Later that night, aboard the Baron
==========
Daniel watched the now-tranquil city of Canterlot glisten in the night. The Militia's combat engineers had helped with repairing the damage to the city, and their Crows had only recently returned to the Baron. Daniel himself was tired. Initial wedding preparations had thankfully gone off without a hitch, and Captain Ellis had accepted Celestia's offer to be present for the ceremony the next day. Daniel felt rather lukewarm about the whole situation. Grabbing his helmet, he walked out to the Pilot's Rec room, where he, not surprisingly, heard loud voices and raucous laughter. Sighing, he passed the room and entered the Titan bay, where IN was waiting for him.

"Miss me, buddy?" Daniel asked as he sat down, leaning on IN's arm.

"That can have multiple meanings, Pilot. Either I longed to see you, or I was shooting at you inaccurately. Which one do you mean to be correct?" IN replied.

"First one." Daniel said.

"Understood. In that Case, I missed you as well, pilot." IN replied.

"Good to hear." Daniel said. "We've been invited to the wedding tomorrow."

"The concept of human nuptials is unfamiliar to me." IN said. "Or in this case, Equine."

"Yeah, same here." Daniel said. "I've never been to a wedding, especially not one between ponies. Eh, doesn't matter."

"I see." IN said. "How are you, Pilot?"

"I'm fine." Daniel replied, stifling a yawn.

"You seem to be in need of rest, Pilot." IN said. "I recommend you get adequate sleep, at least 8.53 hours, an amount adjusted for your age and build."

"Thanks, buddy." Daniel said. "See you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Pilot."

Daniel left the Titan bay and headed to his bunk in the barracks. Setting his helmet on a hook, he sighed, locked his hands behind his head, and fell asleep.

=========

Daniel awoke to a hard smack to the ear.

"Wake up, buttercup." Chase said. "We've got two hours before we head down."

"Why is it so early, you jackass?" Daniel groaned, looking at his clock. "It's only 0520 hours."

"Ellis's orders." Chase replied. Daniel rolled his eyes, changed into a clean shirt and his combat gear, put on his helmet, and followed Chase to the deployment bay. Sasha, Sean, Kelly, and Romero were waiting for them near a Crow. Daniel ignored their usual jokes and sat down, checking his R201 Carbine and Mastiff Shotgun. Soon, the others sat down, and the Crow took off.

"You overslept." Kelly said.

"I figured I woke up early." Daniel shot back. "What shit were you doing in the rec room last night?"

"What do you think?" Romero said. "The usual debauchery and shenanigans that us pilots get into."

Daniel sighed and placed his head in his hands.

"You guys really are dicks, you know that?" he sighed. Sean laughed at this.

"We do. And we don't care." Sasha said. Daniel made a mental note to lock the door to the rec room when they returned to the Baron when they landed on the balcony. Daniel led the pilots into the castle and over to Ellis, who was talking with Celestia.

"Pilots reporting, sir." Daniel said. "What did you need us for?"

"Well, I do need some capable pilots to help me out with something." Ellis said.

"What?" the pilots asked

"Seems the Equestrians are rather understaffed with the prep for the wedding. You'll be helping out some of the ponies with their duties. List is here." Ellis said, handing Daniel a scroll.

"Um, sir?" Romero asked. "What the fuck is this?"

"Language, Pilot." Ellis said. "The Equestrians are in need of help, and you're the help they'll be getting. Besides, it's decent enough to make a good impression."

"Good impressions are alright, but we're not party planners." Daniel said. "How the hell are we supposed to do this?"

"Improvise." Ellis said. "I'll be with Celestia in the library. Your assignments are on the list."

Before anyone could protest further, Ellis and the Crow were gone. Daniel opened the scroll, and looked it over.

McKenna-Twilight Sparkle-Setup-Atrium
Romero-Pinkie Pie-Decorations-Main Hall
Dawes-Fluttershy-Music-Balcony
Voryunov-Rarity-Clothing-Bride's Chambers
Anderson-Applejack-Cooking-Kitchen
Walker-Rainbow Dash-Upkeep-Gardens

"Well, no sense delaying the inevitable." Daniel groaned. "Let's go."

As the pilots said goodbye and set off to their assigned areas, Daniel sighed.

