The couples paraded out of the chapel followed by Tirek, Chrysalis, and Fancy. Tirek ordered the guards to close the doors and once they were closed behind them, the king went ahead and gestured to a nearby room and commanded with fury in his eyes, "Inside. Now."
They did as he said without question. Fancy stood by the door as he watched in concern of what the king was about to say and do.
There was an ominous pause before Tirek slowly started, "Do you have any idea of what you have done?"
The couples didn't reply.
"You just threw chaos into our perfect order. These wenches forced themselves onto the throne without the proper training that Lady Chrysalis's daughters have since birth."
Chrysalis shouted furiously, "You stole my daughters' birthright!"
"No, Mother! They didn't!"
Everyone turned to see Sunset, Sonata, and Trixie walking in. Sunset kept speaking, "We helped them escape so they could marry the men they loved!"
Chrysalis was shocked beyond belief and uttered, "My own daughters… How could you?!"
Sunset replied firmly, "We did what we had to…" she looked to Flash and Twilight clutching close together and saw the gratitude in their eyes, making her feel stronger to speak out, "I don't want to marry someone who won't love me and I don't want to marry someone I don't love…"
Her mother demanded, "Where are your other sisters?!"
Sonata said, "Oh! I knew we forgot something! They're in a broom closet."
"What?! Show me!"
The four left the room leaving the couples, Tirek, and Fancy.
Fancy spoke up, "My lord, given the circumstances of how the marriages came to be, perhaps we should let it be since every member of nobility has now just seen the new princesses making it binding."
Tirek scowled before he paced around the room and addressed them, "So you think you're up to living the royal standards in which you just married yourself into?"
Flash started, "I'm sure they can if given the chance-"
Tirek held his hand up, silencing him, "I want to hear it from them…" pointing to the girls.
Twilight exchanged glances with her friends and told the king, "Yes, Your Majesty, we are more than willing to live up to the royal standards."
"Hm… We shall see about that…"
Chrysalis came back then with all her daughters as her elder children were glaring dangerously at their younger sisters. The lady stipulated, "Your Highness, I demand that these little tramps be divorced from the princes so that my daughters can properly be married to their rightful husbands."
"Unfortunately, Chrysalis, we can't afford a scandal at the moment. Every noble attended this wedding thinking they were your daughters, if we denounce that then we lose our social standing and whatever trade agreements we have."
Chrysalis sputtered, "You mean to tell me you would have these whores pretend to be my daughters?!"
He casually stated, "That's exactly what I plan to do."
The lady screeched in rage before running out. Adagio, Aria, and Suri followed after her.
Sunset, Sonata, and Trixie glanced at each other before Sunset curtsied and offered, "If we may, Your Majesty, I know we don't deserve it but we would like to stay and be the princesses' handmaidens."
Fancy motioned, "I think that is a reasonable request. And it would help to have actual daughters of Chrysalis living in the palace so that the princesses can answer any questions that involve their previous life."
Tirek replied while stoking his beard, "So it would. No one would then suspect of imposters being married to the princes." he told the three, "Request granted, only it would be best if you are ladies-in-waiting instead."
Trixie muttered under her breath, "That's a relief."
Fancy told the trio, "If you ladies will follow me, I will show you to your new quarters." and they left.
Tirek faced the couples with a dark scowl and said in a dangerous tone, "Just to be clear, I will not let this go so easily… You may have won the battle but you've yet to win the war…" and he went without another word.
When they were sure he was gone, the duos glanced at each other with a small smile.
The boys led the girls down a hallway before stopping at six chamber doors with three on each side. Then suddenly the girls were scooped up by their new husbands.
Applejack said, "Spike, put me down!"
He slyly replied, "Hey, you carried me, it's only fair I return the favor by carrying you over the threshold."
The other princes chuckled at that. Discord said, "He's right, you know." and faced his own bride with a smirk.
Fluttershy blushed and the two started kissing.
Rainbow complained, "Hey! Save that for when you're inside, you two!"
Soarin laughed and kicked the door to his room.
She smirked at him, "Anxious much?"
"Only because you make me feel this way…" he cocked a sly brow.
Her own blush appeared on her face.
Capper made a purr-like noise while nuzzling up to Rarity's neck, she unraveled at the feeling and moaned, "Darling… please… not in public…"
Flash rubbed his head to Twilight's as he slowly turned the doorknob.
Cheese and Pinkie were rubbing noses as she kept a tight grip around his neck and couldn't get enough of this feeling.
Gradually, they all entered into their separate rooms and closed the doors behind them.
Twilight saw her husband's chamber and admired at how organized it was as everything had a place. There was even his lute on a stand in the corner.
"Do you like it?" he asked her.
She looked up to him with a smile, "I love it just like I love you."
With a smile of his own he slowly moved her toward the bed and suddenly he felt herself stiffen. He questioned, "What's wrong?"
