Courage is Magic

Chapter 7

It's a wedding! What else can I say?

As the train rolled into the station at the town of Ponyville; I was trying to not grow annoyed with Morning's constant chatter in my head. He didn’t talk as fast or as long winded as Pinkie Pie can so it was bearable. I think he only tried to annoy me because he wants to really mess with me. Sadly for him, I have gained more patience than the princesses would ever have.

Does this mean you don't love anyone? Morning joked. I was close to changing my mind and deciding to kill him.

Never say that to me. I thought in anger.

Why not? Morning asks me.

Because I did propose to someone, and I may kill you when I revive you if you joke about that. I thought darkly. Morning became silent for the moment as the train stops fully. I got up with Golden Shield and Dusk Relic to get off of the train.

"This time, you’re going to actually party Goldy," I said with a smile.

"Oh great," he said in annoyance, “a new nick name.”

"You need to get out more anyways," I replied to him jokingly. I only joke around because it makes things easier for others. With Golden Shield, I wanted to make him more relaxed.

"You still assume that I am a hard emotionless soldier," He said with a small smile.

"You have actually gone to parties and laughed?" I asked in mock surprised.

"I have laughed at some funny events," He said. I looked at him in confusion as we stepped onto the station.

"You have to be there to understand it," Relic says after getting off the train as well. I sighed in disappointment.

"Don't feel too bad," Golden Shield says in an attempt to cheer me up. It almost failed because of the way he said it flatly.

"He has a- who is that coming our way?" Relic asks in surprise. I turned to look in the direction just in time to get tackled in a hug by a blue blur. When I could see again, I smiled as I knew who just tackled me.

"I am so glad that you are back!" Midnight Song said while hugging me while I was on the floor.

"I guess you really were worried," I said in a calm tone.

"Ever since Luna teleported you away, I’ve been very worried!" She explains while getting off of me and helping me up.

"We have helped John to restore his mental state," Dusk Relic said flatly.

"We? Did you help Luna?" She asks.

"I have, John is really lucky to have survived that encounter with Shadow Blade," He said. "And I am Dusk Relic,"

"I think I'm lucky to have met Midnight," I muttered to myself softly. Aww... Morning says in my head. Don't go all soft on me... I replied.

"I have a question," Golden Shield says.

"What is it?" Midnight asks him.

"Where did you get that ring?" He asks, pointing at the ring that is on her hoof. Like you don’t already know. I already told you. I thought rolling my eyes

"Oh I wondered if anyone would notice that," She said with a smile.

"I gave that to her," I said with a smile that would match Midnight's smile.

"Why are you both smiling?" Golden Shield asks in worry.

"Because John happened to propose to me using the ring that you see on my hoof," She said. I was surprised to hear four very loud gasps, and I turned to look at the source. I saw Pinkie Pie with her jaw almost on the floor in surprise, Sparx and Celestial Bell giving me a smile, and Pyro giving me a cocky grin.

"You propose to her and never told me about it?!" Pinkie exclaimed after reclaiming control of her jaw.

"You never asked me about it," I told her simply.

"How are we going to have your wedding with Sparx's wedding happening today?" She asks in worry.

"Why not have only one wedding and make it a big party?" I asked her.

"But you would take most of the attention of the wedding," Pinkie explained with wisdom. I wasn't surprised that she had knowledge of planning because she throws too many parties to be unorganized.

"Not unless I tell them," I said with a smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Pyro asked.

"I mean after the initial wedding of Sparx and Celestial Bell, I would reveal the fact that I proposed to Midnight," I explained.

"That will work perfectly!" Pinkie exclaims, and she would run off at a speed that would make any speedster proud. I smiled as I knew what to do as well.

"To Sugarcube Corner!" I shouted, and ran with Midnight towards the building.

________________________________________

When I arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, I saw that Pinkie worked faster than I thought. The whole place was absolutely decorated for the wedding, including a turntable. To my surprise, I saw Vinyl Scratch near a table with a dark grey pony wearing a pink bowtie. I walked up to them and noticed that Midnight walked a different direction to talk to Blitz.

"Hey Vinyl, hello Octavia," I said in a greetings to the two ponies.

