Wrong and Right

"This is an odd choice of a meeting place." Shining Armor's bespectacled sister seated herself on the park bench beside her older sibling, making sure to keep enough distance so that he knew she was still not pleased with him. "Isn't the stereotype that you're supposed to ask me to lunch in a public place so I don't make a scene?"

"After reading your text to Rarity, I figured you'd make a scene wherever we were." He gestured around at the City Park, empty save for a few foraging squirrels and chirping birds. "Here you can get all of that yelling out of your system. Make all the scenes you want."

It had been three days since Twilight had sent the fateful message. Three days since she'd severed one of her closest friendships, citing as reasons various crossed boundaries and shattered feelings of trust. Three days since she'd refused to talk to her brother about the situation over text only to finally relent and agree to a face to face meeting... on the sole condition that Rarity stay as far away as possible.

Twilight Sparkle huffed as she crossed her arms and legs. "That text... you weren't supposed to see it."

"I wish I hadn't. Because the girl who said those things? That's not the Twily I know."

"Don't start with that!" She practically snarled at him. "And don't treat me like your little kid sister. You've officially lost that right now that you've fucked one of my friends."

Shining Armor was temporarily at a loss, having never heard his baby sister curse like that. "Okay. We'll talk as adults then. And as an adult? That was still a really shitty thing to do."

"No, you know what's shitty? Sneaking around with one of my best friends for months. That's shitty. Actually, you know what's even shittier than that?" She turned the full force of her glare on her brother. "Cheating on your fiancée. With a high schooler." She added.

"You say it like that and it makes me look like I'm some kind of creep. Rarity's eighteen..."

"It's optics, you absolute moron!" She rubbed her forehead in frustration. "Have you even considered what will happen if your job found out about any of this? Did that thought really never cross your mind even once?"

"Of course it did. It's one of the reasons we haven't gone public yet. Once Rarity graduates..."

"Oh, one of the reasons, he says. Just one. But not the main one." She gestured to herself. "I'm the main one, aren't I?"

"...Well, yeah. Because we knew you wouldn't take it well."

"What a shockingly strong prediction. Whoever could've guessed?" She stood up and began pacing, a common tic of hers when she was overwhelmed. She stopped and looked at him, sadness peeking through the anger in her eyes. "Why? Why did you cheat on Cadance? How could you do that to her?"

Shining Armor's suspicions about how Twilight had just suddenly found out about he and Rarity's relationship began to become more concrete. He leaned forward. "What did she tell you?"

"The truth. Which is more than I can say for you and that back-stabbing, lying little tramp..."

"Don't call her that. That's your friend you're talking about. Don't forget that."

"No she isn't!' Twilight finally exploded. "The Rarity I called my friend would never have tried to steal my brother from his fiancée. Oh, I knew about her little crush. A blind woman could see it. But I never suspected that she'd actually be so bold as to actually try and seduce you! Or that you'd be so morally repugnant as to just give in without a second thought." She shook her head. "I thought you were better than that."

"It wasn't like that." He looked at her imploringly. "What exactly did Cadance tell you?"

"That you two have been screwing around behind our backs since the cabin!" Twilight screamed, her glasses sliding down her nose. "God, I feel so stupid for not having seen it before. Those days that you two were sick and taking care of each other? You were just fucking the whole time, weren't you? Probably laughing about how dumb the rest of us were."

Shining Armor looked away. "It wasn't like that..."

"And that day at the lake? When you were 'studying geology?' She was behind the rock, wasn't she? You were fucking my best friend right in front of me. Do you just have no shame?"

"Twilight, please..."

"Was that the first time? Or had you two been planning the whole thing long before that? You being the chaperone was the perfect cover for your secret getaway, wasn't it?"

"It wasn't like that at all!" She looked at her desperately. "Twilight, you have to believe that neither of us planned for this to happen. It just did."

"When? When did it just happen?"

Shining Armor chewed the inside of his cheek. "The first night." He said finally. "I was in the hot tub. She came down, we started talking, and... And then it happened."

"In the hot tub?"

"No."

Twilight's eyes widened in sudden realization. "Oh my God! When Rarity was in the shower! You were there too and...?"

Shining Armor nodded.

Twilight shrieked and snatched at her hair. "This is a nightmare! This is a nightmare and I can't wake up!"

"Twily, please calm down." Shining Armor held out his hands in a warding gesture. "Cadance told you that I cheated on her with Rarity at the cabin. What else?"

"What else? Does there need to be more? Isn't that enough?"

"Please, just tell me."

Twilight started pacing again. "She told me that you'd told her that you wanted to take a break when you got back from the cabin. She said she was surprised, but she went along with it. Figured it was pre-wedding jitters."

Shining Armor snorted.

If Twilight noticed, she said nothing. "When you stopped responding to her texts, she went to check on you and found you, in bed, with the blue-eyed skank who used to be my best friend. After that, everything just fell into place."

Shining Armor chose to ignore the other lies to focus instead on the one big piece of info Cadance seemed to have left out. "Did she tell you that she cheated on me first?"

Twilight stopped pacing and glared at her brother. "C'mon, Shining Armor. My opinion of you couldn't get much lower, but you're really pushing it now. Even if that was true, which I very much doubt, that doesn't excuse what you did at all. Two wrongs don't make a right, do they?"

"It's true. Look." He opened up his phone to he and Cadance's old text logs and handed it over.

Twilight's eyes flew across the screen, speed-reading the past few months of texts. Her face became more and more pinched the further she read. She handed the phone back when she was finished, but didn't say anything.

"...She didn't tell you." A statement, not a question.

"What does it matter?" Twilight sniffed and looked away. "So she cheated on you, then you cheated back. That doesn't excuse..."

