You Are Cordially Invited...
The Town Hall of Ponyville was abuzz with friendly chatter. Friends that had just seen each other on the street just days prior laughed and talked about mundane things like they had been apart for weeks. The hall itself was decked out in every decoration imaginable. Large banners bearing the Cutie Marks of the ponies that everypony had come to see hung from the balconies.
At the room’s front, standing beneath an elegant arch that had been commissioned just for the occasion, Lyra Heartstrings was losing her mind.
The lime green unicorn’s eyes darted every which way at the huge number of ponies that had come to see her get married. Her breath came in short, hitching gasps and she was starting to sweat nervously, threatening the elegant gown she’d bought from Carousel Boutique just before Hearth’s Warming.
She nearly jumped when she felt a comforting hoof touch her shoulder. “Breathe, Lyra.”
Lyra turned and offered a nervous smile to Colgate, her best mare. “I’m breathing plenty. Everything’s fine. Why wouldn’t everything be find? Do you think its all fine? It seems like the entire town thinks its fine. I just…” Her blabbering was stifled by a hoof to her lips.
Colgate laughed and gestured at the room, filled to capacity. “You weren’t expecting everypony to show up, were you?”
Lyra pushed Colgate’s hoof away and lowered her eyes. “Just caught off guard, I guess. I figured that at least a few of them would have something else to do today. I mean, I suggested the day after Winter Wrap Up because I figured everypony would rather stay at home.”
Colgate shook her head. “Lyra, this is exactly what the town wanted after Winter Wrap Up. No better way to celebrate spring’s arrival than a wedding, right?”
Lyra blinked slowly as the realization sank in. “I picked the first day of wedding season, didn’t I?”
“Yup.”
“Of course I did.” Lyra sighed and eyed her dress of white and gold. “I told her that I wanted to do the courthouse thing. Just me, her, you, and Berry. No muss, no fuss.”
Colgate raised an eyebrow. “And deny Berry the chance to outdo her performance at the Apple’s reception?”
“Hey!” The two unicorns looked over at the earth pony on the other side of the arch. She looked back at them sourly. “I haven’t touched a drop yet.”
“’Yet’ being the key word.”
Berry Punch sniffed. “Well, if you’re gonna be like that…” She carefully reached under her dress and retrieved a flask.
“Berry!” Colgate whispered in a warning tone. “You promised.”
Berry Punch considered, pouted, and returned the flask to its home. “Fine, but we’re doing shots later.”
Colgate shook her head and returned her attention to Lyra who, thankfully, seemed to be calming down. “You ready?”
Lyra nodded slowly. “As I’ll ever be.”
Colgate offered a final smile of comfort, then turned to signal the band.
“There’s still time to push this off for another month, y’know. Or two. Maybe three. Six wouldn’t be terrible.”
Colgate resisted the urge to smack her friend. “Lyra, can I be frank with you?”
“Sure.”
“You remember that Guild I told you I was a part of? The one vital to Equestria’s survival?”
Lyra nodded again.
“Do you have any idea how many strings I had to pull to be here today? How many favors I had to call in? How many new favors I owe now?”
Lyra shook her head.
“Of course you don’t. But I did whatever I had to do to make sure I was right here next to you, and I did it for one reason and one reason alone. The same reason Berry’s not two barrels deep already. The same reason the Apples are all here despite all the planting they did yesterday. The same reason Applebloom stayed up all night to make sure this arch we’re standing under was perfect. The same reason Princess by Tartarus Luna is sitting in the front row.”
“To be fair, she’s here because she saved me from a carnivorous, gelatinous beast.”
Ignoring her, Colgate charged on. “All these ponies are here for one reason and one reason alone; we have waited five long years for you and Bonnie to do what you were always destined to do.” She raised a hoof towards the band. “Now, do you intend to make us wait much longer?”
Lyra took a final, deep breath… then shook her head. "No." She wiped a hoof across her face as though shedding her own self-doubt. “Let’s light this candle.”
“Thank you.” Colgate’s hoof dropped.
The band, seeing the signal, began to play. Sweetie Belle, wrapped in her own special gown, opened her mouth and began to sing a sweet song of love. All heads of the ponies in attendance turned towards the hall’s front door.
The doors swung open… and Lyra’s dream entered.
She was clad in a deeply purple gown with golden highlights that matched Lyra’s own. Specially crafted earrings shined in the sunlight that streamed through the hall’s high windows. Her make-up was light, barely noticeable, and her mane was immaculate, not a hair out of place. Her smile was radiant.
Her eyes were focused on her beloved and her beloved alone.
When they’d been planning things out, they’d butted heads on how entrances would be handled. Lyra had wanted them to walk the aisle together, as equals. Bon Bon had refused. “I want to see the look on your face when I walk through those doors.” She’d said.
Lyra hoped her look of stunned amazement met her bride’s expectations.
