Sorry this is so late. I lost my computer, all my rough drafts, the outline for the plot... everything. So, this is all fresh, again. I have a little bit of a memory of how I was going to write it, so some of what I had planned will still happen. The premiere made me pretty happy, given how Spike-centric it was as compared to most episodes. Naturally, I'm gonna use it.

Anyways, about last chapter. The whole thing felt rushed to me after I went and reread it, and I feel as if I could have done better, and that applies really to the whole fic in general. Do you want me to try and rewrite the story and try to make it a bit better, or is it fine the way it is? Your opinions are important!

Finally: Story time!

- - - - -

“I'm sorry, did you just say you wanted to ban your sister from the wedding that was suddenly just sprung on her?” Spike asked, disbelief and anger adding a little edge to his voice.

The white unicorn sighed, guiltily.

“Look, Spike... I don't want to, you know I adore Twiley, but she's making Cadence upset and in turn, that's stressing me out, and... hang on,” he paused and closed his eyes, focusing energy to his horn before a blast of energy shot out and up into the shield bubble around the city. It shimmered for a moment and then the glow faded. Spike looked up in awe, the shield bubble Twilight was capable of producing didn't hold a candle to this. He could almost smell the magic coming off of it...

Wait. He could smell the magic off of it. Spike filed this away for later. New abilities could be explored after he got to the bottom of whatever was going on here. Spike looked back at his surrogate brother and whatever apprehension he had felt was placed on a back burner when he saw how sickly and uncomfortable- painfully so- Shining Armor had become.

“Dude... you okay?”

The unicorn rapidly shook his head as if to ward off whatever was troubling him.

“Magical exhaustion, I suppose. Princess Celestia has had me pumping out a full power shield for a while now. It's starting to wear on me, and even though Cadence- erm, Miamore, is doing most of the wedding plans, I have my own nerves and worries, too. Twilight's behavior in this is just making it worse for me. I know lots of weddings have badly behaved family members, but there's a difference between a little wedding, and a Royal wedding where the groom happens to be singlehandedly burdened with protecting an entire city from an unknown threat.”

Spike, to his horror, felt himself agreeing with that. He quashed it mercilessly. Twilight was Twilight, and she didn't act up unless there was really something up, and Spike knew that there was something up. The dragon looked up at the shield curiously. Whatever was threatening Canterlot wasn't apparently able to get through that shield, very little could. What if things were being manipulated in such a way as to weaken Shining Armor? While he wasn't as powerful as the Princesses or even Twilight Sparkle, Shining was still vital to the safety of the ponies here. That shield would hold off anything. Bad weather, magic attacks, probably even a full... scale...

Invasion.

It was brilliant, he decided, but suicidal. Even if the shield was down, the Canterlot Guard were all powerful, the population was made of up of higher class unicorns, many of which studied magic at Celestia's school, and that wasn't even adding the fact that the Princesses were all three incredibly powerful. Even then, there was still the Elements of Harmony and himself, a now teenage dragon. He brushed the idea aside. Nothing short of a deity like being would risk it.

Still... it made sense. Ponies would be too distracted by the wedding to notice anything short of a rampaging dragon, so a slow and methodical weakening of the city's greatest defense would go largely unnoticed. Perhaps Cadence's personality was being forcibly altered to further damage whatever it could? Cadence lacked her either aunt's sheer power, instead having the ability to manipulate emotion. The alicorn could potentially lower morale of an opposing army and just as easily boost another. Not to mention that she could be being forced to do something to the other princesses if she was somehow being controlled or manipulated.

Spike filed it away, too, to discuss with Celestia at first opportunity. Future Spike problem, and he was Present Spike, and Twilight's happiness was currently at stake.

“Still, bro. Celestia put her in charge of the reception and you know how far Twilight will go to please. She wants everything to be perfect for the three ponies that she idolizes, and whether or not Ca- Miamore is being... negative about anything, it's probably stressing her out because there's something not perfect. Give her some time, and let me see if I can talk to her. She'd be utterly devastated if she missed her big brother's wedding, you know?”

Shining Armor smiled and nodded.

“Thanks, Spike. When did you get so smart?”

With a chuckle, Spike nudged his head at the castle in the general direction of where his and Twilight's old room was.

“I grew up and currently live in a library with the world's most faithful student. She was gonna rub off on me eventually.”

The two males laughed at that. After a short pause, Spike remembered a reason to be upset with his big brother figure at a more personal level.

“So did you have to...um, interrupt?” Spike asked, shyly trailing off at the end. The closeness of the pegasus's face to his own brought back a small blush. Shining Armor actually snickered.

“She was pretty cute, where did you find her?”

Spike began to talk about Fluttershy, an excited grin on his face as he explained just how much a part she had played in his sudden growth, both mentally and physically. He relayed how it all started with him going to apologize for how jerkish he had been to her when the pegasi of Ponyville were trying to train to collect the rainwater for Cloudsdale, and how later he had begun to help her alongside Rarity and Twilight when Rarity had been under that stressful work order, and now how they were all here and how she asked to been shown about Canterlot.

The dragon finished his tale and noticed Shining Armor smiling at him, looking a little proud.

“She sounds great Spike. You... uh, might want to go catch her, if she's as easily spooked as you say. Or at least get to bed. I've heard through the grapevine that you're planning my bachelor party, and I expect a great one, kiddo, said the white unicorn with a wink. Spike and Armor shared another laugh as the two seperated.

