The morning of the wedding finally dawned, and safe to say emotions were high all round. Argyle had, as per tradition, stayed in Bristol and made his way to the site by train (then again, nobody was hugely surprised by his decision to go by rail). Upon arriving, he made his way to a small building on the side of the site. This housed a small cafe that would be perfect for getting a cool drink. This was exactly what he needed right now, as he'd already had breakfast at the hotel he'd been staying at.

"Just arrived?" the bartender asked.

"Yeah," Argyle replied. "Tradition is tradition, after all."

The bartender mixed something up for him. "Good man. Besides, it keeps some things a surprise."

Argyle nodded. "Very true. Besides, if I knew what it looked like it would rather spoil the surprise."

"That it would," the bartender answered as he passed the beverage over. "The path to the chapel goes that way. There's a route over the lake via a bridge which avoids the house. That will reduce your chances of seeing her by accident."

Argyle nodded. "I'll go that way, then. It makes sense to take in the scenery before it gets too hot."

Goldie had been up early herself- after all, hair and makeup are not known for doing themselves. As she didn't know the first thing about doing either to the standard required of such an auspicious day, she had hired somebody to do it for her. Her mother was there, and of course she was partly involved.

"Nervous?" she asked.

Goldie looked forward, keen not to mess up the stylist's work. "I like to get my nerves out of the way in advance," she said, as she looked in the mirror. "And before we do the obvious joke, I've been nervous lots of times."

"I'm certain things will go well!" said one of the bridesmaids. "Besides, you've been in tough spots before. It's as simple as getting married."

"Negotiating sales of rolling stock is one thing, but this is a tad different. And I don't mean to be perdantic, but getting married isn't at all simple if all the planning needed is anything to go by."

"Done!" said the stylist. "As you requested, Miss Skylight."

"I won't be that for much longer," Goldie noted, as she got up. "Now for the next major faff- getting the dress on."

Even with several people to help her, getting her wedding dress on proved to be a bit challenging. Even with practice, it still took them about half an hour. Still, they couldn't afford for it to look messy or awkward, as Goldie's mother was more than happy to recall.

So it was a good thing she didn't.

Once they were done, they made their way downstairs. The bridesmaids seemingly acted as security, ensuring nobody ended up inconveniencing the bride. This was important, as it wouldn't help anybody if somebody trod on the dress and tore it. Then they'd have to start all over again.

After a short trip down a flight of stairs, Goldie arrived at the entrance to the stately home, where a vintage car straight out of an Agatha Christie novel was sitting outside. The driver leaned out of the window. "Miss Skylight?"

"That's me," Goldie replied, and indicated to Moondust, who had just appeared. "I may need a hand getting all this in," she said, indicating to the train.

Luckily, the entire Skylight clan was happy to help, and all went without a hitch. Once the car had set off, the rest of the party followed in a bus. A vintage bus, but a bus nontheless. It had been very handy that a Routemaster had just happened to be available for hire.

Meanwhile, the Starshines had already arrived at the chapel and were busy colonising their pews. Brad had decided not to attend in his military uniform and had instead gone for a suit. Unfortunately, the tie wasn't being very cooperative.

Curtis was curiously absent, but Veronica was busy ensuring flower arrangements were in order. Argyle had to admit that was a bizarre sight- he was so used to seeing her in grubby work clothing or jeans that seeing her pottering around in a posh dress was a very strange experience.

Argyle was so focused on what was going on he jumped when the vicar spoke. "Nervous?"

Argyle nodded. "Yes. But I have been nervous lots of times, before you make the obvious joke."

The vicar laughed. "I know I was when I got married. But stay focused and things should be fine. Besides, it's more than just the day itself- you have a whole life together to look forward to."

Argyle sighed. "That's the hard part, I guess."

"Maintaining a marriage is something that requires constant practice. There's no list to follow or easy to do board." The vicar's face lightened up, though. "But if what I've seen of you two is anything to go by you'll have no trouble with that."

"Sir?" called a voice. "The bride and her party have arrived!"

"Positions, everyone!" the vicar called. "And ensure you haven't got the transpose buttons on!" he called to the organist.

