On the train ride to Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle looked out of the window, staring wistfully at the scenery. The only notice of her listening to the rest of her friends was a subtle ear flick as Spike asked what a Bachelor Party was.
Classic Shining Armor, get the child to organize a party.
"Why the long face sugar cube?" Twilight was dragged out of her musing as Applejack walked up and asked her what was bothering her.
"I don't know..." Twilight sighed, "It's just... I feel like ever since I left Canterlot, Shining Armor and I have been talking with each other less and less, and now that he's starting this new family with..." Twilight tried to remember the long and foreign name from the letter, "Princess Mi Amore Cal-what's-her-name, We'll probably never see each other," She frowned at the mere thought of never seeing her Big Brother Best Friend Forever, resting her chin on the train's window, feeling the vibrations shake her head.
"Twilight," Applejack said softly as she placed a leg on her shoulder, "From everything you told us, and the very little we do know, Your Shining Armor brother sounds like a wonderful guy, I doubt he'd just leave you behind once he's married, and besides, what if the wife is who is equally kind? I think, that if the two of them are truly happy together, then it's not our place to get in the way of love," She patted her shoulder, "Even if we really want to," Applejack gave Twilight a knowing look.
"But come on now, You're his sister, he'll always make time for you,"
Twilight scoffed lightly at that last part, "He couldn't seem to make time to tell me he was getting married!"
-------------------------------------
"Ooh, We're here! We're here!" Pinkie Pie jumped in excitement as the train reached the city of Canterlot, only to pause and shake away a wave of discomfort as the train passed through a pink magic bubble.
As the train stopped at the station, and the ponies got off, Rainbow Dash asked the question that the group all had on their mind.
"Whoa, what's with all the guards?" She asked as she got out of the cabin, followed by Applejack and Rarity, as the group looked at the many gold armored guards stationed around the place, spears held in their hoofs, some carrying red flags at the end of their polearms, all looking as if ready to jump into action at the subtlest hint of a threat.
"I'm sure they're just taking the necessary precautions, Royal weddings to bring out the strangest ponies," Rarity said as she too took a look at the place, moving to make room for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy to exit the train cart, "Now let's go, we have work to do!" She said as the group started to move.
"And you," Applejack turned to the last pony to get off the train, "Have a big brother to go congratulate,"
"Yeah," Twilight scowled, "Congratulate," Her back was hunched, head low to the ground, like a predator stalking its prey, "And then give him a piece of my mind," She walked past a pair of guards, who must have enjoyed their very simple job of crossing spears in front of the exit, Spike the dragon walking after her as fast as his legs could take him.
"I'm sure she'll be okay, They're family," Applejack told the rest of the group as they watched a grumpy Twilight make her way up to the castle, a look of concern briefly flashing on her face before she and the rest of the girls moved to follow.
-----------------------------------
Twilight Sparkle glared as hard as she could, which as it turns out wasn't as hard as she wanted, as her eyes locked on to the figure of a White Unicorn with a Blue mane of hair, wearing purple Royal Guard armor, symbolizing his position as Captain.
"I've got something to say to you, Mister!" She said loudly as she approached her brother, ignoring the many spears the guards around her started to point in her direction.
"Twily!" Only to put the spears down as Shining Armor took off his helmet and went to greet his younger sister, "Oh I missed you Kid," He said with a smile as he walked down the stairs of the castle to meet with her, "How was the train ride?" He moved to pull her into a hug.
Twilight, with the grace of a stumbling drunkard, managed to elegantly pull away from the reach of her older brother in order to continue to weakly glare at him, "How dare you not tell me in person that you were getting married?" She asked him, a tinge of disappointment in her voice at the idea that her Big Brother Best Friend Forever was no longer her BBBFF, and was now simply a regular Big Brother, "I'm your sister for ponies sake!" She turned her head to look away from him, now weakly glaring at the ground, like a poor kitten that only got half a bowl of milk.
"It's not my fault," Shining Armor tried to explain, "Princess Celestia requested a major increase in security," He pointed his hoof and some guards behind her, motioning them to get back to their jobs, "Didn't you see all the guards in the train station?"
"Yeah," Twilight brushed his explanation off, "There's a big wedding coming up, maybe you heard about it?!" She walked away to look at a nearby puddle of water, a weak excuse to look at something that wasn't her brother.
"It has nothing to do with the wedding," Shining Armor explained to his sister as he moved to stand in front of her, his hoof splashing in the puddle of water, causing Twilight's reflection to disappear, showing only mud, "A threat has been made against Canterlot," Twilight peeked at her brother, her glare weakening into barely more than a sad frown.
