead of time. I mean, a little foreshadowing to the wedding could've been worked in. Just saying.