"So you are back, I almost thought that Vinyl was hearing untrue rumors," She says in that smooth voice.

"Yes, but why in the hell is Vinyl over here and not at the turn table?" I asked in confusion. I got my response when I saw Vinyl pull out her backup pair of purple shades.

"That's because you are going to DJ for the wedding, request of the groom," She told me with a smile. She had her own pair of shades over her eyes to hide her red eyes. I only recently saw them when I was at the radio station, but it was only for a brief moment. I knew she had a back up pair of sunglasses in case of the shades breaking. I took the shades and put them on. The world looked purple through them, but I felt relaxed in them. I made my way towards the turn table and looked it over. It's been a while, but I think I should be fine. I thought to myself.

You used to be a DJ? Morning asks.

Yes, I was. I thought simply to answer his question.

How much experience? He asked in curiosity.

I think about five years of experience. I told him. I smiled and looked over the turn table to make sure that everything was still operational and that everything was working properly. I spun a disk to make sure that it was loose enough to spin. After I was sure that the turn table was working properly, I put on a disk and played some random songs while I waited for the wedding to start.

________________________________________

The room slowly started to fill with ponies that have been waiting for this wedding to happen for two years. Some were nobles who were there because of the fact that royalty would be there. I made a mental note to keep an eye on the nobles after the party ended because I simply didn’t trust them. The day when I would trust a noble would be the day that the sky would rain meat products and bacon, and I can't even eat meat as a pony anyways. I kept changing the songs every now and then to keep the pre-party interesting. From the corner of my eye I saw Dusk walk up to me.

"Hey Dusk," I said while lifting the needle to pause the song that was playing.

"Hey John, how have you been?" He asks me.

"I'm better, though if you see Scootaloo, could you tell her that I want to talk to her?" I asked.

"Talk to me about what?" I heard a female voice ask. I was startled to hear the voice and turned to where it came from. I saw that an orange Pegasus with a purple mane has just walked up to me without being noticed.

"I just wanted to ask you something, don't think that I am here to open up old wounds," I told her.

"What do you want to know?" She asked in unease.

"I want to know where Morning Cloud was last alive," I said in a quiet tone to prevent others from hearing the conversation. It was loud enough for Scootaloo and Dusk to hear however, and both looked at me in surprise.

"Why would you want to know that?" She asks me as quietly as I did.

"I think I will let someone else answer that for me," I responded and closed my eyes. Try to keep it quiet, I don't want a panic to start. I said to Morning star. When I opened my eyes again, I had a small tear in one of them.

"Are you okay John?" Dusk asks, noticing the tear.

"I’m sorry," Morning whispered through me.

"Why are you sorry?" Scootaloo asks.

"For sacrificing myself in an attempt to try to slow Shadow Blade," He responded. Dusk looked at me in surprise with Scootaloo.

"Morning?" He asks very quietly with tears in his eyes.

"Yes, John wants this to stay quiet though because he claims that he can revive me," He said in a skeptic tone.

"And can you John?" Scootaloo asks.

"I can do so, but I need to know-" I started to say, but Dusk interrupted me.

"It is a Morgue at the edge of the Badlands," He said pulling out a random map and circling an area on it. I took the map and put it in my bag and nodded. Dusk walked with Scootaloo to her friends that were waiting for her. I sighed and put the needle back down on the next song.

Will you actually do it? Morning asks me.

I promise you that, but let’s have fun first as this is a wedding you won't miss. I thought in response.

________________________________________

Soon the whole room was filled with the entire town wearing nice tuxedos, or at least the nobles were wearing them anyways. I stopped the music for a moment to give a microphone to Dusk. He nodded and I would put on a headset. Earlier, I came up with a plan of music for celebrating the marriage, so I found a recording of one of Twilight's songs that she sung at the wedding of her brother. I added a bit of a remix to it and got Dusk in on it. He told Twilight, and she agreed to do it. I also gave Pyro a headset as well, since he will be a part of the song as well.

"Yo! John!" Vinyl called.

"Need something?" I asked, using a hoof to move the headset to around my neck.

"Celly wants you to play the wedding music now!" She said. I snapped out of my daze to stop the current music to everyone's surprise. I changed the disk and put the needle down to let the wedding march music play. As it played, I saw Sparx in a tuxedo walk up to the turn table.

