The After Party

by Blackdrag-rose

XIX: Surprise

One week after the events of Ponyville Rocket Sky was still trying to revert his body back to his natural unicorn form, but as usual he wasn't having any luck. He looked out of the window of Canterlot Castle that had been designated to him and Rose, mauling over the events that had transpired after his sudden and unexpected ascension. None of the events had made much sense, but granted that Discord was hanging with him and his friends he really thought things would have been more chaotic.

Shortly after finishing the fight with Chrysalis he, Rose, and his friends had been whisked off to Canterlot by Celestia, though he could have sworn it was Discord doing to deed. All of the Alicorns and the villains were weakened from their fight with his power, the evil Changeling monster he had become when Chrysalis had bitten him. Yet there they were, still taking the four of them away when they should have been rebuilding Ponyville. Last he heard the town had been reconstructed and Chrysalis had vanished as she said she would.

Once they had arrived in Canterlot the guard had immediately noticed that he had wings and a horn, marking him as the fifth Alicorn in existence at the moment, and had knelt to him. Before he could even say anything Celestia had them all taken to the hospital, where their injuries were taken care of for the remainder of that day. The nurses knew how to deal with small cuts and burnt fur, so it was no surprise that they were discharged so quickly.

Their second day back in the center of Equestria consisted of the four Princesses talking to him about what it meant to be an Alicorn and what his official role was going to be. The sun and moon had been called for well over a thousand years, love was off limits to him, and magic and friendship, Twilight's part, were taken. At some point while the four discussed what his particular role was Rocket looked out the window and stared at the clouds, focusing his mind on outside the room and not the inside.

His own mind mauled over the thoughts of what his position would be, but he knew that it wouldn't be anything as glorious as the sun, the moon, love, or even magic. He was more focused on planning a wedding then bothering to be crowned prince of something. Every Alicorn was a prince or princess, that he understood, but eventually there won't be anything left to crown them under. Though, as usual, Rocket sighed and continued staring out of the window, letting the other four continue their bickering as they tried to decide between some options like Darkness, Light, and he could have sworn he heard one of them mention Power for some reason.

"How about Harmony?" Rocket asked, not a moment after the words left his mouth did he wish he had never uttered them to begin with, "You know, like balance between Light and Darkness?"

"I'm thinking more of Balance," Cadence said, "Considering both his sides make a whole like this."

Yeah...Rocket just decided to ignore them some more and go back to staring at the clouds, not really interested in listening to their chatter anymore. Of the four remaining Alicorn's in the room he had told Luna and Cadence about the impending wedding and he had asked for their help in the matter. Luna was glad to finally have something that didn't involve getting blasted and beaten while Cadence had to inquire who the lucky ponies were. Rocket just told them that the couple was a secret and they would find out when the time came.

He imagined the dresses that Rarity was designing for the Coronation and wondered if she was also working on the dresses for the wedding he had planned. As far as he knew Twilight's friends and the two Princesses were the only ones who knew about the event and he was actually surprised that Pinkie wasn't announcing it to the world. Eventually he had to come back to the chatter behind him and that was when he learned that he was going to be designated Prince of Balance, which was as good as it was going to get for him.

The third day was boring as heck...so Rocket decided to take the day off from following the Princesses around and flew to one of the places he had always wanted to visit, but couldn't do to his original form. A place he had seen and heard about, but never had the opportunity to go since he had been a normal unicorn. Now that he had wings he could easily get there and wonder around, provided he hide his horn so he wasn't bugged all the time. Of course he had to ask a certain pegasus where the location was to be sure he didn't get lost.

Yeah...he was heading for Cloudsdale, home to both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and the location of where the Spectrum was made.

Almost immediately after he asked the speedster directions he regretted it, because she kept talking about how great the place was and everything that had happened to her there. So after about two hours of getting useless information from the pegasus he finally got the directions he so desired and the exact location of Cloudsdale at the time. He bid her goodbye and began his journey towards the city, which was supposed to be between Canterlot and Ponyville.

Unfortunately he was stopped multiple times by both the Solar Guard and the Lunar Guard on the ground and in the air, so he figured it wasn't meant to be. He seriously didn't want to resort to using magic on the guards, but they were doing their job that Celestia had assigned to them; don't let him leave Canterlot and make sure he stays safe. So he really spent the majority of the third day playing hide and seek with the guards, trying to escape them and they kept finding him regardless of where he chose to hide.

The next day was similar to his third day, being chased around Canterlot by the guards so they knew he was safe and not being harmed by anypony. Eventually he got tired of it and hid in the one place that he knew they would never find him, the Crystal Caverns below the castle. It was the perfect place to hide according to Cadence, the guards would never think to check down there and he would have all the time he needed to find a way out of Canterlot without the guards knowing.

