In sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, at war and at peace
"I can't believe I didn't plan for this!"
Rarity delivered a punch right to the temple of the ethereal jet-black stallion in front of her before turning to face her fiancée with an exasperated look. "Twilight, dearest, as much as I've respected and appreciated your organizational skills in the past months, this is hardly the kind of complication that one can add to a schedule." The fighting had separated them at first, but they'd been slowly making their way towards each other, and were now standing about a dozen hooves apart.
"Still, I should've seen this coming when Cadance sent me that report about the Umbrum sightings near the— duck!" A bolt of magic shot out from Twilight's horn, passing through the space that Rarity's head had occupied a split second ago.
Rarity turned around to see the shadow pony she'd been fighting flying across the Great Hall and slamming painfully into a wall. "Thank you, darling. And don't beat yourself up too much — there are far better targets here in this room, and a princess can hardly be expected to predict every possible threat to the nation."
"Coming through!"
Both mares took a step back as a polychromatic blur rushed past them, dragging another shade behind her and throwing it against the tastefully decorated arbour. Rarity winced as the floral arch toppled over under the impact, scattering petals and leaves across the floor.
"How uncouth," she commented as a mare approached her, liquid darkness dripping from her mane and tail. "I truly do detest these Equestria-threatening disasters. Was it really too much to ask for our wedding to go off without a hitch?"
The mare snarled, showing its blackened fangs, and Rarity responded by channelling her magic through her horn and floating a scrap of cloth from one of the fallen bannisters around her back legs. She tried to take another step forward, tripped, and Rarity's hoof cracked across her muzzle and knocked her out.
"I'm sorry, Rarity." Twilight had managed to manoeuvre herself closer as she faced off against a trio of assailants forcing her towards her lover. "I really did want this to be our special day."
She looked so pathetic that Rarity couldn't help but hug her, wrapping her forelegs around her and letting their warmth mingle together as she swung around to kick one of the invaders in the chest, while Twilight sent out a wave of force to send the others flying away. "It's not your fault, dear. And at the end of the day, I would rather be by your side facing mortal danger than parted from you and safe in the lap of luxury. Though I'd prefer to be lavishing attention on you in a most decadent boudoir over either of those options."
Twilight smiled. "I'd prefer that too." Her back hoof lashed out, knocking over another shadow pony. "By the way, do you know if the foals and non-combatants got away safely?"
"Applejack got them all out the back exit," Rarity replied. "I saw her and Pinkie drawing their attention away from the door afterwards, so they should be safe." Her tone darkened. "At least, until they get through all of us." All around them, all she could see was black. This army had hit hard and fast in greater numbers than the city's defences could handle, and Rarity knew it was just a matter of time before they were overwhelmed.
Still, that didn't mean she was ever going to stop fighting, especially not with her future wife by her side. The next creature that attacked her found himself trussed up like a Hearth's Warming present as Rarity continued to cannibalize the bits of fabric left around on the floor as makeshift weapons.
"I saw Gallus, Sandbar, Yona, Silverstream, Ocellus, and Smolder running out the hall when the attack started. They'll find a way to stop this." There was absolute confidence in her voice, and once again Rarity was struck by how much the cute little unicorn who had stolen her heart had grown into a mare who was worthy of ruling over Equestria.
She channelled that love burning in her heart into a passionate series of jabs as she felled her next few attackers. "So, we simply need to hold the line until the heroes return, then?"
Twilight shrugged. "Pretty much, yeah."
"Hmm." Rarity spun around just in time to block a lunge from her left, and countered by slamming a chair over the offending head. "I must admit, I'm rather unused to playing this role. We're normally much more proactive in our adventures."
"That's how it goes, I guess." Twilight took to the air for a moment to tackle an assailant with wings of blackest night before landing back by Rarity's side where she belonged. "It's time for a new generation of heroes, and we get to be ones who need saving now." A quick kiss was stolen from Rarity before Twilight returned to the battle, leaving the unicorn breathless from more than just the exertion of combat. "At least I get to enjoy my retirement with you. Not all heroes get that lucky."
"Quite." A half-dozen ponies radiating malice replaced the ones they had defeated, surrounding them on all sides. "I'm certain I can play the role of the Wise Queen with the right ensemble. And I suppose we all had to grow up eventually. At least we can still fight, instead of being reduced to damsels in distress waiting to be saved."
"Mhm." Twilight tried to launch a sphere of magic outwards, but it only pushed them back a couple hooves. "I just wished my magic was more effective against these constructs. The Umbrum must have put some kind of dampening field around them before sending them to Canterlot. It takes way too much magic for me to knock them out, and I'm not sure I want to waste my reserves like that."
