I woke up the next day, but I wasn't able to get over the sudden twitch I had last night as if something evil was coming this way. But for some reason when I looked around, it all seemed fine to me. As soon as I had a late breakfast and got myself cleaned and dressed, I heard a knock on the door and I opened it.

"Morning darling." Rarity greeted who hat a summer hat on and was carrying a basket.

"Morning Rarity, what's the occasion?" I asked.

"We're having a picnic by the park and this time, we'll have no disturbing worries from Twilight." she giggled slightly, "Wanna join us?"

"Sure, it'd be good to get out of the house today."

"Fabulous, now let's get going dear."

I left my home and walked with Rarity to the park to find an ideal picnic spot. I then spotted the other five mares already there. I had a feeling it was going to be a terrific day with us seven together. It had been a long time ago since we had a bonding time together.

"Hi there girls, we're here now." Rarity called.

"Yay! Let's start the picnic!" Pinkie jumped.

"Calm down sugarcube, it's only a picnic, not a party." Applejack replied.

And thus, our picnic time began with apple drinks and a lovely looking chocolate cake with pink frosting.

"It is gorgeous out." Rarity sighed happily. "Just gorgeous."

After a while of our picnic time and talking about all the things we have gone through, we heard small steps coming our way, it was Spike and it looked like it may be something important.

"Twi...Twi...Twi." Spike tried to say after he stopped running and was by Twilight. "Have...just a...hang on a minute..." he then burped out a letter as if right on queue.

Twilight picked up it up with her magic and began to read.

"Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot...wedding?" she asked herself in confusion, "I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to provide the music..."

"Oh my goodness! What an honour!" Fluttershy commented.

"...Pinkie Pie, I can think of no one more qualified than you to host the reception...."

"Hip, hip, hooray!" Pinkie responded.

"...Applejack, you will be in charge of the catering for the reception..."

"Well, colour me pleased as punch!" Applejack said happily.

"...Rainbow Dash...I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a sonic rainboom as the bride and groom complete their "I do"'s..."

"Yes!" Dash said proudly.

"...Rarity, you will be responsible for designing the dresses for the bride and her bridesmaids..."

"Princess Celestia wants me to...wedding dress? For a Canterlot wedding... I, ah, ooh, oooh!" Rarity said before fainting.

"..Bond Racer, you will be providing the entertainment at the wedding reception..."

"Aw heck yeah! Always wanted to be centre of attention...umm, I'm joking by the way." I said to them before clearing my throat.

"...and as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all. Making sure that everything goes as planned. See you all very soon. Yours, Princess Celestia....But I don't understand. Who's getting married?"

"Oh, wait! Uh, I was probably supposed to give you this one first." Spike said as he burped out another letter which Twilight grabbed and read.

"Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and...my brother?!" Twilight gasped.

"Your brother's getting married? Congratulations, Twilight! That's great news!" I commented.

"Yeah, great news." She responded sarcastically, "That I just got from a wedding invitation! Not from my brother, but from a piece of paper! Thanks a lot, Shining Armour." She pointed towards Canterlot. "I mean, really, he couldn't tell me personally?" She grabbed a sandwich that had two olives on top with her magic and made it look like it was talking, deepening her voice to represent her brother's. "Hey, Twilight, just thought you should know I'm making a really big decision that changes everything. Oh, never mind, you'll hear about it when you get the invitation."

The girls exchanged worried looks with each other whilst I tried not to laugh, Twilight then returned to her normal voice. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza? Who in the hoof is that?" She exclaimed, snorting angrily.

"Um, Twilight? Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, holding out a hoof to her.

"Sorry," She apologized, walking away. "It's just that Shining Armour and I have always been so close. He's my B.B.B.F.F!" The other girls responded with questioning looks. Twilight looked back annoyingly and then back at us, explaining. "Big Brother Best Friend Forever?"

"Ohhh!"

"Before I came here and learned the importance of friendship, Shining Armour was the only pony I really accepted as a friend." One of the birds flying past us landed on Twilight's hoof. She nuzzled it compassionately and allowed it to fly away.

