Chapter Two : Two Carriages

“Princess Celestia, the food should be just enough for the amount of guests at the gala this year if the cooks stay overnight!”

“Tell the chefs that it would be much appreciated!”

“Princess Luna, we have most of the Northern Gardens decorated but we haven’t started on the Eastern side!”

“Have some more ponies up to help, preferably unicorns or pegasi, most of the decorations are in the air, as I recall!”

”Princess Celestia, the suites for the visiting dignitaries and royalty are prepared and cleaned, I also have some spare rooms for emergencies, each has a balcony, a bathroom, and a double bed. Is that okay?!”

“Perfect, Raven, if you have the time, it would be great if you could help Crackle with the decor she mentioned to my sister, the ones missing from the Eastern region?”

“Princess Luna, are we going to—”

“Princesses!” The Royal Solar Guard Captain, Soul Shard, burst through the door way of the Throne Room, startling and quieting the mob of ponies surrounding the slightly flustered Royal Sisters. “The Aurorian carriage is requesting entry into the palace! Queen Eventide has presented a gala invitation, permission to open the gates?”

Everypony's eyes widened, and soft murmurs ran through the crowd, but it was Luna who spoke up, “Eventide? Now? But they’re a day early!”

“Yes, they are, Princess Luna, but with all due respect, can we open the gates? The Aurorian guards are... insistent.” Shard pressed with a sense of urgency.

“Of course, Shard, send somepony to fetch Cadence and Blueblood, tell them to hurry and meet us at the landing pad, clear the area, I need an honor guard!” Celestia nodded at her Captain before he hurried off to relay the orders, “Excuse me, my little ponies, please direct all of your questions and queries to either my senechal, Raven, she should be in the Eastern Gardens, or to Velvet, Luna's senechal.”

At the mention of her name, Twilight Velvet came up behind her sovereign, Princess Luna’s side, nodding distractedly to the brown stallion she was talking to before.

She was a short, middle aged mare with a silver coat, a two toned, dark violet and white, mane, her bangs almost hooding the aide’s bright, attentive aquamarine eyes with a trio of purple stars for her cutiemark.

“Thank you for your patience, everypony, once again, apologies, there is something my sister and I must attend to.” Luna smiled and nodded to the ponies around them as Celestia and her nudged their way through the crowd, hurrying to the castle atrium.

They met their niece, Cadence, on the way, with a promise to explain everything, and also saw a confused looking Blueblood pacing at their destination.

“Aunts!”

“Aunties!”

“What’s going on? Why were we told to come here? Is everything alright? Do you need—”

“Is this about the Gala? I know I was supposed to not dedicate too much to my attire, but—”

Princess Luna’s sharply raised hoof silenced the two younger members of royalty, and they both looked to the two elder Princesses expectantly.

“Nothing like that, my dears,” Celestia smiled warmly, but with only a slight tinge of urgency, “The Aurorian Queen, Eventide has arrived a bit early, so don’t forget to be on your best behavior, alright?”

“Aurorian?” Blueblood scrunched up his muzzle in confusion, “... Isn’t that the story book kingdom or something?”

My stars, so isolated that they’ve fallen to myth. Luna thought with a mental facehoof, “Not at all, I am unsure as to where you have acquired that piece of information, my nephew, but it is most certainly false. Aurora is merely a kingdom which prefers reclusion over alliance.”

“... If that’s so, Aunt Luna,” Cadence thought out loud with a frown, “... Then what are they doing, coming for the Gala?” A pause. “Um... At least, that’s what I presume they're here for, right?”

The two sisters shared a glance, “Indeed, Cadence, and as for why ... we have not the slightest clue.” The alabaster alicorn shrugged helplessly just as eight guards strode over in formation. Two Night Guards representing Luna, two Solar Guards representing Celestia, two Love Guards representing Cadence, and two Unicorn Guards representing Blueblood.

“But I suppose we’re about to find out.” Luna squinted, nodding at the small specks nearing their destination.

The four royals stood together from eldest to youngest, with four guards lined up on either side of them, all facing the opened inner castle doors, the landing pad, and most importantly, the incoming carriage.

Carriages.

Carriages!?

The Equestrians all shared equally confused looks. Why were there two carriages for one Queen? What in Tartarus was going on?

The first coach touched down onto the paved path, designed especially for the golden chariots. It was an enclosed carriage instead of a gold throne, of sorts, more akin to the Equestrian transports they were familiar with.