- - - -

Now that he was alone, he could think about what had gone on. He was sure she had been about to kiss him.The first question he had asked himself was “when in Tartarus did she start liking me?” and his brain had come up with a surprisingly simple answer. Spike had started suddenly spending way more time with her. He remembered reading once that exposure would often cement the odds that an attraction would occur. After reading that, the then-baby dragon had almost exclusively hung around Rarity to the point that Twilight had to lock him in the library to remind him that he was her assistant first and foremost.

Not only that, he had saved her life. That would often cause feelings of attraction to rise in a pony.  He also showed interest in what she did...

Oy vey. Fluttershy had a crush on him.

The implications of this were not lost, as he again heard feminine chuckling coming from the back of his mind. He had a very pretty mare that liked him, and like any male, he thought that was awesome. He could actually swear he could hear his ego inflating over it.

But Rarity.

But Rarity.

But Rarity.

Rarity was his dream girl. A pony who's thirst for gems rivaled that of a dragon, she was fiery and fierce and protective of the things she viewed as hers. And she almost regularly called him “her Spikey-wikey” and was definitely protective of him and not in the way Twilight was, he knew that much. And whether or not she returned the feelings he had expressed to her... she definitely valued them, and he felt like they had been closer than ever since he had told her how he had felt.

And Rarity was also Fluttershy's best friend.

Oy vey.

Spike spent the rest of the evening and night unable to sleep.

- - - -

The wedding wasn't too far away now. Two more days, in fact. The group of friends had all shared stories about how Cadence tended to act, and it unsettled Twilight and Spike way more than it did the other four. They were now at a cafe, all talking about their various parts in the wedding while Twilight stewed over over how her future sister in law was acting. Spike had the sneaking suspicion that most of the friends (given their occupations) did happen to tend to a lot of weddings. Applejack and Pinkie were outstanding chefs and given the expanse as well as the closeness of the Apple family, Applejack would have seen a few weddings. Rarity designed dresses, that went hand in hand with weddings. Dashie wasn't too concerned, all she had to do was something that she loved to do. And Fluttershy...

Spike looked hesitantly at the yellow pegasus, and green eyes found cyan and held them for a second before the two of them looked away quickly, blushing slightly. They hadn't talked about what had almost happened between them and had pretty much avoided being along with each other since. Twilight was oblivious, and if the rest of their friends were curious as to what may have transpired, they didn't show it because they didn't ask. He look around and saw the shield above them shimmer and fade a little before it slowly became more solid. He had remembered Shining Armor's condition after performing the spell a few nights ago and the dragon felt worried.  It would have to be worse now; he'd had the shield up for three more days nonstop. Armor would have definitely be struggling more now. Even if Cadence was restoring his magic stores, it wouldn't replace good ol' sleep for long. He learned from experience that magical exhaustion would wear down any unicorn, having seen Twilight do it numerous times.

There was just too much going on. Canterlot's safety was in jeopardy, he could feel it in his bones, and now was not the time to worry about his love life. He was then snapped out of his thoughts by Twilight getting angry and storming off.  

The group sat in silence as they watched her leave.

“Spike, don't you think you can talk some sense into her?”

The question came from Applejack, and for a moment, he felt the pressing need to chase after his oldest friend. She was hurt and confused and scared for her brother who was marrying what she thought of as a stranger and not a good one.  He stood up from the table slowly and nodded.

“But see, girls... the thing is is that she kinda has a point. There is something really fishy going on and I think it's centered around the Princess and Shining Armor. Shining Armor's shield, you know, the giant bubble around Canterlot, repels anything that registers as hostile intent. It can repel whole armies, supposedly. Twilight isn't the only powerful unicorn in the family. She gets it honestly from her mother and her brother got it a well. If that shield ever fell, something could attack Canterlot easily. And come on, girls... Twilight may be the one to overreact to small things, but how often is she wrong?”

With that, he chased after his sister.

- - - -

Shining Armor's home?

That's where Spike eventually found himself, and he saw Twilight go in with her brother. Not wanting to intrude, he only had to wait a few minutes before the lavender pony ran out the door like a bat out of Tartarus. Now worried, Spike finally caught up to her as she ducked into an alleyway, panting horribly and a fearful look in her eyes.

“I was right. She's not just mean and rude... she's out right evil! She's doing something to my brother!”

Unable to resist the joke, and hoping it would calm her down, Spike grinned.

“Well, see, Twilight, when a mare and a stallion love each other very much...”

Twilight groaned loudly and rolled her eyes.

“Really, Spike?”

The dragon nodded, “And now that you've calmed down some, maybe you can tell me what you saw without hyperventilating?”

And so she did.

And Spike filed it all away for later.

“Well, Twilight... let's go tell Princess Celestia in the morning what we saw. I'm sure there's a plausible explanation. I do agree that there really is something big going on here, and even if it's nothing, we need to make sure that Celestia knows that something is going on with her niece. So why don't we head back to the tower, put our heads together and figure out what's going on so we have a full story for her? I've noticed some things, too... and lets just say that things might be going pretty south here before too long.”

Twilight nodded, and the two headed home.

- - - - -

Well, here ya go. New chapter. Only a few left and the Wedding is over! I've kinda decided to just leave the old chapters alone. I like seeing that I'm growing as a writer and all and it's good to go back and see what I started from. At least, I think I'm getting better. Once again, I'd like to apologize for the lateness of the new chapter and I hope that it doesn't happen again for a while.

Oh, and good news! I may possibly be moving to Hawaii in January!