Maintaining Harmony

by DiabloGuapo

The Trip Back Home

Earlier that day, a group of ponies and a dragon were walking to the train station in Canterlot. Well, most of them were walking. The dragon was riding on the back of a purple unicorn’s back, a pink earth pony was bouncing along the path, and a cerulean pegasus was hovering over them.

“Boy howdy, that was some weddin’,” said an orange earth pony wearing a Stetson hat as the group entered the train that would take them back to Ponyville.

“No kidding,” agreed the blue pegasus as she swooped into the cabin. She then found her seat by a window and placed her hooves behind her head as she reclined. “Ponies will talk about it for years! Especially after that Sonic Rainboom that I pulled off.”

“Now Rainbow Dash. Your performance was indeed spectacular, but it was Princess Cadance and Shining Armor’s big day,” a posh, white unicorn slightly scolded. A small, smug smile formed on her lips. “Besides, who could forget about those magnificent dresses?”

“Yeah, yeah, Rarity. The dresses were nice and everything,” Rainbow responded nonchalantly. The others also found their seats and waited for the train to depart. The pink pony was bouncing up and down on her seat.

“Don’t forget about the awesome reception party! Woo hoo! I don’t think I’ve ever been to such a big party! Except maybe for the Grand Galloping Gala, but that wasn’t as fun as this one. It may have had more ponies there, but it was nowhere near as fun,” the pinky pony quickly rambled.

“Yeah Pinkie, it was thousand times better than the gala,” the young, purple dragon agreed. He then frowned a bit. “But why didn’t anypony tell me that the Bachelor Party was supposed to be before the wedding?”

The ponies got a good laugh from this. No one actually assigned the dragon to host a bachelor party; he was just supposed to be the ring bearer. He kind of took on the “bachelor party host” by himself, because he thought it was his job as a male to do so.

“Oh Spike, give it a rest,” laughed the purple unicorn.

“But Twilight, how can you have a wedding without a bachelor party?”

“Spike, not everyone has a bachelor party. Don’t worry about it,” his caretaker reassured him. Despite this, he felt like he missed out on it. The train lurched forward a bit as it began to move. Spike felt an itch on his back. It was one of the ones that you get in-between the shoulder blades that you just can’t reach. That didn’t stop him from trying.

“Oh, I can’t wait to get home. Angel must have missed me so much,” worried the timid, yellow pegasus.

“Ah know what you are talkin’ about, Fluttershy,” Applejack agreed. “Big Mac and Granny Smith will be glad to have me an’ Apple Bloom back. Even though there was a weddin’ doesn’t mean the work can stop.”

Little Apple Bloom moaned a bit. She knew it was back to doing her chores as soon as she got home. She felt a little envious of her friends; Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. They didn’t live on a farm like her, so they have as many chores as she did.

“Yes, work never seems to stop, does it? Life must go on,” Rarity remarked. “And I too must get back to my Opal.”

“Haven’t you got that itch yet?” Twilight was slightly annoyed that Spike hadn’t stop scratching himself. The dragon was starting to become frantic over the insurable sensation.

“Darling, it isn’t very proper to scratch one’s self like that in public,” Rarity instructed.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that…I can’t…seem to…get it…”Spike explained between scratches. Rainbow Dash got up and flew over to the afflicted dragon.

“Don’t worry, I got it.” She turned him around and rubbed her hooves over his back along his spines. He sighed with relief and slouched over.

“Thanks, Dash.” He sat back into his seat as she returned to her own.

“No sweat.”

The group sat quietly for a few moments as they reflected back on the events of the past few days. Twilight Sparkle had learnt that her brother was getting married, thought that her old foalsitter had become evil, thought she was abandoned by her brother, her friends, and teacher, was trapped by the Changeling Queen in an underground prison, rescued Cadance, exposed the evil queen, fought Changelings, prepared an actual wedding, and see it through all within a couple of days! It made her head spin just to think about. It was an emotional roller-coaster for everypony.

The train arrived in Ponyville a little while later. The group of friends exited the train and made there way off of the platform.

“Well come along, Apple Bloom. We best be getting’ home.” The farm pony headed off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“Right, Sis. See ya’ll later Crusaders!” the yellow filly with a bow in her mane called back to friends as she followed her big sister.

“See ya, Apple Bloom. Later Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo said as she hopped onto her scooter. The orange pegasus then sped off down the street.

“Bye girls,” Sweetie Belle said in return. The unicorn filly with the two-toned mane then trotted off behind her sister, Rarity.

“I’ll see you girls later.” Rarity then led Sweetie Belle back to Carousel Boutique, her fashion store that doubled as her home.

“Catch ya later.” Rainbow took to the sky and sped out of sight.

“See you later, everypony! I gotta tell the Cakes how the wedding went. They’ll want to hear all about it.” Pinkie trotted happily away still talking to herself.

“Okay then, see you later girls. Bye Twilight. Bye Spike.” Fluttershy then floated off towards her cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest.

“Bye Fluttershy. Come on, Spike. Let’s head home.” Twilight headed back to Golden Oaks Library with Spike following behind her. As they walked back to their home, Spike reached his hand around to scratch at his back.

Comments

[DiabloGuapo]

I actually considered making this the first chapter since it takes place before the other one. However, I decided to not to because the other one helps set the tone for the rest of the story. This chapter is mainly to introduce the main cast into my story.

[Trickquestion]

Really, this entire chapter could have been cut. Nothing actually goes on here, and Celestia already established last chapter the Elements had gone home. Last chapter also seemed to imply the Mane Six (or at least Twilight) had been effected by the Changling Invasion, but we didn't really see much of that here, to the point if you hadn't seen the episode and only read the dialogue you'd never know an invasion happened. Really disrupts the tone the stellar first chapter established. Still, this has at least demonstrated you do understand the characters and can keep them in character, and the premise is good. You just need to work on your pacing a little.

[DiabloGuapo]

1498714
Thanks for the feed back. Yeah, I know that they don't show signs that have been affect yet, but trust me. I have something in mind for the next chapter. I said that the whole thing was an emotional roller-coaster for them. This chapter was to show the "high" part of the roller-coaster. Next chapter will show the "low" part.

[Trickquestion]

1498756

I suppose it's simply a difference of style between us. If I was you and you were me, the Mane Characters would start off psychologically wrecked by the invasion, mired in depression, paranoia and anger, and would work their way up. But you seem to have made it where they are actually repressing the horror of the invasion and trying to remember the positive aspects of the Wedding. I imagine the downhill will start once they see how shocked and horrified their fellow Equestrians are.

An interesting idea I got after musing over your response is the idea that in the minds of the public, the wedding is likely to get overshadowed by the invasion. With some time, no one is going to remember the wedding day as the day Shinning Armor and Cadence got married, they're going to remember it as the day their army was trounced, their capital sacked and their leaders left helpless.

[DiabloGuapo]

1498799
You got the idea. Just read the next chapter. You'll see that while they can focused on the positive while they're awaken, it's different story when they are asleep.

[Ojwondjuht]

hey hey hey Spike getting an itch on his back doesn't give me a good feeling. something has. and I don't think it's a good thing

By the way, nice guy, short but cute and I liked that despite the bad things that happened with the changelin queen, that didn't stop them from enjoying the event and having a good time as good friends and family.

[Ojwondjuht]

1499756
Just by reading the covers of the other chapters, I already know that what is coming is not going to be good and I will not like that