This day should have been just perfect...
Princess Celestia awoke inside of an area made of nothing but green. As her vision returned, she looked around to see the room she was in. The wedding hall, now dangling upside down as she tried to move, but her limbs were all bound together within the lime cocoon while small black figures hovered around her. Beneath her, the Changeling queen proudly pranced around at her victory, while the real love alicorn was bound and held by her hooves on the alter where she was meant to have had her special day along with a scared baby dragon looking around in horror and her finest guard, now stood with his mind completely blank from the mind control of the queen.
"You won't get away with this!" the pink alicorn cried. "Twilight and her friends will-" but before she could finish, the main door flung open and in walked 6 exhausted ponies who were led back into the hall by the queen's minions. Though some tried to struggle, the resistance was too great. Smirking at the victory, the queen turned her head back and proclaimed,
"You were saying?" before she turned her attention back to the defeated mares. "You do realise the reception's been cancelled, don't you?" she then motioned to her minions,
"Go, FEED!" And with that, the remaining beasts all flew off into the streets. With an evil cackle, she approached the only pony who all from the beginning tried to prevent all of this, lifting her chin up to her own face.
"It's funny really. Twilight here was the only one suspicious of my activities all along". Her speech though was cut off by the unicorn's slap of her hoof. Flying off toward the alter, she continued,
"It's too bad the REST of you were too busy with your wedding planning to realise those suspicious were correct!"
"Sorry Twi" Applejack said as she walked slowly toward her friend full of nothing else but shame for ignoring the faithful unicorn.
"We shoulda listened to you".
Twilight only turned away slowly with a face of disgust for just about everyone in the room. Through snarling teeth she muttered to herself as morbid as possible,
"Yeah, it would have helped". She looked on as the queen looked out of the window and sang to herself of her victory. While she was detracted, Twilight saw an opportunity to approach Cadence, the only other pony who was a victim in all of this. As the pink alicorn continued to struggle, Twilight whispered,
"This is your chance, go to him" and using her magic, she freed the green bonds. The alicorn hurried to her husband to be, his eyes blank with nothing but a green oval where his normally blue eyes would be. Clinging to him, a single tear left her eye as a small spell of her love touched his horn. After a moment, his senses spun, his mind cleared and he regained consciousness.
"Huh, wha? Is.. is the wedding over?" he said as he looked around. However, his vision was immediately blocked by the sight of the large black queen landing in front of him.
"It's ALL over!" she boomed. Looking around the room, he saw the mess that was left behind from the invasion, his shield gone, the sound of explosions and screams in the distance.
"You're spell! Use your spell!" his sister cried.
"What good would THAT do? My Changelings already roam free!" cried the queen as the situation across the capital only went more wild and out of control.
"No!" Shining cried as he desperately tried to summon a second spell... but there was nothing.
"My powers are useless now. I don't have the strength to repel them..." he said with his horn glowing dimply. Just then, the pink alicorn approached him and held his face to hers with one final boost of hope.
"My love will give you strength!" she said, only to be met with an evil cackle once again.
"What a lovely, but absolutely ridiculous sentiment".
However, at that moment, the love that the two lovers felt for each other soon ignited once more. As the love from the alicorn soon began to circulate around them. The other watched on as the power began to glow, as stronger and stronger the spell began to build and before long, the two touched horns. The love from the alicorn, and the power of the unicorn's shield spell combined, all but the ponies across all of Canterlot and Equestria soon began to take hold. The powerful blast soon sent all Changelings flying far and wide as far away from the boarders of the love filled land. As the magic slowly subsided, the two landed softly on the alter and was met with cheers from the mares as they em-brassed... all but one however, who just looked down with anger. The large white alicorn, had regained her footing and slowly walked over to the group. When the other saw her, the all bowed before her regained grace, to which she simply smiled.
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine". She looked at the lavender unicorn who still had her back to the events though. Walking over and placing her hoof on the shoulder of her faithful student, she was able to make her turn to face the Princess, but her face was still throught with resentment.
