MordeTwi Wedding

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 1

Chapter 2

It was early in the morning at the Golden Oak Library. Spike was sleeping in his bed, and Mordecai was sleeping in Twilight’s bed, both snoring as they were deep in their sleep. The reason Mordecai was in Twilight’s bed, you may ask? Because she didn’t want him to drive home tired, and he practically fell asleep after arriving in Ponyville. The planning of proposing to Twilight and the emotional nerves of going through with it took its toll on him.

Twilight was awake, too excited at being engaged to fall asleep. She was looking over ideas she wanted for her wedding day, knowing she could talk to her friends about it, and the thought of her telling her friends that she was engaged excited her even more. She smiles fondly at the ring Mordecai gave her and remembers what Mordecai said as he proposed to her. She smiled and said, “Mordecai, you don’t know how happy you’ve already made me.” She started remembering their time together before they had their first date.

FLASHBACK

It was the night of the meteor shower; Twilight was preparing her balcony, excited by what she had heard and wanted to see the meteor shower herself. Even though she wasn’t with Mordecai, Rigby, Eileen, or Margaret, she still had a good view of it in Ponyville. From what she was told, the meteor shower was supposed to be close to the atmosphere. Seeing the meteor shower, Twilight was surprised at how close they appeared; as Eileen mentioned, she was also amazed at how beautifully they burned across the night sky. She watched through her telescope and wrote plenty of notes on what she saw.

After the meteor shower ended and with plenty of notes written down, Twilight went into her room and called it a night. The following day, Mordecai made a surprise visit to her tree home. They walked together in town and talked about the meteor shower, and it was at this moment, Mordecai started talking about what happened during the main event. He said, “It was weird. One minute Margaret and I were watching the show together, and the next Margaret and I were trapped in this prism thing, and this meteor showed up, saying he’s the ‘Guardian of the Friend Zone’ and kept us away from each other because I didn’t make a move.” Twilight laughs at this and says, “A Guardian of the Friend Zone?” Mordecai shrugs through her laughter and says, “I didn’t think there was such a thing either, but thankfully, I managed to get out of that prison thing.” Curious about how he managed to do it, she asks, “How did you get out of it?” With a satisfied smile, Mordecai said, “I told him if I were given the chance, I would make my move with Margaret, and after being given the O.K., I walked to her prison, and I kissed her.”

Twilight stopped in her tracks as he said this, and he took notice of the sudden action. He turns to her and says, “Twilight? Is everything okay?” Twilight had a surprised look on her face and looked at him. She says in a shocked state, “You and Margaret kissed to get out of that?” Mordecai says sheepishly, “Yeah, got out of the ‘friend zone,’ and we’re now dating.” Still shocked to hear this, Twilight says, “That’s, that’s, that’s, that’s-.” She trails off as she struggles to find the words for this, confusing Mordecai. After a moment, she snaps out of her trance, saying, “That’s…great, Mordecai; I knew you had it in you.” Mordecai smiled and hugged Twilight, making her blush. He says, “Thank you for believing in me, Twilight. Everyone else had doubts and said I couldn’t do it, but it’s good to know I have a friend like you who supports me.” Her blush went away as he called her ’friend,’ making it feel different to her. Twilight returns the hug and says, “Yeah…What are friends for?”

The walk home felt different for Twilight; for a long time, she had known of Mordecai’s crush on Margaret, and she supported his pursuit of this crush on her, but now that it had happened, she felt uncomfortable over the thought. She kept her smile to not worry Mordecai, nor did she want to ruin his mood. After saying their goodbyes, Twilight closed the door to her home and ran up to her room. Spike notices this and follows her to their room. He says in concern, “Twilight? Is everything okay?” Twilight was sitting in bed, lost in thought from her talk with Mordecai. She says, “I…I don’t know Spike.” He asks, “What happened? Did Mordecai do something to you?” She waves her hoof and says, “No, he didn’t do anything to me; he told me that he and Margaret are dating.”

Surprised to hear this, Spike says, “He’s dating Margaret?” Hearing how he noted that Twilight looks at him in suspicion and says, “You make it sound like that wasn’t supposed to happen.” Spike rubs his arm and says, “Well…you don’t seem happy about it yourself.” Twilight cracks a fake laugh and says, “Me? Not happy? I don’t know what you’re talking about, Spike. I’ve never been happier for Mordecai. He always told me he wished he’d date Margaret despite the many ‘boyfriends’ she’s had in the past.”

Spike and the rest of Twilight’s friends have seen how well Mordecai and Twilight have gotten along, and they suspect that he has a crush on her. Hearing Twilight just now, Spike started to realize that there was something there that Twilight wasn’t sharing. He sits beside her on the bed and says, “Twilight, I might not know anything about Mordecai’s situation, but are you jealous of Margaret?” Twilight feels her eye twitch at the question, not expecting to hear him ask this. She gets off the bed and says, “Jealous? Jealous?! Me jealous?! Ha! There’s no reason for me to be jealous. Why would I be jealous? Mordecai’s my friend. He’s told me so much about himself, what he wants, his dreams, and his aspirations. Why would I be jealous of Margaret?”

She paced the floor in frustration as she continued venting. Spike didn’t say a word as she continued, “Yes, she works at the Coffee Shop across from where he works, and he’s told me so many times how beautiful she is, but looks aren’t everything! You need a real connection that goes beyond that! From what I’ve heard and seen, she doesn’t deserve him! She’s dated more guys to the point where I don’t think she’d take a relationship with him seriously, and I think she’ll just-.” At this moment, Twilight started crying, realizing she was feeling very defensive over Mordecai’s feelings, and just the thought of him getting his heart broken was enough to make her mad. She wiped her tears, and the realization hit her as she said, “I-I am jealous. Why do I feel jealous? I should be happy for Mordecai. He finally got his girl, and I’m over here feeling jealous? What kind of a friend am I if I feel like this?” She buried her face into her hooves, and she kept crying.

Spike gets off the bed and goes to her. He touches her shoulder and says, “I think you just answered your question. I don’t think you and Mordecai are friends anymore. I think you fell in love with him somewhere along the way.” She looks at Spike in surprise with a blush on her face. The thought of her falling in love never crossed her mind. Spike takes his hand off her shoulder and says, “I’ll let you think this one over.” He leaves the room to give Twilight some space so she can think these newfound feelings over.

Twilight spent days thinking about her conversation with Spike. No matter how she’d frame it, her getting defensive over Mordecai’s feelings spoke volumes to her, something she wasn’t ready to accept. She tries to tell herself that she isn’t in love, saying, “No way. Mordecai is just a friend. I was only being an overprotective friend. Yeah, friends always look out for each other, and that’s what I was doing.” She almost believed that statement until Mordecai arrived in Ponyville one day for a visit and instantly changed that thought. He says with a smile, “Hey, Twilight.” She blushed from seeing him and couldn’t speak properly upon seeing him, giving him a friendly wave so as not to make the visit awkward. They stayed at her home to hang out; she didn’t want to risk anything coming out in public.

Mordecai was lost in his feelings for Margaret, not focusing on Twilight as he talked about their recent date. He noticed her blushing and said, “Twilight, are you okay? You look a little flushed.” She gets nervous about the question and says, “What? Oh! D-don’t mind me. It’s just a little warm today.” She laughs nervously after saying this, and Mordecai shrugs it off, not bringing it up again. He continues talking about his time with Margaret, thinking that Twilight wanted to hear more about what was going on in his personal life. She wasn’t paying attention to anything he was saying; as she looked at him, she was thinking about the possibility that she might have fallen in love with him. She thinks about all the times they have hung out, remembering the music they have listened to together, the jokes he told her that made her laugh, and he even showed her his artistic abilities. She was impressed with his work, but he didn’t think he did a good enough job. Her feelings started making sense as she started seeing him differently; a soppy smile was on her face as she looked at him. She snapped out of it as she heard him say, “I’m going to make things official with Margaret tonight at Steak Me Amadeus.”

Her smile was wiped off her face as she heard this, and she felt her heart break after hearing Mordecai’s plan to make things official between him and Margaret. He sighs contently, not noticing Twilight’s behavior throughout his conversation. He says, “I think that’s enough on my end. How have things been going for you, Twilight?” Twilight does her best to keep her composure, feeling her heartache from knowing that she has to grin and smile through it. She says, “I’ve been doing all right. Well, one of my friends was telling me about something.” Mordecai says, “One of your friends? What are they going through?” Twilight says, “Well, she’s going through something personal; she wants me to keep this a secret. She’d be mad at me if I told you or anypony about this behind her back.” Mordecai says, “Sounds like something Pinkie Pie would say, but okay, I’ll pretend I don’t know who this friend is, for their sake.” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, thankful she could talk about her problem without saying it was hers. She says, “My friend was telling me that she might be falling in love with somepony.”

Mordecai’s eyes brighten at hearing this, and he says, “Oh really? That’s good for her.” Twilight smiles at this and says, “Yeah, but the only problem from what she told me is that this special somepony of hers… well, he’s dating another pony.” The smile Mordecai had was replaced with a concerned look after hearing this. He says, “Oh. That’s a real problem right there.” Twilight’s ears folded at this, and she said, “I know, but she insisted that I help resolve this, but I didn’t know what to tell her. Romance hasn’t been my strong suit.” Mordecai says, “Yeah, well, if I were to tell your friend about this, I would tell her she shouldn’t try to go after this stallion. If he’s happy, she should try to be happy for him, even if it hurts. I was there for a while, but even then, I wouldn’t try to do anything that would have ruined my friendship because of jealousy.” Mordecai felt regret take over as he said this. He was still bothered by the Discord fiasco and remembered how angry Twilight was with him and how badly it hurt when she said she hated him. Twilight didn’t catch onto this. She was taking what Mordecai said to heart, knowing that even if she wanted to tell him how she felt, she didn’t want to risk her friendship and lose Mordecai forever if he didn’t feel the same way, especially now that he planned on making things official with Margaret.

They both sat silently, lost in their thoughts on the subject. They snapped out of it as Mordecai got a message on his phone, a reminder that his reservation at Steak Me Amadeus was getting close. After reading his message, he was ready to leave Ponyville. He got up and went to the door, but before he opened the door to Twilight’s home, he said, “Twilight, about your friend, you can tell her that she should also be patient. Sometimes, relationships don’t work out, and he could be single again. And if that does happen, she must be a good friend because he will need it to get through that bad moment.” Twilight was surprised to hear him say that and blushed. Mordecai opens the door and is about to leave until Twilight stops him, saying, “Mordecai.” He turns to her as she calls him. Twilight was torn from their conversation, but she shook her head from these thoughts and forced herself to smile, saying, “Good luck tonight.” Mordecai smiles back at Twilight and leaves her home, closing the door.

After the door closed, Twilight started walking upstairs to her room, feeling very sad. She looked out the window and saw Mordecai drive off in the Golf Cart until he was no longer in sight. As she saw him disappear, she felt that would be the last time she would see him.

Later that night, Twilight was busy reading one of her books, hoping that would take her mind off Mordecai, but to no avail. A part of her knew that she should have said something to him, but another part of her knew better, even if it led to the heartache she was currently feeling. Twilight cries, “I guess this is what it means: if you love someone, you have to let them go. Easier said than done.” She wipes her tears, trying her hardest to overcome her feelings.

She broke her concentration as she heard a knock at the door. Twilight walks downstairs, wiping her tears as best as possible, and goes to the door. She opens the door and sees Mordecai. Surprised to see him, Twilight says, “Mordecai?! What are you-?” She trails off as she sees the sad look on his face. He said, “I’m sorry; I know it’s late, but would it be okay if I stayed here for a bit?” She leads him inside and asks, “What happened?” They sit together, and he says, “Well, I asked Margaret if she would be my girlfriend, but she said she couldn’t.” Twilight says in shock, “What?! Why would she say that?” She was starting to get angry, and dark magic overtook her horn. Mordecai didn’t notice this as he said, “It wasn’t anything I did. She got accepted into her dream college, and I guess long-distance relationships don’t work with her.” Twilight starts to calm down after hearing this, but seeing Mordecai bury his face in his hands, she still feels anger toward Margaret for what she’s putting him through. She takes a deep breath and goes to the kitchen. She grabs two bottles of soda for him and her.

They opened their bottles and took their drinks. She says, “I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you, Mordecai.” All Mordecai could do was nod in response; he was too depressed to say anything then and felt that he might break down if he said anything. Twilight feels her heartache seeing Mordecai like this. It was something she feared might have happened, and in the end, he suffered a broken heart. A part of her wanted to comfort him, but after reading his emotions, she thought better of it and drank her soda.

After they finished their drinks, Twilight took Mordecai’s hand and led him to her room. She offered her bed for him to sleep in, but he was ready to decline until she said, “You helped me when I needed it, Mordecai. Let me return the favor now that you need it.” He was going to protest, but Twilight wouldn’t have any of it, as she insisted. He lays down in her bed, and he falls asleep. Twilight returned to her reading but found it hard to concentrate, knowing that Mordecai was in her home. She closed the book she was reading and went to her bed. She sees Mordecai sleeping but notices his distressed look and tears while he sleeps. She wiped his tears and rubbed his head while he slept. He calms down as he feels her hoof brush his head. Seeing his mood change, Twilight was tempted to kiss him on the forehead but chose not to, fearing that she might wake him. She takes her hoof off his head, keeps an eye on Mordecai for most of the night, and soon falls asleep on the mattress.

The following day, Mordecai woke up and saw Twilight sleeping on the side of the bed. She snored peacefully as she rested her head on the mattress. Mordecai lightly smiles, seeing her like this, and taps her head. She wakes up and sees that Mordecai is awake. She yawned and said, “Morning.” Mordecai says, “Morning, Twi.” He stretched himself, and his stomach started growling. She heard his stomach and said, “Whoa, did you have anything to eat yesterday?” He said, “No, I didn’t get the chance to.” She pulls him out of bed and says, “Come on, I’m sure Spike made breakfast already.”

Sure enough, Spike made breakfast for them. There was a stack of pancakes on their plates and plenty more on a serving plate if anyone wanted more. The three of them grabbed their plates and started having their servings.

They finished eating their pancakes, all full from how many were made. Spike had already left the kitchen to sleep it off, leaving Mordecai and Twilight alone in the kitchen. Mordecai was relaxing; his eyes were closed as he rested, very tempted to sleep his meal off, too. Twilight looks at him, still thinking about last night. She gets off her chair and takes his hand, catching his attention. She says, “Let’s go for a walk; I’m sure that will do you some good after a good breakfast.” Mordecai blushed as she held his hand but didn’t complain as she pulled him off his chair and led him out of the library.

