AUTHOR'S NOTES: I REALLY HATE WRITING WEDDING CHAPTERS!
I don't know what it is, but there's something about writing weddings that brings all writing abilities to a freaking stand-still!
*deep breath*
Okay, with that said, next chapter should be the last one and I will be working on my Encanto/Coffeehouse Mysteries story which is already in progress... a little. I have a few pages done.
Now, two big things I want to address first.
ONE: a reminder that in this story, Sunset Shimmer is essentially a late-20's unicorn trapped in the body of a human teenager. Therefore, back in Equestria, there is nothing wrong with her being with Bruno. Okay? Okay.
TWO: For Dolores's wedding, I borrowed a snippet from the Encanto comic series 'Prophetic Hijinks which can be found on Instagram and Tumblr and which I HIGHLY recommend because the artist is AWESOME!
And one minor point I forgot to mention: The song used during the reception scene is 'When You Say Nothing At All' and the version I used was by Allison Krauss.
Please enjoy and review! Thank you!
Starlight Glimmer's POV (Mostly)
If there was one thing everyone in Encanto loved, it was a party. And no party was a bigger to-do than a wedding.
Given that Mariano and Dolores's nuptials would be the first Madrigal wedding in 24 years, there was much going on.
Although there was some annoyance at the wedding date being pushed up due to Sunset Shimmer and her friends wanting to be in attendance, the girls jumped right in, helping with whatever they could to get everything ready.
The wedding itself would take place on the grounds near the Madrigal home and the reception would be held inside with the courtyard open for dancing.
x
"The dress looks amazing!" Fluttershy gushed as she sat at Dolores's desk, working on the song she wanted to use as her wedding gift to the young couple. Mirabel and Rarity both beamed as they finished hemming the bottom of the skirt.
"Yeah, I make this look good, don't I?" Camilo's voice spoke up from his sister's body. As Camilo moved about, listening for any harsh sounds from the fabric, he grinned. "Lola's going to love it."
Raising their hands in a high-five, Mirabel and Rarity stood up before turning to let Camilo shift back to normal and change into his regular clothes. "I must say, this one did pose some difficulty, but I love a good challenge," Rarity stated, hanging up the dress and examining the work.
Mirabel started to reply when she looked up at the ceiling, the sounds of a gentle rain on the roof drawing her attention. "At least part of this wedding is going to be perfect."
Camilo nodded, frowning slightly. "Any mention of the wedding has Mami crying. I mean, they're tears of joy, but she's making it rain on the whole town and it's only going to get worse on the actual day."
"Should we try and move the wedding indoors?" Fluttershy suggested, curiously.
"If we hold it inside, then everyone has to try and stay quiet," Mirabel explained. "Outside, the noise isn't going to bother Dolores as much." Her face crinkling as she tried to think, she shrugged. "So we have to find a way to keep Tia Pepa from getting everyone wet."
Camilo's eyes widened as he thought of something Sunset Shimmer had talked about. "Didn't Sunset say that the other Twilight Sparkle - the one who's a princess? - had accidentally used some magic spell to swap her friends' powers? Is there any chance we can use that?"
Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged an uncertain look at the idea. "But what if that makes things worse? Switching magic between our powers and your family's... Things could take a catastrophic turn that we might never be able to correct," Rarity pointed out. However, the fashionista stiffened as she thought of another idea. "However... there might be another option," she mused before leaving the room to round up the rest of her friends as well as Pepa and Felix.
x
"I-I'm sorry, you want me to what?" Starlight Glimmer stammered, looking aghast at Rarity's suggestion. Looking at her friends, she withdrew a bit as she considered the request being made of her. "I mean, first of all, I don't actually have any magic in this world. And second..." Looking at Pepa, she hesitated before going on. "It-It's not like... you'd suddenly be unable to control the weather," Starlight explained. "Taking your powers... It-It's painful. I'd essentially be tearing out an actual piece of you." With a beseeching look, she pleaded, "There has to be another way."
Felix gave his wife a warm look and kissed her hand. "Pepi, I don't care if you make it rain on our little girl's wedding day. You should be crying. It's a happy moment. But if this is what you want..."