"Lemme guess, another song is about to start?" I asked.

"Eeyup." Applejack replied, almost the same way that Big Mac replies.

Music began to play and Twilight began to sing.

When I was just a filly, I found it rather silly

To see how many other ponies I could meet

I had my books to read, didn't know that I would ever need

Other ponies to make my life complete

But there was one colt that I cared for

I knew he would be there for me

My big brother, best friend forever!

Like two peas in a pod, we did everything together

He taught me how to fly a kite (Best friend forever!)

We never had a single fight (We did everything together!)

We shared our hopes, we shared our dreams

I miss him more than I realized

It seems...

The other five girls then joined in for a moment

Your big brother, best friend forever

Like two peas in a pod, you did everything together

And though he's, oh, so far away

I hoped that he would stay

My big brother best friend

Forever...

Forever...

She then finished the song, looking at the castle with a few tears. The rest of us were slightly worried as I walked over to Twilight.

"Well Twilight, as one of your P.F.F's." I said to her as I put a hoof around her. "Pony Friends Forever...I wanna tell you that I think your brother sounds like a real good guy."

"He is pretty special." She responded, walking back to the picnic area and sitting by her piece of cake as she flipped it lightly. "I mean, they don't let just anypony be Captain of the Royal Guard."

"So let me get this straight." Rarity quickly rushed over to Twilight. "We're helping out with the wedding of not only a princess, but a Captain of the Royal Guard?"

"I guess we are." Twilight replied in a saddened yet annoyed expression as well.

"Ooh, ooh, oooh!" Rarity began joyfully fainting again, causing Twilight to pull out a pillow with her magic and place it behind Rarity before she fell to the ground. The other mares then began to talk about the wedding in their excited moods.

I could only stand back and just wonder why Twilight would be sad to get a wedding invitation. If I had one where my sister was getting married, I'd be honoured to attend, letter or face to face, but I guess everypony is different on the inside.

After we wrapped up our picnic, we took the train to Canterlot and it was quite weird, cause we were there yesterday for that cake comeptition and now, there's a wedding today? Although that would explain why I saw a few unicorn guards around the Canterlot town when we were riding the train back home.

We were all sitting down and talking about the wedding, but I didn't say anything...suddenly, I had another twitch and it felt the same kind of coldness as before...I was beginning to think that something may not be right. But as before, I shrugged it off as a minor migraine issue.

"A sonic rainboom? At a wedding? Can you say 'best wedding ever'!" I heard Rainbow Dash exclaim in excitement.

"Best wedding ever!" Pinkie Pie screamed in joy as we passed through a dark tunnel in the train.

"So you all get to help with the big fancy wedding," Spike spoke. "But I'm the one who gets to host the bachelor party! I have just one question. What's a bachelor party?"

This caused the all the girls except Twilight to giggle and laugh.

"Why the long face, Twilight?" I asked.

"I'm just thinking about Shining Armour. Ever since I moved to Ponyville, we've been seeing each other less and less. And now that he's starting a new family with this "Princess Mi Amore Ca-whatshername", we'll probably never see each other." Twilight replied sadly with a hint of anger.

"Come on, now. You're his sister. He'll always make time for you."

"Couldn't seem to make time to tell me he was getting married."

When a few seconds passed, a pink wall of magic passed through us, surprising me a little. Finally, I heard the train stop. We all headed to the exit of the train and looked out to see a large amount of guards waiting outside with motionless expressions. "Whoa, what's with all the guards?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'm sure they're just taking the necessary precautions." Rarity explained. "Royal weddings do bring out the strangest ponies."

Pinkie then sneezed, releasing confetti from out her nose before walking off happily.

"Good thing the confetti didn't come out the other end." I commented.

The other ponies began to laugh out loud...proving my point that I'm going to do well as the reception entertainer.

"Now let's get going, we've got work to do!" Rarity announced as we all boarded off the train.

"And you've got a big brother to go congratulate." Applejack reminded Twilight, who was still on the train.