"Constructs?" Rarity glanced up at Twilight in surprise before pushing off her to gain momentum and deliver yet another knockout blow. She was working up a good lather, and not for the first time she gave thanks to her own foresight in getting Starlight to cast an anti-moisture spell on her wedding dress.
"Yep!" The pep in Twilight's voice told Rarity that she was in for another informative lecture. "The Unbrum are experts in nethermancy, which allows them to manipulate shadows as well as Luna, maybe even surpassing her skills! These things we're fighting are really similar to the solid illusions that Nightmare Moon created to try to lure Rainbow away from us when we first met each other, but created in such large quantities that the mage responsible focused all the energy on creating as many constructs as possible over making each one of them unique, which is why it looks like there's only a few basic variations in shape and size. The amount of energy involved likely means they're channelling some kind of artifact that—oof!"
Unfortunately, Twilight had a habit of forgetting her surroundings and running on autopilot when she was educating someone. Normally, this just resulted in her adorably rearranging her personal book collection for the sixth time in a row while talking about the history of Old Unicornia.
This time, it meant that Rarity had to shove her out of the way of an attacker that had snuck up behind her. A bladed wing flashed before the mortal unicorn, and she barely managed to twist out of harm's way, but her dress was not so lucky.
For her part, Twilight responded immediately to the threat against her one true love, firing off a blast so powerful that the shade broke right through a stained-glass window depicting Twilight's coronation and kept on going for a long while.
"Rarity, oh my gosh! Are you okay?" Twilight rushed over to her side, but Rarity was focused on the gash that had been torn into the fabric of her dress, a small but visible marring of the perfect lines of the wedding dress that she had slaved over for weeks.
A cold calmness washed over Rarity as she turned to speak to her beloved. "Darling," she said, and her voice could freeze windigos solid, "these brutish thugs are constructs, yes? Which means that they aren't truly alive?"
"Umm, yeah." Twilight stared at her with wariness in her eyes. "They're basically just really good illusions given substance that act like real ponies."
"Very good." Rarity breathed in and reached out with her magic, allowing her rage to consume her mind and focus it with single-minded determination.
A chair had been smashed nearby, turned into nothing more than sharp splinters of wood. Rarity's magic picked up every single piece and floated them over towards the monster that had torn her dress.
The first splinters flew into its eyes, causing it to stagger and swing its head wildly around in blind confusion. It let out an inequine shriek and tried to step forward, but more slivers pierced the tendons in its legs, cutting right through the parts necessary for walking and causing it to fall over to the ground.
Then Rarity began her work.
As a dressmaker, she had a better understanding of equine anatomy than anyone who wasn't a doctor, her work requiring her to know how every joint, muscle, and sinew held the body together so that she could determine which parts of a dress needed more freedom, and how best to show off the shapely contours of a pony with the frame she sewed for them.
A single splinter sliced across the construct's neck, piercing the vein that supplied blood to the head. A dozen tiny wooden blades pierced the softest parts of the belly, targetting the vital organs and finding their marks. The beast was making a horrible gurgling screech, but Rarity blocked out the sound as she focused on tearing it apart with the hundred minuscule weapons she'd commandeered.
Every tendon was severed, preventing it from moving as a thousand perfectly-placed cuts targetted every part of its body. Eventually, something gave, and Rarity felt the dark magic give up on trying to maintain the illusion of a functioning body as that illusion was being tested to its fullest by the violent vivisection. The shadow pony vanished in a cloud of black mist that dissolved into the air.
"Wow."
The sound of Twilight's voice broke Rarity's focus, and she looked up to see her fiancée staring at her with wide eyes. Fear and shame immediately doused the anger in her heart, and she bowed her head as she spoke. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Twilight."
"Why?" Twilight's head tilted in genuine confusion. "That was incredible! I've never seen that level of telekinetic dexterity before. I mean, I know your dressmaking requires precision and multitasking, but that was a surgical level of manipulation of hundreds of objects at speeds that even I have trouble with."
"You're not disturbed by what I did to that shade?" Rarity asked, hope blossoming in her chest and driving out the cold.
Twilight snorted. "Of course not. I know you could never do anything like that to a living creature. You're not a monster." A blush crept up her cheeks. "Honestly, it was really exciting seeing you exercise so much control over your levitation."
That she could work with. "My, my, Twilight Sparkle. How very forward of you." The cloud of splinters began to float over towards her next victim as Rarity trotted over towards her beloved. She took a moment to lift her chin with a hoof and dropped her voice to a sultry hum. "I'll have you know that I had planned a full demonstration of the kind of magic I can work for our wedding night."