Pepa looked worriedly at Starlight as she considered how to make the young woman understand. "It's more than just wanting my little girl's big day to be perfect. My wedding... it-it wasn't... It was a disaster. And it wasn't all Bruno's fault, it was mine, too," she insisted. "-but I don't want that to happen to Dolores. I want her wedding day to be filled with sunshine... not flooded out by a hurricane."
Sunset Shimmer turned to Starlight, her heart breaking as she saw the conflicted look on her friend's face. The idea of doing the same thing that had made her into a monster... in order to help someone... "Starlight, we... If you don't want to do this... I-I'll help you find another way. We've still got a week before the wedding. That's plenty of time to..." She stopped when Starlight shook her head.
"There is no 'other way'," Starlight pointed out, quietly. "Pepa... When I did this before... Taking all those ponies' cutie marks... It did more than just strip them of their magic. It took away their identities. I robbed them of who they are. Their personalities, their... their passions... Poof! Gone!" Taking a deep breath, Starlight took a deep breath, drawing on her inner strength as she went on. "I don't know if it will be exactly the same for you... but if it is, you won't be able to enjoy your daughter's wedding the way you should. You're not going to feel the emotions that every mother wants to while watching her only daughter get married. Even after I restored your powers later on... You'd still have missed the full experience of Dolores's wedding."
A raincloud formed over Pepa's head as tears welled up in her eyes and on the roof of the casita, raindrops pattered on the tiles. "I don't want to ruin my little girl's wedding," she pleaded. "And I don't want Dolores blaming me for making a mess out of everything."
A small, dismayed squeak came from the doorway of the library and everyone turned to see Dolores standing there, looking crestfallen. "Mama, you could never ruin my wedding," she assured her mother, rushing to give her a hug. "Even if you caused a hurricane, I know you wouldn't have done it on purpose."
Conjuring a shield to keep mother and daughter from getting rained on further, Rarity looked from Sunset to Starlight. "Surely there's must be some way we can combine our two options?"
"I'd take Pepa's powers in an instant if it would solve this," Felix offered, giving his wife a smile as she let out a half laugh, half sob.
Sunset seemed skeptical as she pointed out that - according to Princess Twilight - swapping the powers would probably be uncontrolled and there was no way of knowing which abilities (or lack thereof) would be exchanged. Plus there was the fact that not only would the 'Main Seven' and Starlight be affected as well, but switching the powers back could be impossible without the proper counterspell. And if the girls were unable to return home...
It seemed as though whatever choice was made, it would result in a negative outcome, rather than a positive one.
x
Late that night, Starlight found herself in the kitchen, making some hot chocolate to try and calm her anxieties.
Pepa had agreed to think things over, but the woman was clearly siding with the idea of either the power swap or having her magic stripped.
Hearing footsteps nearby, Starlight looked up to see Alma coming into the kitchen, giving her a sympathetic look. "Dolores told me about what her mother wants to do," Alma explained, accepting a cup of hot chocolate as she and Starlight sat at the table. Looking away for a moment, she finally mused, "Pepa is afraid of ruining her daughter's wedding because of me. Julieta's wedding was one disaster after another. The flowers weren't right. The measurements for her dress were incorrect. Agustin kept getting stung by bees... So, when it came time for Pepa to marry Felix, I put too much pressure on making the entire day perfect."
"That was when Bruno made that joke about Pepa crying and making it rain?" Starlight prompted, sipping her own beverage.
Alma shook her head slightly before shrugging and going on. "Poor Pepita was nervous sweating all day. Then Bruno said that it looked like she'd gotten caught in one of her own rain showers." Smiling sadly, she pointed out, "I know he was just trying to cheer her up and get her to relax. But Pepa became so worked up..."
Nodding in understanding, Starlight quickly deduced, "And now Pepa wants this wedding to be the perfect day she and Julieta never got." Catching movement behind Alma, she straightened up a bit before asking, "If you could go back... Do your daughters' wedding days all over again knowing what you know now... What would you say?"
Thinking on the query for a few moments, Alma closed her eyes, letting waves of memory wash over her. When she opened her eyes, she replied, "I would remind Julieta that marriage is about being together for better and for worse." Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at the family tree on the wall and the image of Pedro. "Sometimes 'worse'... it takes the ones you love away from you. But as long as they are by your side, things will always get better."