Back at the Park, Benson walked through the house and went to Mordecai and Rigby’s room. He opens the door and sees that neither of them were in the room. He was about to yell until Rigby entered the room with a microwave burrito. Benson says, “Rigby, where’s Mordecai?” Rigby casually says, “Oh yeah. He wanted me to give this to you.” He handed Benson a letter from Mordecai. He wrote that he’d be out for a few days after going through the Steak Me Amadeus situation with Margaret.

Benson has always been hard on Mordecai and Rigby for their shenanigans, but in times like these, he can sympathize with the duo, and since he’s been someone who’s gone through his share of breakups, he understands Mordecai’s predicament. He sighs at this and says, “I’ll allow it.”

Mordecai and Twilight returned to the Tree House. Spike woke up once they returned, and Twilight had sent him out to run some errands for her, giving them some privacy. After sending Spike off, Twilight grabbed two books; seeing that their walk together in town had a positive effect, she wanted to keep his mind off the breakup, and she figured reading would be a nice distraction. After they finish reading, Twilight goes to the kitchen to get something for her and Mordecai to drink. She comes back to him, and they take their drinks. Mordecai sighs, still thinking about what happened. Twilight notices this and says, “Are you feeling better, Mordecai?”

Mordecai says, “A little better; thank you for this, Twilight.” Twilight smiles at him and says, “It’s no trouble at all, Mordecai. You helped me when I went through this with Red, and I realized I never properly thanked you for that.” She smiled as she remembered trying to do something nice, like baking a special cake, but Mordecai would top her kind gesture with one of his own. Mordecai shrugs and says, “I did what any friend would do.” She shakes her head and says, “No, I must have been a real mess when you found me at the Park.” Mordecai rubbed his bottle with his thumb as he remembered that day. He said, “Yeah, you were at a low point I didn’t think you could be at. It was always hard for me to see you sad.” Twilight smiles at this and rests her head on Mordecai’s shoulder. She nuzzles him, making him blush from the affection.

He lightly taps the floor and says, “So…are you feeling better about the Red thing?” Twilight says, “Yeah, I’m over that. As I said, you helped me overcome that difficult time.” Mordecai smiles as she says this. He said, “I’m glad to have helped.” She looks at Mordecai as he says this. He may have smiled, but he still had a sad look.

She might not be an expert on romance, but one thing she knew she was good at was being a good friend. She looks away from him, knowing this would be personal, and doesn’t want him to see her blushing. She took a deep breath and said, “Mordecai, I know what you’re going through is hard. I’ve been there, and I completely understand how hard this is for you, but trust me when I say this. If I can get over Red, you can get over Margaret. Even if this takes time, I-I’ll always be there for you, just as you have always been there for me.” Mordecai was surprised to hear all this from Twilight and started remembering their time together and how close they had been as friends. He smiled at this thought and wrapped his arm around her side. Her blush grew darker as she felt herself pulled closer to him. Mordecai said, “Thank you, Twilight.” Twilight could only nod her head in response.

The two sat together like this in comfortable silence. After getting over her shock, Twilight smiles at the thought that they could be like this and how natural and relaxing it feels between them. Mordecai finishes his drink as she looks up at him again. She felt her emotions take control as she leaned forward. She closed her eyes and kissed Mordecai on the cheek, surprising him with the sudden action. He looked at her in surprise, and she blushed as she realized what she had done. She feels uncomfortable as she may have crossed a line and says, “I-I’m sorry, Mordecai. I don’t know what came over me. I know you’re going through your breakup, and I shouldn’t be-mmm?!” She didn’t finish her apology as Mordecai kissed her on the lips, making her blush harder as he pinned her to the floor and deepened the kiss.

She wasn’t expecting Mordecai to kiss her outright, but she gets lost in the kiss as she gets over her shock. She closes her eyes and kisses him back. She wrapped her forelegs around him, not wanting to let him go, and he wrapped his arms around her, enjoying this as much as she did. The door opens, revealing Spike returning from running Twilight’s errands for more supplies. They broke the kiss after hearing the door open, and they were surprised to see him, and he was surprised to see the tail end of their make-out session. He wasn’t expecting to see them like this and said in embarrassment, “Oh boy. Did I come back at a bad time?”

After he asked this, there was an uncomfortable silence in the room; Mordecai and Twilight looked at each other, the realization of what happened between them sinking in. She looked surprised and blushed hard as she looked at him, still processing that she and Mordecai had kissed. He, however, feels embarrassed with what happened and lets her go. He quickly gets up; Twilight is concerned about him after seeing the look on his face and says, “Mordecai, what are you-?” Before she could finish her question, Mordecai, in a panic, says, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He goes to the open door, worrying Twilight more. She stretched her hoof out to him and said, “Wait! Mordecai, I-.” He exited the library and closed the door before she could finish what she had to say. Her ears drooped in sadness, and she said aloud, “I enjoyed my first kiss.”

Hearing her say this, Spike felt terrible for what happened and said, “I’m sorry for ruining your fist kiss, Twilight. I knew you were going to talk with him, but I didn’t think you were going to do that.” Twilight shakes her head and says, “No, Spike, it’s not your fault; it’s mine. I was trying to help Mordecai get past his breakup as he helped me get over Red, but, as you just saw, I didn’t do that. I thought the moment was right to kiss him, but he didn’t need me for that; he needed a friend.” She buries her face into her hooves, frustrated over what happened. Spike sets the many scrolls down and goes to her. He touched her shoulder and said, “I don’t think things are that bad, Twilight, but I would give Mordecai some space to figure things out.”

Twilight nodded in response and went upstairs to her room to do some readings to distract herself from Mordecai.

Time passes by after the kiss. Twilight doesn’t go to the park just in case Mordecai is still getting over his breakup, which he does thanks to Rigby and the rest of the Park workers. Pops would keep her in the loop on what was happening at the Park. Even though it sounds like Mordecai was in a better position now, Twilight chose not to return to the Park to avoid an awkward moment with Mordecai. Getting past a breakup was one thing, but she didn’t know what he would feel if he was still trying to figure out their kiss and what it meant to him.

She kept her distance until Pops visited her one day. Twilight was reading one of her books in her room and heard frantic knocking at her door. She goes downstairs, answers the door, sees the concerned look on his face, and says, “Pops? What’s going on?” Pops responded worriedly, saying, “Um, Ms. Sparkle, I don’t want to worry you, but Mordecai, Benson, and Rigby are in the hospital. They-.” When Pops mentions Mordecai is in the hospital, she activates her horn and teleports to the park without a second thought.

She arrived at the Park and ran to the hospital as fast as she could. Twilight says to herself in panic with tears in her eyes, “Mordecai, don’t you dare die on me.” She instantly thought of the worst-case scenario. From knowing Mordecai for so long, she knows the many antics he and Rigby go through and how dangerous they are, but this is the first time she’s heard of an incident that hospitalized them.

She arrives at the hospital and asks them for Mordecai’s room, to which they tell her that he’s having surgery to fix his broken back. The nurse led her to the room, and she saw Benson and Rigby in the room. Benson had undergone surgery for his broken arms and was given ice packs to help with the bee sting swelling around his eyes. Rigby couldn’t talk to Twilight because of the poison ivy in his mouth, causing it to swell shut when they were being chased in the mountains.

After talking with the nurse, Twilight sits on one of the chairs, waiting for Mordecai. Twilight takes a deep breath and says, “I should have visited the Park more often.” Hearing that a visitor was in the room, Benson says, “Twilight?” She is surprised to hear him and says, “Benson?! Oh my gosh! I thought you were sleeping.” Benson said, “I wish these bee stings had bothered me for hours.” Twilight felt terrible for him and said, “If you want, I can cast a healing spell to help you recover faster.” Surprised to hear this, Benson says, “You know those kinds of spells?” She smiles, “Yeah, you’d be surprised with how much reading I do in a day.” She goes to Benson and activates her horn, concentrating on a healing spell, and she uses it to help him recover from the surgery he had on his arms and the injuries he sustained. After regaining sight, Benson smiles at Twilight and says, “Thank you, Twilight, it feels good to be able to see again.” Twilight smiled at him and said, “Glad I could help. It was a new spell, and I’m glad I got it right the first time.”

Benson smiles and lays back down on the bed. She was about to take her seat when the doctors and nurses entered the room with Mordecai. He was unconscious and wearing a back brace, just getting out of surgery. The doctor sees her and says, “Are you the only visitor?” She says, “His co-workers should be arriving soon. How bad was it?” The doctor shook his head and said, “Really bad. His back was shattered in multiple areas. It took much work, but we managed to fix him.” Twilight does her best not to cry after hearing the news and seeing him in his state. The doctor reassures her and says, “With proper rest, he’ll be back to normal in no time, and I’m sure him having a concerned girlfriend like yourself will help speed things up for him.” She blushed after he called her his girlfriend. She was going to correct him on his assumption, but he and the nurses had already left the room before she could say anything.

Seeing Mordecai asleep, Twilight goes to his bedside and waits for him to wake up. She falls asleep, not leaving his side as she rests her head on the bed.

One week after the hospital visit, Mordecai fully recovered thanks to the healing spell Twilight used on him, and he took Twilight on their first date. From all the times he visited her, he thought a nice restaurant would be a good first date for them, so he took her to one in Canterlot. They both knew that they had something to talk about, and this would be the time to talk about their kiss properly. Twilight wore the yellow dress Rarity made for her birthday, while Mordecai wore the fancy suit he still had during his Blondecai phase.

The two were seated at a balcony table, not only for a better view but to have some privacy from the other ponies. After the server takes their orders, Mordecai and Twilight are left alone; they both feel uncomfortable, not knowing what the other thinks about the kiss. Twilight knows she enjoyed it but doesn’t know if Mordecai did. They breathed and said in unison, “Look about the kiss.” They both stopped as they realized that they were speaking at the same time. Mordecai says, “Sorry, you can go ahead and go first.” Twilight nods and says, “Mordecai, before the accident, I know it’s been a while since we’ve last seen each other. I didn’t know how you felt about our kiss, especially during your breakup, but I want you to know that that kiss was my first kiss.” Mordecai looks at her in surprise and says, “Really? I’m your first kiss?” Twilight blushed shyly and said, “Yes, and I also wanted to say I enjoyed our first kiss.”

Mordecai blushed at the revelation, not expecting to hear that he was the first to kiss her. He took a deep breath and said, “I’m surprised but honored to know that I’m your first kiss, Twilight, and I’m sorry I ran out the way I did.” Twilight’s ears drooped at remembering that, and she said, “I’m sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable.” Mordecai waved his hand and said, “I’m not saying anything bad about the kiss. The truth is, I enjoyed it too.” Twilight’s eyes lit up as he said this. Before she could say anything, Mordecai continued, saying, “It was the timing that was bad.” Twilight rubbed her head in embarrassment and said with a nervous laugh, “Yeah, I kinda had a feeling the timing wasn’t good.” Mordecai nodded his head to this. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that he enjoyed the kiss, too.

Even with the kiss being talked about in the open for them, it still felt uncomfortable between them, or at least it did on Mordecai’s end. Twilight noticed him blushing hard as if he had more to say. She held his hand with her hooves, making Mordecai tense up. She looked him in the eyes and said, “If you have more to tell me, go ahead and tell me. I feel the kiss isn’t the only thing on your mind right now.” After hearing what she said, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. He looks her in the eyes and says, “Yeah, I did have more to say, and honestly, I never thought I’d get the chance to talk about this. Before I dated Margaret… I kinda had a crush on you, Twilight.” It was Twilight’s turn to be surprised by Mordecai’s revelation. Hearing this confession, she blushed and said, “Y-you had a crush on me?!”

She instantly thinks about all of the times Mordecai visited Ponyville and remembers feeling Mordecai looking at her whenever she wasn’t looking. Or when she was at the Park, she thought she heard Muscle Man, Rigby, or one of the other park workers commenting on her being Mordecai’s girlfriend. She covered her face and said, “Oh my gosh! I must have been an idiot for not seeing this sooner.” Twilight’s heart was racing, feeling as though her feelings for Mordecai might not be as one-sided as she originally thought. Mordecai says, “The real idiot was me for not saying anything sooner. I always thought you were beautiful, and I hesitated. I thought you would attract many guys who would be interested in you.” Twilight blushed harder at the compliment; she never saw herself as beautiful, nor did she focus on that. She giggled at this and said, “Mordecai, I’ve never done anything related to romance. I never had a boyfriend; before this date, I’d never been on one, and I just told you that you were my first kiss. I’m as inexperienced as anypony could be.” Mordecai smiles at her answer, finding her shy behavior cute.

After calming down, she turned to Mordecai and said, “Mordecai, if you had a crush on me for so long, why didn’t you say something sooner?” Mordecai said, “I was still sorting through what I felt for Margaret during that time. I thought there might have been something there, but that didn’t work out, obviously, and after going through that breakup, I didn’t want you to feel like a rebound girl because you mean a lot more to me than that.” Twilight smiles at this, happy to see how considerate he was over this. He said, “When you kissed me, all of my old feelings for you came back, and the only thing I had on my mind right then was to kiss you. Even if the timing was bad, it did help me get over Margaret faster, and I had time to think about my feelings for you, Twilight, and the truth is that they never went away.” Before Mordecai could say anything else, Twilight teleported to his side of the table and kissed him passionately. Surprised at first, he quickly gets over his shock, wraps his arms around Twilight, and kisses her back.

While they had their make-out session, their server came to the balcony with their order but quickly stepped back inside as he saw the intimate moment between them and didn’t want to be the one to interrupt them. After what felt like an eternity between them, they broke the kiss and breathed hard. With a coy smile, Twilight says, “I hope that clears up any confusion.” Mordecai nods in response; the ability to talk is lost on him. He clears his throat and says, “So you want to give us a shot?” Twilight rubs his cheek and says, “I’ve never been more certain about anything, Mordecai. I’d be happy to be called your girlfriend.” Mordecai smiles and says, “And I’d be happy to be called your boyfriend.” Twilight says, “I just want to say one more thing, Mordecai. You mean a lot to me, and I hope for the best in this, but if this doesn’t work between us, I don’t want to lose you.” He cupped her cheek and said, “You will never lose me, Twilight. I promise.” He leans in and kisses her on the lips, which she happily returns as she cries tears of joy.

Twilight sighs in contentment, happy that their first date and every date since then has led to Mordecai popping the question to her the previous night. Unknown to her, Mordecai had awakened from his sleep and was behind her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, surprising her by the action and making her laugh. He kissed her cheek and said, “Good morning, Twily.” She giggled at this and said, “Good morning, Mordy. Did you just wake up?” He let her go and said, “Yeah, I was supposed to wake up sooner, but I overslept. I gotta get to work before Benson realizes I’m not at the house.” Twilight said, “Okay, you better get going.” Mordecai says, “All right, I’ll be on my way. I’ll be back later tonight.” Twilight smiles at this and says, “See you tonight, Mordecai.” She quickly kisses him on the cheek before he lets her go. Mordecai smiles back at her and leaves her home.