The bridal party positioned themselves outside the door, waiting for clearance to move. James, Goldie's father, had already positioned himself correctly to walk his daughter down the aisle.

"I'm not sure what to say to wish everybody well," he said. "I know saying good luck is bad luck and I'd prefer nobody broke a leg."

"Warm wishiehoof?" Moondust suggested.

"Well that's wierdly specific," Goldie said, and breathed out. "Here we go. Now or never."

As has long been tradition, the organ opened the service with Wagner. This was the signal to everybody to stand- but only one looked down the aisle.

Argyle had deliberately not involved himself in Goldie's side of planning to keep things a surprise. And when he saw his bride-to-be approaching he had to do all in his power to stop his jaw from dropping.

Goldie was wearing a sleeveless gown with a low cut bodice, coupled with a moderately voluminous skirt with a long train- a compromise for not wearing a hoopskirt. The fabric seemed to move like water as she approached, and the skirt was covered with elaborate flower patterns.

Simply put, she looked stunning. Argyle resisted the urge to pinch himself as she stopped in front of him.

"Morning," she said.

Argyle blinked. "Is any of this really happening or is this a dream?" he asked, partly as a joke.

Goldie snorted, and discreetly pinched herself. "Nope, this is real."

The service proceeded largely on order, although Argyle momentarily got lost in the moment and had to be prompted as to where he was. Safe to say everybody cheered when they kissed for the first time as husband and wife.

Once all the paperwork was signed, it was done. But as the couple turned to head down the aisle, this time as one, there was time for one more blunder.

"I present to all assembled Mr and Mrs Albert Starshine!" the vicar said.

Oh dear, Argyle thought to himself. I was hoping he wouldn't do this. He coughed.

"Yes?"

Argyle looked at him. "My name is Albert. But my wife's isn't." Boy did it feel weird saying that, he thought.

Just then the vicar realised his mistake. "My apologies. I present to all assembled Mr and Mrs Albert and Gloria Starshine!"

As is also tradition they exited to Mendelssohn, and once they stepped outside into the bright sun the revellers began another tradition- the tossing of flower and rice.

A set of speakers had been set up nearby, and they suddenly flared into life. "Hello on the ground! First off, congrats, little bro."

Argyle smiled. "So that's where Curtis is."

"Watch the skies."

Suddenly, the familiar sound of jet engines echoed through the air, and three aircraft roared overhead before turning back.

"See you guys at the reception!" Curtis said over the radio.

After returning to the stately home for the first part of the reception, which mostly seemed to consist of alcoholic beverages and milling about outdoors, Argyle and Goldie spent much of the next hour trying to divide their attention between all the guests, many of whom were old friends to one but effective strangers to the other.

One of them was a mate of Argyle's from university. "Congratulations," he said. "You know, this is quite something."

"The drink?" Argyle said. "Not too much of an expert on alcohol myself."

"No, you getting married. Never saw that coming."

Argyle simply assumed the man was a bit tipsy. "Well, thanks. If you'll excuse me I need to go find my girlf- sorry, I mean my wife. Still feels weird saying that."

"Switching guests?"

"Yep. I've got a whole mountain of people to talk to, as does Goldie."

Once all that was over, the assembled party gathered for a series of group photos. Unfortunately, the sun decided not to cooperate, and appeared just as the photo was about to be taken- meaning everybody was squinting as the shutter closed. The photographer frowned. "Could we all face the other way?" he asked. "If I'm taking pictures into the sun it'll avoid the squinting problem!"

Luckily, the assembled crowd were more than happy to do so, and once everybody was in position-

A cloud drifted in at just the wrong moment.

Goldie looked up at the annoying cloud. "I hope this isn't a bad omen. They did forecast rain later today."

Argyle smiled. "Rain on a wedding is supposed to be lucky. A wet knot is stronger than a dry one."

Thankfully, though, they did manage to get a usable photo. As most of the wedding party and assembled guests trooped back indoors to wait in the air conditioning, Argyle and Goldie had one last set of photos to get.

The path that Argyle had taken to get to the chapel had led through a nice cultivated garden, with a large pond with two islands. These islands were connected to the mainland and to each other by a series of bridges, and naturally Argyle had picked this as a spot for a potential wedding photograph.