"You have a real wedding to put together" she smiled. But at that very moment, the unicorn's face once again looked up with shock... then it twisted as it turned red, her teeth gritting and her ears dropping with rage, much to the shock of the princess. Before she could say anything else though, the unicorn quickly turned around and smacked the regal alicorn's hoof away so hard one of her golden shoes nearly went flying.
"Do you take me for a fool?!" Twilight snapped, her sudden outburst gathering the attention of everyone in the room once more.
"T-Twilight?" her mentor stammered outraged at the sudden action.
"YOU EXPECT ME TO PUT TOGETHER ANOTHER WEDDING AFTER YOU ABANDONED ME?! AFTER YOU TREATED ME LIKE DIRT, MADE ME FEEL LIKE THE WORST PONY IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA!??!" she screamed so loud it would have echoed across Canterlot if it was said from the royal balcony.
"But Twilight, I-"
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!!!" she screamed again cutting her off. "As if YOU'D think I'd forget what I saw when I first game into this lousy hall!"
"Wha.. what is she talking about?!" Cadence cried looking around at her husband to be who was looking even more shocked than when he discovered the invasion took place. Turning to face the pink princess, the unicorn said over her shoulder in a low, angry tone, snarling through her teeth.
"I'll tell you what I'm talking about!" then then quickly turned to all of her friends who were stood there as petrified as when she first entered the room at the wedding rehearsal.
"I'M TALKING ABOUT THE SIMPLE FACT THAT AFTER ALL THE TIMES I HELPED THESE UNGRATEFUL MORONS, ALL THE HUMILIATING DEEDS I HAD TO PUT UP WITH FOR THEM, ALL THE TIMES I HELPED TO GET THEM OUT OF THEIR TROUBLES AND AFTER ALL THE TIMES I THOUGHT WE WERE LEARNING SOMETHING ABOUT FRIENDSHIP, THE ONE TIME I NEED THEIR HELP MORE THAN EVER BEFORE, ALL THEY CAN DO IS KICK ME OUT OF THEIR LIVES SO THEY CAN ENJOY THE PLEASURES OF MINGLING WITH SNOBS AND STRANGERS THEY HAVEN'T MET BEFORE!!! THAT'S WHAT MY PROBLEM IS!!!!!"
As she panted for breath, the room went silent. Even at the rehearsal, even the day before the wedding, no one had ever seen this side to Twilight before. Her friends looked on in complete disbelief at what she said. Rainbow Dash and Applejack's jaws dropped open, Pinkie and Fluttershy trying to fight back tears and Rarity with her hoof over her mouth as they looked at the still panting unicorn, her face now purple with rage her eyes blood shot. The princess could not fathom the rage that her student was displaying before her, as if her own performance before was as unacceptable before, this one was all but unheard of.
"B... but, I.. we" Fluttershy tried to speak, but her voice was too soft and broken to form any sentence about what she was hearing.
"I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!!" bellowed the still irate unicorn. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE DONE FOR YOU!?! DO I MEAN NOTHING TO ANY OF YOU?!!" she finished with angry tears beginning to leave her eyes.
"W... Well... WELL what do you expect?!" the brash blue pegasis spoke up. "You came in here with no prof that the last princess was an imposter and you were acting jealous and over protective of your brother!"
"I was acting for your own safety!" Twilight snapped back. "Or did you ALL forget that we were under the threat of an attack?! Didn't my brother's shield give ANY of you an indication that WE WERE STILL FACING AN ATTACK FROM AN OUTSIDE FORCE?!!"
"Twilight" spoke up the pink princess approaching her "Please calm down!"
"I suggest you DO that Twilight!" ordered the white princess, but Twilight was having none of it.
"Why?! Because you can't admit you screwed up?! Is your royal pride too great for you to admit you made a huge blunder that almost cost you your kingdom?!" Twilight snapped causing the princess to step back in disbelief.
"What.. why are you so angry?" came a quiet voice from a baby dragon on the brink of tears, seeing his friend and sister figure being so furious. He almost immediately regretted asking though as she gave him a look that would haunt his dreams for years to come.
"But... Twilight, the Changelings are gone! We won! We can celebrate now!