"Are you ready John?" He asks me.

"For what?" I asked in return.

"To marry us, Celestia requested that you marry us instead of her," He explained. I looked at him in surprise, I wasn't expecting to be the one to marry Sparx with his beloved, but I calmed down before I made a scene.

"What do you mean I'm marrying you?" I asked in a whisper.

"Well, Celestia requested for you to marry us and Celestia Bell agreed with us," He whispered. Damn it Sparx... I thought, but I nodded my head to agree with it. I had to go with it because I could not back out.

"So where is Celestial Bell?" I asked.

"She should be coming out right now," Sparx said. True to his word, I looked at the door and saw Celestial Bell walk in wearing a very beautiful dress with fillies throwing flower petals behind her. If I was not deeply in love with Midnight Song, I would have had my jaw hit the floor because of how beautiful she looked in the dress. I assumed that Rarity made it, since it really does match her eyes. She walked up to the turn table next to Sparx. He looked at me with a look that says: "Go ahead." I cleared my throat and picked up a secondary microphone.

"Right, we are gathered here today, to celebrate a union between two ponies, Golden Sparx and Celestia Bell," I spoke. Morning joined me on the internal groan.

"I am NOT going to say fancy words to describe the wedding and situation, it's beautiful and all but I dislike flowery words, besides, you can describe it in many more ways than I can," I said, resulting in a few chuckles.

"Now on with the wedding," I said and jumped off the turn table and landed with grace in front of Sparx.

"Do you promise to love your soon-to-be wife and help her through any kind of troubles that you both will face?" I asked.

"I will," He said simply.

"That is golden," I said with a chuckle at the pun I just made (it resulted in Pyro facehoofing) and turned to Celestia Bell.

"Do you vow to uphold the family that you will make eventually and be with him until death separates you?" I asked.

"Of course I will," She said with a smile. I returned it with my own smile.

"Very well, could I have the rings brought up here?" I asked. Pyro walked up to me, holding a cushion that was probably made to be fireproof that had two rings upon it. He sets it down in front of me and I made no move to pick up the rings.

"You expect me to pick them up for you? These are your rings, not mine," I said jokingly. Sparx looked and rolled his eyes, but he picked up a ring and put in on Bell's hoof. Bell picked up the other ring and did the same with Sparx. They both looked at me with an eager look.

"Don't look at me, you should look at each other and-" I paused to clear my throat.

"Kiss the bride!" I said in a deep tone. To my surprise, they turned to each other and kissed. Cheers erupted from the crowd as they kissed. I chuckled and got back on the turn table.

"Hey you two, once you’re done kissing I have a song for you to hear!" I shouted and put the disk on and put the needle down.

The start of the song would start to play as Twilight is revealed in the audience holding a microphone. I smiled as my plan was revealed as Twilight started to sing.

(Music that is playing By the Aviators)

Love is in Bloom

A beautiful bride

A handsome groom

Two hearts becoming one

A bond that cannot be undone

Twilight then continued on with the chorus of the song from the crowd.

Because love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said, love is in bloom

Starting a life and making room for us

I let the music play for a bit and I saw Twilight give the microphone to Dusk, and then he proceeded to sing the next part.

Love is in bloom

More than a feeling

Faithful and true

A connection lasting forever

A force holding two hearts together

I chuckled as I was impressed at Dusk's singing ability, but I had no time to wait as Twilight sang the chorus of the song.

Love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said, love is in bloom

Starting a life and making room for us

Then Pyro walked up in front of the turn table and start rapping.

Lemme tell ya about love, lemme tell it just right.

Coming up from above, call it love at first sight.

Lights up a smile; fills you up with delight,

Gets a little too high when two ponies unite!

It's like riding a bike but without the peddle;

Evil-doers try to mess it up and meddle.

But you settle 'em down, give a little to share

Before you know it baby, there's love in the air!

Ponies care about the weight that accompanies their mate.

They salivate affection and they soon graduate

Towards the feeling of love, they don't bother to hate.

You better tell 'em how you feel now before it's too late!

Then you'll find yourself blank, down to reminisce

About how ya both met and then shared your first kiss.