So that was what he did for the rest of the fourth day and the majority of the next two days, exploring the entire network of caverns while he searched for a way out besides the one he knew about. He moved crystals and created bridges while he searched, creating a vast network of elaborate pathways throughout the entire place. Try as he might he could not find a second way out of the caverns, short of blasting a second hole out and alerting Celestia to his work. Cloudsdale, he decided, was going to have to wait for another day.

On the seventh day he waited in the castle, not really bothering to visit the caverns since he had already done everything he could think of to it. Archways, pillars, bridges, rooms, you name it and he had done it. The caverns were like a mini Crystal Empire that rested below Canterlot, but he figured that if Rarity found it she would demolish it and use the crystals for her own personal uses.

So on the eighth day, the current day, he found himself standing between the four Princesses and a room full of ponies he either knew or didn't know. He knew many of them from before and his friends were there, but there still were a lot of ponies that he didn't know the names of. Rocket wore aquamarine colored jewelry that looked similar to Celestia's royal jewelry, except that his had no markings and a simple crown of similar color to his other pieces. He was even dressed up in a Prince's outfit, which seemed similar to the suit that Shining Armor had worn on his wedding day so long ago.

Princess Celestia was talking to the crowd of assembled ponies, saying how Rocket Sky had managed to save the whole of Equestria from disaster with the help of the Changeling Princess Viscarias. How he had tamed the Darkness in his own heart and had become an Alicorn that could stop Chrysalis from winning her war with Equestria. And now here he was, being crowned the fifth Alicorn and Prince of Balance, the line between complete darkness and complete light. Little did Celestia know that Rocket had a trick he had yet to play on her.

"Stand aside sister," Luna proclaimed, surprising her sister by her outburst, "There is a wedding to be had."

The assembled group, excluding Twilight's friends and Cadence, were shocked by the sudden announcement that there was going to be a wedding along with the coronation of a new Prince. The doors opened and in came the Cutie Mark Crusaders, including Peachy, all dressed up for a wedding like they had been when Shining and Cadence had gotten married. Walking behind the four of them was Rose Petal, dressed up in a wedding dress Rarity through together that went together well with her natural Changeling Princess form. She walked up to where Rocket was and smiled at the assembled Princesses, though only two smiled back at her.

"Mares and gentlecolts," Luna began, raising her voice just a bit so she could be heard by everypony in the room, "we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Princess Viscarias of the Changeling Empire and Prince Rocket Sky of Equestria. The power of their love, while not as powerful as Princess cadence and Shining Armor's, is undeniable. May we have the rings please?"

Wisdom, dressed up almost like Shining during his own wedding, appeared beside the Lunar Princess and presented her with two golden rings. Luna accepted them with her magic and placed one of them on the horns of both Rocket Sky and Viscarias.

"I now pronounce you mare and colt," Luna concluded, "you may kiss the bride."

And that was Rocket did as he leaned in and gave Rose Petal a kiss. The two smiled at each other and nearly laughed when they saw that Princess Celestia was still shocked by the fact that there had been a wedding after the Coronation. Peachy wiped a tear from under her eye and smiled as Wisdom gave a nod of approval, though Tick was setting up for an after party.

About an hour later the assembled ponies were partying and wishing the newlyweds well, though Rocket continued to smile the entire evening.

"So why weren't we told that the couple would be you two?" Peachy asked, "We could have kept it a secret."

"I wanted almost everypony to be surprised," Rocket explained, "but it was worth it."

"So sister," Celestia said, watching over the party while the other Princesses sat near them, "Why wasn't I informed of this wedding?"

"You had your fun the last time there was a wedding," Luna laughed, "and I was asked to keep it a secret from everypony except for Twilight's friends and Cadence. Besides, you clearly have overlooked something."

"And what is that?" Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow at her sister.

"Princess Viscarias is Queen of the Changeling Empire now that her mother has been banished by the Elder Council," Luna explained, "and technically that makes young Rocket Sky King of the Changeling Empire. Face it sister, he played you on that one."

"Faust almighty your right," Celestia said, sighed to herself, "but this also means that we'll have another faction to add the next time we have a war game."

"True," Luna replied, staring at the happy couple and their friends, "but for right now let them enjoy their victory. We'll tell them about the war game later and then we'll see how far they can get before the game officially starts."

Twilight and Cadence sighed, but they knew what was to come if the Changelings were accepted into the war games; it would give the four Princesses an extra foe to best when the time came.

Author's Note:

For those who enjoyed this story there will be a sequel.

Keep your eyes peeled though.