"YOU DIDN'T SEEM TO MIND CELEBRATING THE FIRST TIME WITHOUT ME THOUGH, DID YOU?!" she hollered, almost knocking the dragon off his feet from the scream.
"It's only because we were doing what your brother told us to do!" Spike frantically cried back. All eyes were now on Shining Armour, the worst from his wife to be, now looking on in disbelief.
"But.. I... I..." he stammered as Twilight walked slowly toward him, but was cut off by her mentor
"Twilight!" she ordered "Cease this at once!"
"Why should I?!"
"We were all only acting at the request of your brother. We had nothing more or nothing less to say about the incident before you revealed the truth about the Changelings. We all admit we made terrible mistakes this day..." the regal alicorn said lowering her head in shame. "We have all been fools not to notice the changes that were going on, the attitude of Cadence... my own niece.. how I didn't stop to consider the behaviour she was displaying. I admit full responsibility for all of this. I could have easily overturned your brother's decision... but it wasn't my choice to interfere".
"But it was YOUR choice to allow the event to go ahead without me!" the unicorn snapped back. Cadence at once tried to comfort Twilight who by now was shaking in anger and sadness.
"Twilight, please, it wasn't like that! No one knew what was going on. I'm certain that everyone here, especially your friends would have gladly stood up for you had there only been proof before hand".
"You'd THINK that was the case!" Twilight said turning back before the confronted her now, former friends "But you don't KNOW them like I do! They manipulate ponies, pull strings, they do ANYTHING it takes to get things THEIR way! And then when things DO go crazy, I'm the one who has to come in and clean up their messes!"
Gaping in shock at the outburst, Rarity finally stood up and blurted out,
"Now See here! We may have been wrong about the events taking place today, but don't forget who it was that helped you when you needed your support when you were in trouble with the princess, and we were the one who helped to piece together this even anyway!"
"Exactly!" chimed in Applejack who had taken all she could handle from Twilight at this point.
"Maybe if ya weren't such a worry wart and gettin' all fussy about the smallest things all the dang time, maybe we'd listen to ya a whole to sooner! Whatever happened to 'You need proof' before ya make accusations?! You were drummin' that down Pinkie Pie's ear like a brass band durin' AppleBuck season! Yet you went on in here before actin' all wild and crazy with no proof and ya'll expected us to just take your side after days of acting jealous and over protective of your brother?!"
"Yeah?!" Twilight burst out, "And ever happened to 'You shouldn't take you're friends worries so lightly'? Which by the way, resulted in the princess visiting me because at the time I was worried I'd loose you all as friends!" she stopped to regain her composure... tears were leaving her eyes again.
"But if I knew the type of back stabbing, unsympathetic jerks you'd turn out to be when I needed you more than anything else, I would have GLADLY accepted a place back at Magic Kindergarden!" she finished with her friends looking even more stunned. While her outburst was shocking, and while her attitude was despicable, she was right. Their reassurance with her was gone. Their trust of listening to her had been betrayed. And despite herself, they should have known that Twilight's only intention was to help keep her friends and family safe... and this was their thanks?
"Does this mean that the lessons of friendship were a waste of time? Does this mean that everything I thought really mattered to us all meant nothing? Is it only friendship is magic unless it doesn't suit your needs?!" Twilight continued as her voice began to crack.
"Suit our needs?!" Fluttershy said "Wha.. what are you-"
"How you all drove me crazy to get that ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala, you did me all these favours and in the end we ended up making a mess of it anyway?! Or when Discord tricked you so easily making you believe that's what we really make ourselves believe that's how we treat each other? Or the deadline I was about to miss with me panicking to get a report in while all you wanted to do was take a picnic?! And now, THIS?!!" Cadence looked on at her friends who had nothing else to say. She never would have imagined anyone would be this cruel to the foal she used to sit and love for so much. And worst of all, the princess, her aunt knew all along.
"You... you really did this to her?" she stammered.