After Mordecai leaves, Twilight sees the box she had recently gotten and picks it up with her magic. She opened the box and pulled out a note and a book. She read the letter, seeing it was from Princess Celestia, telling her that she just received Star Swirl the Bearded’s book of spells. She was instantly excited to see that she had an old spell book of the old magic user and continued reading the letter. Celestia wrote that Star Swirl had an unfinished secret spell on the book’s last page and wanted her to rewrite the spell, believing that she was the only one who could understand the spell he had abandoned. She opens the book and goes to the final page. Her excitement got the better of her as she read the spell aloud, “From one to another, another to one. A mark of one’s destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.” As she read the spell, she unknowingly cast it, and the spell affected the Elements of Harmony, swapping five of the six colors of the elements.

After reading the spell, Twilight was left confused, seeing that it didn’t rhyme or make any sense. She closed the book and set it aside. She yawned, feeling groggy from staying up all night. She went to her room for a quick nap before starting her day.

Back at the Park, the Park workers were gathered for a morning meeting on the staircase outside the house. Rigby was annoyed as everyone laughed at him, and he was seen wearing a diaper. Benson calms down from his laughter and says, “Rigby, why are you wearing a diaper?” Thanks to Muscle Man, he and the other Park workers already knew why he was wearing the diaper; he just wanted to hear him say it. Rigby said, “You’ll see in a minute.” As he said this, Mordecai arrived at the Park and got off the cart.

Benson looks sternly and says, “Well, well, well, look who finally decided to join us.” Feeling guilty for running late, Mordecai says, “Sorry I’m late; I had a great time last night with Twilight.” Finding the opportunity to tease, Muscle Man said, “I bet you and Twilight got to….” Knowing where he was going with it, Mordecai interrupted him and said, “Nothing like that! But I do have an announcement to make.” Everyone focused on him as he said this. He took a deep breath and said, “Last night, I asked Twilight if she wanted to marry me, and she said yes!” Everyone congratulated him on his engagement, giving him hugs and patting him on the back. Rigby was hanging back but smiling at Mordecai while everyone, including the new intern Thomas, was happy for him. After realizing that Rigby was missing, Mordecai turned and saw him but was confused as he saw him wearing a diaper. He said, “Uh, dude. Why are you wearing a diaper?”

Back in Ponyville, Twilight had woken up from her nap, still happy that she was engaged and wanted to tell her friends about it. As she leaves her home, she is drenched in water, becoming annoyed as she yells, “Rainbow Dash! That’s not funny!” But instead of hearing laughter from Rainbow Dash, she hears Rarity as she says, “Terribly sorry darling, I’m-I’m afraid I’m not good with the thundery ones.” Twilight goes from confused to shocked as she notices Rarity’s cutie mark was replaced with Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark.

After talking with Rarity, Twilight goes back home and wakes up Spike. They check on their friends and see that they each have had their cutie marks swapped. Rainbow Dash has Fluttershy’s cutie mark, Fluttershy has Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark, Pinkie Pie has Applejack’s cutie mark, and Applejack has Rarity’s cutie mark. From each visit she makes, Twilight sees that each of her friends is miserable as they each try to do what their new cutie mark is supposed to represent, but each fails to live up to their newly assigned cutie marks.

Twilight returns home, and Spike asks, “What’s going on? Why is this happening?” Twilight frantically looks around her library and sees Star Swirl’s spell book. Realization hits her as she opens the book and turns to the last page. She then looked at the Elements of Harmony in the glass case and saw that the colors had swapped. Twilight says, “This is my fault. I cast this spell earlier, which must have changed everyone’s destinies.” Spike then says, “Isn’t there a counterspell for this?” Twilight looks through the spell book and says, “There is no counterspell!” Spike says, “What about that memory spell you used from Discord’s influence? Shouldn’t that work?” Twilight says, “No, Spike, it’s not their memories that have been swapped; it’s their destinies. I don’t think I can do anything to fix this.”

Twilight sullenly walks upstairs to her room, unsure how to fix her created problem, creating misery for her friends and Ponyville. Spike goes upstairs and sees Twilight staring out her window as she looks at the rainy weather. Knowing Spike was in the room, she says, “To think this morning, I was just happy being engaged, but without my friends, it won’t mean anything if they aren’t who they’re supposed to be.” Spike places his hand on her shoulder and says, “Come on, Twilight, you’ll figure out how to fix this. These are your friends; who would know them better than you?”

Feeling determined, Twilight gets out of bed and says, “You’re right, Spike.” She goes to a framed picture of her and her friends over the fireplace, smiling as she says, “They mean more to me than anything. My friends.” Twilight started glowing as she said this, confusing Spike with what was happening. Twilight opened her eyes as an idea came to her. She says, “I’ve got it! I know what to do!” Excited to hear this, Spike says, “You do?” She grabs the jeweled box and goes downstairs. She takes the Elements of Harmony out of the glass case and puts her element on, saying, “I may not be able to remind them of who they are, but I can show them what they mean to each other. They’ll find the part of themselves that’s been lost so they can help the friend they care about so much.” She gives him the jeweled case containing the other Elements of Harmony and says, “Come on, Spike!” The two leave their home and implement Twilight’s plan to fix the problem, starting with Fluttershy.

After finishing his shift, Mordecai leaves the Park and drives to Ponyville as promised. Mordecai was in a good mood the entire day and had hummed a song to himself, thinking about Twilight. While he was driving, he sang:

Twilight, you're my shining star,
Guiding me, no matter how far.
Your wisdom and your caring heart,
Illuminate my world right from the start.
So let this song be my serenade,
For the love we share, no barricade,
Twilight, you're the one that I adore,
Forever and always, I'll cherish you, that's for sure.

From Ponyville to the skies above,
You've shown me the power of love,
Your friendship and your magic fill my days.
You've taught me lessons, made me grow,
In your presence, my spirits glow,
I'm captivated by your gentle ways.

So let's embrace this wondrous ride,
Side by side, our love can't hide,
Through trials and triumphs, we will soar.
With you by my side, I'm never alone,
Together, we've built a love we've known,
Twilight, you're the one that I adore.

He kept singing this as he drove to Ponyville, thinking of more lyrics he would add later.

One by one, Twilight started getting her friends to remember who they were, helping Fluttershy remember her ability to talk to the animals and take care of them, getting Rainbow Dash to control the weather and get rid of the storm clouds above Ponyville, getting Rarity back into being the fashionista that she is, Applejack to becoming an apple farmer and restoring Sweet Apple Acres from being an un-flourished wasteland and getting Pinkie Pie back to being the number one party planner that brings smiles to everypony, instantly making Ponyville happy again.

Twilight and her friends embraced in a group hug after everything was restored, and she was happy to have her friends back to normal. Twilight then remembers the last part of the spell from Star Swirl the Bearded’s spell book, “A mark of one’s destiny singled out alone fulfilled.” An idea struck her as she gasped aloud and said, “Oh my gosh, the spell!” She exited the hug and dashed home, leaving her friends confused by the sudden outburst. They chased after her, wondering what she was talking about. She enters her home, picks up Star Swirl’s spell book, and goes to the last page. She grabs a quill with her magic and writes the second half of the spell, saying, “From all of us together, together we are friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there’s magic without end!”

After writing the second half of the spell and ending it with a period, Twilight happily closes the spell book and puts it away. Her element starts to glow, triggering everyone’s elements as magic beams blast Twilight, covering her in the magical light. Everyone, including Twilight, is confused about what is happening, but Twilight doesn’t fight what is happening as the light glows brighter and subsides in a flash. Everyone opens their eyes as the blinding light diminishes and sees that Twilight is not seen among them, leaving a scorch mark of her cutie mark on the floor, shocking them as they didn’t know what happened to their friend.

Mordecai arrives in Ponyville, unaware of what happened after he left for work. Now that it is nighttime, he sees her friends standing outside as he approaches Twilight’s home. He also sees a bright light. He stops the cart and covers his eyes, trying to shield the brightness as it comes from the sky and lands on the ground. As the light started to subside, Mordecai saw a silhouette in the light, recognizing that it looked like Twilight. His suspicions were confirmed as Applejack said, “Twilight, is that you?” With the light completely faded, he saw Twilight stand up, and his jaw dropped as he saw a pair of feathered wings open up.

Twilight’s friends were very excited to see Twilight with her new wings. Rainbow Dash hugged Twilight and called Twilight her new flying buddy. Rarity stated that she was now an Alicorn. Pinkie Pie swung by and yelled, “Alicorn party!” with balloons and streamers coming out of nowhere. The thing that really caught Mordecai off guard was Fluttershy as she said, “Wow! You look just like a princess.” Princess Celestia lands before the ponies and says, “That’s because she is a princess.” As Twilight and her friends hear this, Mordecai hides from them and is shocked to hear this. “A princess? A princess?! Twilight’s a princess?!” He thought to himself, still trying to understand what was going on.

After talking with Celestia, Twilight noticed the golf cart parked next to her home and remembered who was supposed to be there. She happily runs to the golf cart and sees Mordecai. She says, “Mordecai!” She hugged him, catching him off guard as he was still lost in thought. He nearly jumps from the sudden hug but keeps his composure and says, “Twilight? What happened to you?”

The rest of her friends see him and go to the couple. Twilight let go of Mordecai and said, “It’s a long story; I’ll tell you about it soon.” She turned around and saw her friends and Princess Celestia behind them. Twilight turns to them and says, “Oh, good. You’re all still here. Before we went through what we went through today, I had an announcement to make.” Surprised to hear this, Mordecai says, “You didn’t tell them yet?” Twilight said, “I didn’t get the chance to. What happened today is what also turned me into an Alicorn.” She showed everyone her ring still on her horn, and everyone, excluding Spike, gasped in surprise.

Rarity spoke up first and said, “Is that what I think it is, darling?” Twilight nodded her head and said, “Yes, it is Rarity. Last night, I was on a date with Mordecai, and he popped the question. And I said yes!” Rainbow Dash said, “So not only a princess but you’re engaged too? That’s so awesome!” While everyone congratulated Twilight, Mordecai was still at a loss of what he felt seeing Twilight as an Alicorn.

The next day, a coronation was held in Canterlot, and Twilight was introduced as the new princess in Equestria. She spoke about how far she had come from her studies and how important her friendships had become. From the day she moved to Ponyville to her ascension as the new princess, she wouldn’t trade anything away for this.

With Twilight celebrating with her friends, Mordecai and the Park workers were enjoying themselves at the celebration. Rigby tried to dance on the dancefloor with pants on, hoping not to have to reveal his diaper-covered half, but Muscle Man wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily as the two did a dance-off, Muscle Man pantsed Rigby on the dancefloor and revealed his diaper to everyone. He whispers to Rigby, saying, “A bet’s a bet, bro. No matter where we go, you’re not getting out of it.”

While the two had their dance-off, Mordecai, Benson, and Skips sat at a table. Twilight’s coronation was finished, and she returned to the castle, getting hugs from her friends. The two looked at Mordecai suspiciously, seeing that he was lost in thought rather than going to Twilight, and he was quiet the entire time. Benson spoke first, saying, “Mordecai, is something bothering you?” He looked up and said, “Huh?” Skips said, “Your fiancé is back, and her coronation just ended. Why aren’t you celebrating with her?” Mordecai turned in his seat and saw Twilight with her friends, smiling as she was still overjoyed with everything. He turned around and said, “I just thought she should enjoy this with her friends.” He rubbed his ring after he said this, making Benson and Skips worried about this action. Sensing that Mordecai is intentionally being distant with Twilight, Skips says, “You’re not having second thoughts right now, are you?” Mordecai doesn’t answer Skips as he gets up from the table and leaves.

Pops comes to the table with a plate with cake on it, and he looks worried as he sees Mordecai leave the room. He asks, “Is something wrong with Mordecai?” Benson says, “I don’t know. He just might be feeling the engagement nerves. I’m sure he’ll snap out of it.” Pops still felt worried but didn’t push the matter further and started eating his cake. Unknown to them, Shining Armor overheard the conversation, and he glares at the door, his brotherly instincts kicking in.

Chapter 3

Mordecai had taken the cart and left the party, choosing not to spoil Twilight’s day as the new Princess of Equestria. The lingering question Skips asked him before he left sits in the back of his mind as he sees Twilight as the new princess. After exiting the party, Shining Armor planned on calling Mordecai out based on what he had overheard from the other park workers, but he didn’t get the chance to, seeing that he was already gone. Twilight saw Shining Armor leave the party and followed after him. She noticed that Mordecai was missing, knowing that he enjoys the parties she’s brought him to and finding it odd that he wasn’t around. She finds Shining Armor and asks, “Where’s Mordecai?” Not wanting to spoil Twilight’s day, Shining Armor thought of an excuse and said, “He said that he was tired and didn’t want to spoil your day. He said he’ll be in touch later.” Twilight said, “Oh, yeah. He did seem tired last night. I wanted to announce our engagement to Equestria, but there’s no rush. I don’t want to do it without him.”

Hearing what Twilight said, Shining Armor turned to her and said, “Wait, what?” His voice was filled with a mix of shock and concern. Sensing his unease, Twilight laughed sheepishly and showed him the engagement ring on her horn. Twilight says, “Sorry, I was planning on surprising you with this with Mordecai, but now is as good a time as any. Mordecai has already asked me to marry him, and I said yes.” Shining Armor's eye twitched at the revelation, not expecting to hear that his little sister was already engaged. From what he heard and understood, he thought Mordecai planned to ask her to marry him at the party. He asked in disbelief, “He already asked you to marry him?” Twilight nodded her head with a bashful smile. Shining Armor, his surprise evident, smiled and said, “I’m so happy for you, Twily. Congratulations on the engagement.” Overwhelmed with emotion, Twilight hugged him, oblivious to the forced smile he had, and said, “Thank you, B.B.B.F.F., I knew you’d be happy to hear this.”

Unbeknownst to the siblings, a guard had silently witnessed their conversation. He had overheard their words and seen their reactions. As soon as the coronation party ended, he wasted no time spreading the news of Twilight’s engagement to his fellow guards, setting in motion a chain of events that would soon unfold.

The next day, word spread like wildfire over the news of Mordecai and Twilight Sparkles’ engagement throughout the Park and Equestria. Rumors had started small the day Mordecai bought his engagement ring for Twilight, but no one took the news seriously until they heard the engagement was official. Word reached out into the Crystal Empire and Princess Cadence, surprising her as she heard the news from one of the guards. It also made her smile as she heard that her favorite foal, now sister-in-law, was engaged. The guard spread the word to the others and ended with the arrival of a brand-new recruit. This recruit, a yellow pegasus with a blue mane and tail, brought a fresh energy to the scene. He finished unpacking his things after he was assigned to be one of the guards in the Crystal Empire.

