A light blue colt trudged slowly down the moonlit trail that led to Canterlot. His saddlebag was heavy and his wallet was light, but he felt undeterred. Aura had gone through a lot of trouble to get a royal wedding ticket--in fact, to his knowledge, he was the only one in his village to get one. "It will all be worth it," Aura whispered to himself as he plodded on, ignoring the fact that his legs felt as if they were about to give way at any second.
Why, might you ask, would a pony go through all of this trouble to get into the wedding? For her, of course--the one pony he had ever loved: Solara, the daughter of the immortal sun-princess. Ponies had always called him crazy, but he could never forget the summer they spent together. The summer was almost idyllic, the never ending days of frolicking and running around from place to place... It seemed like it would last forever. However, as these things often go, it was over before he knew it. After that, she had to return to the Royal Academy. Aura sighed, shrugging off his saddlebag on the side of the road. He took a look up at the moon before reclining his head on his bag and falling fast asleep.
* * *
The sun shone down on Aura, and as he stood on the hill overlooking his quiet village, he realized summer had just begun. The possibilities seemed endless.
"Yo, Aura," He turned to see one of his friends, Acoustic, calling him from the bottom of the hill.
"What's up?" Aura called sprinting to the bottom of the hill, stopping just in front of Acoustic.
"Check this out." Acoustic signaled for Aura to follow, as he turned and began to run towards the village square.
"What is it?" Aura shouted as he tried to catch up, the two speeding down the quiet village streets.
"A royal carriage landed in the town square, dude." The two stopped and proceeded to nose their way through the crowd that had formed around the carriage. They stared as the door opened and a graceful pure white mare stepped out of the carriage. Aura gasped, she looked so much like Celestia, only smaller.
"Dude, I am so going to say something," Aura said watching as the white mare walked away from the carriage, the crowd silently parting around her.
"What the buck!" Acoustic said, sounding shocked, "Dude, that's the princess's daughter."
"So?" Aura retorted. "Dude, it must suck to be her, everypony is too shy to speak to her."
"Dude, do you actually think you have a chance with the daughter of Celestia?"
"Yes, I do," Aura replied, smiling as he thought of all the mares he had dated over the last several months. "I bet she's just like the rest of us."
"Whatever, dude," Acoustic chuckled, "Anyway, I have to get home and do a few chores."
"Alright," Aura replied, distracted by his thoughts of the mare, whose name escaped him.
* * *
Aura lifted his head off of the rough saddle pad. He stretched his neck as he stood up slowly, and glanced around to see if anypony else was on the road. Satisfied that he was alone, he continued stretching and put on his saddlebag. "Almost there!" Aura exclaimed enthusiastically, looking up at Canterlot. He couldn't wait to check into his hotel room and rest his sore legs. On the journey, Aura had little but thoughts of the wedding to distract him from the feel of his aching body. He had tried his hardest to convince Acoustic to try and get tickets so he could attend as well, but Acoustic was adamant that he had too many responsibilities to just take off for two weeks. He was nothing if not stubborn, Aura thought to himself.
Aura heard a rumbling off in the distance, turning around he was surprised to see a cart, apparently controlled by magic barreling down the road. "Out of the way foal," an arrogant voice called out, He quickly hopped to the side of the road, and glared at the light blue mare as she sped past him.
"Sheesh, jerk," Aura mumbled as he reached the base of the steep road that led to Canterlot. It was followed by a slower carriage. Aura sighed and braced for a second dust cloud. He was pleasantly surprised when it stopped by him.
"Hey, do you need a ride?" A mare with a rainbow mane inquired, poking her head out of the carriage's side window.
"Yes!" Aura exclaimed happily, "Thank you."
"Alright," The mare giggled, "well hop in."
As he climbed in he was greeted by several colorful mares, he was struck by their beauty and their fancy attire, which by comparison made him seem underdressed. "Umm, hello," Aura introduced himself nervously.
"Hi," The mares greeted him almost immediately.
"Hey, you look familiar," Aura said, looking at the dark purple mare curiously... "you wouldn't happen to be Shining Armor's little sister, would you?"
"Yes," she replied. “I'm Twilight Sparkle.”
"OH! Say, congrats on the wedding," Aura replied, kissing her hoof politely.
"So, you never did say your name...." the white mare interjected, somewhat jealously.
"Oh, my apologies," Aura replied, "Call me Aura."
“That is such a wonderful name, darling," the snowy white mare told him flirtatiously. Aura could feel her staring into his eyes, but he chose to ignore it.
"So, uh, you mares are pretty famous," Aura changed the subject. "Must be neat to be in the company of some of Equestria's most famous ponies."
"Oh, it has its perks," Twilight smiled.
"I bet," Aura sighed. "I knew Solara when she was a foal." Aura looked out the window. He felt a small rush of excitement upon seeing the carriage pull through the gates of Canterlot.
"Really?” Twilight sounded fascinated. "I almost never saw her when I lived in Canterlot."
"Yeah," Aura chuckled, "Solara was never much for the whole Canterlot scene."
"Well...this is our stop," Twilight said, standing up.
"I sure appreciate the ride," Aura said to Twilight flashing her a smile before watching the group walk off towards the palace. Aura took a second to look at the extravagant architecture of Canterlot before heading to the hotel that he had booked a room in before he started his journey.
* * *
Aura entered the spacious room and immediately noted the plush bed and lavish upholstery. It was only the middle of the day, but his five day long journey had left his knees sore. Grunting as he sat down the heavy saddlebag, he trotted over to the bed. It almost seemed to invite him, and before he knew it, he found himself fast asleep.
* * *
Aura approached the lonely looking pearl white mare. "Hey," Aura said, trying to sound nice, "are you ok?"
"Yeah," Solara replied. Looking down at her reflection, she absentmindedly kicked a pebble into the stream.
"So..." Aura said, trying not to sound awkward, "what's your name?"
"Solara," The mare replied, almost inaudibly.
"Wow," Aura continued. "that's really, umm...pretty."
"Look," Solara turned around, suddenly sounding impatient. "What do you want?"
"You looked lonely," said Aura, sounding slightly shocked at the outburst. "I just figured I'd introduce myself."
"Don't bother, as soon as I can get away from this boring village, I'm out."
"It's not that bad, you just gotta learn where the fun things to do are," Aura said, trying to sound encouraging.
"Just leave me alone," Solara interjected, turning away slowly. "This is just another excuse for my mother, the great 'princess', to get her daughter out of the castle," Solara explained dejectedly.
"Oh, I'm sure that's not it," Aura replied, walking after her.
"Oh yeah?" Solara said, seemingly more depressed than before, "How the buck would you know? Stupid foal, Just leave me alone." Aura stared slack jawed, as Solara flew off.
"Geez, hostile much?" Aura mumbled, walking back towards the town square, in search of yet another adventure.