"Here goes nothing…" he murmured.
==========================

Daniel walked into the Atrium to see a lavender pony surrounded by several pieces of paper and a few quill pens.

"Um, Twilight Sparkle, RIght?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's me." she said. "You're Daniel, the Pilot that I'm working with?"

"Yeah." Daniel said. "Trust me, I wasn't exactly told about this."

"Neither was I." Twilight looked at him. "Celestia just sprung the idea on us. I mean, my friends and I were okay with it. Rainbow wasn't."

"Why's that?" Daniel asked, looking down at a very complicated looking flowchart.

"Because she doesn't want to be, quote-end-quote, "slowed down"." Twilight replied.

"Likes going fast?" Daniel asked, confused.

"Big time." Twilight said. "She can break the sound barrier, and perform a flight move that can shatter the visible light spectrum."

"Bullshit." Daniel said. "I mean, our Crows can do that, but that's insane! Breaking the light spectrum?"

"It's possible." Twilight said. "She's doing one at the wedding reception."

"Jeez." Daniel said. "Partnered with a Scorch pilot? Kind of a bad move."

"I take it Scorches aren't very fast?" Twilight asked.

"Ogre titans like Scorch and Legion are based on a chassis that has extra armor and durability at the expense of speed." Daniel said. "They are equipped with a engine that can boost them, but unlike the 5-second cooldown on other Titans, Ogres have a 10-second cooldown. They're slow but tough."

"Fascinating." Twilight said. "I noticed that Sasha's Northstar is slim and fast, does that mean it's a different model?"

"Yep." Daniel said. "That's a Stryder model. Fast and agile, at the expense of armor. They tend to be used as scouts for hit-and-run operations."

"Interesting." Twilight said. "What about yours?"

"That's a Vanguard." Daniel said. "The first Titan model we developed independently from the IMC, Vanguards are based off the Atlas models, which are all-around combatants. However, Vanguards are designed to be able to use any weapon set they find on the battlefield. Their standard loadout is the one I use."

Twilight nodded eagerly.

"Yeah…" Daniel said, sitting down. "How do you think the others are doing?"

"I'm not sure." Twilight said.

============

Romero walked into the main hall to see a pink pony who he assumed was none other than Pinkie Pie, firing a medieval style cannon. Only, instead of explosives, streamers, confetti, and other various decorations were flying out.

"Um, Pinkie Pie?" Romero asked.

"Yep?" Pinkie said, now standing next to him. "You're Romero, right?"

"Yeah…" Romero said. "What's with the cannon?"

"That's my Party cannon!" She said gleefully.

"Wait, what?" Romero replied, still shocked. "A party cannon?"

"Yessire!" She replied. "Made from 100 percent steel alloy and loaded with enough supplies for any occasion, this cannon can get a party started in no time!"

Romero, by this time wasn't sure to be amused or astonished. He simply shrugged and followed Pinkie over to a table full of food.

"You hungry?" She asked. "Feel free to taste test!"

"Well, I wish I could." Romero said. "I'm a Spectre. Simply put, I'm a machine, so...I can't eat. Really the only thing I consume is battery power."

"So you can't eat cupcakes?" Pinkie said, slightly disappointed.

"I think so, yes." Romero said. "I don't think I've ever felt hungry, either. You know, machine?"

"Makes sense." Pinkie said. "Mind helping me with something?"

"What?" Romero asked.

"I'll tell you if you can catch me!" She yipped, and she started speeding around the room. Romero sighed and activated his Stim, chasing after the pony, who was somehow outrunning him.
===========
Chase Dawes walked over to a balcony where a buttercream pegasus was waiting for him, along with ten songbirds. Fluttershy tapped a conductor's wand on the perch and a few moments later, the birds were singing "Here comes the bride." Chase merely watched as the birds finished.

"How did you train them to do that?" Chase said.

"I didn't train them." Fluttershy said. "I'm really good with animals. I can talk to them, sort of."

"Geez." Chase replied. "Next you'll tell me you can tell them to do Beethoven's fifth."

Fluttershy repeated Chase's request, the birds nodded to each other, and they recited the opening bars of the symphony. After a few moments, Chase watched them give each other fist-bumps with their wings.

"Are those birds fist...wing...bumping each other?" Chase asked, rather surprised.

"Oh, yes." Fluttershy said. "They're quite the jokesters."