As the band played and Sweetie Belle sang, the earth pony mare made her way down the aisle lined with her fellow towns-ponies on either side. They were all beaming at her. Some of them whispered about how lovely she looked.
She didn’t see or hear any of them.
She made her way up the steps and joined her fiancé beneath the arch. The two didn’t break contact, even for an instant.
“You look great.” Berry whispered.
“Do I?” Bon Bon asked, not to Berry Punch but to the mare in front of her.
Lyra found that she couldn’t really understand words anymore. “Uh… uh huh.”
“Ahem.” All eyes focused on Mayor Mare as she straightened her posture and looked out upon the crowd. The band played their last and Sweetie Belle’s enchanted voice faded. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to bear witness to and celebrate the union of Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon… erm…” The Mayor cast an embarrassed look at Bon Bon. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually asked you what your last name is.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” She grasped Lyra’s hoof in her own. “It’s Heartstrings now.”
The collective "Awwwww" from the witnesses and the exaggerated eye roll from Berry finally broke Lyra’s paralysis. She broke into a wide grin and nodded at Mayor Mare to continue.
“Few among us can remember a time where Bon Bon and Lyra weren’t together. Most of us natural born Ponyvillians remember going to school with Bon Bon… and how adorable she looked in those glasses.”
Amidst the titters and giggles, a mortified Bon Bon looked away from a giggling Lyra.
“Even fewer of us will ever forget the first day Lyra arrived in town with naught but the lyre on her back and just enough bits to rent the smallest apartment in town, babbling to anypony who would listen about…what was it, Lyra? ‘Homo sapiens?’”
Now it was Lyra’s turn to blush while light laughter again filled the hall.
“But from beginnings that would be embarrassing to some can come futures undreamed of. And that is indeed true here, where these two are finally getting married.”
“And it’s about time!” The voice of Mr. Cake rang out from the back, bringing another round of laughter and cheers.
After the noise had died down, Mayor Mare gestured at the pair, flush with equal parts love and embarrassment. “Before we proceed with the usual rituals that bond unicorns and earth ponies, Lyra and Bon Bon have elected to read their own vows.”
“You first.” Lyra whispered.
Bon Bon reached behind her ear and pulled out a hidden scroll. She unrolled it, cleared her throat, and began to speak. “A few years ago, I finally worked up the nerve to try magical eye correction surgery. It took me weeks to save up the bits for the operation and on the day it finally took place I was, as you can imagine, incredibly nervous. The surgery went off without a hitch, but there was a definite hitch with what came next. As anypony who’s had the surgery can tell you, your eyes are covered by bandages while your retinas heal. You’re supposed to have somepony there to help you get home. The problem was that the pony I’d chosen for this important task had forgotten all about it, thanks to a little help from her ‘friend;' a cask of hard apple cider.”
Berry Punch shrank under the laughter, even as she herself joined in.
“I decided that I could make it myself, but I’d barely gone a few feet before I bumped into another pony. As I babbled apologies and explanations, she just laughed.” Bon Bon paused and wiped a stray tear. “It was the first time I would hear that laugh, but nowhere near the last. In time, that laugh became sweeter than the sweetest music to my ears. In a way, you could say that I fell in love with the laugh before I fell in love with that pony I bumped into.” She sniffled and read on. “She walked me home and kept me company. She talked about things I didn’t understand and I talked about things she couldn’t possibly have cared about…”
“True.” Lyra muttered playfully.
“At the end, right before I removed the bandages, she asked me to join her and a few friends for dinner. Of course I said yes. And when the bandages fell and she became the first pony these eyes saw without glasses, I felt a whole flock of butterflies take flight in my stomach. We were best friends just weeks later, roommates not long after that, and then…” Her voice caught. “And then I finally worked up the nerve to tell you how I felt. And now here we are. And all because my best mare is the biggest lush in Ponyville.”
This time Berry Punch gestured towards the laughing crowd. “More like in Equestria, am I right?”
“Lyra, I love you. I love you with all my heart and soul. You’ve always been there for me, literally from the moment we met. I promise you that I will always be there for you, too. I will cherish you, take care of you, support you, and I will never run from you. Today, I become your wife… and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be.” The crowd clapped and whistled as Bon Bon wiped the tears from her eyes and tossed the scroll back into her best mare’s waiting hooves.
All eyes focused on Lyra.
“I, uh, didn’t write mine down.” She chuckled nervously. “I figured I would just speak from the heart, if that’s okay.”
Mayor Mare rolled her eyes. “It’s your wedding.”
“It is, isn’t it? But it’s not just mine.” She reached for Bon Bon’s hoof. “It’s ours.”
Bon Bon clasped her hoof and tried to resist the urge to start crying again.
