"Are you sure I can't help you, Rarity?"
Rarity cantered between the dress forms scattered around her room in Canterlot Castle, tossing her head in frustration. "Yes!" she snapped, then turned to face Sweetie Belle, her expression softening. "I'm so sorry, Sweetie darling, I shouldn't shout at you. I know you want to help, and for any other order I would let you, I promise. But this is for Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's wedding! It is literally the most important project of my career to date! And I have to finish the bride's dress, and the bridesmaids' dresses, and your flower girl dresses, and Spike's suit! I simply can't allow anything to go wrong!"
Sweetie Belle nodded sadly. "I understand, Rarity. I don't want to be in the way. Why is it such a big deal, though? All these dresses, and all that cooking Applejack is doing, just for one day?"
Rarity looked as though her eyes were about to pop out of her head. "Why? Why? It's not just any day, it's the Princess's wedding day! The most important day of her life! The day when she is finally united with her one true love forever! Don't you want your wedding day to be perfect, Sweetie Belle?"
"Um, I guess so?" Sweetie Belle shrugged. "I just never really thought about it. I might not even get married. Colts are weird."
Rarity trotted over to her sister and pressed her muzzle against her neck. "Oh, Sweetie Belle. You'll understand when you're older, and I just know you'll find the perfect colt to fill your life with love. Now run along and find your friends, I'm sure they're looking for something to do just as much as you are."
Sweetie Belle nuzzled her sister back, then slunk out into the hallways of the castle, wandering aimlessly and wishing for something to do. Eventually she found herself following the scent of baking cakes on the ground floor. The young unicorn raced towards the door to the palace kitchens, but stopped when she heard Applejack's voice.
"I know ya'll want to help, but we need to get everything just right for the princess! Why don't you go find Sweetie Belle and help her with something?" A moment later, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo came walking dejectedly out of the kitchens, both with cake frosting smeared on their hooves.
"Scootaloo! Apple Bloom!" cried Sweetie Belle, rushing to her friends' side. "I'm so glad I found you! I'm so bored! Applejack wouldn't let you help her either, huh?"
"Nope," muttered Apple Bloom. "I just wanted to help with icing the wedding cake, too. That thing is huge! Applejack doesn't want me going anywhere near it."
Scootaloo nodded. "And Rainbow Dash is way too busy getting ready for her Sonic Rainboom to hang out. I can't even see her from the ground. Hey, maybe we can help Rarity with the dresses!"
Sweetie Belle shook her head. "No. Really, really no. Come on, we're in the royal palace! There's got to be something we can do!"
"Well, well. Do my flower girls have nothing to do?"
The Crusaders looked up to see a beautiful pink alicorn approaching them from the kitchens. "Princess Cadence!" they called, rushing over to greet the tall mare.
Princess Cadence smiled warmly and extended a hoof to ruffle Scootaloo's mane. "Please, call me... actually, 'Princess Cadence' will be fine. How are you, my little ponies?"
"Bored," admitted Apple Bloom. "Our sisters are working so hard to make everything perfect for your wedding, and we want to help too, but nopony will let us!"
Cadence regarded the three fillies thoughtfully. "You really do love your sisters, don't you?"
"Of course!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle. "Rarity and Applejack are the best big sisters in Equestria! And Rainbow Dash is always really good to Scootaloo, even though they're not really sisters."
"I'm glad I have three fillies so full of love to be my flower girls," Cadence said with a gentle smile for the three Crusaders. "My wedding day shouldn't just be about Shining Armour and me – I want it to be a celebration of how there's enough love in Equestria for everypony. Now, listen – I have a little bit of time before my next dress fitting, so why don't we get to know each other better and rehearse your flower girl routine?"
Cadence turned and led the way to one of the side courtyards of the palace, gesturing to the fillies to follow her. They ran after the princess gleefully, leaping up to slap their hooves together in the air.
"Cutie Mark Crusader flower girls! Yay!"
Cadence surveyed the courtyard after fifteen minutes of rehearsal. Sweetie Belle had her head stuck inside her basket of rose petals, and was staggering around the courtyard blindly. Apple Bloom was wedged in a fork in a tree, and her basket dangled from a tree on the other side of the courtyard. Scootaloo was still standing, but had managed to strew rose petals all over everything in sight, including Cadence's mane and tail. And somehow, all three of them were now covered in tree sap.
"Maybe we're not cut out to be flower girls either," groaned Apple Bloom, struggling to extricate herself from the tree. "We're never going to get our cutie marks at this rate."