"Yeah. Congratulate. And then give him a piece of my mind." Twilight answered, still showing that irritated mood she's been having. She walked past the guards that were guarding one section of the place.

The rest of us looked on with confused looks.

"I guess we better get started on those tasks the Princess wanted us to fulfil." I announced.

"Right…" Rainbow Dash replied. "Come on, guys." She began leaving as everypony followed to their other stations.

As I left the station, one of the guards approached me. "Bond Racer, your role will take place at the wedding reception at the Canterlot Castle Gardens. Also, the Princess has requested to see you immediately."

"Alright, I will go now." I replied as I began to fly up towards the towers where I saw Celestia looking through a telescope. "Celestia." I called out to her as I flew down beside her on the tower balcony.

"Bond Racer, I am thrilled you could be here, because you two roles to fill, not one." Celestia said.

"So I'm not just an entertainer?"

"Not quite, because of your status as an alicorn, I feel that you may be most useful for this important task."

"Is it also to do with the wedding?"

"As you and the others may have noticed, we have several guards protecting the whole area of Canterlot."

"But why?"

"A threat has been made against Canterlot and we don't know who's responsible for it. That's why I asked Shining Armour, Twilight's brother, to provide additional protection." She then pointed out the big bubble around the whole area "Do you see that magic bubble around the town?"

"Yeah."

"Watch closely." I turned my attention from her towards the magic bubble. Suddenly, I saw something being shot upwards towards the bubble. It looked to be some magic and it combined with the bubble, reinforcing the protection. I widened my eyes a bit. "That was Shining Armour's protection spell. If it wasn't for it, we'd probably be much more vulnerable and probably have to cancel the wedding."

"Oh that reminds me, who is this Princess Mi Amore Cadenza Twilight's brother is marrying anyway?"

"She is Twilight's former foalsitter and my niece."

"Your niece?"

"Yes!" Princess Celestia managed to smile warmly now. "Why don't you go meet her and Shining Armour? I'm sure you'll like them…"

"I will later, but getting back to the threat, where do I come in?"

"Yes indeed, I wish to tell you that if you find anything suspicious going on around Canterlot, report to me straight away...or Princess Luna if something happens during the night."

"Speaking of the night, Princess." I said as I raised my hoof slightly, "Last night, I felt a sudden twitch and it felt cold and lonely as if something evil was approaching and it happened again when I was on the train with the mares. Could that be to do with the threat?"

"Hmm, it may well be...just be sure to stay vigilant at all times until the day of the wedding which will start tomorrow morning...I must now attend to my royal duties."

"Alright, Celestia, I'll make sure to do so."

I then flew down from the tower and onto firm ground by the town and began to walk around, seeing the other ponies all gossiping about the wedding. I also looked to see a lot of guards around town as well, guess Celestia was not kidding when Shining recruited more his guards to protect the place. As I turned into a corner and seeing the cafe, I spotted Vinyl and Octavia which made me smile.

"Hey there Vinyl and Octavia." I greeted.

"Cousin! Come here dude." Vinyl replied as she got up from a chair and gave me a hug. "How are you doing?"

"I feel great and still full of adrenaline after that DJ gig we nailed a few weeks ago." I replied.

"Awesome."

"Hey there Bond, are you here for the wedding?" Octavia asked.

"I sure am, I'm here to provide the entertainment in some way for the reception tomorrow."

"That's cool man, I'm involved in it too, providing the music for the evening on that day." Vinyl added.

"Nice one, I'll see you then, Vinyl."

"See you then, cousin."

I waved to them both as I walked on, before I then saw a white unicorn with blue mane surrounded by a few guards. As soon as he saw me, he stopped and come out from behind the guards.

"Hello Bond Racer." he greeted which surprised me.

"Wait, you know me? How?" I asked.

"Princess Celestia and my sister Twily told me so much about you. You are one amazing dude!" he replied.

"Wow...thanks. Then you must be..."

"Shining Armour, captain of the royal guards. The burden of keeping Canterlot safe and secure rests squarely on my shoulders. Staying focused on the task at hand has been my top priority."