"It's just… this whole thing happened so fast… It didn't occur to me that I would have to consummate the marriage until now…"
He assured her, "We don't have to do it now; we can wait until you're ready."
"But isn't it supposed to be tradition that on a wedding night, a couple expresses their everlasting love by consummating?"
"Perhaps, but I'm sure it's only because the couple are in mutual agreement to do it, I don't want to do something that makes you uncomfortable, Twilight…"
"Well… if you're sure…"
He stated, "You've done so much for me, Twilight. You and your sisters have brought joy to me and my brothers and for that I want make sure that you are happy too."
She beamed at him before leaning in for a kiss then she whispered in his ear, "Will you help me get this dress off?"
He smiled, "As you wish."
Discord and Fluttershy kissed passionately close to the bed with their hands exploring each other. Then his hands moved to unbutton the back of her dress and in turn she started unbuttoning his suit jacket exposing his white shirt underneath.
He sighed in bliss, "What have I done to deserve this?"
She softly replied, "I should be the one questioning of how I deserved this."
"That is where you are wrong, my love." he kissed her again then said, "You are an angel, so you do deserve this and more. But I will admit I am surprised of how willing you are. I thought for sure you wouldn't want to right now."
"Truthfully, I thought so too, but… being with you right now… it just feels so right…"
They resuming kissing and fell onto the bed.
"Okay, I'm ready…" Rarity's voice came from the dressing screen.
Capper had finished lighting the candles around the bed and looked to see his new wife's leg dripping from behind the screen, making him perk up in interest. She sauntered from the screen, making lustful eyes at her husband as she revealed her skinny white silk nightgown that showed off her curves. While he was wearing a white shirt and pants.
She came up to him and grabbed the collar of his shirt and stroked it, "Oh dear, this won't do at all." she commented with a smirk.
He smirked back and playfully inquired, "What do you think we should do about it?"
"It's very simple, we do this!" she ripped the shirt off of him, "There, that's better…" and admired his bare chiseled chest before touching it.
His hands wrapped around her waist and began rubbing her thighs as they went in for a kiss and ravished each other's mouths while he slowly lifted her up to lay her down on the bed.
Garments were sprawled on the bedroom floor that made a trail to the adjoining bathroom. Pinkie and Cheese were relaxing in a porcelain shell shape bathtub with warm water and bubbles around them.
He wrapped an arm around his beloved and asked with a tender smile, "Comfy?"
Her eyes were closed in bliss and sighed lovingly, "Very…"
He started playing with some of the bubbles and blew on them to go up. Pinkie opened her right eye to see this and got her own bubbles to blow on. Then Cheese gathered up the bubbles in the shape of a hat and put it on his head. His wife giggled at this and joined him by putting on her own bubble hat. After that they made all sorts of bubble shapes and kept at it for awhile.
Applejack's head dropped onto the pillow in a sweat and was panting heavily. Spike was lying on top of her being just as sweaty and panting with the blanket draped over him.
She gasped between breaths, "That… was… amazin'… I didn't think… you would be able to ride on that long…"
He wearily smirked, "I'm tougher then you think…"
"I guess so…" she kissed his cheek, "and I'm fine with that…"
He kissed her on the lips and she returned it. When they broke apart, their saliva was connected and Spike wiped it away to ask, "Ready for round two?"
She slyly grinned, "Like you had to ask." and they went back to kissing fervently.
Rainbow and Soarin laid under the covers keeping close to each other while basking in the afterglow of their intense love-making.
"You're so awesome…" he uttered affectionately.
She gave him a small smile and sighed, "If I was so awesome, I wouldn't have put a friend of mine in danger…"
He gave a concern look and slightly sat up by resting his head with his hand, the top part of his fit chest was showing as he inquired, "Thinking about Celaeno…?"
She sadly nodded and let a few tears drop from her eyes. For some reason, Rainbow felt at ease showing the vulnerable side of her personality to her husband, other than her friends/sisters but she still acted tough around them.
Soarin brought her closer and stroked her hair while assuring her, "That wasn't your fault. If anything, it was our fault for running away in the first place and needed Celaeno's help… I never wanted that to happen to her."
"What will become of her?"
"She'll have a trial to determine her fate."
"When will that be?"
"Not for a while, it takes time to set up a royal hearing."
Her eyes lit up, "Then… maybe we can help her escape!"
He winced, "That's not a good idea… Don't get me wrong, I'm all for getting her out of here but now's not a good time, you saw how furious my father was after the wedding and we can't have him knowing you have ties with the prisoner."
"Then I want you to promise me something."
"Anything."
"At the first chance we get, we rescue Celaeno."
"I promise." He leaned in for a kiss.
She wrapped her arms around his head and accepted it.
