Here Comes the Bride!
“You look beautiful, my darling,” whispered Bon Bon as she adjusted my veil.
I gave her a conspiratorial wink as I shifted in my dress. “Of course I do. Everypony looks good in white.” It’d seen a lot of tears, love, and careful mending over the years, but what could I say? For my wedding, only the finest rental gown would do. Sure, it wasn’t as fancy as some of the other ones I’d poured over in catalogues, but I couldn’t justify three month’s pay for a single night’s dress.
Thankfully, Bon Bon had agreed, though I didn’t doubt for a second that she’d spend even more on me if I’d truly wanted it. Her hooves gently swept a wrinkle from the skirt before she took a few steps back to admire her work.
“I love you, Bonnie,” I purred, watching her eyes flit across the dress. She’d helped me pick it out a long time ago, back when we’d first discussed this, and I saw no complaints in her gaze as it wound its way up to mine.
“Love you too, Lyra.” Her voice was tremulous, reverent, as though she’d seen a Princess or something. I bit my lip. Celestia above, I died and was born anew each time she said those words, and I was addicted to saying them back. They never grew old, not from the first time they’d slipped out and not even now, after years of whispering it in her ear as I watched her sleeping. I love you, I love you, I love you!
I reached up a gloved hoof and brushed against her blushing cheek. She nuzzled into my hoof, unspoken words hanging between us. There were things I wanted to say, but they could wait. They could all wait.
“Hey,” I said, and she hummed in response. “I’ll be with you soon, alright?”
“I’d better get to my place, then.” Pivoting gracefully, she trotted out of the tent and into the sunlight. Celestia, it was bright out there. I mentally kicked myself for agreeing to an outdoor wedding. I’d probably be squinting in any pictures taken. Fantastic.
The tent itself wasn’t very large, and was sorely lacking in mirrors or reflective surfaces of any kind. No last-minute adjustments for me, then. Rocking on my hooves, I flicked an ear towards the opening in the canvas. The murmurs of the guests outside had quieted down, and a gentle swell of music rose from their silence. Not my song, but soon.
The melody shifted, and I took a deep breath in, then slowly let it out. Why was I suddenly nervous? There was nothing to worry about. I lit my horn, gingerly held back the flap of the tent, and stepped out into the blinding sunlight.
It was a beautiful day in the Crystal Empire. Perfect day for a wedding, if it weren’t for the blasted sun in my eyes. Blinking rapidly at the ground beneath my hooves, I took slow, measured steps down the aisle. I put on a weak smile as I approached the dais beneath a flowering arch.
My eyes wandered upwards as I stepped onto the raised platform to face my partner. Blue eyes met mine, stunning in their intensity, and for a moment I felt I could get lost in them forever, but the gentle brush of the well-worn dress brought me back into the moment, and I gave their owner a weak smile back.
Many ponies dreamed of marrying a prince, and as I turned to face Shining Armor, I started to understand why. He looked dashing as ever in his crisp uniform. He’d forgone the plated armor in favor of a navy jacket, and his mane was brushed away from his face. Royal life had never been my fantasy, but at that moment I felt weak, dizzy.
“Dearly beloved,” began Cadance, and I could feel Bon Bon’s eyes on me from the crowd of near-strangers I couldn’t bring myself to face. “We are gathered here today to join this couple in the loving union of matrimony.”
“Love endures the strangest circumstances,” the Princess continued. “And even now, in these difficult times, it prevails beyond any inconvenience that arises to get in its way. No distance is too great for love to fade, and I am honored to bear testimony to that commitment and friendship.”
I tried not to fidget in the ruffles of my dress as she examined the crowd with practiced serenity, letting a pause linger into anticipation. “If anypony can show just cause why these two should not be married, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."
I bit my lip and let myself look over the gathered guests. I only recognized a few of them, and of those few, where was-
There. Bon Bon met my gaze from the middle of one of the aisles. I couldn’t read her expression from so far away. Was she upset? Was she angry? Was it terrible that a tiny part of me wished she’d stand up on her chair and object? I didn’t know. I didn’t know if I wanted to know.
“Very well,” said Cadance. Soon, too soon, I wanted to say. Give Bonnie a chance to protest, I demanded in my head, ignoring the rational part of me that knew she hadn’t, she wouldn’t, and she never did…
The Princess turned to her husband, and I saw the silent conversation in the moment when their eyes met. “Do you, Shining Armor, take Lyra Heartstrings to be your lawfully wedded wife by proxy?”
He turned back to smile at me, but not like a lover: like a friend and conspirator, a confidant I didn’t want to need. I hated him, just a little, at that moment. I hated the kindness and empathy in his eyes, but what I hated most was the fact that he understood why I hated that I could easily love him too.
“I do.” The prince spoke clearly, and a prince was married to me.