"I can see that clearly, so you probably saw your sister today, I guess she didn't take it well?"

"Not really, she was a little angry at me but I did explain everything I could to her as well as telling her that she'll be my best mare at the wedding which also made her smile when I told her about Princess Cadence."

"Yeah, Celestia told me a bit about that. Anyways, I shouldn't be keeping you from carrying our your duties until the wedding."

"You're right, I'll see you then. You might even see me for the rehearsals later this evening."

He then resumed walking down the town with his guards as I took a seat by a restaurant and had a great meal, even with the guards showing up a lot all day today.

It was near sunset by the time I walked back to the castle, just to check on the girls, when I spotted Luna going through the bubble and approaching the tower where Celestia is, I decided to fly up and be a bit curious.

I could hear their conversation as I approached them.

"Rest, my sister. As always, I will guard the night." Luna said.

Celestia nodded as she went inside the tower.

"Hi Luna." I said to her as I flew down to the balcony.

"Why if it isn't Bond Racer, we haven't seen you since Nightmare Night."

"Yeah, that was a few months ago...is every other pony still happy to be around you?"

"Of course, especially when I do my best to make everypony's dreams not turn into nightmares."

"Actually, that's the first time I heard you say that you can control a pony's dream."

"Why so it is, is there something on your mind?"

"I think so. Last night when I was dreaming, I felt a sudden twitch, it felt cold and quite dark as if something evil was approaching and now after thinking over it for a while, I think this source of evil may have already infiltrated Canterlot right under our noses."

"Hmm, that is curious news, I will speak to Celestia about it in the morning before the wedding rehearsal, I must now resume my post to watch over Canterlot at night."

"Alright, thanks Luna."

I then flew away from the tower and then spotted the mares and Spike outside a shop. I flew down and landed beside them, just to see how they're holding up in preparation for tomorrow. I then saw Twilight come out of the shop and sat beside her.

"Bet I can guess what you're all thinking. Cadence is the absolute worst bride-to-be ever." Twilight said as she brought out a drink.

That got all of our attention which left me wondering...could it be Cadence as the one responsible, but that would be me jumping to conclusions which I wanna avoid doing, especially with an event that's important as this.

"I'm guessing you have a lot to tell me what happened today?" I asked nervously.

"I sure do, Bond and I hope you and the others listen." Twilight replied.

"Who, me?" Spike asked in a high voice, controlling the Cadence figure that's supposed to be on the cake.

"Spike!" Applejack exclaimed. "That goes on the cake."

Spike laughed nervously and placed the piece on the table.

"Twilight, whatever are you talking about?" Rarity asked as Twilight sipped her drink. "Cadence is an absolute gem!"

Twilight opened her eyes and pushed away the drink in order to respond to Rarity. "Rarity, she was so demanding!"

"Well of course she is! Why shouldn't she expect the very best on her wedding day?"

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows and placed a hoof to her forehead, sighing. After, she looked towards Applejack. "Applejack, did you know that after she told you how much she just 'love-love-loved' your hors d'eouvres she threw them in the trash?"

"Aw, she was probably just trying to spare my feelin's." Applejack responded and began sipping her drink as well.

"No, she was just being fake, and totally insincere!"

Fluttershy lowered her head and slightly looked around in thought. "She did raise her voice at one of my birds during rehearsal."

"See? Rude!" Twilight pointed out.

"But he was singing really off-key." She responded, bringing out the bird which began singing terribly off-key, causing us to place our hooves on our ears.

"Rainbow Dash, you're with me, right?"

"Sorry Twi." Rainbow answered, rubbing her muscles and stretching her wings. "Been too busy preparing for my sonic rainboom to pay much attention to the bride's bad attitude."

Twilight then looked at me, "Bond, you may not have seen her, but you know I wouldn't be acting like this if it was for no reason, right?"

"I know that Twilight, but I would need to see it for myself in order to give out a better judgement and if it can back up your claims." I replied.