"I wouldn't use jokester as the proper term, though." Chase said. "Can you do that with other animals?"

"Um, deer, skunks, rabbits, bears…" Fluttershy said, counting off.

"Bears?" Chase said, even more shocked. "You can talk to bears?"

"Yes." She said. "Mr. Harry Grizzler is quite nice. He even knows how to drink tea."

Chases facepalmed in sheer disbelief.

"Jesus." he said. "How'd you learn to do that?"

"I've been good with animals my whole life." she said. "And...who's Jesus?"

"Well, it's the name of a man who was important a long, long time ago, in a religious way." Chase said. "My dad was a Minister on the Colony world of Vera II. We weren't doing the best, but we were well off. My dad was basically the unofficial leader of the colony. Then, the IMC come around, and they want my dad to tell his congregation this "sermon" that was basically IMC propaganda."

"What happened?" Fluttershy asked.

"He refused." Chase said. "He told the IMC they weren't welcome there anymore, and they should go. They did that, but the next time they showed up they arrested my dad during the middle of Mass. Wasn't a thing we could do. We were unarmed, and they had Spectres armed with light machine guns. They could've killed us all then and there. They took my dad away, and I never saw him again."

"I'm sorry." Fluttershy whimpered.

"Thanks." Chase said. "To be honest, I don't know if I've ever been told that. Well, my mom took over as minister, but she never mentioned the IMC or the fledgling Militia since in her sermons. When I turned 18, the IMC took over Vera II, and they needed the hospitals for use in treating their wounded. They forced out patients at gunpoint. Including my sister, who couldn't even walk. I had to carry her out of her room as IMC Grunts aimed rifles at us. That's when I stowed away with her on a ship to Harmony, and I joined the Militia."

"What about your sister?" Fluttershy asked.

"She's on Harmony, getting the medical treatment she needs." Chase said. "She writes me every day."

Fluttershy smiled at that.

"We should get back to work." Chase sighed. "You...do your thing with the birds. I need a little time."

"Sure." Fluttershy said as the birds began to rehearse.

======

Sasha walked into a drawing room that had been repurposed as a fashion studio, and the Pilot noticed an ivory unicorn with purple hair putting the finishing touches on a wedding dress.

"Ah, Sasha!" Rarity said. "How are you?"

"Not half-bad, thanks." Sasha said. "After the battle, most of the Pilots decided to celebrate in the Rec Room."

"How so?" Rarity asked.

"We watched helmet feeds, drank a little bit, and cards." Sasha said. "The usual stuff Pilots do after a battle."

"Well, was it civil?" Rarity asked.

"You wish." she sighed. "We're loud, raucous, and we swear like dogs. That's usually when we're off duty."

Rarity nodded, then she looked like a light-bulb had gone off above her head.

"Sasha, is that your coat?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's seen better days." she said, looking at it. It was singed in a few places, there were bullet holes in the chest, and a decent amount of the original coating was gone.

"How long have you had it?" Rarity asked.

"Quite a long time." Sasha replied. "To be honest, I don't think I've ever had this repaired."
"Then I'll lend a hoof." Rarity said, taking it with her magic. "I'll fix it right up."

"Thanks." Sasha said. "There's one thing, though. See that patch, here on the arm?"

"Yes, I do."

"Don't touch that." Sasha said. "Leave it alone. It's...important to me."

Rarity raised an eyebrow, but she nodded. Sasha sat down and stretched, sort of liking the feeling of not wearing the coat. After around ten minutes, Princess Cadance came in. She sat next to Sasha, and sighed.

"So much to do…" the alicorn said.

"Well, at least we're helping." Sasha replied.

"You're Sasha Voryunov, right?" she asked, doing her best to pronounce the name.

"Yeah." Sasha replied. "I would be wearing my coat right now, but Rarity's fixing it up. Speaking of…that dress looks nice."

"It does." Cadance replied. "Thanks for being there to save the wedding."

"Not a problem." Sasha said. "Not a problem at all."

Soon after, Rarity whisked Cadance into the fitting room, and Sasha looked at her newly repaired coat. True to her word, the patch remained the same, but it looked and felt like new. The coating had been repaired, and it felt great.

"Did I do it right?" Rarity asked. "The material was rather tough to repair."