"Twiley, please listen to me!" Shining finally spoke up. "I was wrong not to listen to you, I was a fool to let that bug trick me for so long. I should have realised what was going on with those flashes. I admit it now! I made too many mistakes! Please, I'm sorry". He took a moment to regain his own composure, hearing all of this made him look like the worst example of a guard and big brother figure he knew.
"Please, I know now that I was too naive with the imposter. You were right, we WERE on high alert and I should have taken more responsibility for it, but-"
"I don't CARE about that anymore!" Twilight blurted out causing him to stop in his tracks.
"I don't CARE about what should have been done. The only thing on my mind is... is..." she trailed off.
"Is what?" Shining asked softly. His sister looked down at this point hiding her face but saw tears dripping down. Lifting her head up gently to look into her watering eyes, he heard her squeak,
"What if I was wrong?"
"Wh.. what?" Shining asked.
"What if I was WRONG about the accusations? What if that really WAS Just Cadence having a bad time? All I was doing was sticking up for everyone about how rude she was behaving how she was treating you all and yet, you kicked me out of your own wedding! Your own wedding! And yet, everyone else went ahead anyway!"
"What? But..."
"I SAW YOU ALL HERE!" She screamed again. "WHEN I FIRST CAME INTO THIS ROOM, YOU WERE ALL HERE! GOING AHEAD! YOU MADE NO PROTEST ABOUT ME NOT BEING HERE! YOU MADE NO PROTEST ABOUT ME MISSING THIS ONCE IN A LIFE TIME EVENT!!! AND ALL I WAS DOING WAS TRYING TO STICK UP FOR YOU!!!" she finally collapsed into tears on the floor. No one in the room had anything to say. They finally understood her reasons for being so distraught. This was an act of betrayal unlike anything she had felt. There was no trickery from a being that made anyone act the opposite of what they were. There was an imposter who fed into their cravings, but in the end... the desire to become celebrities in helping with the wedding, the partying the carefree lifestyle that was promised, after the efforts of a dear friend, a faithful student, a sister... was ignored. And it was all by their own choice that they did this to her. After a moment of hearing only Twilight's sobs, Princess Celestia came forward. She gently sat next to her, pulling her close into her white body with her forearms before speaking softly,
"My dear student. I am so sorry for the way we treated you. I understand your pain now, as do we all. But you must believe me when I say this. These events this day and your actions to help save the REAL Cadence will be a huge day to be remembered not only from us here, but everyone across all of Equestria. And I promise you, there will be no more excuses to not hake heed of all that has been learned today. But right now, all we need is your help one more time to help piece together a day that will still be celebrated and enjoyed by all... especially for you too. Please Twilight" she lowered her head and nuzzled the still sobbing unicorn, "Please help us just one more time to make your brother's wedding possible".
"Don't bother!" a voice cried out, grabbing everyone's attention again. But it wasn't Twilight, as she too lifted her head up to see an angry teary eyed Cadence looking at everyone in disgust. "The wedding is OFF!"
Everyone, including Twilight gasped.
"C- Cadence?" Twilight stuttered between tears, but she could only see as a wedding ring that Spike had ready for the couple to be was ripped from the cushion and turned back to face her now disengaged husband to be.
"Do you think I'd want to marry to someone who puts his pig headed pride before his own family?! Someone who is willing to make his sister's friends and even mentor turn on her just because of a princess?!" she said throwing the ring straight into his face with tears rolling down.
"But I... Cadence, I-" he stammered but was instantly cut off.
"THAT is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza to you!" she snapped back "And if you even think for a moment that any sweet talk now will win me back, YOU are sadly mistaken!"
"But, Sweetie, I-"
"I don't want to hear it! You promised me that if I married you, then Twilight would become my sister in law! Even with all that you said, when it came down to it, you really WERE ready to leave her out just for your own self gratification!" Cadence turned to face Twilight's friends. "And YOU! You should ALL be ashamed of yourselves! I know that Twilight has a tendency to overreact, but she always means well and you know it! How could you treat her so cruely?! I saw those friendship reports she wrote about your adventures and your time in Ponyville. I thought you were also learning something about friendship, but it looks like I was wrong about that too! And you!" she said finally turning to confront Princess Celestia herself,
"You KNOW about all the things that happen to her! You KNOW about what happens to Twilight in Ponyville and you of ALL ponies should know your own student better than anyone else if you truly ARE close to her as you SAY you are! How could value her so little when she needed you the most?!"