The photographer positioned himself on the other side of the pond, and lined up the shutter on the bridge. The happy couple stood in the centre, holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes. The resulting shot would not have looked out of place in a film- something which was not lost on Goldie.

"I presume you headed this way this morning?" she asked. "Because you have a good eye for shot composition."

Argyle smiled. "Yeah. I saw this whilst looking around the grounds a while back and thought it was the perfect spot for a wedding photo. Especially with the composition of the bridge and the pond elements, it gives the scene a nice sense of symmetry and balance, not unlike one of the Romantic painters." He paused. "Besides, it's only fair we make the most of the setting."

Goldie snorted. "Ever an artist. Never thought I'd be getting an analysis of my own wedding portrait minutes after it was taken."

"Well, years of studying art does rather do that to you."

"True." Goldie looked towards the house. "Shall we head back to the reception? I think the rest of the party have been held up long enough."

"We've only been gone an hour," Argyle pointed out.

"And I imagine they'll all want something to eat. Good thing we didn't go for an open bar."

Unfortunately, things began to go a bit pear shaped when they got back. No sooner were they back indoors then it started raining. They also quickly discovered most of the guests milling around in the lobby without much sense of purpose.

"What's going on here?" Argyle asked.

"We don't know which hall the reception is in!" said Brad. "This place is like a rabbit warren!"

Argyle checked his map. "First corridor on your left, take a right past the green door, then straight ahead."

Once they had arrived, things continued to go wrong. The drinks orders had been mixed up, which produced some very disappointed patrons, and to make matters worse the wrong names were assigned to the wrong tables for the dinner. This resulted in some very confusing mixes of people. Sarah was understandably surprised to be seated at one of the lower tables and not the top table, as was tradition for the Mother of the Groom. Luckily, she and Veronica swapped places to fix this.

The meal was also a tad chaotic, I am sorry to say. James looked in confusion as a sticky toffee pudding was placed on the table. "This is the dessert!" he said. "I thought prawns were the starter!"

Goldie facepalmed. "Well, we'll just be eating in reverse order. Never hurts to try something new."

There were also speeches. James and Argyle kept their's short and to the point, aware that long speeches and hungry guests are not a good combination. Sadly, the best man didn't get the memo (and was probably a bit drunk), so he launched off into what was, in his mind, an epic that rivalled the Gettysburg Address or the great speeches of Winston Churchill. An oration that would be remembered for all eternity.

Which was a shame, as it was neither of those things. The result was more of a confusing ramble through a variety of different vaguely related topics that somehow linked back to the happy couple. Well into his fiftieth minute, he abruptly stopped and sat down with no resolution to what he was saying.

Argyle looked to Goldie. "That was... something."

Goldie shrugged. "I've had nightmares that made more sense than that."

Thankfully, things proceeded in order beyond that point, and the team left so that the staff could reconfigure the room for the evening celebrations. Once they returned a few hours later, a buffet had been laid out for the guests, and an elaborate cake had been placed before the dance floor.

Argyle looked over. "This is the bit I've been dreading," he said. "Here's hoping it doesn't collapse." He paused.

Goldie spoke up in the resulting gap. "Well, if it does go wrong, we can just chalk it up to experience."

"Dear, I'd rather not get icing all over your dress."

"It's just a dress," Goldie said, smiling in an effort to keep Argyle calm. "It's not the end of the world if that happens. Besides, I can handle a bit of icing on my face."

Luckily, the cake cutting went without incident, and all was well. After sharing their first dance together to a swing version of an old John Lennon song, everybody else was invited up to dance as well. The atmosphere was immensely cheerful.

After about an hour on the dance floor, Argyle headed to the bar to grab a drink and rehydrate. Even in an air conditioned building all the dancing was exhausting.

"Hello there!" said a voice. Argyle looked over to see his father in law standing there.

"Having a nice evening?" Argyle asked, handing his tab to the bar operator.

James smiled at Argyle. "It's an honour to have you in the family, Argyle. You're like a son to me, and I know you and Gloria will be very happy together."

"Thank you, sir," Argyle replied.

