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. Next Chapter: This day should have been just perfect... part 3 Estimated time remaining: 16 Minutes