Cadance’s eyes are purple, I thought distantly as she looked into mine. There was no judgement in hers, no condemnation. For some reason, that made me feel even more conflicted.
“Do you, Lyra Heartstrings, take Shining Armor to be your lawfully wedded husband by proxy?”
Staring down an alicorn was absolutely terrifying, even a peaceful one. I wanted to tell her I wasn’t a threat, that I wasn’t in love with her husband, that Bon Bon was in the crowd…
But I didn’t.
“I do,” I squeaked out, and I was married to a prince.
She nodded, and took a step back, wings unfurling as she addressed the crowd. “Then, by the powers invested in me, I now pronounce Soarin and Lemon Hearts husband and wife!”
The guests cheered and rose from their seats, chattering as they dispersed. One by one they headed towards the large tent behind the rows of chairs where the reception was spread out. Blue and yellow chiffon fluttered in the light breeze as I wavered on the dais, watching them turn towards refreshments without giving me much of a second thought.
Cadance’s posture relaxed from regal to almost sisterly as she walked around me. “The document for you both to sign is over here, though I’m sure you’d like to get out of that dress first, Lyra.”
“Yes please,” I said. Bon Bon had disappeared into the crowd. Maybe she’d gone to get refreshments? I honestly couldn’t blame her.
I squeezed my way towards the little pop-up changing tent and began shucking off the gloves, one after the other. Most ponies dreamed of marrying a prince, and I’d never quite understood that.
Then again, I’d married one about seven or eight times, at least.
I couldn’t remember if he’d just been next to Cadance the fifth potential time, or if he’d been in place of the groom. That had been a weird summer, with the ruins Tirek had left behind needing cleaning and the disaster making ponies throw caution to the wind.
I caught the familiar hidden zipper on the back of the dress in my magic and gingerly pulled it. At the rate I’d been doing these weddings, I was the one renting this dress half the time, and that meant I’d significantly increased my chances to rip a hem and lose my deposit.
The hubbub of the reception tent filtered in through the cheaper canvas of my smaller one as I hung up the dress and stepped back out into the blinding sunlight. I trotted through the empty rows of chairs to a small table set on the other side. Cadance waved me over to where she and her husband had been waiting.
“Sooo…” Shining Armor began, and I braced myself for the inevitable. “How’s it feel to be royal by proxy?”
“About the same as it has the last seven or so times,” I quipped, picking up a quill before scanning the marriage certificate. “I take it I’m not Soarin in this case?”
The prince laughed and picked up his own, signing his own name beneath where Soarin’s was printed. “You know, I don’t doubt he’d look fantastic in a dress, but I’m pretty sure I’m his substitute.”
Hm. I smirked as I found my signature line. “You never know,” I said as I signed underneath Lemon Heart’s name. “What would you do if your proxy had asked you to be in a dress on their behalf?”
Cadance smugly gave her husband a peck on the cheek as she notarized the document. “He’d borrow mine, of course, and look fantastic while doing it!”
I grinned. Lemon Hearts would get a kick out of this if she could be here. Granted, if she were able to attend, I’d be out of a job. Speaking of which… “So, Soarin couldn’t be here because he’s on tour with the Wonderbolts, I take it?”
Shining Armor took a break from making faces at his wife to give me a nod. “Yeah, he’s on tour. Many of the proxy weddings we do have at least one Wonderbolt involved. It’s more convenient to have someone else get married on your behalf than to try to arrange transportation for everypony if you decide you can’t wait to get married.”
“Stuff happens,” I said, shrugging as I led the way to the table at one end of the tent. “When ponies feel like the world’s ending, it puts things into perspective. For a lot of ponies, that makes marriage urgent, since you don’t know when you’ll see the other again, and if you can’t…”
“... then you ask a friend or, on rare occasions, two to stand in,” finished Cadance. Levitating the certificate, she tucked it right next to a framed picture of Lemon Hearts and Soarin. “Lemon Hearts is in Yakyakistan, correct?”
“Mmm-hm. She’s helping establish a trade route between there and Canterlot.” I couldn’t help but smile at the photo of my friend cuddled against Soarin. She looked so happy. “They plan to have a second wedding someday, but wanted to be able to call each other husband and wife as soon as possible.”
The Princess of Love hummed thoughtfully for a moment. “Their love is strong. Much like the love between you and Bon Bon, yes?”
I turned away from the table and scanned the crowd. No sign of my marefriend. “I… yeah, I think so.”
Shining Armor cleared his throat. “Are you doing okay? You seemed a little…” His face screwed up as he searched for the right word, and I made no effort to rush him. He cared. I almost wished he didn’t. Marrying him was much more difficult when feelings got involved. “Tense,” he decided. “You seemed tense today.”