Some people hiss at this and start huffing and puffing,

I tell 'em to stop derping out and I give 'em a muffin. (Really Pyro...?)

Did I stutter? Look, here's some conveyance:

You heart needs swing and a little bit of Cadence!

You need some cheer, spread it peer to peer;

Keep your lover near and they will wipe every tear!

No fear when you got a bride and groom.

No imminent doom or very intimate gloom.

You may think love is fake, well you're free to assume

Let there never be hate because love is in bloom!

Cheers erupted from the crowd as the music played, I started actually bobbing my head to the song a bit myself until it became silent. I then smiled as the next part of it started to play, and I swear I may have heard Pinkie Pie say something before Twilight sang the chorus again.

Because love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said, love is in bloom

Starting a life and making room for us

For a few of the lines I've joined in singing them, but Dusk joined in singing the chorus for the last time.

Because love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said, love is in bloom

Starting a life and making room for us

I let the rest of the song play before it ended and the sound of cheers filled my ears with the noise.

All I could do was smile.

________________________________________

Because I was going to unleash my next surprise.

"Thank you all, but before we start the reception, I want to tell you something," I said for everyone to hear. They grew silent as they were curious about what I wanted to say.

"First of all, I know you may not know this, but I have recently proposed to somepony," I said. Many of the ponies in the crowd gasped.

"Who was it?" I heard one of them ask.

"Who was it indeed...?” I said with a grin. Midnight slowly started to make her way up to where I was.

"I hate to interrupt your moment John, but I would love to say thank you for the ring," She said when she was halfway there. Every pony in the room turned to her in surprise.

"Dang it Midnight, if I didn't love you so much I would want to scold you for that!" I said in mock anger. The ponies connected the pieces and Midnight got up to me before the cheering started again.

"Woo you go John!" I heard Vinyl shout from the crowd. I smiled and took a bow with Midnight by my side.

"So you want the wedding to be now as well?" A pony asks.

"Nah, I think we should only have one wedding, but I wanted to reveal this because I can't just leave you without another thing to look forward too!" I said happily.

"Wow, you really saved a great surprise for us all!" A pony shouted in excitement.

"Indeed I did, now let’s just get the reception started!" I exclaimed to the joy of many of the ponies.

________________________________________

During the party, I hung around Midnight for a bit to accept congratulations from the ponies. When that got dull, I decided to sneak out and start walking towards my house. I was surprised when Midnight joined me as well.

"What are you doing following me?" I asked.

"Since we are engaged, I figured that we should live with each other now," She told me with a light kiss on the cheek. I maintained my cool and continued walking.

"What about Blitz?" I asked.

"I'm sure Blitz will find somepony to move in with her," She said with a small smile. I remembered back to when I met a certain blind pony.

"I'm certain she will, now I need to go back home to pack," I said.

"Pack? Are you going somewhere?" She asks.

"Yes... I promise you that I will return alive though," I said in an attempt to keep her calm.

"I hope you do, because if you don't I will come find your body and find a way to revive you just so I can slap you for dying," She said in a serious tone. I looked at her in surprise and worry, but she then hugged me.

"Good luck," she said simply.

"What, no trying to stop me from going despite the fact that it’ll be dangerous?" I asked.

"I can't stop you because I know that you’ll return again," She said. I smiled at her letting me be able to travel when I needed to. So before we entered my... "Our" house, I gave her a kiss. It was a romantic kiss in front of our door, but I regrettably ended it so I can pack.

________________________________________

I looked through my bag once more to check if I have everything I needed. I had the map to the area, I have my supply of knives for if I need to defend myself, I have food and water rations, and I have bandages. I nodded when I figured that I was ready to go. I walked to the front door and opened it. Behind the door was Scootaloo, to my surprise.

"Oh, where are you going?" She asks me.

"To the morgue, I won't keep either of you hanging," I said to her. I started to walk past her, but she put a hoof on me.

"Please come back safe, even if you don't bring Morning back to life," She told me.

"I'm John, have more faith in me," I said with a smile. I was really unsure of what would happen, so I made promises to try to keep my luck up for the trip.

"Alright..." She said, and I walked away.

I turned my head in the direction of the Badlands and saw the sun already lowering. I nodded to myself and started out on my trek to my destination.