Big Brother Best Friend. Forever.

Twilight’s thoughts were still a little muddled when she knocked on Pinkie Pie’s door, so when she was welcomed by the loud bang of the confetti cannon and a blast of trumpets, she was anything but amused. Pinkie Pie jumped out with a, “Ta da!” wearing a huge grin on her face. “What do you think!? What do you think!?”

Twilight grimaced and, a bit harshly, replied, “Yeah, it’d be great if we want the guests deaf and comatose!”

Pinkie’s smile immediately fell and her hair deflated a little. “Oh…I’m sorry…I’ll take them away right now…”

No matter how upset Twilight was, seeing Pinkie so sad broke her heart. “Pinkie, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I was just a little caught up in my own head.” She comforted the pink pony and put an arm around her shoulders.

“The confetti can stay, but I don’t know about the trumpets and the cannon. Maybe the confetti can just fall from the ceiling when Cadence comes in?”

Immediately Pinkie’s hair fluffed up again and her signature grin spread across her face. “I can do that! I CAN DO THAT!” She squealed and danced around a little before remembering, “OH, and this is what the party is going to look like. It’ll be here, of course, right?” Pinkie handed Twilight an incredibly detailed drawing of an elegant party scene fit for a Princess.

“Yes! Pinkie, I never knew you could draw like this!” Twilight’s jaw had dropped in awe.

“Yeah, I do that all the time, I just never show anyone.” She giggled. “So what do you think?”

“It’s perfect,” Twilight replied as she mentally checked anything with the word “party” in it off her checklist. “Thanks so much for the help, Pinkie. I’ve gotta be going to check out the rest of the party planning and talk with Shining Armor, but I’ll see you soon!”

“No problem, Twilight!” Pinkie waved enthusiastically as Twilight trotted out the door and onto her next destination.

While she was at Sugarcube Corner, she went ahead and visited the Cakes, who were in charge of the food for the party, as Applejack was busy with the Fall harvest. It was no surprise that the Cakes were on top of everything, making sure that everypony's favorites would be represented during the festivities.

After that, she headed over to Fluttershy’s where the bird choir was already hard at work rehearsing Cadence and Shining Armor’s favorite song. Not wanting to disturb them, Twilight merely waved to the shy pony and stuck around for a few seconds to enjoy the beautiful music.

As she left, she began thinking about what was left on her "To Do" list. Rarity had already finished the party banner. Mental check. And she figured Rainbow dash wouldn’t mind doing another Sonic Rainboom for when the couple left, so she’d just ask when she saw the speedy pony next.

When the couple left…yes, when they go and leave you all alone…Cadence and your brother…they’ll be all alone too…and you know what they’ll do when they’re all alone…

Twilight shook her head. She had never experienced such bad reoccurring thoughts before. It was almost like another voice was echoing in her head. And what business was it of hers what they would do all alone?

‘Jeez, Twilight, keep it together‘, she thought to herself. But then her mind traveled back to that last thought… What would they do all alone? Would they…you know…would they do that? Had they done that…?

Shining Armor is very handsome. What pony wouldn‘t want to b- ‘Hey, hang on a second!’ Her thoughts interrupted the voice in her head. ‘My brother is a handsome pony, sure, but I can’t think like that!’

With that thought, she realized she had arrived at her own door. “Augh, shoot!” she said out loud, “I was supposed to go to the Ponyville diner to meet Shining Armor, not go back home!” She wasn’t sure why she came back to her own house. She guessed it was out of habit since she was distracted. As she checked her pocket watch, she realized she was only a little late for the meeting, so she practically ran, hoping she wouldn’t keep her brother waiting too long.

Panting and very out of breath, Twilight entered the diner. She looked around for her brother and saw him talking with a cute female pony that was standing next to the booth he was in. Twilight decided to watch for a minute before she headed over to him. She didn’t know the pony, but it looked like he sure did. He was laughing with her and she was batting her eyelashes. Twilight was a little surprised at her brother’s behavior until she saw the pony try to give him her info. Her brother politely declined and presumably explained that he was married. The pony gave a half smile before shrugging her shoulders in defeat and walking off.

That’s right, bitch. He’s MY stallion…

Twilight literally covered her mouth as if she had said the word out loud. She knew she only thought it, but it surprised her. She didn’t know where this voice was coming from and it was making her so uncomfortable. She very much hoped it would stop soon. ‘Maybe I could get the Princess to look into it,’ she thought. When she looked up she realized Shining Armor had seen her and was waving her over. She put on a fake happy smile and went over to hug her brother. As she put her arms around him, she shivered slightly. It felt nice…

“You okay little sis?” He said in her ear. She froze for a second when she realized what she‘d done, then stuttered a little.

“Y-yeah, I’m great, why?” She let go and sat opposite of him, quickly busying herself with the menu.