“Bonnie… it all led us here, didn’t it? All the laughs, all the tears… it all brought us here, to this very moment. I mean, has it really been over five years? It doesn’t feel that long at all. Looking at you now, I feel the same way about you that I did back then. Nothing’s changed, Bon Bon…” She shook her head. “I should’ve written something. I should’ve known you were right about that. You’re always right. You’re always there for me, to keep me grounded. You were right that there was always something special between us, even when we were just friends. You were right when you said we should get married. As of today, I throw in the towel. I accept that you’re always going to be right… and that’s okay.” She squeezed her foreleg and felt a comforting squeeze in return. “As of today, I don’t need to be right anymore. I don’t need to be lonely, or mournful, or feel the pain of regret. Because Bon Bon… t-today…” Lyra’s own throat seized up.
Bon Bon, tears flowing down her cheeks, stroked a hoof across her face in reassurance.
“Today…” Lyra finally swallowed and smiled. “Today, I marry my best friend. And it’s the greatest day of my life.” She reached out her own hoof and wiped the tears from the face of the mare she loved. “I promise to be there for you always. To provide for you, support you, and shield you from harm. You are my one and only, and you will be until the day I die.”
Several sniffles could be heard amidst the newest round of applause.
Colgate peered up at the ceiling, trying to force the gathering tears back inside her.
“Now, I trust there are no objections to this union?” Mayor Mare scanned the room.
Silence.
“Very well then. Bon Bon, will you place the ring on Lyra and speak the words?”
Bon Bon took the golden ring in her mouth from Berry Punch’s offered pillow. When Lyra dutifully bent her neck, she carefully placed the ring on the tip of her love’s horn and watched as it slid down to the base. “This ring symbolizes my love for you; never-ending, cyclical, and shining for all time.”
Mayor Mare nodded and turned to Lyra. “Lyra, will you cast the spell and speak the words?”
After Bon Bon had dutifully lowered her head as well, Lyra lit her horn with magic and carefully traced a stylized heart on her forehead. “My magic marks you as the possessor of my heart, for always and forever; it belongs to you now, until the end of time.”
As the magic heart faded, the two mares looked expectantly, almost excitedly, at the mayor.
“Then, by the power vested in me by the township of Ponyville, I name you mare and wife.” She winked. “You may kiss your bride.”
“About time.” Lyra lunged playfully but found her lips already claimed by her new wife.
The crowd exploded as the two mares shared their first kiss as a wedded pair. With a signal from the mayor, the bells in the hall’s tower were rung, announcing the new union to all within ear shot.
Mac and Fluttershy Apple, her belly already swelling with their first foal, clapped and shared a look as they remembered their own wedding day not that long ago.
Spike and Rarity sat just close enough together to avoid any gossip about their still secret relationship. They both applauded with the crowd, but Spike’s tail remained wrapped securely around his pony love.
Colgate’s eyes found a familiar face as they scanned the upper levels of the hall; Time Turner. He stared longingly at Derpy and Dinky Hooves, caught Colgate’s glaring expression, grinned sheepishly, and faded back into the crowd.
Rainbow Dash finally stopped clapping and turned to find a strange expression on her own beloved’s face. “Hey.” She prodded a hoof into Applejack’s chest. “Don’t be getting any bright ideas. We, like, just started dating.”
Applejack rolled her eyes and hugged the pegasus close. “Hush up and enjoy the moment, ya doofus.”
Cup and Carrot Cake, guarding the wedding cake with their lives, smiled at each other. “I think we can relax, gumdrop.” Carrot sighed with relief.
“Finally. Let’s find Pinkie. She and Caramel can help us move this to the reception tent.” Cup scanned the crowd. “Where is that mare?”
“I haven’t seen her since last night…” Carrot’s thought trailed off as he tried to figure out why the top layer of the cake was suddenly moving.
The Cakes jumped back in surprise as the top layers of the cake exploded. Pinkie Pie and Caramel fell on the floor, coated in frosting.
“Thank Celestia!” Caramel gasped at the fresh air like a fish pulled from the water. “I thought we’d never eat our way out there!”
“We would’ve made it out two hours ago if you’d listened to me and taken the right at the marzipan!” Pinkie Pie rolled onto her back, panting in exhaustion, her stomach full of cake. She withered under the looks of the Cakes. “Uh… did we miss the wedding?”
“How the blazes did you two get in there?!” Cup almost roared as Carrot tried not to weep at what remained of the cake.
“I was making the cake last night when Caramel showed up early. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, y’know?” Pinkie Pie blushed and looked away. “We kinda got into it in the kitchen. We must’ve rolled right into the batter and then…”
As Cup continued interrogating Pinkie and Caramel as to how they’d survived baking themselves into a cake and Carrot rushed to the bakery for the emergency back-up cake, as marefriends laughed and protectors of the time stream bickered, as dragons romanced unicorns and parents expected their first…
…Lyra and Bon Bon noticed none of it.
Their kiss finally ended and they stared deeply into each other’s eyes. “I love you.” Bon Bon whispered.
“I love you too.” Lyra whispered back.
Their lips met once again as the Ponyville bells continued to announce the marriage of Lyra and Bon Bon Heartstrings.
“Love is friendship that has caught fire.”
-Ann Landers