"But... but..." the regal alicorn stammered, but she too was cut off.
"I think we're done here! Its just like Twilight said! If putting YOUR needs first is more important than friendship, then I don't want to be a part of that company, especially they put this wedding together for me!" she turned slowly to Twilight who was standing up again.
"Twilight?" Cadence said between tears.
"Y-Yes?"
"Thank you." she nuzzled the unicorn softly for a moment, "You've stopped me from making a terrible mistake" and with that, she could no longer keep herself controlled. She ran straight for the door in tears.
"Cadence, WAIT!" Twilight called running after her. "CADEEEENCE!!!"
The room went silent once more. Nothing else could he fathomed. Nothing else could be discussed.
"Wh... why?" Pinkie stammered with tears in her eyes.
"Were we really, that horrible?" Rarity said choking on tears.
"What are we gonna do?" Applejack said removing her hat and over her chest.
"Let them go" a voice said, with everyone looking at the princess, her ears dropped and her face a washed with grief.
"Only Twilight has the right to speak to her now... besides" she finished turning her head away in shame, "I think it's safe to say, we've ALL got a lot to think about..."
Shining Armour said nothing of the sort. He knew that he had blown it badly. Not only had he lost his wife, but his respect, his honour and his sister. Cadence was right. How could he promise Twilight to become Cadence's sister if her refused her to be there at his wedding? How could Twilight's friends have been so cruel to Twilight when all she was doing was trying to protect them? How could Celestia have been so foolish to not notice the change in her own niece's attitude and jeopardised the safety of her subjects? Shining looked down at the ring that Cadence threw at his face. He picked it up and heard a soft jingle.
' This day should have been just perfect,
The kind of day of which I dreamt when I was small,
But from to many mistake,
There's no love, dancing or cake,
This day might never happen now at all '
To Be Continued...
This day should have been just perfect, part 2
Up in her private keep, which she had finally been able to occupy herself again for the first time in days, Cadence lay on her bed weeping. It had been nearly days since she was kidnapped in the dead of night, days since she was left beneath the caves under all of Canterlot, and during that time, she feared more than anything the harm that would have come to her husband to be, Shining Armour. All the fear that she was to have for his safety, his health and his heart being taken away by a shape shifting monster was all that plagued her mind for the entire time she was down there. Only when her young favourite foal friend had saved her, could she finally have her heart filled with hope to see her lover again... and yet, despite her efforts to be with the stallion she thought she could love, she lies here now. Broken. Exhausted. In despair.
"Cadence" said the young lavender unicorn said lying next to her giving her the comfort that a lifetime ago, she herself once got from the regal pink princess.
"I am so sorry. I didn't know how much this meant to you. I was..." she stopped to collect herself before continuing, "I was just so, angry. I was just so upset, but I didn't know how much the wedding would have meant to you, I just-" but she was stopped by her old foal sitter sitting up with a saddened smile.
"Oh Twilight, I *sob* I'm not mad at you for what you said, and I don't blame you for a moment about what you did in there. I'm just so, so sorry that you went through all that pain and through all that trouble to try and stop the crisis from happening... only for all of your friends, your mentor and... even your brother to treat you so poorly".
"To be honest" Twilight said looking away ashamed of herself, "When I look back on it, I can understand why they didn't listen to me".
"*Sob* But, you did so much for them, so much for ALL of them, especially my aunt. Why would they not listen to you?"
"You said it yourself. I over react to things" she paused as she slowly lowered her head onto the mattress like a dog being told how bad they were, "I over react to everything".
"Twilight..."
"I know it seems silly to mention, but when Pinkie Pie was going around accusing everyone when we tried to bring that cake up to the cake festival only a few weeks ago, I was stressing about the importance of having proof" she said ending with a sad sigh, "then there I go, waltzing in with no proof at all, acting up the whole time, looking like a foal throwing a tantrum... I, I should have known what was going to happen".