"You did it better than I could've." Sasha replied. "Thanks."

"Now for the Princess." Rarity said, sweeping Cadance into the dressing room. Sasha leaned back in her chair and brushed her fingers over the sky-blue patch, with contrasted with the grays, browns, and oranges of her coat. She sighed and looked outside, smiling.

=====

Kelly Anderson walked into the kitchen, to find a tan earth pony with a fedora chopping up nuts.

"You're Kelly Anderson, right?" she asked.

"Yep." she replied. "And you're Applejack?"

"Yep again." Applejack replied. "Hope you can cook."

"I'm not too bad." Kelly said. "The most experience I've had is reheating field rations, though."

Applejack laughed.

"Well, shoot. Let's get to work, anyway."

"Fine with me." Kelly shrugged. Applejack soon had the Pilot running around, grabbing ingredients from apples to honey. Applejack, much to Kelly's relief, did most of the actual cooking. Soon after, the buffet for the wedding reception was finished.

"Nice job." Applejack said, giving Kelly a quick bump on the shoulder.

"You too." Kelly replied. "Well, that leaves one thing."

"What?"

"Who's cleaning all this up?" the Pilot added, seeing the mess in front of them. Then, a pink glow covered the dirty dishes, unused ingredients, and dirty utensils, and put them back where they belonged. Princess Cadance walked in, and she smiled.

"Figures." Kelly said. "No offense."

"None taken." Cadance replied. "These look good."

"Aw, shucks." Applejack said. "Thanks. Well, feel free to try one, if you want."

Cadance took an apple tart, took a bite, and quickly ate that one and another.

"Reminds me how hungry I am." she admitted. "I haven't had lunch yet. You have to eat in the middle of battle sometimes, right?"

"To be honest, a few times, yes." Kelly said. "Most of the time, shooting the IMC takes priority over filling your stomach. A rookie Grunt's mistake is trying to eat in the middle of a firefight. Most of the time, the food gets shot out of your hands."

Cadance and Applejack laughed. Kelly just shrugged and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Cadance asked.

"I'll go check on the others." Kelly said. "Probably Sean and GT-5929. They're taking care of the gardens, and I think none of us want a fire going, due to GT's thermite igniting something on accident."

"How bad could it be?" Cadance asked.

========

"I TOLD YOU THAT WAS A BAD IDEA!"

"NOT MY FAULT!!!!"

"EVERYTHING'S ON FIRE!"

"GET WATER!"

"Understood, Pilot."

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE!?"
=======

Princess Celestia and Captain Ellis stood in front of a mortified Rainbow Dash and a rather annoyed Sean Walker. Rainbow had insisted Sean's Scorch Titan, GT-5929, use his Thermal Shield to trim some hedges.

Suffice to say, only a huge magical basin of water conjured by Princess Celestia stopped a potential disaster.

"Pilot, what in the name of sanity happened here?" Ellis asked.

"Miss Dash asked if GT could help her trim the hedges. I didn't know how she meant it." Sean sighed. Rainbow nodded and acknowledged the truth.

"Well, miss Dash…" Celestia said. "That's not how I wanted to wrap up my meeting with Captain Ellis."

"Yes, Princess." Rainbow said. "I'll clean it up."

"You too, Pilot." Ellis said. "It was your Titan that ignited the area."

"Yes, sir." Sean said. "I'll get the hedge clippers."

"I'll get the leaf basins." Rainbow said despondently as they set to work trimming away the burnt bushes and greenery, GT watching to make sure Rainbow didn't do anything stupid again.

"That was unexpected." Ellis said.

"Indeed." Celestia replied.

=====
After a lengthy session of trimming and cleaning, the Gardens looked as good as new. The last few preparations were underway, and the Pilots were entering the wedding hall, to stand by the side of Captain Ellis.

"Well Sean, did you learn your lesson?" Daniel asked.

"Yes." Sean said. "Never use Thermite to trim hedges."

The pilots laughed as they stood at attention for the imminent ceremony. Soon, the music began, and the pilots snapped to salute alongside their captain.

Author's Notes:

Good, this took so long. But it was WORTH IT!

Next chapter-The actual wedding, and the arrival of Sarah Briggs aboard the MCS James MacAllan II., Meanwhile...the Changelings bicker over who will rule them.