"Nonsense, girls," Cadence soothed them as her horn glowed, lifting Apple Bloom out of her perch and setting her on the ground. "Everypony finds her special talent sooner or later. Why, I was older than you three when I got my cutie mark."
Sweetie Belle yanked her head out of her basket and stumbled over to Cadence's side, peering at her flank. "Your cutie mark is really pretty! So what exactly is your special talent?"
Cadence smiled indulgently and knelt down on the ground, gathering the Crusaders around her. "Why, my special talent is love, of course."
"Love?" asked Scootaloo, making a face. "That's it? That's your talent? Loving other ponies?"
"Oh, no, it's much more than that!" Cadence assured them. "I help other ponies find their true loves. I've attended more weddings than you could possibly imagine, my dear fillies. And sometimes I give things a little nudge to move them along, just to help ponies find the happiness they so deserve."
"Like we did with the love potion for Miss Cheerilee and Big Macintosh!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle, beaming happily.
Scootaloo narrowed her eyes. "Love poison, you mean. That was our worst plan ever."
Cadence blinked, then burst out laughing. "You girls brewed a love poison? Oh, my goodness! I haven't seen anypony do that since... a long time ago." She quickly sobered and ran a hoof through her hair. "I shouldn't laugh. Love poisons are dangerous, and the first Hearts and Hooves Day was a terrible period in Equestria's history. But I'm sure nothing too terrible happened in Ponyville, and you all learnt an important lesson, right?"
The three fillies nodded. "We learnt that it's wrong to interfere with other ponies' relationships, and you can't just make somepony fall in love because you think they'd be a good couple. We just wanted Miss Cheerilee to be happy, and it didn't seem right that she was alone on Hearts and Hooves Day."
Cadence raised a hoof to scratch the base of her horn. "Who is this Miss Cheerilee? I can sense how much you all love her, just when you talk about her. She must be very special to you."
All three Crusaders smiled broadly. "Miss Cheerilee is the greatest teacher in Equestria!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "Everypony at school loves her, but not as much as we do!"
Apple Bloom nodded happily. "We made her the biggest card ever for Hearts and Hooves Day!"
"And she just cares so much about all her students," continued Sweetie Belle. "She works really hard, organising things like the talent show and the school newspaper and Family Appreciation Day."
Cadence sat back and listened to the fillies talk, a radiant smile showing on her face. "That's wonderful, girls! I think you're very lucky fillies to have such a wonderful teacher, and she's lucky to have students who love her so much."
The Crusaders all sighed happily, smiling up at Cadence. "And you're really lucky too, Princess!" said Sweetie Belle. "Marrying Twilight's big brother and all."
"Not a day goes by when I don't consider myself the luckiest girl in Equestria – in all the world, even," agreed Cadence. "Marrying Shining Armour will be the day I've dreamed off since I was your age. Speaking of which," she continued, grinning, "is there a special colt in any of your lives?"
"Eww!" exclaimed Scootaloo. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shook their heads in agreement with Scootaloo's sentiment.
Cadence arched a brow, still grinning. "A special filly, then?"
"Also eww!"
Cadence laughed softly and nudged Scootaloo with her head. "I'm just teasing, girls. You've got your whole lives ahead of you, and there'll be plenty of time for that later. Normally I'd tell you to keep your hearts open to love, but with all the love you have for your sisters and your teacher, I just know that won't be a problem. You are three truly remarkable young ponies, and I am honoured to have you as my flower girls."
"Really?" asked Sweetie Belle, perking up. "You really want us to help with the wedding, even after we messed up our rehearsal?"
Cadence slowly picked herself up off the floor. "Of course, my dears. It's nothing a bit of practice won't fix, I'm sure. More importantly, it's not about the performance. It's about having a wedding day filled with love, and I've never met any fillies with as much love as you three."
The three fillies pressed themselves against Cadence's legs. "You're such a great princess, Cadence!" Apple Bloom said. "Do you have to go now?"
Cadence nodded. "I have to get to my dress fitting. Wedding preparations wait for no pony, I'm afraid. Keep practising and you'll do fine."
She paused at the threshold of the door, turning back to look at the Crusaders. "Oh, and you know what, girls? I think I will have to come to Ponyville after my honeymoon. I'd like to pay Miss Cheerilee a visit."
Apple Bloom's eyes went wide. "Really? You want to meet our teacher?"
"Definitely!" Cadence assured them. "I can't pass up the opportunity to meet a mare who inspires so much love in her students. Now get to practising. I'll see you at the wedding!"
"Bye, Cadence!" called the three fillies, waving goodbye to the alicorn princess as she trotted off to her dress fitting, singing softly to herself.
"This day is going to be perfect..."