"This isn't a simple threat Twilight, the people who made it are dangerous, Princess Celestia asked that I provide additional protection, more than any other simple Royal Wedding," Twilight didn't point out that there was nothing simple with royal weddings.
"This," She looked up to see the worried face of her brother, "You need to see," He said as his horn started to glow with a pink aura before a beam of magic erupted upwards and hit the roof of the bubble that surrounded the entire city, the massive bubble reinforcing itself as Shining Armor's magic gave it more power to replace the steadily dwindling supply already powering the spell.
Shining Armor clenched his teeth as the spell finished, his leg moving to rub at his horn, "The burden of keeping Canterlot safe and secure rests squarely on my shoulders," He told his sister as he walked back up the stairs leading to the castle, Twilight following her brother close behind, "Staying focused on the task at hand has been my top priority,"
Hearing that explanation, Twilight felt a pang of guilt flow through her, here she was complaining that her brother didn't meet her in person in order to deliver a message, while he was already busy draining his magic in order to keep Canterlot safe and secure.
"Okay, Okay, I get it," She said as the two siblings stopped in the middle of a bridge overlooking the grounds below, watching the many guards moving about like parts on a conveyor belt, like ants following one after the other, creating an almost artistic series of lines of groups, "You're protecting Canterlot with a forcefield only you can conjure up," She looked at the sky, watching the shimmering pink bubble that blocked out the clouds above, "But still, How could you not tell me about something as big as your wedding?" Twilight frowned sadly, "Am I not important to you anymore?" She asked, hoping her brother would go ahead and tell her that she was just overthinking it all again like she always does.
"Hey," Shining Armor answered, "You're my little sister, of course, you're important to me, and getting married isn't going to change that," He chuckled at the mere thought of not caring about his sister anymore, "Although..." A cheeky smile spread on his lips, "I would understand if you didn't wish to be my best mare anymore," He shrugged at those words, smirking at the sight of Twilight Sparkle's eyes widening with glee and wonder at those words.
"You want me?" She pointed her hoof at her face, "To be your best mare?"
"Well," Shining Armor tried to think of a wonderfully eloquent answer to such an emotional question, an answer that would showcase how much he's grown and learned ever since he became Captain of the Royal Guard, "Yeah."
"Well," Twilight, same as her brother, took half a second to think of an amazing response that would dazzle anyone who heard it, a response that would showcase all the lessons she learned since she moved to Ponyville almost a full year ago, "I'll be honored to,"
The two siblings smiled at the answers they each gave before pulling each other into a warm hug, only for Twilight to push her brother away a moment later, "But I'm still pretty ticked that you're marrying some pony I don't even know! When did you even meet this Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?"
Shining Armor smiled at his sister, "Twily, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, is Cadance," He told her, watching Twilight's mind start to whirl as it tried to remember who he was talking about, "Your old foal sitter," He raised an eyebrow at his sister, "You last met here at Hearths Warming," He pointed out to her, watching her mind still try to connect the dots.
He knew she wasn't that good at remembering faces she hadn't seen in a long time, but it hadn't even been three months since the last time they met, She was also an Alicorn, really hard to forget that part about her.
"Cadance?" Twilight repeated the name, "As in The Cadance?" She shook her head in order to clear it of imaginary cobwebs, "As in the greatest foal sitter in all the history of foal sitters?!" She asked with a smile.
"Eheh," Shining Armor chuckled at his sister's delayed reaction, "If that's how you remember her, then you'll need to tell me, She was your foal sitter after all,"
"Oh my gosh oh my gosh!" Twilight started to stare off into the distance as a flashback of all the good time she had with Cadance in her childhood flashed through her mind, "Cadance is the best foal sitter in the world, she's beautiful, she's caring, she's kind,"
"I'm sooo lucky to have you as my foal sitter," Young Twilight said in the flashback as she sat on a swing set, Cadance pushing her as the two played outside.
"I'm the one who's lucky, Twilight," Flashback Cadance told her
"But you're a princess," Flashback Twilight pointed out, "I'm just a regular old Unicorn,"
"You are anything but a regular old unicorn," Cadance told her as she picked her off the swing and sat her down on a picnic blanket, the two sharing a smile before they did their little dance.
"Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake," The two giggled once they finished, falling onto the blanket with smiles on their faces.
"How many Ponies can spread love wherever they go? I only know of one!" Twilight said with a smile as her flashback ended, "And you're marrying her!" She opened her front legs to hug her brother once more.
"You're marrying Cadance!" She jumped happily, twirling her brother around before she let go and continued her joyful jumps, "You're marrying Cadance!" Twilight stopped her jumping suddenly, her hooves sliding on the tiles of the bridge as a new pony walked up to her.
