Rarity lifted her gown from its rack. Even though it was a summer wedding, the dress had grown heavier than she intended as she assembled its elaborations of silk and lace. She put it on, pulling it over herself like a thousand dresses before. But this one was special.
The rehearsal yesterday had gone as perfectly as it could have. That did not come as a surprise to anypony except maybe the couple: it was the fourth one. Had it been any other couple, everypony would have called it excessive. But it was not any other couple, it was Rarity and Twilight Sparkle who were (eventually) getting married here. Two inveterate perfectionists if ever there were any.
And the dress, at least, fit perfectly. It did not pull or bind in the least as she put it on. But that was easy, she could fit herself in her sleep. The real masterpiece was it's twin. She would not allow anything to mar Twilight's beauty as long as she could do anything about it.
So despite the constant edits and refinements to the order of events, everypony gathered at Sweet Apple Acres could have gone through this wedding in their sleep. As perfectly arranged and executed as it could be.
Even so, there was a big gap between "as perfect as it can be" and "perfect," and everypony knew it. And everypony knew what was missing. Who, rather. Five friends just could not fill out the stage like six. Rainbow Dash's absence was palpable. The downside to being the best flier in Equestria, was that there was no helping things when a problem came up that only the best could handle. And so as storms raged off the coast, the remaining ponies practiced the motions. Too much had been set in motion to reschedule.
Rarity gazed out the window at the sky; she had been doing that a lot the last few days. One might even have thought that she was secretly pining for Rainbow, had everypony else not been doing the same thing. She gazed, but the sky remained blank and blue. Only birds fluttered out there, Fluttershy's birds. They carried flowers, pink and purple. Ah purple—the color of Queens!
The rehearsals had all gone as perfectly as they could in the certainty of disappointment. The dangerous moment was the real ceremony. If there was any version that was going to fail it was that one. Because for the date of the real ceremony, unlike the previous days, there was hope that Rainbow might make it.
She stood and paced circles in the room, listening. To the soft rustling of her dress as she moved, to the clacking of her hooves against the worn wooden floor. Something thumped downstairs.
Even if every movement through a room was calculated to leave space for a pony who wasn't there, if there was nothing to be done, there was nothing to be done. If an expertly crafted dress, hung unworn from a rack because the pony it was fitted for could not possibly be there, that was unfortunate. It was a short tale, if sad. If that pony might have been there, but was not, then that was a tragedy.
Rarity fretted. She felt exactly as she imagined she would when she first imagined this day so many years ago. All the excitement was there. But her artistic endeavors had early taught her what it felt like to have all her nerves laid raw. She had for all this time been counting on her future lover to calm her, reassure her. Now Twilight Sparkle was a wonderful, beautiful mare; what she was not, was calm in stressful situations.
Thus, it was a small ceremony. Extensively planned, but small. If only because even if they had invited more ponies, the combined neuroticism of the brides would have driven most of them away. Just the important ponies were there. And what important ponies they were. The thought of the buzz a royal wedding with only a few dozen guests on some apple farm was causing in high society sent shivers of pleasure down her spine.
Rarity did not tell her almost-not-quite-but-so-close-for-Celestia's-sake-just-kiss-me-already wife what she had overheard Applejack and Pinkie discussing. A betting pool for whether or not they would actually go through with the plan, or if Celestia would end up officiating the marriage of their sleeping bodies amidst piles of fabric and strewn notes. To their credit, they had looked ashamed when she caught them. In any case she most definitely would not tell her what she had bet. That was a story for their——grandfoals.
She heard a bird scratching at the window of Applejack's graciously lent office. She stood up. She did not need to look at the old clock whose ticking had been punctuating her worries. It was time. The door swung open. The stairs creaked as she descended; it was a familiar creaking by now. As she passed out of the house, she tried to be more disappointed about the bits she had just lost than the dress rack in the corner with its single occupant.
The grass was soft under her hooves and the sun warm on her back. She resolved to throw out all her romance novels; they were worthless, failing to capture a thousandth of what she felt.
Pinkie Pie fell in with her, as planned. The plan didn't include a desperate scan of the horizon, but they managed to do it without stopping or slowing. Wouldn't want to worry Twilight. The rows of pews in the middle of the orchard came into sight. The only blue visible was the sky. There was a glimpse of holy Purple between two trees. She could hear ponies chattering. Pinkie left her side and took her place.
No, then.
She raised her leg and softly took the first step onto the path; her hoof brushed the soil with a thunderous crack and the sky was full of color.
The ceremony began. Rainbow Dash was exhausted, naked, sweating, dirty, and clumsy. It went perfectly.