"There's no need to be so formal!" James laughed. "I'm not the Prince of Wales! I'm just your father in law!"

"That still feels kinda strange to hear," Argyle admitted. "I know they say the bride joins her husband's family- but in a sense I'm joining yours too."

"And we Skylights wouldn't have it any other way," James replied. "If there's ever anything you need, just let me know. We're family now, and family always sticks together."

"Argyle?" Goldie called. "They're about to start the informal dances! They've got your favourite song on first!"

"On my way, dear!" Argyle replied. "You know, there is one thing..."

Salty sat on the siding all alone. He looked down, his eyes glancing at the rails before him. His paintwork had rusted even further, and the rain had taken its toll.

But none of the rain that fell could match the pain he felt within. Another human had let him down.

"Why did I trust him?" the diesel said quietly, a tear falling from his eye and onto his bufferbeam. "He said he would come back for me... why? Why do they make promises they can never keep?"

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a lorry approaching his position. "Well, I guess this is it. Somebody finally decided to call the scrapman."

But to his surprise, it wasn't a scrapman at all. A large low loader was parked in front of him, and rails were put into position.

Two men hopped out. "Is this winch powerful enough?" said one. Salty thought he recognised the voice.

"This would be powerful enough to pull a battle tank!" said the other.

The first man walked towards Salty, and lowered his hood.

Argyle Starshine smiled. "Hey Salty," he said. "Sorry I'm late. I had a wedding to go to."

Salty's eyes widened, and in that moment his sorrow turned to joy. "You came back for me," he said. "You did care after all!"

"And I still do," Argyle smiled, as he guided the cable onto Salty's coupler hook. "I'm bringing you to a new home. My wife and I have bought a small home on the Cornish coast, and there's a shed nearby with rail access. No matter how long it takes, I will return you to your former glory, and one day you will shunt trucks again."

Salty had no idea what to say as the slack was taken up. Thanks to Argyle, he had a new chance at life. He would feel the sea air once more. He would roll up and down the seafront, singing sea shanties. A dockside would be his home.

And he had a new family to call his own.

Author's Note

For those wondering what is going on at the start of the story, Argyle is participating in an old tradition that states the bride and groom must not be together the night before the wedding, as doing so is said to bring bad luck. Although this tradition partly has its origins in arranged marriage (where the spouses would have no clue who the other person was a lot of the time) it is still considered standard procedure to this day.

The car that conveys Goldie to the chapel is one of these:

The 1951 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith is a classic of vintage car design, and a popular choice of wedding car. My cousin had something of a similar vintage for her wedding.

The vicar's instruction regarding the transpose buttons is a reference to this video:

To explain what happened here, the organist set the transpose function up incorrectly, causing the organ to blast in on the wrong key.

For those interested, Goldie's wedding dress looks like this:

Part of the challenge was finding something that looked elegant whilst fitting with Goldie's established 'less is more' approach to clothing, given it is already established she personally dislikes wearing crinolines and corsets.

Much of the chaos that occurs at the reception is based on various stories I've heard about real weddings in reddit, as well as an allusion to Twilight's disastrous coronation in the final episode of Friendship is Magic where all the food gets muddled up. Given what we know now, the chaos then was certainly a poor omen for the future of Equestria.

The first dance is to this song:

Real Love is based on a demo tape John Lennon recorded in 1979 whilst living in New York. In 1995, the surviving Beatles recorded new audio lines and released it alongside Free as a Bird as two new Beatles songs (the third song, Now and Then, would not be released until 2023). The above track was produced through the magic of AI; musician Timmy Sean recorded all the instruments, then recorded the vocals and fed them through AI software trained on the voices of the Beatles. The results are very convincing, in my opinion.

The concluding segment with Salty is loosely inspired by this story:

ERepressed Memories

• MLP Gen 5
• Sad
• Slice of Life

Sunny has repressed the memories of what happened to her mother for years, and she never thought she would ever think about it again. But when the past resurfaces one night, it will take a certain pegasus to help her through her grief…

• Other
• Sunny Starscout
• Zipp
• Mane 5

Admiral Producer · 3.4k words  ·  39  4 · 1.3k views