Deep within the confines of her basement, Twilight Sparkle was hard at work, looking over page after page of notes regarding magical spells and equations. Tapping her chin with the end of her pencil, she appeared deep in thought, followed soon afterwards by bearing an expression that would not have been out-of-place with a lightbulb floating over her head. As she continued to scribble complicated-looking numbers and formulas down on her parchment, she did not pay any attention to the sudden sound of somepony knocking on the basement door. She focused instead on her work, ignoring the knocking until, at long last, it became too loud to ignore, and she looked up to the door with slight annoyance. However, that annoyance vanished as soon as she saw that it was her son, Spike, who was now poking his head through the door. Twilight smiled affectionately at him, and he at her, before, to Twilight's confusion, Spike stated to look very unsure about something. He opened his mouth several times to speak, but eventually just sighed with defeat before gesturing to something behind him. Raising an eyebrow at this, Twilight got up from her desk and began walking up the stairs to the main chamber of the Golden Oak Library. It didn't take long for her to get there, after which she looked to Spike, hoping he would explain what was going on.

Instead, he remained silent, electing to take action instead of speaking, when he raised his hand and pointed to the nearby window. Growing ever more curious at this behaviour, Twilight began to trot over to that window, and started to peek through it. However, when she did, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she looked on with shock at the ones she saw outside. For there, on the other side of the street, were a collection of ponies she recognised all too well. At the head of the group was a large unicorn stallion with white fur and a blue mane; her brother, Shining Armour. Beside him was a mare with pale fur and a mane bearing both grey and purple; her mother, and namesake, Twilight Velvet. Alongside her was another unicorn stallion, blue in his fur and an even darker blue in his mane; Twilight's father, Night Light. But, it was that one standing on the other side of Shining that most caught Twilight's attention. For it was a sight not often seen here in Ponyville; an alicorn. Bearing bright pink fur and a mane of many colours, as well as a blue heart cutie mark, Twilight recognised this mare immediately, and gained a massive smile upon her face. With the initial shock now gone, Twilight raced to the front door, opening it and rushed outside. Once there, all four of the approaching ponies saw her immediately, smiling warmly at her soon afterwards.

With all of them there, Twilight could feel the tears forming in her eyes. Charging forward, it wasn't long before she soon met up with them, and as soon as she did, she was immediately embraced by her mother, with her father not far behind her on that count.

"Oh, Twilight! I cannot tell you how good it is to see you again!" Twilight Velvet said warmly.

Twilight's smile widened further.

"It's great to see you too, Mom. And you, Dad."

The older stallion chuckled at that as his daughter parted from him and Velvet. With that done, Twilight soon turned to her brother, who, in a similar manner, stepped forward and embraced her.

"I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to seeing you, Twily."

Laughing at hearing her childhood nickname, Twilight responded in kind.

"You too...BBBFF."

As the two siblings laughed together, it was not long before they too parted. And here, at long last, Twilight gazed upon the new addition to their group, the pink alicorn. The latter smiled at the young unicorn, stepping forward briefly before giving a slight bow.

"It's been a long time, Twilight."

Okay, Twilight, just pretend you don't recognise her at first. So, Twilight squinted her eyes slightly before putting on a false look of surprise.

"Oh my gosh! Cadence?! It's been years!"

The alicorn giggled slightly at that before giving Twilight a wink. Although no words passed between them, the lavender unicorn knew exactly what it meant. In moments, the two approached one another and started skipping slightly in one spot, speaking in unison.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

When the two of them finished their little routine, complete with actually clapping of their hooves together, they laughed, as indeed did everypony else nearby. When the laughter died down at last, Twilight turned around, looking upon her home at the library. A smile formed on her face as she gestured to it, silently inviting the group in to join her. There was a general nodding of heads as the other ponies started to follow her. After only a few moments, the group was inside, and Twilight swiftly closed the door behind her. Looking to her family, Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but was soon prevented from doing so when her mother let out an ear-piercing squeal of joy. Although taken aback by this, Twilight soon understood what was going on, as Twilight Velvet rushed forward and snapped up an unwary Spike into her hooves, nuzzling him like a child would to a favourite toy.

"Oh my gosh! Twilight told me about what she did, but this is the first time I get to see you since it happened, Spike! By Faust, I'm a Grandmother!"