“You shivered a bit. You’re not catching a cold are you?” Shining Armor made to put a hoof to her forehead, but she pushed it away.

“No, no, no- I’m fine, really. I think maybe the air conditioner just got to me for a second, I’m fine now.” Well if you’re so cold, let your big brother hold you tight…

‘No!’ she thought to herself and gritted her teeth. ‘GET OUT OF MY HEAD.’

“So what do you want?” he asked her, picking up his own menu. Twilight braced herself for the dirty reply of, “You, of course,” from the voice in her head, but it didn’t come. She was about to sigh in relief until she realized something… she already knew what the voice was going to say. Did that mean that she thought it this time? Of course, not. Her brother was her brother and that was it!

“Twilghly?” came her brother’s voice from the other side of the menu.

“Oh, uh, I’ll just get what I always get: a dandelion sandwich.” She put the menu down and tried to force her mind to be blank. ‘I have to focus on the task at hand,’ she thought and started asking him questions. She realized she had left the house without a quill and paper this morning so she ended up taking notes on a napkin while they ate. It was just more proof that she was tired and distracted. Shining Armor described how he wanted the party to go and the big reveal to happen and Twilight jotted down everything while still forcing her mind to stay blank and just concentrating on her magic. Though she was looking at her brother for the hundredth time in her life, she realized something new about him. His eyes were really pretty. ‘I mean, I could get lost in those eyes for quite a while, couldn’t I?’ she asked herself. She just listened to him talk for a long while until the pen, previously writing through magic, clattered onto the table.

“And then I was- …uh…” Shining Armor stopped talking when he saw the pen drop, but Twilight Sparkle continued to gaze at him. “Uhm…” he started again, slightly gesturing to the pen and napkin.

Twilight blinked a few times and realized the pen was laying on the table. “Oh, sorry, I guess I stopped…concentrating…” Her words trailed off as she looked down at the napkin. The words she had written had slowly stopped being legible and turned into doodles. Then right below the doodles were hearts. Lots and lots of hearts. With “SA” in them. She quickly snatched the napkin up.

“Oh Celestia-” she started, panicking a little. “I am SO sorry, Shining Armor, I just-”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay little sis.” He grinned at her. “I of all people definitely know what it’s like to be in love. I saw you wrote some initials in those hearts, but I didn’t see what they were. Do I know the guy? Who is it?”

You.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” she replied, blushing so hard it was making her feel like she was in a sauna.

“Haha, alright sis. If you wanna go see him or something, you can go ahead and go-”

NO.

“No!” she said loudly. “I mean, no, it’s fine, we’ve got business to finish here, right?”

“I actually think we’re okay. I may have even been going overboard, trying to make everything super extravagant. I mean, I just want to make everything perfect. I love her so much."

Stop.

“I can’t imagine what life would be like without Cadence."

Better.

“She’s the most amazing thing to ever happen to me."

I’ll kill her.

“I just want to make her happy.”

“…I’ll kill her…”

“What?” Shining Armor looked at his sister in confusion, snapping out of his daydreaming.

“I-…I…uh…I mean-” You’ve done it now. Way to keep thoughts and speech straight in your head, dumb ass.

“You mumbled! You were always bad about that sis.” He smiled a brilliant, gorgeous smile that made her blush harder, though she did relax a little when she realized Shining Armor had no idea what she had just said.

“I said…I’ll thrill her.” Twilight smiled a wide, fake smile. “I’ll thrill her just for you, BBBFF. I know how much you care about her.” I just want you to care about me like that too, big brother. I want you to pay attention to me. Care about ME! Love ME instead! Love me. Love me! LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOVE ME-

The voice was practically screaming in her head as she smiled at her brother. “I, uh, I really should be going now though,“ LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOVE ME, “’cause there’s so much more for me to plan before the day is through. Thanks for the food! Send me a letter if you have any other ideas?”

-LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOVE ME LOVE ME LOVE ME-

“Of course, Twighly!” They both stood and hugged once more.

-LOVE ME LOVE ME LOVE MELOVEMELOVEMELOVEMELOVEM-

“I love you, sis.” He let go and smiled, paid the waitress, and left the diner. Twilight just stood there for a minute. She smiled at first. Then that smile turned into a grin…but it wasn’t a normal happy grin. She could feel it- something was a little off about this particular grin. She didn’t know what this feeling was exactly, but she knew she liked it. She walked out of the diner and all the way home with this grin plastered on her face. Even as she opened the door to her house and passed a snoozing Spike, it did not fade. It was clear what she must do now. The voice in her head explained everything.

The sun had not even begun to start sinking in the sky, yet Twilight Sparkle curled herself up in bed, pulled the covers over her head, and laughed a loud, crazy, maniacal laugh.