He hears a commotion among the other guards and listens to their conversation. One of the guards said to the group around him, “You heard the news?” Another guard said, “I heard from Shining Armor and Twilight themselves. He seems happy, but I can spot a fake smile from a mile away.” The third guard said, “Can you blame him? It’s his sister, after all.” The yellow pegasus, familiar with Shining Armor, was surprised to hear this, and he said to himself in shock, “Sister?!” He falls over and catches the attention of the other guards. One of the guards says, “Who are you?” The leader among them said, “Don’t overreact, everypony. He’s the new guy.” The pegasus gets up and introduces himself, “Yes, I’m Flash Sentry, and today’s my first day here.”

The leader wrapped a foreleg around the pegasus and said, “It’s nice to meet you, Flash. Let’s go introduce you to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor.” Flash and the rest of the guards left to introduce him to the rulers of the Crystal Empire.

Back in Ponyville, Twilight had awoken from her sleep after a busy coronation day. She enjoyed her breakfast from Spike and was ready to start another day. She opens the door to the Golden Oak Library and is instantly bombarded by the paparazzi crowding the entrance of her home.

“Princess Twilight. Is it true that you are already engaged?”

“Princess, when were you planning to announce this for all of Equestria to hear?”

They flashed their cameras, taking pictures of a stunned Twilight Sparkle, confusing her from how they had heard about her engagement. Spike intervened and pushed the ponies aside, saying to them, “That’s enough from you, ponies. Princess Twilight doesn’t need to answer anything to you at this time. Do everyone a favor and get lost!”

He slammed the door on them and closed the shades on the windows to keep them from spying on them. Twilight shook her head at how Spike handled the situation and said, “You could have handled that better, Spike.” He sighed and said, “I know Twilight, but this is annoying, and you know it. Day one, as the new princess, and they bombard you with information about your personal life? That’s beyond rude in my book.” Twilight says, “I can handle answering questions. What bothers me is how they heard about my engagement. Outside of you and the rest of my friends, Shining Armor knows about it, and I don’t see him telling anypony about the engagement without my knowledge.”

One month after their engagement, Twilight takes on more responsibility as the new princess of Equestria. She feels terrible that she hasn’t talked to Mordecai about their wedding plans and what she has come up with. The paparazzi have also hounded her nonstop, trying to get answers about her engagement and who she’s engaged to, to confirm the rumored fiancé to Equestria based on rumors of who he was. Twilight does everything she can to avoid answering this, wanting to talk about it with Mordecai present.

Back at the Park, things have gotten crazy during their time apart. The Park workers dealt with a Timenado that brought Skips’ younger self to the present day; they dealt with a bunch of full-grown geese that tried to take over the Park; Benson destroyed a signed guitar by Bruce Rock, and he needed Mordecai and Rigby’s help to replace it; the Crash Pit was filled up as well as many crazy shenanigans between Mordecai and Rigby. After painting a new portrait of Benson that Rigby messed up, Mordecai takes the Cart to drive to Ponyville.

He had meant to go over for a while, but with how hectic things had gotten, he didn’t have the time to make the trip. During their time apart, he thought about Twilight’s status as a princess, and he felt this would be as good of a time to talk with her about it now that he had time to process all of this. He arrived in Ponyville and saw Twilight and the rest of her friends at the Golden Oak Library. They heard the cart and saw Mordecai. Twilight didn’t hesitate as she flew to Mordecai and hugged him, showing how much she missed him. He smiled and hugged her back. They leave the cart, and Twilight tells Mordecai to follow her and her friends to the train station.

The two were filling each other in on what had been happening in their lives, sharing some laughs as they couldn’t be happier being together again. They eventually arrived at the train station, ready to send Fluttershy off to observe the Breezies, as she had told Twilight earlier in the day. After Fluttershy leaves on the train, another train arrives; this one is made out of crystals, signaling that it came from the Crystal Empire. After the train arrives, three trumpets shout as Princess Cadence exits the train with two guards: a crystal pegasus pony and an orange pegasus, Flash Sentry. After a formal bow, Cadence giggles, assuring that as sisters-in-law, she and Twilight don’t need to be so formal with each other. Cadence sees the blue jay and goes to him. She smiles at him and says, “So, you must be the one I’ve been hearing about.”

Mordecai realized he hadn’t properly talked with her in the past, nor did he remember if he had spoken with her during Twilight’s coronation. He nervously chuckled and said, “Yeah, I guess I am.” Without missing a beat, Cadence hugs Mordecai, surprising him with her sudden action. She says, “It’s nice to meet the one who’s been making my sister-in-law so happy.” Mordecai breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that nothing terrible was coming from her. He says, “I do my best; my job has kept me busy, but I look forward to spending more time with her now.” Realization struck Twilight as he said this, and she said, “Actually, Mordecai, I think we’ll have to catch up later.” Surprised to hear this, Mordecai turns to her and says, “What? But you said you have some time now.” Twilight says, “Yes, and I also had made plans to spend time with Cadence. We haven’t spent time together without having some crazy situation that puts all of Equestria in danger.” After hearing this, Mordecai understood what Twilight meant by that, remembering her talking about what happened during the wedding and what she told him about what happened at the Crystal Empire sometime later. He nods to this and says, “I get it. I won’t get in the way if you already have plans with Cadence.”

Twilight smiled at him and hugged him. She said, “Thank you for understanding, Mordecai.” He hugged her and said, “No problem, Twilight. You told me how much Cadence means to you.” Seeing this display, Cadence had an idea and said, “Mordecai, since Twilight and I are going to spend some sisterly time together, why don’t you spend some quality time with Shining Armor?”

Hearing this, Mordecai says in confusion, “Huh?” Twilight’s eyes shined brightly, and she said, “That’s a great idea, Cadence! It will give them the chance to get to know each other better!” Mordecai laughed nervously and said, “Yeah, I’m sure we’ll get along.” He was about to board the train, but Twilight stopped him, declaring, “Hold on.” Mordecai looked at her in confusion, but before he could ask anything, she activated her horn and teleported a soda box in front of him. She said, “You left this case of soda last time. I’m sure Shining Armor won’t mind having some with you.” Mordecai picked up the case and said, “Thanks, Twilight.” Mordecai gets on the train with the guards, and the train leaves for the Crystal Empire.

The train ride to the Crystal Empire was quiet for the most part. Mordecai's only company was the crystal pegasus guard and the orange pegasus guard; he was sitting across from Mordecai, reading a book. To pass the time, Mordecai talked with the guard. He said, “That’s an interesting book you have there.” The pegasus looked up and looked at him in curiosity. He stated, “Oh, thank you. I’ve been reading it when I have free time. Princess Twilight told me about it recently in the Crystal Empire.”

After seeing the content look on his face, Mordecai didn’t say anything else, figuring he was enjoying the book and didn’t want to interrupt him. Unknown to the blue jay, Flash was looking at the portrait of one of the characters in the book.

He arrived in the Crystal Empire, and both guards led him to the Crystal Castle. Mordecai knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. After a few moments of waiting, the door opened, revealing Shining Armor. The guards saluted him, and they entered the castle; Mordecai, however, was standing in fear as Shining Armor glared at him. He then looks at the case in Mordecai’s hand. Catching this, Mordecai said, “I brought soda.” Shining Armor turned and said, “Good man. Come inside.” Mordecai breathed a sigh of relief and entered the castle.

Mordecai was speechless as he entered the Crystal Castle for the first time. The sight left him amazed. Upon reaching the throne room, Shining Armor was already seated on the throne, and Mordecai joined him. He opened the case of soda and took a can out. He offered it to Shining Armor and said, “This place is awesome.” Shining Armor smiled at Mordecai and took the can with his magic. Mordecai grabbed another can and opened it. The two drink their cans.

After taking his drink, Shining Armor said, “So, what brings you over, Mordecai?” Mordecai said, “It was Cadence’s idea after Twilight told me she planned a day for the two of them.” Shining Armor nodded to this and drank his soda. Mordecai said, “So, what has happened since the Crystal Empire returned?” Shining Armor said, “Well, we’ve been getting everyone acquainted with today’s time. After being sealed away for a thousand years, they have much catching up to do.” An idea crossed Shining Armor’s mind as he smirked, “That also includes training them for the upcoming Equestria Games.” Mordecai looked confused by this and asked, “The Equestria Games?” Shining Armor said, “Yeah, and I’m coaching the team for the event. Come on, I’ll show you.” The two left the throne room, and Shining Armor led Mordecai to the training grounds where his teams were gathered for training.

Getting into the stadium, Mordecai was amazed at how large it was. Seeing the look on his face, Shining Armor said, “We’re in talks to having the Crystal Empire host the Equestria Games. Hosting one after it has been gone for so long would be nice.” Mordecai said, “Hopefully, that works out for the Crystal Empire.” Mordecai watches Shining Armor train his team in many of the events in the Equestria Games. While doing the training sessions, Mordecai got bored sitting in the stands, something Shining Armor took notice of. He said, “Hey Mordecai, come on down for this event. Have a little fun.”

Mordecai goes down to the field and wonders what they will do next. Shining Armor then put a suit of armor on Mordecai, confusing him. He said, “What’s going on here?” Shining Armor said, “I’m training the team on doing some jousting, and I thought you’d have some fun with this one.” Hearing this, Mordecai said, “Jousting?!” Shining Armor gave him a lance and said, “All you have to do is hit the other pony on their shield, and if you manage to take them down, you win the round.” Mordecai felt slightly uncomfortable, considering the ponies were using the lance. He turned to Shining Armor and said, “So, I just charge at my opponent with the lance?” Shining Armor said, “Yeah, that’s it.”

Mordecai gulped as he remembered some key differences in the jousting he had seen, but rather than request to ride another pony, he’d do the jousting as is in Equestria. He takes his position, and one of the crystal ponies does the same. After giving the signal to start the joust, Mordecai ran as fast as he could, holding his lance up as his opponent did. Once they got close, Mordecai thrust his lance hard and hit his opponent in the shield, and to Shining Armor’s surprise, he sent his opponent flying. He said in amazement, “How the…?” The crystal ponies were impressed with his strength, and they all surrounded him, asking him questions ranging from whether he was a former competitor to tips on what he had just done.

Mordecai continued jousting with the crystal ponies. Some were getting hits on his shield, but he kept getting back up and delivered his hits on them. Not expecting this result, Shining Armor puts on his armor and surprises everyone as he becomes Mordecai’s next opponent. Mordecai says, “Dude, what are you doing?” Shining Armor said, “What does it look like? I’m your next opponent.” Mordecai said, “I thought you were coaching the teams right now.” Shining Armor smirked, “I gave them a break to watch the joust between us.” Mordecai gulps at hearing this, not wanting to face Shining Armor. The rest of the Crystal Ponies pushed Mordecai to go through with the match as they took their seats in the stands.

The guards heard about the match and stood at the entrance, ready to see what strength their ruler had. He wasn’t expecting everyone in the castle to be watching them, but Shining Armor did what he could to ignore the present crowd. As soon as Mordecai was set, he said, “Don’t you dare hold back on me, Mordecai, because I won’t.” Hearing this made Mordecai worry more, but he nodded in response in front of the crowd. The two charge at each other. As they get closer, Shining Armor thrusts his lance at Mordecai and strikes him in his shield plate, sending Mordecai flying. Mordecai coughed as he got back up. The crowd cheered as they witnessed Shining Armor’s display of strength, but he noticed they started cheering harder when they saw Mordecai get back up. Mordecai said, “I underestimated you, Shining Armor. I’m not going to make that mistake twice.”

Shining Armor had a serious look as Mordecai declared this but didn’t say anything as they both got back into position for another round. They charged at each other again, and as they got closer, Mordecai thrusts his lance hard, hitting Shining Armor’s shield plate, and sends him flying as he did to him. Shining Armor sees the dent in his plate, something he hasn’t had in a long time in past jousting matches. He gets back up, and the crowd cheers as they see these two getting ready for another round. This continued a number of times as the two showed off their strength to each other and the crowd, but despite how hard these hits were, both Mordecai and Shining Armor smiled at each other. The two were having fun together until they couldn’t get up again.

They breathed heavily. The crowd thought they would go again, but to their surprise, Mordecai and Shining Armor dropped their lances. Shining Armor said, “I think that’s enough of this round.” Mordecai said, “Yeah, I’ve had a lot of fun. We should do this again sometime.” Shining Armor smiled at this and grabbed his whistle, blowing it for the teams to return to the field for more training. Mordecai took his helmet off and wiped the sweat off. Shining Armor said, “Would you like to help me with coaching for today?” Surprised to hear this, Mordecai nodded in response and helped Shining Armor with the coaching.

With Mordecai’s help, the crystal ponies felt very confident in their jousting abilities, and their training for the Equestria Games had ended for the day. They left the stadium, leaving only Mordecai and Shining Armor alone. Mordecai took his helmet off and wiped the sweat off his head. He said, “Phew, that was fun.” Shining Armor turns to him and says, “How did you do that?” Mordecai turned to him and asked, “Do what?” Shining Armor said, “How did you manage to knock out all of the members of the jousting team, including me?” Mordecai said, “Well, let’s say that I have dealt with many problems at the Park, and I did tackle Death Bear in one of those incidents.”

Shining Armor said, “Death Bear? I think Twilight mentioned that before; I thought it sounded ridiculous. You actually did that?” Mordecai said, “Yeah, I was saving a friend.” Shining Armor said, “You’re previous girlfriend?” Mordecai was surprised to hear him say that, but he quickly played it off and said, “No, my best friend’s girlfriend.” Shining Armor was surprised to hear this but smiled at Mordecai’s selfless behavior.

After a shower from all of the training, Mordecai and Shining Armor were back in the Throne Room. The two had a can of soda each and took their drinks, just relaxing after a hard day’s work. Mordecai said, “What do you think Twilight and Cadence are up to?” Shining Armor said, “Knowing Twily, I would say…”

Before he could say anything, Shining Armor felt something hit him as if he were being questioned on a personal level. Mordecai noticed this and asked, “Is everything all right, dude?” Shining Armor said, “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” He made a mental note to talk with Cadence once she returned home. Mordecai shrugged it off and said, “Whatever they’re doing, I’m sure they must have enjoyed their sister day together.” Shining Armor nods to this and drinks his soda.

Shining Armor focuses on Mordecai and says, “So, Twily has told me you had a previous girlfriend before you two got together.” Surprised to hear this, Mordecai says, “What? She talked about that with you?” Shining Armor said, “Yeah, trust me, she was going through a very emotional time knowing you were in a relationship. She told me she was happy you got with this other girl, but I know her well enough to say that it tore her up inside.” Mordecai felt terrible hearing about Twilight’s feelings about his old relationship with Margaret.