Yet again, the elder mare let out a howl of joy, prompting many a nearby pony to fearfully cover their ears. Although somewhat bemused by her mother's reaction to Spike, Twilight looked to the latter, who was silently giving a "please help me" look to her as Velvet continued to hug him tightly. But, Twilight merely giggled at that, turning away from her son and instead moving over to her father.

"As happy as I am to see you all here, I must say, I'm surprised."

Night Light nodded at that.

"I know, sweetie. I know you usually like being told about this sort of thing ahead of time, but...well..."

The elder stallion hesitated for a moment, instead turning to his son, who chuckled slightly before stepping forward.

"We wanted to surprise you. All of us."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that, even though, deep down, she had an inkling as to what this visit was all about. With her mother finally having released Spike, and with the latter doing his best to catch his breath after that impromptu crushing hug, she re-joined the group, joining her husband in looking at both Shining and Cadence. The happy couple looked to each other, each silently urging the other to go first and speak up. But, after a lengthy silence between them, they simply sighed and looked to Twilight, smiling together and speaking in unison.

"We're getting married!"

As expected, Twilight broke out into a massive smile, charring forward and embracing both of them in a warm hug. The parents stood aside, watching with tears in their eyes as this unfolded before them. Twilight, when her hug was finished, squealed with joy in a manner not unlike her mother, before looking to her brother.

"That's amazing! I'm so happy for you two!"

Shining gave a nod and a smile, but was interrupted from answering when Spike poked him in the side, catching his attention. As the stallion looked down, the young dragon looked to him with a happy expression.

"Congratulations, Big S!"

Shining gave a hearty laugh at that.

"Thanks, Little S. Or...should I call you "nephew" now?"

The two laughed at that, but it was not long before Shining turned to his sister.

"I'm glad you're happy about this Twily. I wasn't sure how you'd react."

But Twilight merely shook her head.

"Nonsense! I mean...Cadence becoming my sister-in-law? What's not to love about that?"

It was here that Cadence began to speak up, stepping forward and placing a hoof upon Twilight's shoulder.

"I'm so happy we're going to get to be family, Twilight."

Twilight nodded at that, briefly looking out of the nearby window as she did so. Yeah...family. We so often forget how important it is. Take Apple bloom for instance, she'll be learning just how important hers is when her Grandmother arrives at her school for Family Appreciation Day today. A brief laugh escaped her with that thought, after which she turned to her family. But, before she had a chance to speak, she was stopped when Cadence raised a hoof and began to reach for something underneath her golden choker. Twilight looked on with curiosity, but her eyes widened with surprise when she saw that, underneath that choker, was the very pendant she had given to Shining during the dragon incident. Clearly, he'd successfully managed to give it to his fiancé, and so Twilight looked on as the latter smiled warmly to her.

"I never got the chance to thank you for this gift, Twilight. It's beautiful."

The young unicorn smiled and gave a brief bow of her head.

"Think nothing of it. When I realised my brother had a special somepony, I just knew I would need to send her a token like that."

Cadence smiled back at her former charge, carefully placing the amulet behind the choker once more.

"And I love it! I wear it all the time."

Twilight's smile widened even further after hearing that.

"I'm glad you like it. Wear it as often as you like. I mean, who knows? Maybe it'll bring you luck one day."

The two mares giggled at that, with Twilight’s mind hard at work as they did so. Luck? Oh yes, I have no doubt it'll do that. When the laughter finally died down, Twilight glanced to the side, seeing both her sofa and a collection of chairs. Looking back to her family, she pointed to that furniture, silently inviting them to go over and sit, which they promptly did. As all of the ponies there took their respective positions, Twilight looked to each and every one of them, a look of love and adoration in her eyes. She sighed in a contented manner before starting to move off in the direction of the kitchen, ready to prepare a nice hot pot of tea for them. However, just as she was about to boil the water, she heard her mother calling out to her, sounding more than a little pushy as she did so.

"So, Twilight...when are you going to get yourself a spouse? I mean, no offense, but you're not getting any younger, you know."

Twilight rolled her eyes at that.

"You know...I do know an anti-aging spell these days, Mom."

But, the elder mare, mirroring her daughter, merely rolled her eyes in kind.

"Excuses, excuses!"