Okay, nothing too graphic, but it did make me blush a little. I'm honestly more interested in what's going to happen to Celano. Phew, I was so worried that Sunset was going to get executed. Thankfully, that's not what happened. 😥
If this isn't over yet, I shudder to think what Tirek has in store.
Well, the marriages are confirmed... Tirek and Chrysalis are far from happy... Now what?
Love that Flash was willing to hold off on Twilight's part, but I get a feeling that it might be used to undermine their marriage...
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I don't know. CN12 seems to imply that Twilight agreed to it.
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Fair, but it wouldn't surprise me if CN12 says they didn't, again narrative set-up and pay-off, narratively an athour shouldn't set something up, like call attention to something, and not have that mean something, For example The Flash-Twilight-Sunset triangle, thus far it paid off via Sunset being able to help the wedding. Granted I still have a fair deal set up in my work to pay-off...
But Flash channeled Westley, everyone's favorite Dreaded Pirate Roberts...
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Okay I think we're good, we managed to survive the next chapter... Now I faint... Medic...*faints*
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Now that I think about it out of all of the relationships, FlashLight and SoarinDash seem to be the ones that have the biggest effect on the plot. I mean, SoarinDash affects the plot because of the Celano subplot. FlashLight affects the plot because of the love triangle among other things. Now that I think about it, Flash's kind, sensitive nature clashes the most with Tirek's ruthless, heartless one, and CN12 kind of made a pretty big deal of Flash being the best swordfighter out of all his brothers. Additionally, out of all the princes, Flash seems to be the one who knows the most about his birth parents.
Just a hypothesis, but what if Flash's willingness to hold back was done to highlight his sensitivity? Yes, and what if Flash's sensitivity plus his sense of inadequacy from Chapter 4 combine into something plot relevant? I just have this feeling that the FlashLight scene is going to be plot relevant regardless of whether they consummated or not.
Hmmm...I'm guessing the next one or two chapters will be much slower so we can escalate things later.
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I came to the conclusion of that when Sunset was given focus during the ball, well FlashLight anyway. The SoarinDash connection to Caeleno was kind of obvious when Soarin went into town with Rainbow.
Pointed that out the clash between Flash and Tirek a while ago, as for Flash's swordsmanship, it's always been presented in the context of Soarin being second best, which would lead us to conclude that Soarin's swordsmanship is going to improve and be considered the best
Rule of Three in Storytelling, set-up, reminder, pay-off, or Chekhov's Gun
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Regarding Flash's swordsmanship, I just got this image of Flash getting injured in a duel that will decide the fate of the kingdom and Soarin stepping in to save him before his opponent can land the killing blow. It's a very Star Wars-esque image, I know, but that's what I'm getting.
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... Is Soarin doing to do Tirek what Obi-Wan did to Darth Maul like in Phantom Menace? ... NO!!! Tirek's going to Qui-Gon Jinn Flash!!! *Throws self out of bunker*
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I haven't seen The Phantom Menace. I was thinking more along the lines of the fight with Obi Wan and Anakin against Count Dooku at the end of Attack of the Clones except less underwhelming and no one loses a limb. Calm down and get back in the bunker. CN12 wouldn't kill off Flash, I think.
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I can understand why you haven't seen it, but I can settle with Attack of The Clones...or maybe The Revenge of The Sith
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"sigh" You were right about Flash. You tried to say so, but I didn't listen. I think maybe I was trying to predict CN12's next move based on patterns I recognized from her previous work early on in the story. For example, CN12's previous work tended to have a pretty even focus on each pairing, and the pairings that she tended to favor in her previous work were FlutterCord and AppleSpike. Okay, I did have an out of left field prediction thinking that Tirek was going to go all Hunger Games on the boys, but the way Tirek was discussing their qualifications (or more accurately lack of) for the throne sounded like he was talking about Hunger Games tributes. Anyway, I'm sorry that I dismissed your predictions. As far as I can tell, they're coming out more accurate than mine so far.
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It's no big deal, I have just studied storytelling a little more, one thing I cannot advise enough is reading The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, you would be surprised how many stories, books, movies, etc, you can predict are going to turn out after reading this book
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I would like to tell you, but I can't. However I will say this, when I first started this story it was my goal to make sure this story would be different from any Cinderella story out there since there are so many, for example the couples being married halfway through is one of those differences as I want to explore more on how Cinderella dealt with royal life as that's only been done with Disney. I love your theories but now it's making it harder to write the story without the element of surprise to it.
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I will stop theorizing...
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What Foxhelm said.
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Thank you, you two. I didn't like saying that but it really would have become a struggle later on.
I'm SO hooked on this story !
Looking forward to the next chapter, and further development of the storyline
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*comes back into the bunker*, okay I calmed down.
After this night of victory and triumph, it's time for a new battle. Tirek won't be the only one threatening the marriages.