He takes a deep breath and says, “Margaret was never my girlfriend. We dated, yes, but we were never an official couple.” Shining Armor stays quiet, knowing that this subject is sensitive, but he wants to gauge Mordecai’s real feelings between him and his sister. Mordecai says, “In the past, Twilight had always given me support, and she encouraged me to try and hook up with Margaret when no one else would; not even my best friend Rigby could do that. After I did, I figured she would have wanted to hear how things were going between us. I didn’t know it bothered her.”

Shining Armor said, “So if you and Margaret weren’t a couple, what happened?” Mordecai said, “I had made plans to make things official between me and Margaret, and I was all in. I took her to one of the restaurants in my hometown and asked her if she could be my girlfriend, but that same day, she told me she was accepted into her dream college. She gave me the news on our date, and after telling me she got accepted, she said she couldn’t be my girlfriend. She ran out crying on our date after that.” Shining Armor said, “That must have been rough.” Mordecai softly smiles and says, “It was at first, and it really messed me up at the time, but thankfully, Twilight helped me get past it.”

Shining Armor smiled and said, “That’s Twily for you; she’s always willing to help a friend in need.” Mordecai smiled sadly as he said this, something Shining Armor takes notice of. He says, “Is something wrong, Mordecai?” Mordecai says, “Sometimes I wonder if Twilight made a mistake.” Confused, Shining Armor asks, “What do you mean by that?” Mordecai says, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for Twilight and her new position as an alicorn, but compared to you, I’m nothing special.” Shining Armor is surprised to hear Mordecai’s answer.

Mordecai continues, “I was fortunate enough to call her my girlfriend, and even then, I felt like I didn’t deserve her after ignoring my true feelings for so long, especially now that you told me I was hurting her feelings from my old relationship. Now that she’s become a princess, I feel like I’m nothing and might be holding her back. How would an average guy like me be able to live up to her?”

Shining Armor initially thought Mordecai was a flaker and felt he was the worst kind of person Twilight could ever be with. After spending time with him, he found him to be great to be around; he has a selfless demeanor, and he’s stronger than he looks, so he knows that if his sister needed help, he could trust Mordecai to protect her, and after hearing him doubt his worthiness, he truly started seeing Mordecai differently.

He then remembers the countless times Twilight talked to him about Mordecai, highlighting his positives and saying he would get along with him. He stated, “Mordecai, I know this must be a lot to handle, but you’re emphasizing the whole royalty thing a little too much.” Mordecai rolled his eyes at this and thought as he drank the rest of his soda, “Says the captain of the royal guard.” Shining Armor said, “The truth is that when I asked Cadence to marry me, she didn’t care if I was a member of the Royal Guard, let alone the captain. She was probably more excited to have Twilight as her sister-in-law than anything.”

Hearing this, Mordecai looks at him in confusion and asks, “Seriously? That’s the reason?” Shining Armor said, “I know it might sound weird, but it did give me a one-up on all the stallions that were eyeing her back then.” Mordecai says, “In all the times Twilight talks about you, she never mentioned that part to me.” Shining Armor said, “Yeah, that’s what I told her after we handled the Changeling invasion.” Shining Armor sits beside Mordecai and says, “Twily talks about you non-stop, Mordecai. Outside of her friends, I haven’t seen her as happy as she was before she met you. You have made her happier than most ponies, especially when she went through an old, heart-breaking moment with her first crush. You are someone who thinks about her more than you think about yourself. You make her happy, and I know you would risk everything to keep her safe.” Mordecai smiles as he remembers everything he and Twilight have been through. Shining Armor says with a knowing smile, “You were with her before she became an alicorn. If anything, you’re very worthy of being with her, Mordecai.”

Mordecai takes what he says to heart, thankful to hear it from Shining Armor himself. After hearing him point out that he and Twilight started dating before her alicorn transformation, he remembers his promise to her when they became a couple: “You’ll never lose me, Twilight. I promise.” He smiles and says, “Thank you, Shining Armor.” Shining Armor smiles and says, “You’re welcome, brother.”

To say Mordecai was surprised to hear Shining Armor calling him ‘brother’ would be an understatement. However, before anything else could be said between them, Twilight and Cadance arrived and entered the castle. Behind them was Discord in a magic bubble, green and covered in spots. Mordecai said, “What’s Discord doing here, and why does he look sick?” Twilight had an annoyed look on her face and said, “It’s a long story.” Discord laughed nervously at the remark and sneezed in the bubble.

With it being so late in the day and Discord faking his illness earlier, Twilight was too tired to return to Ponyville; Mordecai, having some time off work, chose to stay and keep Twilight company. Shining Armor and Cadence offered one of the rooms for them to stay the night, which they happily accepted. After the stunt he pulled, Discord was placed in another room. Twilight was not in any mood to talk to him. He tried to protest his sleeping arrangement, but Twilight gave him a glare that scared Discord so he wouldn’t protest. Mordecai was also reeling from the glare she still had as she slammed the door to Discord’s room. After closing the door to their room, Twilight sits on the bed and rubs her head. She says, “He faked being sick and ruined my day with Cadence.”

Mordecai sat beside her and said, “I’m sorry to hear that Twilight.” Twilight sighed and said, “Cadence insists that she still had a good time, but I’m not sure if she said that just to get under Discord’s skin.” Mordecai thought it over and said, “I can see that; he’d deserve it with the stunt he pulled but has Cadence ever been known to lie to you?” Twilight said, “Well, no.” Mordecai said, “Then she enjoyed her time with you. I know you enjoy making plans and sticking with them no matter what, but sometimes, it’s good not to have a plan. I wasn’t expecting to spend time with Shining Armor, but I still had a good time.” Twilight smiled at this, thankful that Mordecai had a good day. She wrapped her forelegs around him and said, “Thank you, Mordecai.”

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. The two started nodding off with how relaxed they felt, their busy days catching up with them. They lay in bed together and fell asleep, embracing each other.

Twilight and Mordecai woke up the following day and were ready to return to Ponyville. Twilight used her teleportation spell on Discord's magic bubble to send him back to Ponyville. Shining Armor showed them out of the castle, and Twilight took notice and asked, “Where’s Cadence? I wanted to tell her goodbye before leaving.” Shining Armor said, “Don’t worry about Cadence; she’s…very tired, but I’ll tell her for you, Twily.” Twilight missed the context and said, “She did have to use an anti-sickness barrier most of the day yesterday. It would make sense.” The tidbit might have flown over Twilight’s head, but because of his friendship with Muscle Man, Mordecai caught what Shining Armor was saying, knowing full well that he and Cadence had their own “plans” the previous night.

Before the moment could get awkward, the train heading to Ponyville had arrived. Twilight and Shining Armor hugged each other, with him saying, “I’ll see you at your wedding, Twily.” She smiled and said, “We’ll see you then, B.B.B.F.F.” They separated from the hug, and she boarded the train, waiting for Mordecai. He said, “It’s been great hanging out with you, Shining Armor; we’ll be...” Shining Armor hugged him before he could finish his sentence, catching Mordecai off guard. Shining Armor said, “Take care of her, brother.” He smiled and returned the hug, declaring, “You know I will, brother. We’ll see you at the wedding.” After separating from the hug, he boarded the train, and he and Twilight gave Shining Armor a final wave as the train departed for Ponyville.

The train ride back home was quiet between the couple, Twilight was still bummed that her day with Cadence didn’t go according to her plans, but she smiled, knowing that, despite Discord’s shenanigans, she still enjoyed the day. She rested her head on Mordecai’s shoulder, still emotionally tired and silently enjoying the ride. Eyes closed, she asks, “So you and Shining Armor had a good time yesterday?” Mordecai said, “Yeah, we had a great time.” She smiles from hearing this and says, “I’m glad the two of you got along. It means so much to me that you did.”

Mordecai smiles as she says this, and he sees she has fallen asleep on his shoulder. He wraps his arm around her, not saying anything, as he rests his head on hers and falls asleep. He knows the train ride will take time, and he is too comfortable to stay awake.

The train pulls into Ponyville, waking up Mordecai and Twilight as they feel the train come to a stop. After waking up and stretching, they got off their seat and exited the train. As soon as they were off the train, the paparazzi started taking pictures of the couple, and they bombarded them with questions about the engagement. Hearing them repeat their questions, Mordecai got mad as they made Twilight uncomfortable. He intervenes and says, “Yes, Twilight is engaged, and I am her fiancé.” He shows his wedding band to them to confirm the rumors they have heard.

Despite the confirmed rumor, some of these paparazzi ponies asked more questions, some relating to the wedding date, while some would ask personal questions about their love life. These questions made Mordecai blush, and he said, “That’s none of your business, and we won’t be taking any more questions from you.” They continued to push questions, but to his word, Mordecai refused to answer any of them. Twilight activates her horn and teleports them away from the paparazzi. They returned to the Golden Oak Library and slammed the door on the paparazzi as they continued to follow them.

While the paparazzi continue to harass Mordecai and Twilight, Discord appears behind the group of ponies and says, “What’s all this about?” The ponies turned to the source of the voice and saw the ill-ridden draconequus. He says, “I’m pretty sure they just answered your questions, so you should write what you already have rather than hound them for more questions they don’t want to answer. It would be best to leave them alone before…before…” Discord tries to finish what he wants to say, but instead, he sneezes on some of the ponies, and they catch his illness, causing the unaffected ponies to run away as fast as they can. Mordecai and Twilight see this through the window, and he says, “Consider that as my apology for yesterday.” Twilight says, “Apology accepted. Now go back to Fluttershy before you get another pony sick.”

He nods in response and immediately disappears, returning to Fluttershy for treatment. Mordecai says, “He can be very annoying most of the time, but he can be a good friend when needed.” Twilight says, “Yeah, most of the time.” The two go to the living room and sit down together. Mordecai notices all of the dates and wedding ideas circled. He scratches the back of his head and says, “Oh yeah, we still haven’t figured this out just yet.” Twilight blushes as she realizes she forgot to put these away before heading out for her day with Cadence. She said, “I’m sorry, Mordecai, I did a lot of the planning and talked with Rarity about the wedding dress, the catering, and everything.” Mordecai said, “You’re fine, Twilight; I had a feeling you would do a lot of the planning.”

Twilight says, “The only thing I didn’t figure out was the date for our wedding.” Mordecai looks at her in surprise as she reveals this to him. He thinks it over himself, knowing that they didn’t have a chance to talk about it, but he is willing to throw an idea out that he thought would be a good idea. He said, “Well…what if we did the wedding on Hearts and Hooves Day?” Twilight looked at him in confusion and asked, “Why Hearts and Hooves Day?” A thought crosses her mind as a sly grin appears on her face. She teases him, saying, “Is it because you want a day you won’t forget our anniversary?”

Mordecai blushes as he realizes that and says, “Not exactly. It was around that time when we first met.” Twilight’s grin was wiped off her face as he said this, and she looked at him, wondering where he was going with this. He continues, “Remember when you saved Rigby and me from those unicorns?” She nods her head in response, not saying a word. He says, “A lot of things changed for me that day. I no longer had any issues with unicorns. I made a new friend, and shortly after, it was Valentine’s Day for us, and I got you a gift.” Twilight smiled as she remembered his gift, a simple box of chocolates and a necklace, but it was the first Valentine’s Day gift she had gotten. Mordecai smiles as he sees her blushing face and continues, “The moment I saw your smile, I knew I had fallen for you.”

Twilight couldn't help but cry as she remembered that day. The thought of that being the day he started loving her hit her so hard emotionally. She wipes her tears, thinking, “How did I get so lucky to have such a wonderful fiancé like you, Mordecai?” Twilight kisses him on the cheek and says, “Hearts & Hooves Day is the perfect day for our wedding." He smiles at her answer and says, “All right, I’ll go back to the Park and tell everyone we have a date set.”

After saying their goodbyes, Mordecai takes the Golf Cart and leaves Ponyville, making his return to the Park.

Time passed as Mordecai and Twilight were getting things ready for their wedding, and the hustle and bustle of the holidays had come up. Rigby tells Mordecai about a Christmas party Eileen was throwing at her place. Seeing nothing wrong with the idea at first, Mordecai agrees to go to the party. He saw a hesitant look on Eileen’s face as if she had something else to add. Curiosity getting the better of him, Mordecai asks, “Is something wrong, Eileen?” She said, “The second thing I wanted to tell you was that Margaret will be there.”

Hearing this, Mordecai’s old feelings for Margaret flooded his memories. He started to panic over the news. Rigby sees this and shakes his head, “Mordecai! What’s with you?” Mordecai says, “Margaret is going to the party.” Not seeing why it’s a problem, Rigby says, “So?” Mordecai looks at him dumbfounded and says, “What if something happens?” Rigby rolls his eyes at this and says, “You’re making a bigger deal out of this than you need to. Isn’t Twilight going to be there?” Mordecai says, “No, she’s doing the Heath’s Warming Eve play with her friends. I told her I’d be over once I was done with Christmas here.”

Rigby sees the problem now, saying, “Oh, that’s not good. But even if she were here, you know you’re engaged to her, and anything with Margaret shouldn’t matter anymore.” Mordecai says, “I know, it’s just, remember when I said I don’t have feelings for her anymore, but I do in a way?” Rigby says, “Yeah, I remember you saying that.” Mordecai says, “It’s not romantic feelings; it’s just a part of me that still remembers those days, and, well… it’s hard for me to describe.”

Hearing what Mordecai said, Eileen understood what he was trying to say and said, “It sounds like you want closure with Margaret.” Mordecai and Rigby look at her in surprise, forgetting she is still there. Eileen says, “Sorry for eavesdropping, but I know what you’re going through, and it’s unresolved feelings, Mordecai. If you want to get past this, you must talk things out with Margaret, and you’ll feel better about yourself. If you don’t, this could carry over into your other relationships, and if you’re engaged, that’s the last thing you need to put your partner through.”

Mordecai lets what Eileen says sink in, knowing that deep down, he wants closure over his past relationship, especially since they never stayed in touch after they broke up. He says, “You’re right, Eileen; I’ll talk with her tonight and put this away for good.”

After their break at the coffee shop, the rest of the day seemed to have dragged on, making it feel longer than Mordecai would have liked. His nerves got to him as he thought about how he would talk with Margaret, but no matter how much he thought about it, the worst-case scenario would always pop up with something happening to where the wedding with Twilight would be called off. He thought about not attending the party with each thought that crossed his mind and fear of losing Twilight.

Mordecai imagines his wedding day as he wears his suit, ensuring everything is ready as he looks over his reflection. Rigby opens the door and says, “It’s almost time Mordecai.” Mordecai ties his bowtie and replies, “Alright, I’m about ready myself. See you out there in a minute.” With the door closed Mordecai finished getting his tie on and took a deep breath before leaving the room.

He walks down the hallway, ready to marry Twilight, and as he approaches the entry to the church, he sees Margaret in her fancy dress as she enters the church. She looks at him with a smile and approaches him.