"The princess is about to get married." Rarity said, trying to reason with her, "I'm sure any negative behaviour she might be displaying is simply the result of nerves."

Twilight stood up and slammed her hoof on the table, "And I'm sure it's the result of being an awful pony who doesn't deserve to even know Shining Armour let alone marry him!" She answered, emphasizing with her hooves and slamming them back down again.

Before I could try to calm Twilight down, Applejack decided to fill in for me and create the wrong move. "Think maybe you're being just a tiny bit possessive of your brother?"

To make things worse, the rest of the girls agreed. "Uh-huh."

"I am not being possessive, and I am not taking it out on Cadence!" Twilight responded angrily. "You're all just too caught up in your wedding planning to notice that maybe there shouldn't even- she slammed her hoof harshly on the table, causing all the drinks on the table to jump upwards in the air and splatter everywhere. -be a wedding!" Her actions had startled and surprised us. She turned around and began storming away from us.

"I guess we should let her calm down about this whole ordeal and go back to the Castle." I suggested.

The other nodded as we walked back into one of the rooms in the castle, we were then approached by Cadence.

"Evening ponies, my old bridesmaids were...not that impressive, would you like to be my new bridesmaids?" she asked them.

The five of them all smiled happily and nodded, accepting her request. So this is Princess Cadence...she looks like a nice alicorn to me.

"Oh and who do we have here?" she asked noticing me.

"Bond Racer...but I am only here to provide the entertainment." I replied.

"Well I'm sure you'll put on a good show tomorrow." she walked off before muttering something which I couldn't quite hear.

Sometime later, it was the beginning of nightfall and the girls were in their bridesmaids outfits. I looked at them all and they were lovely looking, although I was wondering if Twilight was okay. I then heard the doors open to see Twilight turning up.

"Shining Armour's in real trouble! You have to help-" she cut herself off noticing the girls in their dresses. "Dresses? What are you–?

"Can you believe it? We're gonna be Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's new bridesmaids!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"New bridesmaids? What happened to her old bridesmaids?"

"She didn't say. But she did tell us that she would love-love-love it if we'd fill in for them." Applejack answered.

"Seeing as we've been working so hard and everything." Rarity added.

"And you had your doubts about her."

"Told you she was an absolute gem!"

"You sure this is what I should wear? Doesn't seem all that aerodynamic." Dash commented.

"Hmm. I'll see what I can do."

"Looks like I really am on my own." Twilight sighed as she walked out of the room slowly.

I walked up behind her and placed a hoof round her. "Not anymore, Twilight...you said Shining is in trouble?"

"Yes, but I don't think there's anything else we can do right now."

She then walked off further away...I decided to leave her be.

A few minutes later, me and the five girls were in the throne room with Shining, Spike and Celestia, I watched as the girls rehearsed their walking down the aisle.

"Perfect, girls. No need to rush!" Princess Celestia commented. "Then of course, Cadence will enter." We all looked towards the door, which the royal guards nearby opened and presented Cadence. I could see Shining Armour open his mouth slightly as he gazed at her beauty. Princess Celestia continued speaking as Cadence walked up to her. "I'll say a few words, and then we'll begin with the vows. Shining Armour, you'll get the ring from your Best Mare." Shining Armour turned his head to see her Best Mare, but she wasn't there. I was really worried about her right now, but I didn't show my face about it.

"Do you?" Spike nearby asked in a deep voice. "I do!" He answered himself with a high voice as he was playing with those figures again, even accidentally throwing the Shining Armour one across the floor.

"Hey... has anypony seen Twilight?" Shining Armour asked.

Afterwards, we heard the door open, catching all of our attention.

"I'm here!" Twilight answered, walking in. "I'm not gonna stand next to her. And neither should you!"

Uh oh...this is going to get nasty in a hurry, I thought to myself.

Shining Armour returned an embarrassed expression as he looked around nervously. He faced towards Cadence and apologized. "I'm sorry, I don't, I don't know why she's acting like this."

"Maybe we should just ignore her." Cadence responded in a rude tone.