"Twilight!" It was the first time he'd raised his voice, and he hated how she flinched, "Please. Just hear my side of this."

"Why do there have to be sides?!" Twilight yelled back. "Why did Cadance feel the need to sleep with some other guy? Why did you and Rarity... why did any of this have to happen?! Why did she... and you... and... and..." She put her face in her hands and started sobbing and hyperventilating.

Shining Armor went to her and hugged her tightly, just like he'd done since they were children. She didn't resist, and he led her back to the bench. When she'd calmed down enough, he told her everything. About the texts, about the cabin, about everything that had happened up until the events of several days ago. He told her about Cadance's intentions for sending him on the trip in the first place and her finally discovering the truth. He told her about how careful he and Rarity had been, their internal agony at keeping the truth from everyone, and their ultimate realization of their true feelings for one another.

"Cadance made it sound like you two were just sleeping around behind everyone's backs." Twilight removed her glasses and rubbed them on her blouse. "The way you tell it, you and Rarity are..."

"In love. Yeah. We are." He put his arm around her. "You're gonna have to get used to that. Because now that you know, we aren't going to hide it anymore." He squeezed. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner."

"Why did you even hide it to begin with? Because you thought I'd flip out?" She withered under his stare. "Okay, so I still would've flipped out a little bit. But how can I not? This situation is so messed up."

"It is. But sometimes beautiful things can come from horrible ones. What Cadance and I did to each other? To you? It was wrong, but I've made my peace with that. I'm still your brother, aren't I?"

Twilight replaced her glasses and nodded.

"And Rarity's still your friend."

Twilight's gaze hardened and she looked away. "I don't know about that."

"Twilight..."

"It's different with you. You're my B.B.B.F.F. Nothing's ever gonna change that. Eventually I'm going to forgive you. But Rarity..." She shook her head. "How can I ever trust her again?"

"You have to find a way. And you will. Because she's your friend, and real friends always have to find a way." He looked into the clear blue sky, thinking of his girlfriend's eyes. "It'd be one thing if Rarity was just after me as some kind of conquest. But she's not. She loves me. The way she tells it, she's loved me for a lot longer than just the cabin."

"And you love her?"

He nodded. "I do. She's great."

"So you don't love Cadance anymore."

He paused. "Well... yes and no. Not really. There's a part of me that's always going to love her. She was the first one to capture my heart, to really show me what love is, what it can be. But what she did? And everything after? I don't think I could ever love her the way I once did. That well's been poisoned. And after the way she's handled all of this, I'm not even sure we could still be friends." He saw the concerned look on her face and smiled reassuringly. "But who knows? Maybe I'll find a way to forgive her for this, too."

Twilight took a deep breath and fell back on the bench. "This is just so messed up. Everything's wrong."

He raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Because this isn't how things are in Equestria."

Intrigued at the mention of the enchanted horse planet, Shining Armor leaned in. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I've talked to the other you and the other Cadance over there, and they're still together. They got married. They even had a baby. Since certain events over there tend to parallel events over here, I just thought that's how things would play out between you two. It's just... interdimensional stuff is weird." She let out a small laugh. "Maybe none of this would have happened if your love for each other had managed to defeat a hostile invasion."

He did a double take. "Say what now?"

"Oh yeah. The day of your wedding, the capital city was invaded by an army of love-sucking bug monsters that could shapeshift. That version of Cadance was even replaced by their queen for a while and she enslaved your mind. The whole nation was saved only because of the power of you and Cadance's true love."

Shining Armor blinked slowly. "I never, ever want to visit magic horse world."

The siblings laughed together, dissipating most of the tension. Twilight pulled off her glasses and wiped at her eyes. "So..."

"So... are we good?"

She considered for a moment. "For the most part. In the grand scheme of things, you didn't do anything really terrible. Just keep me in the loop from now on."

"Now there's just one more thing."

"What's that?"

"You need to talk to Rarity."

Twilight exhaled heavily and slumped. "That stupid text..."

"It crushed her, Twily."

"I was upset, okay? That doesn't make it alright, I know, but that's just how it is." She took a deep breath and sat up straight. "If you two are serious...?"

"We are."

"Then I have to at least try, don't I?" She managed a wink. "Otherwise Christmas is gonna be real awkward."

He smiled and ruffled her hair. "Love you, Twily."

"Love you, too." She punched his arm playfully and looked around. "Where is she?"

"What do you mean? You told me to come alone."

"She's hiding somewhere nearby, right?" She raised an eyebrow at the look on his face. "I know you, Shiny. You'd be so confident of getting through to me that you'd make sure she was close so we could try and make up here and now."

Shining Armor finally broke and smiled. "Alright, you got me. I did want to bring her, but she said she had a standing lunch she couldn't miss."

Twilight pursed her lips and checked her phone. "None of the girls said they were meeting her today." She caught his look and smiled reassuringly. "Don’t worry. None of them know… yet. I was hurt, but not hurt enough to start spreading things around."

Thinking of Cadance, Shining Armor made a small 'hmph' sound.

"Maybe it's a work thing?" She offered, putting her phone back in her pocket.

He shrugged. "No idea. She just said it was personal."

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

Rarity took a deep breath before she stepped into Tigano's. The Italian eatery was a bit on the pricy side, leading to a usually quiet lunch crowd. She spied the woman she'd arranged to meet here already sitting at a table near the back wall. She grimaced when the older woman gave a cheeky wave and a come-on-over gesture. Rarity made her way across the floor, set down her purse, and pulled back a chair. "Honestly? I'm surprised you actually came."

"Oh, Rarity." Cadance chuckled as she reached for a breadstick. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."