Margaret smiles, “Hey Mordecai, you look very handsome.”

Mordecai felt a sudden wave of discomfort as Margaret complimented him, causing him to stammer and struggle to find the right words to say to her. As he grappled with his unease, he suddenly realized that Margaret was standing remarkably close to him. Without warning, she enveloped him in a warm embrace, her arms encircling his neck as she gazed at him with a sense of longing and affection.

As he stood there, still processing the situation, Margaret leaned in and kissed his lips unexpectedly. The suddenness of the gesture left him momentarily stunned, and as he tried to gather his thoughts, he heard a sharp gasp echoing from down the hallway, indicating that they were not alone at that moment.

Things go from bad to worse. Mordecai spots Twilight in her wedding dress, and she is shocked as she sees him and Margaret kissing. He breaks the kiss and says, "Twilight, it's not what it looks like! I swear!"

Before he could get another word out, he sees the look on Twilight’s face as she cries in front of him saying, “Were you ever over Margaret?” Mordecai was surprised by the question, causing him to pause and hesitate before responding, but this moment of hesitation was enough for Twilight to take it as his answer and she tearfully teleports out of sight, leaving her wedding ring behind.

Mordecai feels his heartbreak as he sees the wedding ring on the ground, and he falls to his knees in despair, knowing that he messed up for not being honest with himself about his feelings for Margaret and ultimately hurting Twilight in the end.

Rigby walks into the bathroom and sees Mordecai having a nervous breakdown, muttering nervously about each scenario that crossed his mind. Mordecai holds his head and says, “What if Margaret still has feelings for me? What if Twilight finds out? What if she thinks I still have feelings for Margaret? She definitely would cancel the wedding for that. Maybe I shouldn’t go to the party.” Rigby rolls his eyes as he hears this and storms into the bathroom.

He grabs him and slaps Mordecai across the face, snapping him out of his episode. Surprised by this, he says, “Dude! What was that for?!” Rigby says, “For Twilighting!” Not expecting to hear that, Mordecai looks at Rigby in confusion and says, “Wait, what?” Rigby says, “You know how you ‘Pull a Mordecai’? Twilighting is pretty much in the same context. You both overreact to the smallest things, so it's easy to say that you two were made for each other.” Hearing this and feeling insulted, Mordecai said, “I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult.”

Rigby says, “Take it however you want, but you’re obviously overlooking something important. You love Twilight, don’t you?” Mordecai said, “Of course I do.” Rigby interrupted him, saying, “Then you should know that you need to man up and get that closure with Margaret that Eileen was talking about. The last thing you need is “what ifs” at the altar with Twilight.”

Mordecai took in what Rigby said. He realized that having doubts at the altar, saying the wrong name, or facing that misunderstanding that crossed his mind would surely ruin the wedding. He leaves the bathroom and says, “Thanks, Rigby, I needed that.” Rigby said with a smirk, “Hmm-hmm.”

As Eileen told them to dress in, Mordecai and Rigby arrived at the party dressed in ugly Christmas sweaters. The party was good at first. Mordecai was having fun with his friends and getting congratulations on his engagement after the guests took notice of his engagement ring. After a while of partying, Margaret arrived at the party, and Mordecai’s nervousness kicked in. He tries to avoid eye contact with her, but to no avail, as she spotted him immediately.

Mordecai does everything he can to avoid Margaret, feeling as though the time isn’t right to talk with her, but deep down, he knows he is delaying the inevitable. The disco ball Eileen had for the party started to malfunction as one of the partygoers accidentally knocked it over and into the punch bowl. Mordecai tries to fix it, but he sees Margaret’s hand reaching for the disco ball, making the moment awkward between them. Before Mordecai could retreat, he stopped himself and thought, “No! It’s now or never. Talk with her and get this over with.” He turned toward Margaret and said, “Hey, Margaret.” She smiled and said, “Hey, Mordecai.”

The two cleaned off the disco ball as best as possible but unknowingly turned the lights on. It was so bright that Mordecai and Margaret shielded their eyes from the brightness, dropping the ball, and the reflection setting went off. Seeing multiple reflections of Margaret, Mordecai takes the disco ball to a different room and tries to turn off the setting. While he is trying to fix the disco ball, Margaret goes into the room with Mordecai and says, “Mordecai, do you have a minute?” He says, “Not now, Margaret, I’m trying to take care of something.” She says, “Mordecai, please. It feels like you have been avoiding me the whole time.” Mordecai stopped working on the disco ball as she said this and said, “Can you blame me? The last time we talked, you broke up with me.”

Hearing him say this, Margaret knew this would be a sensitive topic, but there was no avoiding it now. She said, “Mordecai, I know things didn’t end the way we wanted them to, but we did have good times together. Didn’t we?” Mordecai took a deep breath and said, “I know we did, and I knew you wanted to go to college. We talked about that while we were dating. I knew it would happen. I just wasn’t expecting it to happen when we were getting close to each other.” When hearing this, Margaret had a sad smile and said, “For what it’s worth, I enjoyed our time together.”

After talking with Margaret, Mordecai remembers their time together and feels his leftover emotions from how things were between them. He remembered when they hung out at the coffee shop, inviting her and Eileen to go camping with him and Rigby, going on their dates. It was all happy memories until he remembered what was considered the worst day of his life, the day they broke up.

The events played out with him remembering when she told him she got accepted into her dream college after he asked her to be his girlfriend. He remembers how hard it was seeing her run out of the restaurant crying as she rejected him and how devastating that moment was, but then he starts thinking about Twilight as she helped him overcome his depression and broken heart, leaving him with a smile. Margaret initially thought he was reminiscing about their relationship, and as she remembered her feelings for him, she closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss Mordecai.

Mordecai, snapping out of his road down memory lane, sees what Margaret is trying to do, and he stops her from kissing him, catching her by surprise. He was surprised to see Margaret do this, and he felt anger coming to him. He set the disco ball on the table and left the room without saying another word. Seeing the look on his face, Margaret instantly regretted what she had done and started chasing after Mordecai so she could try to talk with him.

Rigby sees Mordecai and says, “Hey Mordecai. Enjoying the party?” Mordecai says, “Yeah, I did. I had so much fun. In fact, I had so much fun, I will be calling it a night right now.” He leaves a confused Rigby behind. He starts understanding the situation as he and Eileen see Margaret chase after Mordecai.

Mordecai walks down the street, trying his best to calm himself down. He hears Margaret calling his name and stops as they reach the Park. He turned to her, still angry about what had happened at the party. She said, “Mordecai, I’m sorry. It’s just…” Mordecai cuts her off and says, “Did you think I was going to wait for you, Margaret? Do you really think I’m that pathetic?” She quickly says, “No, Mordecai, it’s not that. It’s just…” She trails off, not knowing what to do in this situation. Mordecai crossed his arms and sharply said, “Just what?” Margaret takes a deep breath and says, “It’s just that I still have feelings for you, Mordecai. It has been on my mind since I got to college. I thought about everything we did and everything we’ve been through, and if I had a chance to do things differently, I would. I never intended to hurt you the way I did. The hurt I saw from you has been something I’ve been keeping to myself this whole time, and it pains me that I’m the one who caused that.” She was on the verge of crying as she said this, putting more perspective on Mordecai's situation as he now understands why she didn’t talk with him during their time apart.

He calms down from his initial anger and says, “Look, Margaret, I appreciate you being honest with me, and I’m flattered that I left that kind of impression on you, but that time of our lives is in the past. Like I said, I moved on after our breakup, and I’m now engaged.” Surprised to hear this, Margaret said, “You’re engaged? Now, I feel terrible for trying to make that kind of move.” Mordecai waved it off and said, “It’s all right. I should have mentioned it sooner.” Margaret asks, “Who’s the lucky girl?” Mordecai said, “Twilight.” Margaret did a double take hearing the name and said, “Twilight? As in Twilight Sparkle?”

Margaret said, “I thought she and Discord were a thing.” Mordecai laughed at the comment and said, “No, they’re just friends. I was there recently, and he kinda pissed her off with ruining her day with Cadance.” Margaret said, “Oh yeah, the princess her brother married.” Mordecai said, “Oh yeah, that reminds me, Twilight has also become a new princess in Equestria.” Surprised by this, Margaret said, “She is?! How did that happen?” Mordecai said, “Something about her creating new magic. I haven’t really figured it out, but because of it, she has become an Alicorn.”

Margaret said, “So if you and Twilight get married, wouldn’t that make you the new prince of Equestria?” The title never crossed his mind, but he was surprised to have that brought up, and he said, “Oh yeah, I guess it does. I didn’t think about that at all.” He checked his phone and saw the time. He said, “Shoot! I didn’t think it was that late already. I promised Twilight I’d be in Ponyville after I finish Christmas here.” Margaret said, “Don’t let me keep you waiting. Have a safe trip to Ponyville.” He hugged her and said, “Thank you, Margaret.” He let her go and went to get the Golf Cart. He leaves the Park and makes his way to Ponyville.

Margaret walks through the snow, feeling better about her talk with Mordecai. She says, “I can’t believe he and Twilight will be getting married. I knew he liked her, but that’s still surprising.” She returns to enjoy the rest of the party and unpacks her belongings at Eileen’s house. She realized she forgot to tell Mordecai she was moving in with Eileen but figured she’d tell him another time.

Author's Note

Here's chapter 3 of my side project.

Chapter 1

It was past noon in Ponyville, and we saw Mordecai in a jewelry store. He stood over the glass, looking at each of the rings with great thought and examining each one. While looking at the rings, his companion, Rigby, had been completely bored in the corner near the door.

He groaned in frustration and said, “Dude, how long does it take to get a lousy ring?”

Mordecai paid no attention to him as he continued to look at the rings, causing the raccoon to groan again. Rigby says in frustration, “This! Sucks!” The duo had been in the jewelry store for the past half hour, and it had gotten to Rigby with each passing second. Eventually, Mordecai found the right ring.

He looked at the jeweler and said, “How much for this ring?”

After making their purchase, Mordecai and Rigby left the store, got on the cart, and drove off. While driving, Mordecai noticed Rigby’s dissatisfied look.

He turned to him and said, “What, dude?”

Rigby said, “You’re turning more and more into a girl with each passing day.”

Aggravated by this, Mordecai said, “How is getting a proposal ring ‘girly’? It just says I want to take the big step with the right girl, or in this case…the right pony.”

Rigby said, “Yeah, but still, isn’t it too small for her hoof?”

Mordecai said, “Maybe for other ponies, but it’s not for her hoof; it’s for her horn. Twilight told me about her brother’s wedding and that he and his wife wear rings on their horns.”

Confusion crossed his mind, and he said, “Brother?” It took Rigby a moment to remember as realization hit him, and he said, “Oh, right! I completely forgot about him. Wouldn’t he kill you for trying to marry his sister?”

Mordecai said, “No, Shining Armor and I are cool. Even Twilight’s parents are okay with me and blessed me to marry her.”

While they continued their drive back to the park, Mordecai started reminiscing the day he and Twilight began dating.

Hours after the incident on the mountain, we see Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson lying in hospital beds. Both Mordecai and Benson had just gotten out of surgery from their injuries, while Rigby was given ice chips to suck on to reduce the swelling from the poison ivy he had in his mouth earlier.

Mordecai groaned and started waking up. He took in his surroundings and saw that he was in a hospital room. He almost forgot why he was in the room but instantly remembered, thanks to the sharp pain in his back, reminding him that it was broken while he was on his trip on the mountain with Rigby and Benson. Looking to his side, he saw the lavender pony resting at his bedside.

Surprised by this, he said weakly, “Twilight?”

Twilight instantly woke up after hearing his voice. She smiled when she saw him awake, and before he could ask her what was wrong, she nuzzled the side of his head, causing him to blush. She wanted to hug him but didn’t want to risk aggravating his injured back.

She pulled away and said, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Still lost for words, Mordecai tried to form a question and said, “Wha-…but…how did-?”

She interrupted him, saying, “Pops came by and told me what happened.” She continued, “I was worried about the three of you, but hearing about your injury really worried me.”

He felt touched by this and had the urge to caress her face and wipe the tears that were threatening to come down, but because of how sore he felt and having a back brace on, he couldn’t properly move. She saw what he was trying to do, and like the last time, she nuzzled the side of his face again. Mordecai returned the affection and said, “I’m sorry for worrying you.”

Getting back on topic with how the injury happened, Twilight asked, “What were you three doing out in the mountains anyway?”

Mordecai lightly chuckled and said, “Pops wanted Benson to show that he could trust me and Rigby rather than think we can’t be trusted.”

Twilight looked at him with the blankest stare she could muster, knowing his and Rigby’s antics all too well after spending so much time with them. The look she was giving him practically said that the reasons were obvious and justified for Benson. He looked at her and said, “I know we screw things up, but not all of them were on purpose. But I guess because of those times, Benson couldn’t trust us, even with the blindness he got from those bee stings. It had to take him walking into a sacred animal burial ground and us being chased by those spirits for him to trust us.”

Twilight shook her head and chuckled at the story. She smiled, “You guys go through the weirdest things.”

Mordecai lightly shrugged and said, “No argument here.”

To speed up his recovery, Twilight casts a recovery spell on Mordecai. In that instant, Mordecai felt the pain go away. Surprised, He looked at her and said, “I didn’t know you knew recovery spells.” Twilight said, “I do plenty of reading; I was bound to find them. I’d still take it easy for a few days; I wouldn’t want you hurting your back again.” Mordecai nodded in response, taking what she said to heart. As she was getting ready to leave, he said, “Twilight, before you go, would you like to go on a date sometime?” Mordecai didn’t know what made him bold enough to ask Twilight on a date, but he felt this was as good a time as any. She smiled at him and said, “When your back isn’t sore anymore, I’d love to.”

After she left the room, Mordecai let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “So, you finally asked her out.” The sudden voice caught Mordecai off guard. He turned around and saw that Benson was awake. He smiled, “It’s about time you asked her.” As Mordecai looked at him, he saw that the swelling from the bee stings was lessened. Mordecai asked, “Did you know she was here?” Benson said, “Yes, she was here for hours. She was worried sick about you.” As he said this, Mordecai noticed that Benson was pointing at him. He said, “I take it that she also used a healing spell on you.” Benson said, “Well, yeah. She wanted to make sure that she used it correctly, and I volunteered to be the one for her to use it on first.” Curious, Mordecai asked, “She didn’t help Rigby?” Benson said, “She didn’t need to. He sucked on enough ice chips to reduce the swelling he had from the poison ivy. Plus, he wasn’t as hurt as we were.”