A sigh escaped from her lips. "I suppose that won't be tonight, though. Not with this rude interruption to the ceremony." She let out her frustrations on the next shade, reducing it to mist like she had the first one.
A thoughtful look crossed Twilight's expression before she smiled widely, excitement gleaming in her eyes. "Maybe not," she said in that mysteriously mischievous way that melted Rarity's heart. The alicorn princess called out across the room to her northern counterpart. "Cadance!"
The Princess of Love swung around to face the couple. "Yes, Twilight?" She held a rapier in her hooves and was slashing at a circling flock of pegasus shades while Shining Armor maintained the shield that kept them all from diving in at once.
"Will you marry us right now?"
"Twilight!" Rarity gasped as pure pink appeared in front of them in a flash of magic. "What in Equestria—?"
"Anything for my favourite sisters-in-law," Cadance said as she wrapped both of them up in a quick group hug before lashing out with her blade to spear another illusion through the heart.
"You cannot both be serious!" What kind of strange madness had overtaken the princesses? And did it have to do so at such an inconsiderate time?
"Cadance!" Another flash of light, and Shining Armor appeared just in time to block an aerial attack and retaliate with a wave of concentrated force. "What's going on? Are Twilight and Rarity okay?"
"They're fine," Cadance replied. "They just want me to officiate their wedding right now."
Shining quirked an eyebrow upwards. "Right now? As in, in the middle of this battle for the fate of Equestria?"
"Finally, somepony speaks some sense," Rarity muttered.
"Think of how romantic it'll be!" Cadance pleaded, giving him an incredible pair of puppy-dog eyes that Rarity would have to remember for later use herself. "Besides, this isn't even in the top ten of the strangest weddings I've officiated. And it's definitely not the most dangerous."
"I guess you're not dangling over an active volcano this time, at least." Shining sighed. "I'll provide the covering fire."
Cadance leaned in to kiss him. "You're the best, dear."
"You've all gone mad!"
"Come on, Rarity!" Oh dear, Twilight was pouting. That didn't bode well for Rarity's continued resistance. "Where's your sense of the dramatic? I thought you'd appreciate the flair of getting married in the heat of battle."
Pages and pages worth of memories flashed through Rarity's mind as she continued to fight for her life. Dashing swashbucklers and daring princesses and adventurous ladies finding love in the most perilous predicaments. Those stories had set her heart aflame with passion and inspiration, and now Twilight was offering her an opportunity ripped straight from an epic romance.
This was also the only chance they'd have to get married today — after their victory, it would be unacceptable to hold the wedding until the cleanup and handling of the fallout were completed. Who knew when she'd be able to pledge her heart to Twilight's for all eternity?
When she put it like that, the reply was obvious. "Do you know where the rings are?"
"Did somepony say rings?"
None of those present even bothered to ask Pinkie Pie where she'd come from, or why she'd attached a bayonet to her party cannon. "The wedding rings, dear," Rarity explained as she hamstrung the nearest attacker.
"Oh, you mean these wedding rings?" Pinkie asked, reaching into her mane and pulling out a pair of horn-rings still resting on the pillow they'd been placed on at the beginning of the ceremony.
"Thank you, Pinkie," Rarity said, continuing to refuse to ask any questions. She took the pillow and floated it over towards Cadance. "I believe this is all we need, yes?"
"Yup." Cadance grinned. "We have two witnesses now too, so we can get started."
"Ooh, are you two getting married right now?" Pinkie's eyes shone with excitement. "That's so cool!"
"We are, Pinkie," Twilight replied. "Will you bear witness and provide covering fire for us with Shining Armor?"
Pinkie gave a crisp salute. "Aye aye, ma'am!" She quickly fired off another confetti salvo at a squad of pegasi descending on them.
"Okay, we are gathered here today to witness the union of— whoa!" Cadance wove around a pair of earth pony constructs that had charged at her before continuing her speech. "Ahem. The union of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Rarity."
"Behind you!" Twilight shouted at Rarity, who lashed out with her back hoof and hit something soft before moving away to allow her beloved to finish the job, her eyes tracing her beautiful curves as she fought.
"Catch!" Cadance shouted as she tossed her rapier at Rarity, who used it to spear the next two illusions that approached her. Oh, it was weighted very nicely, and a thrill went up Rarity's spine as she felt another piece of the fantasy slot in.
"These two heroes have proven time and time again their love for one another, and I have no doubt that they will achieve great things together, in a union of magic and generosity." Above the din of battle, Cadance's voice rang out clear and true as she and her husband fought back-to-back against the endless wave of invaders.