It was her, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, her future sister-in-law.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important," Cadance told her as her eyes gave her a quick look over before moving to her brother.
"Cadance!" Twilight smiled as she stood before Cadance, "Sunshine sunshine, Ladybugs awake, Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Twilight did her little dance, hoping Cadance will join her like she always did.
"What are you doing?" Instead of joining her, the Alicorn of Love frowned at the childish display.
"Cadance it's me, Twilight!" The Element of Magic smiled at her old foal sitter, hoping to see a glint of recognition in the Alicorn's eyes.
"Uh huh," Cadance said blandly as she walked past, Smiling at Shining Armor as he pulled her into a hug.
"Welp," Shining Armor smiled as he let go of the hug, feeling as if he could fight five hundred, no, five thousand changelings all at once, "I need to get going back to my job, Cadance will-"
"I can speak for myself, Thank you very much... Darling~" Twilight frowned at Cadance interrupting her brother before she turned to look at her, "I shall be watching you and your little friends organize my special day, It needs to be perfect, after all~"
"Yeah," Shining Armor nodded in agreement, a lovestruck smile on his face, "And I think I speak for us both when I say that we are glad to have you here,"
"Oh yes~" Cadance nodded her head, her eyes staring at Twilight as if she were a body on an autopsy table, "We are so glad~"
Twilight felt her frown deeper as she watched the bride and groom walk away, leaving her with a sense of confusion.
That couldn't have been Cadance, could it? She would never just brush her off like that...
Something was off, and Twilight how no idea how to explain it.
This was more than just her overthinking things again, it had to be, she was sure of it.
The only question was... What was it?
Something was definitely off, she just had to figure out what...
----------------------------
"Blueblood?" Deep below the earth, The Alicorn of Love turned to look at her cousin.
"Yes, Cadance?" Blueblood Platinum answered, his body sitting cross-legged in the corner as he levitated himself half a meter off the ground like some sort of Eastern monk who achieved enlightenment.
"How long do you think we'll need to stay here?" She scratched her wings, the Cleaning spells might have kept the dirt and grime off her body, but they were no substitute for soap and shampoo.
"I'm guessing either until somebody notices that we've been replaced, which with the current track record, could probably take another month or so until someone puts the square into a hole that isn't triangle shaped, or the more realistic answer, Whenever I finish digging my tunnel out of here," He told her.
"Yeah, I guess it would take a- Wait a minute. Tunnel?"
Blueblood opened one of his eyes and raised his brow at her, "What are you talking about?"
"You- You just said you're digging a tunnel," Cadance pointed at him.
"No, I didn't," He closed his eyes and returned to seemingly meditate, "I did not at all say that I spent the last couple of days using my telekinesis to chip pieces of the floor away in order to dig a tunnel under the crystal walls of this prison only to hide it all under an illusion to make it seem like nothing's changed in order to fool Chrysalis," He opened both his eyes and stared at Cadance as if she was a child and he was disappointed it took her this long to figure his plan out.
"And let me guess," Cadance bit her cheek, "You didn't tell me any of this so I could keep acting like I'm trapped here in order to sell it to Chrysalis so she wouldn't suspect a thing? You're not telling me that?" She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.
"Now you're getting it," Blueblood nodded, "Just like how I'm also not currently making an illusion of you sleeping in that corner over there so you could try and use your Earth Pony strength to help me," He winked at her before he pointed with his horn at a second Mi Amore Cadenza, who seemed to be sleeping behind her.
"The tunnel is behind me," She heard his voice echo around her, his mouth not moving, "You have two hours before I need to turn your Illusions off in order to conserve the magic on the tunnel illusion," He pointed with his head at an area of the wall behind him.
"If all goes well, We'll be out of here by tomorrow," His echoing voice disappeared as he turned to look at the sleeping Cadance illusion, "Wow," He opened his mouth to say out loud, "Snore a little quieter, why don't you?"
Cadance felt her lips twitch as the Illusion let out a loud snore, "I don't snore!" She shouted at her cousin, but no sound escaped her.
She huffed and moved under an illusion of invisibility to the area behind him, watching as the Illusion he placed on the tunnel disappeared as she entered it, allowing her to see the half-dug tunnel of stone under the wall of crystal, small chunks of rock being chipped off with Telekinesis as Blueblood kept digging while maintaining the Illusion.
"Time to get to work," She whispered to herself, motioning at her legs as if she were pulling up invisible sleeves before she crawled into the tunnel and started digging with the strength of an Earth Pony and the magic of a Unicorn.
They were getting out of there.