Cadence looked down sadly at Twilight, remembering the lessons that she had read about the importance of friendship, the lessons that she was learning with her friends in Ponyville, all the joys that must have been coming from it to make them understand something better about themselves and learn and use all that they experienced together for the greater good. However, from what she remembered Twilight saying back at the hall, all the lessons it seemed fell on deaf ears as they simply went ahead without her despite her efforts and contributions toward all that she had done for them.
"Twilight, "Cadence began after a small pause, "I know you well. You do over react to things, but that's just the way you are. It can't be helped. But you never do it to make anyone else feel bad, and even if you did it was never on purpose".
"What makes you think that?" Twilight asked.
"You always do what you have to do to help others around you, by being who you are. Being yourself".
"What about it?"
"The point is Twilight, they should know you better then that. If you had to voice your concerns, then they should know that it's just the way you are. You had every right to be angry for them not listening to you, because they should know you by now. They should know your flaws, but also your good intentions too. Especially aunt Celestia". Twilight had no words to describe her foal sitter's words of reassurance, but she continued after her own brief pause with,
"Yeah, maybe. I just... I was just so worried about my brother. Seeing that spell, seeing that action that was brought on by that witch, I wanted to stop it all, but... I...I" she stopped. Her sentence faded away as tears formed in her eyes thinking to the harsh things that her brother had said to her earlier. How he kicked her out of the wedding, how her friends walked out on her, how her mentor whom she looked up to so much, could only give her the cold shoulder treatment and too, leave her alone. Cadence simply wrapped a forearm around the shaking unicorn as she began to sob herself.
"Twilight?" Cadence asked softly.
"Y-yes?"
"Do you remember what I said before when I gave your brother a piece of my mind? About how I said he promised me you would become my sister in law?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"Well, that was the single biggest reason I chose to accept his proposal. Knowing that you, my favourite little foal would be my sister, was just so wonderful" she ended with a smile looking into Twilight's eyes. Alas, her smile did fade again as she looked away, "but to hear that he kicked you out of the wedding, just because you were trying to warn him, how he went ahead anyway and how your friend and auntie Celestia went ahead too... made me realise that he didn't care about that at all".
"Cadence..."
"He wanted to use his position to get to me. He went ahead without you. He was ready to break his promise to me. It made me see that... I, I was..."
"Was what?" Twilight asked softly, almost as if she hadn't said a word. She looked as Cadence's eyes watered and her lips quivered.
"That I was a fool!" she suddenly blurted out. "I was a fool to accept his proposal! He lied to me! He USED me! And worst of all" she stuttered before pulling Twilight into a tight hug,
"He had the audacity to use you too!" she sobbed on Twilight's shoulder, the lavender unicorn only returning the hug after a short time.
"Oh Twilight, I am so sorry I put you through so much! If I'd only known him better..." she couldn't form any more sentences and just gave into soft sobs. Twilight could only keep her old foal sitter in a loving embrace for as long as she could, giving into her own soft sobs. The two remained there, just holding each other, broken from the outside world, but bonded together from the inside, here and now.
Earlier that day, after the outburst in the now defunct wedding reception, there stood a collection of ponies, each one heartbroken by the harsh words said by the two ponies who ran off from it all. Five friends contemplating their worth to call themselves friends after the way they treated Twilight, a guard captain looking at the ring his fiancée threw at his face in his hoof and a princess who now felt like her bond with her faithful student was now tarnished along with her beloved niece.
"We, we gotta do somethin' your majesty, please" pleaded Applejack walking over to the princess. "Twi and Cadence needs us right now".
"What good would it do?" moped the princess, "You heard how they acted, what they said and what they meant. This is not the time to interfere with either of them right now".
"We can't just SIT here!" protested Rainbow Dash hopping to the air, "We may have made a mess, but we can't just sit here feeling sorry for yourselves! We need to prove to Twilight that we CAN and WILL do better for her!"