When I didn’t offer a response, he continued, his tone a bit more serious than usual. “I know it must feel rather strange, to marry a stallion you’re not in love with, but-”
“Is it?” I blurted out. One of Shining Armor’s eyebrows quirked, and I forced myself to continue my train of thought. “That’s the thing. How I’m feeling isn’t your fault, and it’s not even you - you’re kind and everything most ponies would look for in a stallion, and-”
“If you don’t like stallions,” Cadance interrupted gently. “I’m more than happy to request a replacement next time. I know you’ve happily stood in for ponies who didn’t feel comfortable getting married, even just in the place of another, to a mare. I fully respect it if that’s the problem.”
I shook my head. “It’s not! I like them as much as mares. It’s just got me thinking about what I can’t have, that’s all. I’ve been married to stallions and mares of all different backgrounds, I’ve worn dresses and a few different suits and stood in for ponies I know and ponies I’ll likely never see in my life. I’ve done the whole wedding thing over and over and over, and Bon Bon…”
They didn’t interrupt me again, so, gulping, I pressed on. “Bon Bon’s never judged me. Not once. She’s never been jealous, she’s always been patient in a way that I’ve never managed. She’s calm and loyal and her hugs feel like a deep breath of fresh air when the world makes me feel like I’m drowning. She doesn’t question it when I get ready for a wedding that’s sort of mine, sometimes with ponies I feel like I could love. That’s crazy, isn’t it, Princess? It doesn’t bother her at all.”
“That sounds like a good thing,” Shining Armor said, a puzzled smile twitching the corners of his muzzle upwards. “It sounds like she loves you, and you love her. How is that a problem?”
“Because I can’t marry her!”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them. Cadance stared at the party behind me, but for once I didn’t care if I was being too loud. I’d said it. I wasn’t going to take it back. It was the truth, and I’d known it for a while, and I loved Bon Bon, I loved her so, so much...
Shining Armor’s eyebrows pinched together in confusion, and he opened his mouth to ask something but I didn’t give him the chance. “You know why? It’s because she cares. She cares so much, in fact, she’s never missed a wedding I’ve stood in for.”
I laughed helplessly, my hooves jittery with nervous energy. “At first, I thought she was just showing up for the free snacks. But no! Even when snacks aren’t offered, even when the travel is long and she’s got to shut down her shop for a day or two to be with me, she hasn’t missed one.
“She’s seen me in dresses and suits and every possible outfit one could wear to a wedding. She’s heard my vows over and over in every way imaginable. Heck, she probably knows every caterer personally by now, she’s been to so many! But tell me this, princess-” and I leaned in close, watching as she focused on me once more. “How am I supposed to marry a mare when no wedding could be special enough, unique enough, worthy of a mare as incredible as her?”
“You could skip the wedding altogether,” said Bon Bon’s soft voice behind me. “Because there’s no possible wedding that could encompass how I feel about you, either.”
I wheeled around, stumbling, and there she stood, calmly smiling at me. “You’re right, you know,” she began, and I could hardly move as she waltzed right up to my side and wrapped me in a familiar hug that felt like home. “I’ve seen you in dresses, suits, and every outfit imaginable. I’ve seen you stand in for absolute strangers to make sure they can be with their loved ones-”
“-I get paid-” I tried to cut in weakly, but she shushed me.
“Dearest, I’ve seen you walk down the aisle as much as I’ve seen you waiting up there, and I’ve watched you recite vow after vow to other ponies. And you know what?”
“What?” I asked, my eyes wide, my heart pounding and standing still all at once. Distantly, I was aware of Shining Armor and Cadance turning back to the party, giving us space and distracting other ponies from whatever disruption I’d managed to cause.
“You look more and more beautiful every time,” she whispered, tucking a stray curl of mane behind my ear. “I make sure I attend each one because I can’t bear to miss a single moment of you. You’ve been married twenty, thirty times since we started dating, right?”
My throat felt strangely dry. “Something like that, yeah,” I managed, leaning into her every caress.
“I can’t believe I’m so lucky.” Bonnie kissed one of my cheeks, then twisted to kiss the other. “Most ponies only get to be married once, but me? I get to see my marefriend get married over and over again, and every time she looks more radiant than the time before.
“Marriage is just a certificate, Lyra.” She pulled back to study my expression. “A wedding is just a party. I love you, Lyra, and nothing can change that, but I don’t need a piece of paper to commit to it. And as for parties…” Bon Bon smirked and ruffled my mane behind my ears. “No party could capture how much I love you, Lyra, but every day with you is a celebration in its own right.”
“B-Bonnie…” I stuttered, trying to hold back tears. This wasn’t my wedding, this wasn’t… I wasn’t supposed to cry! I had no clue what to even say to that. There was only one thing I could think of, one thing I never tired of saying, of whispering, of shouting to all of Equestria.
“I love you, Bon Bon.”
And then she kissed me.
“I love you, Lyra. I do, now and forever.”