"A Canterlot Wedding" is the title of the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth episodes of the second season of the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

In these episodes, Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong) learns her brother, Shining Armor (Andrew Francis), will be marrying Princess Cadance (Britt McKillip).

The episodes' debuts attracted almost one million combined viewers, and critics praised their ambition, music, and visual sequences.

Twilight Sparkle is surprised to learn her older brother, Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor, is to be married.

When at Canterlot, she finds security has been increased; a magic shield-shell cast by Shining Armor protects the entire city from an unknown threat.

Enraged, the fake Cadance reveals her true image as Queen Chrysalis,[a] ruler of the shape-shifting, insect-like Changelings who feed on love.

Queen Chrysalis has been usurping Shining Armor's power, weakening the shield to allow her Changeling army to invade Canterlot and take over Equestria.

[4] Queen Chrysalis was designed by Rebecca Dart from DHX Media: the character was envisioned as damp, hunched over, weak, and rotten-looking; and "like she crawled out from under a log".

Spelling, who was scheduled to host a "bridle shower" event in Culver City the week before the episodes' airing, canceled due to pregnancy sicknesses and television personality Brooke Burke took her place.

In a chapter of Orienting Feminism, Kevin Fletcher said the episodes both exemplify and resist "princess culture", and suggested they undermine the typical fairy-tale wedding by focusing on Twilight and her friends rather than the royal couple.

He stated that Chrysalis's "disordered female behaviour", perceived to be similar to that of evil Disney queens, lends itself to retrogressive interpretations.

Emily St. James gave the double episode an "A−" rating, considering it to be a reason why she felt Friendship Is Magic was one of the best children's programs.

[12][16] Common Sense Media writer Emily Ashby called the episodes "an illustrator of life lessons that have value for kids of all ages".

Connelly considered it to be showstopping, and approvingly likened it to "La Resistance" from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and "Walk Through the Fire" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

St. James complimented the way "the bright colors and beautiful backgrounds contrast nicely with the more simplistic Flash animation that drives the program".

[15] Multiple writers enjoyed the fight between the ponies and the Changelings: Connelly found it thrilling, especially Pinkie Pie's use of Twilight as a gun;[18] and St. James considered it to be vibrant and pleasurable.

Other sequences singled out by critics include the "bouncy and fun, filled with real joy and heart" wedding;[15] the climax in which Cadance and Shining Armour defeat the Changelings that "gets [Connelly] gooey inside every time"; and the scene in which Cadance transports Twilight to the caves, which Connelly described as "the most disturbing the show has yet produced".