The rings floated towards Rarity and Twilight, who grabbed them in their magic as they continued fending off the horde.
"Twilight Sparkle, do you take Rarity to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, through all adversity and triumph, 'til death do you part?"
"I do." Rarity bowed her head to allow Twilight to slip the ring onto her horn. It fit like nothing had ever fit before, a perfect sense of completion filling her very soul as Rarity gazed up into Twilight's eyes overflowing with love and smiled back with tears in her eyes.
They held each other close as Twilight swung her around so that she could slash at the pegasus approaching from the left while Twilight blocked the bolt of dark magic that had been launched at them from the right. Then they broke apart to engage in their individual skirmishes, trusting the other to not need help achieving victory.
"And do you, Rarity, take Twilight Sparkle to be you lawfully wedded wife, to remain by her side for the rest of your days, and to pledge your heart and soul to her in their entirety?"
"I do." Rarity wasn't sure if it was the sweat or the tears clouding her vision, but she barely managed to run her sword through the eye of her foe before turning around to set her ring on Twilight's horn. Once again, a moment of pure, loving connection hung between them at this symbolic gesture of binding before they were forced to return to the fray together.
"Then, by the power invested in me as the Princess of Love, I now pronounce you Princess and Consort!" Cadance ducked to avoid a deadly blow from an earth pony shade as Shining Armor leapt over her to deliver a sound kick to its muzzle. She took a moment to nuzzle him before turning back to face the newlywed couple. "Okay, you can kiss each other now. Just don't die doing it."
A dome of pinkish energy flared out from Twilight's horn, forming a barrier between them and the world. Rarity knew the shield wouldn't last for very long, so she took advantage of the situation by diving in and capturing her wife's lips with her own.
The kiss was short and sweet and not very different from their normal kissing, except that they were married now so it made all the difference because she was kissing her wife now. Kissing the mare that she would wake up next to every morning for the rest of her life. Kissing the princess that she had pledged her whole being to, and who had pledged herself to her in turn.
Rarity closed her eyes and let Twilight become her world. Their tongues danced together, and the earth moved.
Wait.
Rarity opened her eyes, meeting Twilight's confused stare with her own. "Dear, you felt that too, yes?" she asked.
Twilight nodded. "Yeah." They looked around, and their eyes widened. All around them, the ruins of the hall's interior still lay scattered about, but all signs of the invaders had vanished, leaving a bunch of bruised and tired defenders breathing breathless sighs of relief.
"Do you think...?" For a moment, Rarity dared to hope that the power of their love had been enough to lead them to victory. What a romantic moment that would have been!
"Look! Over there!" somepony shouted, and the happy couple turned to glance out the window, where a bright orb floating in the distance seemed to be absorbing all the dark magic in the city into itself. Squinting, Rarity could make out a hippogriff and a dragon flying near it.
"I guess not," Twilight said with a sheepish smile. "At least our students managed to stop this."
"Quite." The disappointment only lasted a moment before Rarity remembered that she was married to the love of her life now. "Well, that was quite the wedding for the history books, if I may be so bold as to say so."
Twilight nodded. "Definitely." She leaned in to kiss Rarity again. This time, they had all the time in the world to enjoy themselves as the victory cheers of the crowd obscured their activities.
"Congratulations!" The pair broke apart to see Cadance standing over them with a wide grin. "We won, and you're married now!"
"We're married." Twilight said the words, and Rarity felt warmth blossom in her heart again. She turned to sweep Rarity up in a hug. "You're my wife, Rarity!"
"And you are mine, Twilight. Now and forever."
"Forever..." Twilight grinned as she released her wife. "I love you, Rarity." Then she glanced around at the wreckage surrounding them, and her smile faded. "Ugh, this is going to take hours to clean up, and I think by now the schedule's completely ruined."
"Don't worry about it," Cadance said, giving them a sly wink. "We'll take care of everything. You two start your honeymoon early."
"Are you sure?" Twilight waited for Cadance to nod before giving her a quick nuzzle. "Thanks, Cadance. You're the best."
"Come visit when you have the chance," Cadance said before taking to the air. "Flurry loves playing with her favourite aunts."
As Twilight and Rarity were left alone in the chaos, the Princess turned to her Consort and smirked. "So, about that wedding night..."
"Take us to your bedroom. Now," Rarity commanded, her own voice dropping low and heated.
"As you wish, my wife." With a flash of magic, the newlywed couple vanished, ready to celebrate their newly-pledged love for one another.