"You have to listen to me!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Oh goodness!" Fluttershy reacted, rushing towards her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Twilight responded briefly.

"Ya sure about that?" Applejack asked, leaning towards her.

Twilight grabbed her hat with her magic and pulled it over her face in response. "I've got something to say!" Twilight walked a few more steps towards them. "She's evil!" She pointed, causing Shining Armour to become alarmed as Cadence returned an innocent and frightened look. "She's been horrible to my friends, she's obviously done something to her bridesmaids and if that wasn't enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all…" She rattled her eyes around in confusion as she stuck out her tongue.

Now I could see what Twilight meant and suddenly, I suffered another twitch when nopony was looking, but I stayed focused on Cadence and with my twitching going, I saw...green eyes where Cadence's purple eyes are...that's it! She's the one behind the source of evil and whoever it is must've used a disguise to get inside the castle without getting caught and if that's the case...where's the REAL Cadence?

I wanted to tell them right there, but my twitching lasted a bit longer before it ended with me catching my breath and trying to regain my confidence, before the imposter Cadence broke the silence.

"Why are you doing this to me?" She asked as tears fell from her eyes.

"Because you're evil!" Twilight responded, continuing to point at her as she began running out of the room, continuing to cry. "Evil!" She repeated, teleporting back at the door. "And if I don't stop you you're gonna ruin my brother's life!"

The other ponies could only return shocked expressions whilst I let out a small smile as if to know that Twilight was right the whole time and that I saw it thanks to an evil twitch. But then I looked at an angry Shining Armour who was looking at Twilight who could only grin nervously at him...this was going to get a lot uglier than I thought.

"You want to know why my eyes went all...whatever you just did? Nuh! Because ever since I started having to perform my protection spell, I've been getting terrible migraines. Cadence hasn't been casting spells on me. She's been using her magic to heal me!" Shining explained in an angry mood, "And she decided to replace her bridesmaids because she found out the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding was so that they could meet Canterlot royalty! And if she hasn't been on her best behaviour with your  friends, it's because with me being so busy, she's had to make all the decisions about the wedding!"

"I was just trying to-"

"She's been completely stressed out because it's really important to her that our big day be perfect! Something that obviously wasn't important to you! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and comfort my bride. And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all."

Now that was a sting in the tail...looks like it was going to take more than Twilight's claims to make them see sense.

I used my magic the shut the doors before Shining walked through.

"What are you doing, Bond?" he asked me.

"Trying to stop you and everypony else from making one of the biggest regrets you'll ever make." I replied with a serious look.

"Stop this right now Bond, this is not you!" Celestia ordered in her angry expression.

"I'm sorry Princess, but I can prove that Twilight is right. Remember when you said that I should report to you straight away if I felt anything suspicious?"

The other looked back and didn't say anything, but I carried on.

"Well, thanks to a twitch I just suffered a few seconds ago, I saw Cadence for what she REALLY is...and that is an imposter. She had green eyes behind her normal eyes. Whoever this evil foe is, she must've put on a disguise without getting caught. You have all been talking to an imposter and you've been far too blind to see that."

Suddenly, Princess Luna appeared right besides me. "He's right...it's what we call trusting your instincts and it's a lesson to learn, right, sister?"

Celestia sighed a little angrily, but accepted my thoughts about it by nodding. "Bond Racer, it takes a lot for me to be angry at anypony, but you are doing what I asked you to do. So I have something else in mind..." Celestia then looked at the five girls. "...I want you five and Spike to stay here just in case something does happen to Twilight or Bond. Luna, you must return to watch over the castle in case something else comes along. Shining Armour and I will go and talk to this fake Cadence and we'll try to find out if there's more than what has been said."

She didn't say anymore as I let go of the doors and Shining and Celestia along with two unicorn guards walked out of the throne room with them, leaving just the seven of us and Spike, they couldn't say anything after the way Twilight behaved and how I behaved.

I was left wondering...would we be able to do whatever it takes to explain our actions?

Next Chapter: A Canterlot Wedding Part 2. Estimated time remaining: 16 Hours, 44 Minutes