Wiping her eyes with a handkerchief before thinking of Pepa, Alma smiled, warmly. "I would tell Pepita that it is alright to be scared and that tears of joy are to be celebrated. I would also tell her... that she is so much like her father. Pedro was always so emotional as well..."
"You never told me that..." Pepa spoke up in a choked whisper as she approached the table with Bruno and Julieta behind her.
Standing up and facing her children, tears slid down Alma's cheeks as she shook her head, slowly, her eyes filled with regret. "Because thinking of your father made my heart ache for him. His death made me Encanto's leader - a responsibility I wasn't ready for. I thought that lingering on the past made me weak and I had to show our strength." Studying her babies, she added, "I forced the three of you to grow up too fast... to be strong enough to make up for my own weaknesses."
Feeling like she was being intrusive, Starlight quietly slipped out of the kitchen and headed back upstairs, a small smile on her face when she heard the light patter of rain on the roof of the house.
X
'Cause rainbows won't light up the sky
Unless you let it rain
And candles just won't glow
Until they're burned
No, you can't give up your laughter
Cause you're scared of a little pain
It's a lesson that my village never learned'
-A Kirin Tale (MLP: Friendship is Magic)
Clear blue sky was interrupted by patches of drizzly rainclouds resulting in multiple rainbows.
As everyone dashed about working on final wedding preparations, Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer stood with Twilight Sparkle as the trio went over the final checklist.
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Luisa, and Camilo were finishing up the food for the reception. Pinkie had claimed the wedding cake as her personal project and everyone in town was eagerly awaiting the appearance of the masterpiece.
Mirabel, Isabela, and Rarity were helping Dolores get ready while Rainbow Dash, Felix, Bruno, and Agustin were putting up the last of the decorations.
"I think we're ready," Sunset assessed, nodding in approval. "We should probably go get dressed."
"Yes. Absolutely," Twilight chimed, quickly, as she exchanged a look with Starlight who gave her the slightest nod in confirmation that their 'secret' plans were set and in motion.
Heading up to Isabela's bedroom, they found Applejack getting into her dress along with Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.
"Pinkie Pie's cake looks out of this world!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, grinning. "I mean, if it's anything like that 'Mona Lisa' cake she made for the Friendship Games, this is going to be something this town will never forget!"
"Luisa is going to play the piano when I sing my song for Dolores and Mariano's first dance," Fluttershy chirped, happily.
"That song is so sweet," Sunset assured her friend as she got into her own dress. "Dolores is really going to love it."
x
Dolores's POV
Standing with her parents and brothers, watching as everyone took their seats on the grass, Dolores felt a bubble of excitement - not only for herself, but for Sunset Shimmer and Bruno.
After sharing his vision with Sunset, Bruno had been over the moon about being together with the love of his life and Dolores had been happy for him. When he'd asked her about proposing after the wedding, she'd slowed him down, pointing out that it was rushing things too much.
And so, after some research and consultation with Sunset's friends, a new plan was laid out. Old traditions and new would combine and Dolores and Mariano would - with a little magical assistance - hopefully give Bruno the perfect set up to give Sunset the promise ring he'd had made.
Mirabel and Isabela stood at the altar with Mariano, and two of his friends, waiting for the ceremony to start. After a while, Father Xavier Fidel nodded that they should begin.
A canopy of flowers spread over the wedding party and guests as Rarity used her own magic to shield everyone from the steady drizzle that was starting up.
Once the music began, Dolores came down the aisle on Felix's arm, her eyes shining with tears and a wide smile on her face as she was handed off to her husband-to-be.
When it came time for the couple to exchange vows, Mariano went first, looking surprisingly nervous as he confessed in a barely audible voice, "I forgot the paper with my vows on it at home."
Giving Mariano a chance to think of what to say, Dolores spoke up, having committed her own vows to memory. "It's always been a difficult thing, being a Madrigal. There's so much that is expected of us and it's easy to feel overwhelmed. But you came into our family and you never once turned away from us. You help Mama with her weather and Tia Julieta in the kitchen... You work with my primas on their chores... You spend time with Antonio and his animals... It doesn't matter what anyone is doing - you try and take part and help in any way you can. This is why I love you. Because you want to be a part of my life, and all that that entails. I can't wait to be your wife because I want to give you as much love as you give me and my family."