"But what about Cadence?" asked Fluttershy, "She's the one who called the wedding off and doesn't want to get married..." looking over to a still disgruntled white stallion who felt like his heart was hit by a sledge hammer from that statement,
"Oh, um... I'm sorry. I um.. well, I didn't meant to..." she spluttered, but was softly silenced with Rarity putting a hoof to her shy friend's maw.
"The point is" the fashion pony said, "We simply cannot do this to her or to Princess Cadence. We cannot let them go through this alone. We've let both of them down when they needed us all the most. We owe it to them to do something to help".
"But what can we do?" the party pony spoke up, "I don't think that even a party would cheer up Twilight at this point".
"Pinkie, that's your solution to EVERYTHING!" Groaned Rainbow Dash as she face hoofed.
"Well it's something at least, isn't it?"
"I... cannot... believe ANY OF THIS!!" A small voice suddenly cried out that grabbed everyone's attention. It came from an angry little dragon who turned to face everyone.
"What is WRONG with all of you?! You just let a FRIEND who helped you all SO many times run out of here without once trying to stop here because you think it's 'for the best'?! What kind of friends ARE you guys?!!" he finished throwing his hat on the ground, not caring how much damage was done to it as it collapsed.
"You ALWAYS get her into trouble! You ALWAYS use her for your own needs, just like she says! I wonder if you're STILL under Discord's control! Either that or your moronicy has sky rocketed in the last two years!" This caused the ponies to look directly at the dragon with the same amount of disgust and shock that they had given to Twilight only moments earlier.
"Who in the hay do you think you ARE!?" scowled Applejack as she walked over to him, "Ain't it enough already that we feel as bad as we do right now?!"
"What are you feeling bad about, huh?" Spike said as his nose went right up to AJ's snout. "That you were made a fool out of? That you can't admit you're wrong?! That your pride is too much for you to handle?!"
"Oh yeah?!" Spoke up Rainbow Dash sizing up the dragon, "What were YOU doing all this time then, huh? You never noticed any problems yourself with you too busy playing with those stupid cake decorations! And you wanted to goof around just as much at the party afterward WITHOUT Twilight being there either you know! You walked out on her too, so don't YOU start acting like you're in the clear here!"
"Oh what's this? You're trying to defend someone NOW miss, 'Element of Loyalty'?" Spike answered back. "For someone who's supposed to represent it, you act ANYTHING but loyal! How many times have you ditch the rest of us because YOU wanted to be a Wonderbolt? You wanted to be famous? That's ALL that ever really mattered to YOU in the end, wasn't it?! I admit I walked out on her, but you know what, I regret it now! I wish I was NEVER involved in this stupid wedding to begin with! I admit it! I made a bad choice not listening to Twilight too!" he turned to walk out of the hall, but he gave them all a cold shoulder before he left "But unlike the REST of you, I'm not going to sit here feeling sorry for myself. I'm actually going to DO something about it! When you so called friends have finished feeling bad that you didn't get YOUR way with things, you come and find me, Cadence AND Twilight!"
"Spike please, we cannot-" Princess Celestia spoke up, but was instantly cut off.
"Save it Princess! You're in NO position to tell ANYONE, ANYTHING right now!" and he turned to leave the hall, but just as he did, he walked smack into the chest armour of a group of guard ponies who had entered. Looking up, he saw as the eight guards looked at him before addressing the rest of the ponies in the room.
"Captain Armour" one of them spoke up. The captain looked up slowly, still feeling disgraced by such an authority.
"I'm here" he replied.
"Captain, by order of the council of Equestria, you are hereby to be summoned to the courthouse immediately!"
"What?" Pinkie spoke up, "What for? He didn't slip a piece of cake from before the wedding did he? *Gasp* For shame!" to which she was quickly silenced by Rarity's magic closing her maw.
"Look, this isn't a good time" he protested, "I absolutely NEED to speak to Cadence and my sister!"
"You're ready to do that now, huh" Spike muttered.
"I'm afraid we really must insist that you accompany us sir. If you fail to do so, you will be restrained and brought to the courthouse by our means".
"Equestia has a council?" Pinkie asked.
"Of course it does. Who else do you think makes the tax decisions and passes out new laws? It's not just the princess, you know". the guard answered.
