Chapter 8: Confronting Celestia

"Good morning my faithful student, how was your sleep?" Celestia asked politely as Twilight entered the castle's private dining hall. Twilight didn't respond to Celestia, but instead shot her a glare, making Celestia worry slightly.

"Is everything ok my student?" Celestia asked, watching as Twilight sat down with a thump.

"Celestia, what is the meaning of all this?" Twilight asked seriously, looking Celestia right in the eyes, "Giving us all arranged marriages". Celestia watched as Twilight sat perfectly still, not saying anything as though she was waiting for something. After a loud bang from outside it became clear what Twilight had been waiting for.

"Where are they?!" Rainbow Dash shouted, bursting into the dining hall despite the guards objections. Rainbow looked around, and when her gaze settled on Celestia she shot forwards, only to be pulled back by Twilight's magic. She squirmed around in an attempt to break free, but didn't get anywhere.

"What is going on right now?" Celestia asked, looking from Twilight to Rainbow worriedly. As Rainbow started to calm down she was let go by Twilight, who was now staring Celestia down.

"Why would you set up these marriages for us?" Twilight asked in a serious tone, giving Celestia a deadly stare.

"We would also like to know your reasoning" Rarity said as she elegantly trotted into the hall, followed by the three other mares and Spike, "Not that I don't mind my pairing, but isn't it a little sudden to get married?". Celestia watched as all of the Elements nodded along side Rarity, dropping her head in despair.

"I only did this in order to protect you six" Celestia said sadly, looking up slowly at the mares in front of her. Instead of looking at her angrily, they were worried.

"Protect us from what?" Rainbow Dash asked, "We're the Elements of Harmony, we defeated Discord!"

"That is the issue" Celestia said, looking at all of them individually, "Someone has placed a threat against you all"

"Who would threaten us?" Twilight asked, looking at Celestia in confusion.

"It's not important right now, just know that they are very powerful, and very angry" Celestia said, her voice sounding very authoritative. The six mares looked among themselves worriedly before a door in the back of the room opened, Princess Cadance walking into the room through it.

"Did you tell them about..." Cadance started to say, lowering her voice to a whisper, "it?"

"I'm not going to go into details, but yes" Celestia said, somewhat annoyed that Cadance had entered the room at that moment, drawing attention to what she was trying to hide. Cadance gave Celestia a confused look before taking a seat next to her, smiling at the ponies, and dragon, sitting in front of her.

"What does any of that have to do with us getting married?" Rainbow Dash asked, getting support in the form of a nod from Twilight.

"Well, I think Cadance can explain that one" Celestia said, turning her head towards her niece, who was still smiling confidently.

"As Princess Celestia said, I will be explaining this one," Cadance said, her horn lighting up as she created a moving picture in the middle of the table, "As you girls know, the power of Harmony is very great, and can defeat almost anything, but the power of love, is also strong, as shown by me and my wonderful hu-"

"Cadance"  Celestia interrupted, making Cadance flush red.

"Sorry!" Cadance quickly said, coughing to regain her confidence before continuing, "From what we have guessed, the power of love, combined with the power of Harmony, would be enough to keep everyone in Equestria safe, especially you six. That is why, with my help, Princess Celestia has paired you with somepony, or dragon, who was most appropriate for you"

"But why not let us pick our own stallions?" Twilight asked, noticing one flaw in her plan.

"Because you six where being very indecisive, and there are stallions out there that can seem good on the outside, only to change once you are with them and show who they really are" Celestia explained, taking a sip of tea as she finished.

"Are you saying we aren't capable of picking a good stallion for ourselves?" Applejack asked accusingly, making Rarity gasp.

"Applejack, now you can't be serious, accusing them of something like that" Rarity exclaimed dramatically, making everypony roll their eyes, even Celestia.

"We are just looking out for your best interests, and had hoped to have found the perfect matches," Celestia said, looking at Cadance for confirmation before continuing, "Did we not do that?"

"I'm okay with who I got paired with, he's fun!" Pinkie said happily, starting to bounce around as she started talking about her stallion, Buttercream.

"I'm fine with Spike, but to be married so soon?" Rarity said, sharing a worried look with Spike as he thought about tying the knot so soon after finally being able to tell Rarity how he felt about her.

"Soarin's a nice stallion, but I don't know if he'll be able to help me out at the farm that much" Applejack said, admitting that she did like Soarin, but couldn't see herself being hitched with him anytime soon.

"Yeah, and Big Mac is very family oriented and wants to have kids," Rainbow said arrogantly, "He can't even fly!"

"Midnight's pretty nice, but, I don't know if I want to marry him so soon without a real personal reason" Twilight said, looking up at Celestia sadly. Before long everypony had started to look at Fluttershy, her being the only one who didn't voice an opinion of their stallion.

"Well, Summer is really, really nice, and I," Fluttershy paused, swallowing hard before continuing, "love him"

"Well, then it seems we did a good job deciding who you would marry" Celestia said, her voice sounding final, but Cadance quickly pulled her away.

"What if we let them choose for themselves, they obviously like our choices, maybe they'll do it on their own" Cadance whispered, only to get a glare from Celestia.

"But what if they don't and she attacks, they might not be strong enough!" Celestia replied, trying to keep her voice down.

"They'll be fine Auntie, don't worry" Cadance said reassuringly, managing to calm Celestia down.

"Uh, what are you two talking about over there?" Rainbow asked, hovering up over the table to try and listen in on the princesses.

"Oh nothing" Celestia quickly said, coughing before talking in her royal voice, "We have decided to let each of you go along with the stallions of your own accord, but, we will intervene if you take too long to decide on your futures with them". The six mares quickly nodded, taking that as their cue to leave. Before they had completely left Twilight turned around, looking at Celestia.

"Thank you for clearing this up for us your highness" Twilight said, bowing to Celestia.

"It was no problem my student," Celestia said, looking up at the other mares who were still walking away, "Maybe we should have explained ourselves better in the first place"

"Goodbye Princess" Twilight said quickly before running to her friends, who were now calling for her. Celestia and Cadance watched as they made their way down the corridor, and just before they turned the corner a small kiss could be seen being shared between Rarity and Spike, giving Celestia the feeling that things were going to be fine in the end.