One year has passed since then, and they have been inseparable since their first date. Mordecai couldn’t have been happier with his time with Twilight. They had gone to the movies near the park, had picnics in Equestria, went to fancy restaurants, danced, and read some books at her home; it didn’t matter what they did together; they enjoyed being around each other more than anything. As he said, Mordecai was fortunate to be on good terms with Twilight’s parents and had heard funny stories from them when she was a filly, such as dressing in a classic princess gown on her first day as Princess Celestia’s student. Revelations like these embarrassed her to no end, but Mordecai thought it was cute.

During this time, Mordecai introduced Twilight to his parents as well. Mordecai had nothing to worry about with his dad. However, he still felt embarrassed because of what he thought his mom would say to Twilight, especially during his childhood, considering that she has tapes of those moments recorded on one tape named “Mordy Moments.” As he thought it over, he realized that he had gone through this with Twilight’s parents, and even if her embarrassing moments were tamed compared to his, they were still embarrassing for her. He figured that since he heard Twilight’s stories, it would only be fair if she listened to his stories, no matter how awkward they might be.

Before meeting her, his parents were happy that Mordecai had a girlfriend; upon meeting her, they adored Twilight as if she were their daughter. They liked that she was very astute and kind-hearted, and what they liked the most about Twilight was that she treated their son with so much love and respect; his mom even told him she was a real cutie. The compliment made Twilight blush in appreciation, while Mordecai himself blushed in embarrassment and that his mom was right about her being a cutie.

After spending enough time with them, which was within the same day, his mom said, “Twilight is a real keeper, Mordecai.” He said, “Thanks, Mom; I’m glad you and Dad like her.” She smiled at this and winked, “Just let me know when the wedding will happen.” This caused both Mordecai and Twilight to blush, as, at that time, neither of them thought about marriage… or at least one of them did.

Three days passed after getting the ring, and Mordecai felt confident by asking Twilight the question. He entered the kart and put the engagement ring box into the glove compartment. Mordecai had planned how he wanted to do this, but one of the things he was having trouble with was that he and Rigby were still banned from Carrey O’Key’s Karaoke. Twilight asked about it when she and Mordecai were on their last date.

Mordecai and Twilight had just finished watching a movie at the park. When it comes to dating, even though they enjoy other dating activities, these two are very into watching movies together, and Twilight enjoyed watching them at the Park with Mordecai. They watched many genres, from Adventure movies to Fantasy movies, Superhero movies, Action movies, and a couple of horror movies, but this time, they had just watched a musical.

After finishing the film, Twilight remembered an old conversation she and Mordecai had. She turned to him and asked, “Hey Mordecai, did you once say something about there being a karaoke place in town?” Surprised by the question, he said, “Yeah…it was Carrey O’Key’s Karaoke. It’s a pretty good place.” Twilight looked him in the eyes and asked, “Can we go there on the next date?” He was hesitant in his response. He didn’t tell her he was banned from the karaoke bar, and he and Rigby caused a fight to break out when they last went over to destroy the tape that would have caused much trouble with the Park workers. He said the first thing that popped into his head, “Sure…it sounds fun.”

Thankful for hearing this, Twilight hugged Mordecai and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. She said goodbye and told him she was looking forward to next weekend. Mordecai groaned in frustration after seeing the brief flash of Twilight’s magic appear and disappear out the window. He put his head in his palms and asked aloud, “What did I just do?” “You just promised a date to a place you’re still banned from.” The voice caught Mordecai by surprise. He turned and saw Rigby standing by the doorway. Rigby asked, “How are you going to fix this?”

The next day, Mordecai talked with Rocky over the phone. The two have been close with each other, given how often they hang out with Twilight. He told her about how he and Twilight were going to a karaoke bar on their next date. Rocky thinks it’s a great idea until Mordecai tells her he’s been banned from this only karaoke bar in town for a while now.

Rocky asked, “Why’d you get banned? Did you create a fight? Destroyed the place?” Mordecai said, “No, none of those things or anything you might think happened. The fight happened AFTER I was banned. The owner of Carrey O’Key’s Karaoke banned Rigby and me because we wanted to get a videotape back from him, and before you ask, no, I won’t go into the details on what was on that tape.” Disappointed that he beat her to a barrage of questions, Rocky said, “Aww, come on! That’s no fun at all.”

Thinking it over, Rocky then asks, “Was there a reason he didn’t want to give you the tape back?” Mordecai said, “He wanted to keep it for a promotional thing for the karaoke bar.” Rocky then asks, “Did he have you and Rigby sign a Video Release form?” Mordecai said, “No, we didn’t sign any paperwork. Why?” Rocky said, “Because, by law, any owner using the footage should have people sign a release form, ESPECIALLY when the people on the video are the focus of the promotion. Without that, there’s no real reason for him to deny your and Rigby’s request to return that tape.” Mordecai says, “It doesn’t matter. We destroyed our copy of the tape and his tape, and that was the only time he asked to use the video.” Surprised by this, Rocky asks, “That’s it? If so, you can take these measures into a lawsuit. There is no paperwork or footage proving he can use the tape. That’s more than enough to say that he has no grounds to keep you banned at all.”

Realization hit Mordecai like a ton of bricks as he saw he could fight this problem more manageably than he had thought. He said, “You’re right, Rocky! Thanks for your help; I got a phone call to make now!” Rocky says, “Anytime, Mordecai, and enjoy your date with Twilight.” The two hung up after this, as Mordecai now sees this as a chance to fix a problem. He looks through the phone book and finds a number. He dials the number and gets in touch with a lawyer.

Mordecai goes to Carrey O’Key’s Karaoke by himself and confronts the owner. The owner sees him and instantly glares at him, wondering what he’s doing here. Mordecai didn’t let the glare faze him. He walked up to him and said, “Carrey O’Key.” Carrey says, “What do you want?” Mordecai rolls his eyes at the rude comment and says, “Nice to see you too. How’s business treating you?” Carrey says, “Just dandy, why do you ask?” Mordecai says, “I have plans with my girlfriend, and she wants to come here later this week for our next date.” Carrey interrupted him and said, “There’s a problem with that. You and your friend are still banned from my place.” Mordecai figured that he would be stubborn about this. He pressed on and asked, “On what grounds?” Carrey says, “How about the fact that you tried to take my tape, or how about the fight you caused? I’m thankful I’m still in business despite that mishap.” Mordecai says, “All of that could have been avoided if you had just given me the tape to begin with.” Carrey said, “It doesn’t matter. You gave me the right to use the video, so the ban stands.”

Mordecai shakes his head at this and says, “I didn’t want it to come to this, but you leave me no choice. Hey, lawyer dude, you can come out now.” As he said this, a yellow-skinned man came from behind the tree Mordecai was at earlier. He approached the duo and said, “ Hello, Lionel Hutz, semi-retired attorney.” Carrey looks on in confusion and says, “Lionel Hutz? Aren’t you that incompetent lawyer from Springfield?” Lionel says, “Maybe in my earlier days, but I’ve been studying law practice, and I know what I’m doing.” Carrey gives him a doubtful look, just waiting for Lionel to fail.

Lionel proceeds and says, “My client Mordecai here has run this situation with me, and I got to say, your reasons for banning him and his friend are unjust. My client tells me that he requested a video featuring him and his friend from you, and to my understanding, you refused to return it.” Carrey interrupts and says, “They gave me permission to use the footage; I had them make the promise on tape.” Lionel says, “Can I see this tape?” Carrey was hesitant about the request and said, “What?” Lionel presses on and says, “This tape that you claim my client had given his permission for it to be used. Can I see it?” Carrey starts sweating and says, “Uh…you see, about that.” Lionel interrupts him and says, “You don’t have the tape, do you?” Carrey says, “Well…I don’t physically have it.” Lionel turns to Mordecai and asks, “Do you have a copy of this tape?” Mordecai says, “No, it was destroyed in an accident at home.” He didn’t want to admit that Rigby intentionally destroyed the tape to keep Pops, Benson, and Skips from seeing them trash them on the video. Intentional or not, the tape was destroyed and disposed of long ago.

Lionel asks them, “Were they the only tapes with this?” While Carrey didn’t want to admit it, Mordecai nodded to the question. “Okay, so no tape documenting this promise. Did you have them sign a Video Release form?” Carrey couldn’t look him in the eye when asked this; he already knows where this is going. Carrey reluctantly says, “No, there’s no release form.” Lionel says, “So no tape and no paperwork. This will be the easiest case I’ll ever have. Mr. O’Key, I could easily take this to court, and you would lose miserably. However, my client has one request to have this lawsuit dropped, and that’s to have the ban placed on him and his friend lifted.”

Carrey O’Key was being stubborn as he continued not to look at either of them. Feeling confident, Lionel says, “So, what will it be? You could either take this to court, knowing full well that you won’t win, your business will likely be shut down, and I’ll see to it that you’ll NEVER run another business for as long as you live, or you could avoid this and allow my client to take part in your karaoke bar once again. We’ll pretend that this never happened if you lift the ban. It’s your choice.”

Carrey glares at Mordecai, feeling stubborn over the position he’s in, but at the same time, he knows that he’d be out of business if this did go to court. He says, “Mordecai…” He paused momentarily but continued with a sigh of defeat and said, “…you and your friend are no longer banned from here.” Mordecai felt relieved to hear this. Carrey continues, “As a token of my apology, I will let you sing any amount of songs per visit for free for one year.” After saying this, he went inside the building; nothing else was said; he knew he had lost to Mordecai.

Lionel releases a sigh of relief and says, “I didn’t think he’d take my threat so seriously.” Mordecai asks, “Wait, you expected him to take the lawsuit?” Lionel says, “No, that wasn’t what I was getting at. Had he pursued a lawsuit, it would have been an open-and-shut case because the tapes were destroyed, and there was no paperwork to back up his claim. It feels good to be on the winning side of this situation for once.”

Mordecai says, “Thanks again for your help. What do I owe you?” Lionel raises a hand and says, “Don’t worry about it now. I’ll bill you later. Just pop the question to your girlfriend on the date.” Mordecai shook his hand, nodded, and said, “I will.”

After a whole week of waiting, the day he had been waiting for finally arrived. Mordecai kept telling himself he was ready for this, but his nerves started getting to him. Thankfully, he could put aside these thoughts as he picked up Twilight for their date. He was outside her tree home, still a nervous wreck, but he proceeded. He knocked on the door and waited patiently for his girlfriend. The entrance to the house started to open, catching Mordecai’s attention. As the door opened, Mordecai was greeted by Spike instead.

The baby dragon says, “Hey, Mordecai.” Mordecai greets Spike with a fist bump as he enters the tree house and says, “Hey Spike, how’ve you been?” Spike says, “I’ve been doing good. Twilight will be down soon; she wants to look good for you.” He closes the door after saying this. Mordecai nods to this; he’s not in a rush, so there is nothing to complain about. Wanting to do a little small talk, Spike says, “Twilight and I visited her parents a couple of days ago.”

Mordecai asked, “How’d that go?” Spike shrugs and says, “It was a good visit; it’s always nice visiting them when we get the time. They talked with me alone on a big subject.” Mordecai had a feeling what they might have talked with him about, but he let Spike continue. Spike asks, “Is it true?” Playing dumb, Mordecai asks, “What?” Spike motions for Mordecai to lean in, and he whispers, “That you are planning on asking Twilight to marry you.” After hearing this, Mordecai looks around the place, making sure that no one else is around, especially Twilight. Mordecai whispers, “Yeah, and I have the ring. You didn’t tell her about this, did you?” Spike says, “No, why would I want to spoil something as big as this for her? Plus, her parents told me NOT to tell her or her friends.”

Mordecai breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Thanks, Spike.” Spike says, “No problem. I’m happy that you’re the one asking her. I’ve enjoyed how happy she’s been this past year.” Before the discussion could go any further, the duo heard the door open to Twilight’s room. A few moments later, Twilight was walking down the stairs. Mordecai had always seen Twilight as a beautiful pony; tonight reinforces that mindset. She was wearing the blue dress he had bought her a few years ago; it sparkled as beautifully now as it had done back then, and her violet coat was glowing just as beautifully as it had that same day. She also had her mane in a ponytail with the blue ribbon he gave her to match the dress. It was the same ribbon he gave her when she visited the park during her hardship when Red fell in love with Lol.

As Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs, she immediately saw Mordecai. She went right to him and hugged him, happy to see him again. She looked at him and said, “I’ve missed you, Mordecai.” Mordecai couldn’t help but blush at this; even though they last saw each other last week, he felt Twilight’s love for him. He hugged her and said, “I missed you too, Twi.” Spike interrupts their moment and says, while pushing them out the door, “Okay, you two, get going while the night’s still young.” When he got them out the door, he went to his shared room with Twilight and read some comic books. Spike says out loud, “I thought they’d never leave.”

Mordecai and Twilight’s drive to town was pleasant, with small talk between them, seeing what had happened since their last date. Twilight told him that she and her friends had some things going on, like Fluttershy learning to be more assertive. Pinkie Pie and Rarity said she went overboard with Iron Will’s teachings. She thankfully found a better way to be assertive without getting carried away. She also told Mordecai that she got a package in the mail recently but didn’t have the chance to look at it yet; she was very excited for their date to look it over.

Mordecai told her about his busy week leading up to their date at Carrey O’Key’s Karaoke. As soon as this crossed his mind, he suddenly remembered something. Panic-stricken, Mordecai said under his breath, “Crap.” He started driving faster, realizing he had forgotten to make the reservations himself.

Mordecai and Twilight arrived at Carrey O’Key’s Karaoke and saw it was packed with various customers. Mordecai was worried about this and thought it would be too full for him and Twilight to enjoy it. As they reached the entrance, they saw the bouncer checking for people who made reservations. Mordecai gulped as he approached the bouncer, unsure if he was still upset with him from that last encounter.

The bouncer, Carl, sees Mordecai and Twilight, making Mordecai flinch from his previous worries. He said to them, “I see you’ve finally arrived, Mordecai. Carrey has been expecting you.” Mordecai looked at him in confusion and asked, “He was?” He remembers that to keep this karaoke business going, Carrey must want to keep Mordecai on his good side to avoid any lawsuits. Carl walks Mordecai and Twilight inside and has them sit in one of the VIP booths, with menus ready for them to see what songs they would sing. Twilight looks at Mordecai and smiles, “You went all out for tonight.” Mordecai was dumbfounded by the experience and said, “It’s no trouble, really.” He didn’t tell her about the banning, but seeing that Carl was being hospitable about all of this, he figured he’d keep things simple enough not to cause any trouble with them. They took their seats and grabbed their menus.