Taking a deep breath, Mariano hesitated a moment before he spoke. "I knew that you could hear everything in Encanto, but I never really understood what that meant until your house fell. You don't just hear... you listen. You've heard every tear, laugh, or scream in this valley. You know everyone's heartbeat and footstep. And you know things about me that I have never told anyone. You know my heart. I've always dreamed about being with someone who knows and understand me. I've found that in you. I love you because you love me for who I am. I've never had to pretend to be something I'm not."
Hearing a very faint intake of breath, Dolores knew that Isabela was thinking about her own near-engagement with Mariano.
After exchanging rings, Dolores let go of restraint and threw her arms around Mariano, kissing him passionately as he embraced her.
x
Bruno's POV
Nervously sliding off his right loafer and add it it to the pile of shoes from the other single men in the village, Bruno stepped back to join Felix and Agustin. "I-I-I'm not sure why you want me to do this," he muttered, nervous. "Wh-What if this makes Sunset nervous and she changes her mind?"
"Or..." Agustin replied, putting a hand on his brother-in-law's shoulder as Dolores was led blindfolded to the pile after Luisa properly mixed the pile of shoes. "Maybe this will will encourage her because she's still nervous about being with you."
Bruno shrugged, watching as his sobrina felt around for a few moments. "I guess..." he murmured, mostly to himself.
"It's good luck, remember?" Felix chimes in, happily.
"But neither of you believe in luck," Bruno pointed out, frowning slightly.
"But you do believe," Agustin reminded him, smiling. Hearing cheers as Dolores straightened up, holding Bruno's shoe aloft, he turned to his brother-in-law and gave a hopeful nod. "Eh? Maybe you just need to have a little faith."
Catching Sunset Shimmer's eye as she joined the single ladies waiting for Mariano to toss his bride's wedding bouquet, Bruno gave her a grin and a shrug. When Dolores gave him his shoe back with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, Bruno slipped it back on quickly before stuffing a hand into his pocket and feeling the small jewelry box there.
He'd researched rings and meanings, wanting something that displayed his intentions without being an actual engagement ring.
Talking to Viola Pena, the wife of the town jeweler, Bruno got excited as she described the Claddaugh ring - an Irish design whose position on the recipient's hand denoted the couple's relationship status. After some talk about colors, Viola had put her husband to work so the ring would be ready in time.
Shouts of joy and laughter brought Bruno out of his musings, and he saw Sunset holding the bouquet looking rather dumbfounded and in shock. But when she looked over at him, holding up the flowers, her smile grew wide, and she shrugged helplessly as her friends pulled her into a group hug along with Mirabel, Luisa, and Isabela.
Straightening up and mustering his courage, Bruno walked over to Sunset who blushed furiously as she hastily handed the bouquet to Applejack, making Rarity squeal with delight.
Pulling Sunset aside - and trying to ignore the people watching them intently - Bruno pulled out the ring box, his eyes wide as Sunset sank down to sit on the window ledge. "It-It's not an engagement ring," he assured her, quickly, as he sat next to her. "It..." He opened the box and withdrew the ring, slipping it onto Sunset's right ring finger with the heart pointing towards her. "This is a promise... That when you're ready, I want to be with you for the rest of our lives."
Watching Sunset study the silver band with yellow gold hands, a ruby crown, and an emerald heart, Bruno wasn't sure how his heart was racing while his breathing had stopped. It felt like time was frozen as he waited for his love's response.
"It's perfect," Sunset assured him, hugging him and kissing his cheek. "I love it. I love you."
"I-I love you, too," Bruno assured her, taking her hands in his.
Hearing Luisa start a gentle tune on the piano, Sunset got to her feet, pulling Bruno up as well as she asked, "Dance with me?"
Fluttershy's soft, delicate voice floated through the courtyard and while Dolores and Mariano shared their first dance as husband and wife, Sunset and Bruno shared their own first dance.
"It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word, you can light up the dark
Try as I may, I can never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing
The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me wherever I fall
You say it best, when you say nothing at all"