"That'd explain the rise in mah taxes recently" muttered Applejack.
"What are you going to do with him?" Asked Fluttershy to one of the guards. The one she addressed looked at her with a looks could kill expression as she backed away slowly.
"Captain Armour is being summoned to explain his actions as to why the attack has taken place today. The citizens are angry at the attack, several guards are holding back small groups who are already in protest about the way the situation was handled, and the high council want answers".
"This is outrageous!" Protested Princess Celestia. "Only I have the authority to give such orders!"
"I'm afraid that in light of these situations your majesty, the council has found you unworthy to make such decisions at this moment in time".
"What?!"
"You too also failed to carry out any security checks on any information that was given. You failed to stop the Changeling Queen when she revealed herself in front of the public. And you failed to take any proper measures to insure the safety of this kingdom. As such, you're authority has been revoked until further notice".
"They can't DO this!" Applejack spoke up, "Even THEY were fooled! Everypony was fooled!"
"Exactly" another guard spoke up, "Which is why the Element Wielders are also to be punished by their orders".
"They WHAT?!" The five cried out at once.
"All individuals who failed to carry out any proper safety checks are to be questioned for their actions as to why they allowed the attacks to happen".
"Are your helmets on too tight or something?!" cried Rainbow Dash, "That shape shifting bug fooled EVERYPONY!"
"AND by THAT account" said a guard using his magic to pull the brash peagis toward him, "ALL individuals are to be trialled to explain their actions" he said letting her go and falling to the floor.
"Now that there has been a confirmation that the wedding will not be going ahead, the council wishes to speak with Captain Armour to have his actions brought to the court and explain himself".
"How did you know that wedding was called off?" Shining asked.
"When Princess Mi Amore Cadenza left the hall and was retreating to her quarters, she was pursued by Twilight Sparkle. She stopped to catch her breath and explained to a couple of our sergeants that there was going to be no wedding as she had called it off". Shining Armour sighed and shooked his head at this looking as if to say 'This cannot be happening'.
"We passed on the information to the council, then we then escorted both of them to her quarters and left them there. Which is what we will now do with the rest of you for the time being" the guard finished as other surrounded the wielders.
"Hey!" snapped Rainbow Dash.
"Dy'all mind?" protested Applejack.
"Personal space if you don't mind!" said Rarity as she adjusted her mane.
"This is unacceptable! The council has no right to treat any of us like this!" protested Princess Celestia.
"Please your majesty, we are only following the orders given to us by the council who has re leaved you of your-"
"Just wait until THEY themselves become re leaved of THEIR authority! They will not get away with this!"
"Yeah! Who do they think they are?" Pinkie said "Kings of Equestria?!" The guards simply looked at one another for a moment.
"Does she even have the intelligence to be a wielder?" one asked.
"Hey! I resent that!"
"Of for crying out... Just get them out of here and back to their quarters! And bring Captain Armour with us!"
"We're actually doing you all a favour. You're all in nopony's good books right now and would want to tear you apart for what's happened" the guard said bitterly as they began to escort them all one by one out the door.
Despite some rough protest, the guards were eventually able to escort the now disgraced heroes back to their living quarters like common criminals being lead away from a crime. As the princess was lead away and the mane 5 were lead to their chambers, captain Armour was lead slowly down another hall all the way to the courthouse. He looked out the window of various pieces of rubble and guards attending to the needs of any wounded they could find. Some ponies were in worse shape than others but they looked like they would be alright. But he knew that the failings of his actions in defending the kingdom would come down heavily on him. The burden that was on his shoulders felt like the whole world that was caving in all around him. It felt like an eternity, but eventually he was before the large doors that led to the council's sanctum. As the doors opened, he was met by a whole collection of the Canterlot politicians all looking down at him in anger, disgrace and disappointment. Being led inside, he was soon before the judge of the council in the centre of the room. The judge, a bearded old brown unicorn looked down at him as the guards escorted him into the stand.
"Captain Shining Armour!" the judge boomed.
"Yes sir" he replied.
"You owe this council and the entire kingdom an explanation".
To Be Continued.