They looked over the song selections, seeing that there were a lot of good choices among them. Twilight felt terrible seeing how expensive the songs were and didn’t want to make this a burden on Mordecai. She lowers her menu and says, “We don’t have to sing if this is too much for you, Mordecai.” Mordecai looks at her and knows that if he takes that step with her, no secrets should be kept between them. He sets his menu down and says, “Actually, Twilight, we can sing as much as we want for free.” She looks at him in surprise and says, “What? Really? How did you get that to happen?” Mordecai says, “Well, the truth is, Twilight, I was banned from here for a good while.” Twilight looks at him suspiciously and asks, “What did you do?” Mordecai raised his hands in defense and said, “It wasn’t what I did, per se. The owner was just being unfair.” She still looks at him, expecting to hear more about what happened, knowing he has much to say. He knew this as well and knew that he needed to come clean. He takes a deep breath and says, “Okay, Rigby and I came here once, and we sang ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ by Twisted Sister. We got into the song, and while we were singing the song…we kinda trashed the rest of the Park workers on stage.” She looked at him in shock as he revealed this and said, “Mordecai!” He quickly says, “I know, it wasn’t cool. We lost ourselves in that song and didn’t come down from it. We didn’t like how we behaved on our tape, and to keep them from seeing it, we destroyed it because we didn’t want to hurt them from one stupid moment we did.”

Seeing how remorseful he was, she calmed down and said, “That would make sense; I don’t see you as the kind of person to be intentional when you get in a moment.” Mordecai says, “Well, yeah, I do like them. They’ve become great friends to me after working with them for so long, but that’s not the end of all of this. After seeing the tape box for this place, they wanted to come to relieve some stress and have fun for a change. We didn’t want them to come here because we didn’t want them to see the tape from here. Carrey gave us a copy, and he had the original. To try and keep them from seeing it, we tried to get the tape, but we got thrown out, and Carrey instantly banned Rigby and me for trying to take the tape because he wanted to use it as a promo for this place.” After weighing things out from Mordecai’s point of view, she says, “Okay, that does seem unfair. Neither of you did anything before that? Because that seems very excessive.” Mordecai says, “No, we didn’t do anything other than try to take that tape. We didn’t do anything to warrant a ban until after we snuck into this place, created a fight, and destroyed the tape while all the Park workers were here.”

Twilight didn’t realize she caused him so much stress until after hearing all this. Twilight asks, “So, how did you get the ban lifted?” Mordecai says, “I had some help with that; for a long time, I didn’t know that certain things were supposed to be done regarding the videotape situation, and I lawyered up. Since both tapes were destroyed and there was no paperwork to go with them, Carrey had no ground to keep me banned and lifted it a few days ago. He also told me that I can sing as many songs as I want for free for a whole year as his way of saying that he’s sorry.” Twilight still feels terrible for stressing Mordecai out over this and says, “If you were banned, why would you want to go through all that?” Mordecai took her hoof and said, “Because you wanted to come here, and you deserve to be happy.” Twilight blushed from this and didn’t know what else to say after hearing Mordecai say this.

Mordecai looks at Twilight’s menu and sees a song he felt was right. He says, “How about we do a duet after I sing a song?” She looks at him in confusion and asks, “A duet?” He nods and says, “Yeah, it’ll give you time to find a song, and we’ll have fun with whatever you choose.” Mordecai grabs a slip of paper and goes to Carrey with the song number, and he gives him the okay to sing it. Before he takes the stage, he says, “Thank you for tonight; my girlfriend is looking for a song that we can sing together.” Carrey nods his head to him, not saying anything, as he knows his promise to him. Mordecai says, “Hey if it’s okay with you, you can use these performances as your future promo. No paperwork needed.” Carrey looks at him in surprise and asks, “Are you sure about that?” Mordecai nods and says, “Yeah, Twilight has a beautiful singing voice; you won’t regret it.”

Mordecai gets on stage, and the spotlight shines as he waves to the audience. He grabs the microphone and says, “Thank you, everyone. This song goes out to my girlfriend, who means a lot to me.” The song starts as he closes his eyes, getting ready to sing his choice of music.

So long...
I've been looking too hard. I've been waiting too long
Sometimes I don't know what I will find
I only know it's a matter of time

When you love someone
When you love someone

It feels so right, so warm and true.
I need to know if you feel it too.
Maybe I'm wrong...
Won't you tell me if I'm coming on too strong
This heart of mine has been hurt before
This time I wanna be sure

I've been waiting for a girl like you
To come into my life
I've been waiting for a girl like you
A love that will survive
I've been waiting for someone new
To make me feel alive
Yeah! Waiting for a girl like you
To come into my life

You're so good...
When we make love, it's understood
It's more than a touch or a word we say
Only in dreams could it be this way

When you love someone
Yeah, really love someone

Now, I know it's right
From the moment I wake up till deep in the night
There's nowhere on earth that I'd rather be
Than holding you, tenderly

I've been waiting for a girl like you
To come into my life
I've been waiting for a girl like you
A love that will survive

I've been waiting for someone new
To make me feel alive
Yeah, waiting for a girl like you
To come into my life

I’ve been waiting,
Waiting for you
Ooh,
I’ve been waiting
Yeah…

(I’ve been waiting for a girl like you,
I’ve been waiting)
Won’t you come into my life?
Oh!

The crowd roars in applause as the song fades and ends. Twilight looks on in great surprise at how well Mordecai sang the song; it matched what he’s been through in his past relationships and his struggles leading up to his relationship with her. He returns to the booth and sits before her as Carrey takes the mic and thanks Mordecai for an outstanding performance.

Mordecai and Twilight enjoyed the rest of their time at Carrey O’Key’s Karaoke, singing their duet song, which the crowd loved between the two. They danced to some of the songs that other people were singing, and with how beautiful her voice was, Carrey offered Twilight to sing the final song of the night, which she happily did. After finishing their time at Carrey O’Key’s Karaoke, Mordecai and Twilight walked around town for a bit.

He turned to her and couldn’t help but smile after seeing her happily looking at the stores. As they passed by a familiar dress store, he blushed as he remembered the day he confessed to her that she looked like a “Ms. It” to him, and as he looked at her now, she was still a “Ms. It.”

After passing the stores, Mordecai swallowed his nervousness and said, “Twilight.” She turned to him and said, “Yes, Mordecai.” He started to feel himself sweat as he looked into her violet eyes. Again, he broke out of his nervousness and said, “I…uh…I want to take you to my favorite place at the park.”

Twilight tilted her head in confusion and said, “Any special reason?”

Mordecai said, “No, I just thought you’d like to see it.”

Twilight smiled, “I wouldn’t mind seeing it.”

The moon had already risen as they arrived by the lake at the park. Unknown to the couple, Muscle Man and Rigby hid in the bushes, spying on them.

Muscle Man told Rigby, “Remember, the loser of this bet has to wear a diaper for a whole month.”

Rigby turned to him with a cocky grin and said, “Well, I hope you enjoy the month of diaper rash because nothing’s gonna happen.”

Taking this as a challenge, Muscle Man said, “Whoa, whoa, bro, what makes you so sure nothing’s gonna happen?”

Rigby said, “C’mon, man. He couldn’t get a kiss from Margaret; what makes you think he’ll step up and ask Twilight to marry him?”

After checking on the couple, Muscle Man confidently said, “I don’t know, bro. It looks like he’s going to go through with it.”

Shocked from hearing this, Rigby poked his head from the bushes and said hushedly, “WHAT?!”

After seeing them, he only saw Twilight laughing with Mordecai at a joke he had told her, he assumed. He breathes a massive sigh of relief after seeing just that.

Muscle Man lightly laughed at him and said, “That was just a warm-up; be ready for the real deal any minute now.”

Rigby rolled his eyes and said, “Pfft, whatever.”

Rigby and Muscle Man moved closer to get a better view of the two but remained out of sight, wanting to avoid drama if either Mordecai or Twilight spotted them.

After settling down from their laughter, Mordecai checked his phone, acting like he got a text message. He said, “Ugh! Sorry, I gotta take this.”

Twilight asked, “What’s going on?”

Mordecai said, “Eh, Rigby saw another scary movie. This shouldn’t take long.”

As Mordecai walked away from Twilight, Rigby was fuming while Muscle Man looked on, nodding. “Way to sell it, bro,” he said, impressed with Mordecai’s use of distraction.

As he pretended to text Rigby, Mordecai returned to the golf kart and opened the glove compartment. He pulled out the black box containing his engagement ring, and as he was leaving the kart, he started to feel nervous again. He shook his head to rid himself of the doubts creeping into his mind, and to stay motivated, he said to himself, “Do it. Just do it. You’ve been planning this for months.” He lightly clutched the box and took a deep breath in a last attempt to calm his nerves. Mordecai put the box in his pocket and thought, “There’s no turning back now.”

Mordecai turned around and saw Twilight staring at the lake, admiring the moon’s reflection. After seeing Mordecai’s reflection, she turned to him and smiled at him. He returned the smile and sat down next to her. Twilight rested her head on his shoulder and said, “I can see why you like this spot.” Mordecai said, “Yeah, it’s nice and quiet, and that lake has a great moon reflection. It’s always been calming, and it helps me think.” Twilight nuzzles his shoulder and smiles at him.

As Mordecai started with his plan, he said, “Hey, Twilight. Do you remember that time when we all thought Discord kidnapped you?”

Twilight immediately got scared after hearing the question. Seeing her expression, and after knowing her for so long, Mordecai placed a finger on her lips to keep her from saying anything and said, “No, Twilight, I’m not breaking up with you, and it was nothing bad that I wanted to talk to you about.” Twilight then blushed in embarrassment and said, “Oh.” Mordecai took his finger away from her lips and said, “All I was going to say was that that moment was terrifying for us, and it affected me the most.”

She tilted her head to the side, staying quiet so he could continue. He said, “With all those books I read, I thought Discord was a terrible creature and that he would harm you. Many bad thoughts clouded my mind and judgment, and I’m not proud to admit that jealousy was one of those bad thoughts.” As soon as he says this, Twilight instantly remembers that talk with Abjay about Discord being “dreamy.”

She had to admit that Abjay wasn’t wrong; after spending time with Discord, he was friendlier than what had been said about him, and he had a certain charm. Twilight was glad everyone accepted Discord after they sorted through that misunderstanding; he enjoyed spending his time with her friends, Fluttershy especially. Twilight always thought of Discord as a great friend but didn’t give a relationship with him an honest thought, but if he appeared interested in Fluttershy, romantically or not, she didn’t want to stand in the way of what he was feeling. She wanted him to figure it out for himself, and she would be happy for him if he were happy.

Mordecai continued and said, “I kept hoping that you were okay and that he didn’t take your horn away to make you defenseless like the first time you and your friends faced him or that he’d cast a spell on you to be his brainwashed puppet or something.” Twilight gave him a warm smile as he said this, not knowing how much that incident had scared him. Mordecai said, “From the moment we met, I felt you would be very special in my life. After the Discord incident, despite the misunderstanding, I realized right then that you mean a lot to me, and as we have been dating this past year, I know that I can’t see my life without you in it.” He takes her hooves into his hands and says, “No one makes me happier than you do, Twilight, and if you let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make you as happy as you’ve made me.” Twilight was speechless. She was touched by what Mordecai had said and was getting misty-eyed by what he had to say about their history together.

Mordecai let her hooves go and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the black box and presented it to her. Twilight gasped and covered her mouth with her hoof as she realized what Mordecai was doing. Rigby and Muscle Man looked on; one was in shock, while the other had the biggest grin on his face. Mordecai then went into a kneeling position on his right knee and said, “Twilight Sparkle…Will you marry me?” After asking her, he opened the box to reveal a gold ring with a beautiful light blue diamond.

Twilight started crying tears of joy after seeing the ring. She remembered a time when she thought she wasn’t worthy of being loved, and she also remembered that Mordecai was the one who got her out of that bad moment. Here she is, at the park, under the moon, with her best friend Mordecai, down on one knee, proposing to her. Looking back at everything, she sees now that he has always been there for her, everything he had done to make her happy, from cheering her up from a broken heart to making her feel important when she felt so low. He valued her happiness above everything. He would put her needs before thinking about himself. He truly is important to her, just as she has been to him, and she knows that she couldn’t have been any luckier to have someone like Mordecai in her life. Twilight wiped her tears as best as she could, but they wouldn’t stop coming because she was so happy.

As the scene unfolded in front of them, Muscle Man silently gloated, pumping his stomach in victory after seeing that Mordecai had popped the question. Rigby, however, wasn’t going to accept this right away. He said in a hushed tone, “It doesn’t mean anything if she says ‘no.’” Hearing this, Muscle Man said, “One month isn’t enough for you, bro?” Rigby said, “Double or nothing. If she says ‘yes,’ I’ll wear a diaper to the wedding on top of the month.” The two then shook on it and turned their attention back to the couple.

Mordecai was starting to have a mini panic attack with Twilight not answering, but he told himself that he wouldn’t falter. After letting the question sink in for what felt like an eternity, Twilight said, “Yes.” Hearing her answer, Mordecai looks up and sees that she is crying tears of joy. She tackled him in a hug, nearly knocking him over, and said, “Yes! Yes! Yes! I’d love to marry you!” Mordecai had the biggest grin on his face after hearing Twilight’s answer. He took the ring from the box and placed it on her horn. Once the ring was on her horn, she wrapped her forelegs around Mordecai’s neck while he wrapped his arms around her back. He picked her up and twirled her, happy that she said yes. After they finished spinning, they looked each other in the eyes, still holding themselves in each other’s embrace. The engaged couple leaned in and shared a kiss.

While Mordecai and Twilight were having their moment, Rigby stared in shock for the second time, not believing what he was seeing, while Muscle Man was doing what he could not to laugh at the situation for now. Still, he was very happy for Mordecai as they watched them have their moment.

Shortly after they finished kissing, Mordecai pressed his head against Twilight’s, feeling very content. At that moment, Twilight just realized that planning needed to be done. She says in excitement, “Oh my gosh! I have so much planning to do! I need to find the best mare, I have to plan the catering, and I need a dress.” While she was rambling about what needed to be done for the wedding, Mordecai couldn’t help but smile at this. He loved how she jumped at a task and tried to solve it on the spot. He places his hands on her shoulders to calm her down and says, “We’ll figure this out tomorrow. I’m sure a date would be the first thing we need to figure out for the wedding. I’ll take you home, and we’ll work on that in the morning.” Twilight nods in understanding and agreement, realizing the wedding isn’t happening within a week. Mordecai carries Twilight to the golf cart, and after getting in, they leave the park.

After they left, Muscle Man busted into hysterical laughter and said, “Ohhhhh! I told you; I told you! He popped the question, and she said yes!! You gotta wear a diaper for a whole month, loser! Woo hoo!!! I hope the groom won’t mind having his best man wearing a diaper at the wedding!!! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!” Rigby was still dumbstruck from what had happened; he couldn’t find the words to say anything. He was wrong about the situation; Mordecai had the guts to ask Twilight to marry him, and more surprising was that she said yes. Even though this will be a humiliating month for him, for once, he was happy to have lost a bet. Because deep down, he couldn’t help but be glad to see that his best friend was going to be getting married.