The carriage itself was made primarily of a dark blue material, with two windows on either side, their white curtains drawn shut and two fancy doors rimmed with gold, also on both side faces. For the front, there was a smaller window, presumably meant for the passenger to converse with her charioteers easily. The back end had nothing, save for luggage carrier, which looked like a blue box, also bordered with gold.

It had four big wheels, much like cart wheels, except gold and black with carvings etched into the spokes. Golden embellishments and elaborate swirls decorated the entirety of the coach, from the roof and the back carrier to the doors, the door handles and the the windows.

The doors on both sides had a distinct symbol near the bottom. The Royal Crest of Aurora.

It was a shield split into quarters, with the symbol of a fleur de lis in two of the four positions, and with six pointed stars, the universal symbol for magic, covering the remaining two spaces. The base was then decorated with intricate gold borders, accompanied by two blank, blue flags at the sides, which were changed for every new ruler. Two gold wings for support were present under the shield, complete with a golden mantle and torse.

A curled banner at the end point of the shield read, ‘Magia aeterna’ It was fitting for the supposed Kingdom of Magic, Luna thought privately.

The first Aurorian coach slid gracefully onto the landing strip, courtesy to the two pegasi; one mare, one stallion, both wearing golden clad armor with etched swirls leading up to a silver crown clasp. It slowed to a stop just before the Equestrian Royalty, but then went a little further, evidently to make room for the second carriage.

Said second carriage swooped in shortly after. It was just about the same as the first, except the dark blue was a dark violet and the gold was all silver, instead. The charioteers were a pegasus mare, and, to the surprise of the Equestrians, a thestral stallion.

The ‘bat ponies,’ as most preferred to call them, were reclusive and almost never seen outside of their tightly knit villages in Equestria or the Royal castle, where their sole purpose was to serve their Princess of the Night in the exclusive thestral Night Guard. There was no known ‘Children of the Night’ to be guarding other royalty, but there he was.

The guards’ armor was silver as well, much like their coach, and was most likely made of steel. They had similar decorations to their golden counterparts, but incorporated many more of what looked like intricate, complex runes and enchantments woven into their plates. Their clasp, instead of being a crown, was a metallic pink starburst, catching the light of the bright sun as they stopped just short of bumping into the first carriage.

Both sets of charioteers unhooked themselves from the saddles and went to the doors of their respective coaches, one standing to the right of the exits and the other standing to the left, awaiting orders as the Equestrians straightened up, determined for answers.

The doors swung open at the exact same time, and from the blue carriage, a male earth pony guard and a female unicorn guard descended down onto the ground with stoic expressions, lining up in front of the guards on either sides of the door. The unicorn had a clasp that was, instead of the silver crown, made of crystal instead.

From the purple carriage, two unicorns, a stallion and a mare, also hopped off to join the ranks of their charioteers, standing at attention with sweeping, narrowed eyes, searching for potential danger. The stallion also had a magenta crystal clasp.

The Prince and Princesses smiled, with a more than questioning expression as Queen Eventide stepped off the first coach and bowed, not overly low, as to not prostrate herself, but enough to show respect. The Equestrian Royals returned the gesture.

Eventide was a tall mare, not quite as tall as Princess Luna, but taller than Cadence, giving her the impression of regality not expected to be seen in a mortal pony. She had a baby blue coat, sharp aquamarine eyes, a pale mane with two stripes of light pink and purple, complete with a white tiara cutie mark backdropped by a single purple star.

The most prominent features were the swirls peppering parts of her body, all in a darker blue shade, and the highlights in the same color were also present on her hooves, the tip of her ears and her belly. The highlights were a characteristic all true Aurorians shared, for they were, or at least the Equestrians assumed, magical in nature.

Luna noted that the the marks of the guardsmen were blunt, clear and obvious.

The swirls, part of what made them so alluring, were only ever seen on the blood Royals, as all of the Queens and Kings, who had married into Aurorian Royalty, at least the ones the Princesses had interacted with, however rarely, were always lacking the distinct trait. The clarity of these swirls, they had noticed, faded and brightened for every different pony, seemingly without rhyme nor reason.

“Queen Eventide,” Princess Celestia greeted with a warm smile, “It is a pleasure to have you at out Grand Galloping Gala this year, I can’t help but notice that you were early, may I ask why that was, out of curiosity?” She decided to begin with an easier query.

Eventide’s polite, but stone cold, expression did not melt, “Thank you for hosting us, and my sincerest apologies, Princess Celestia, we miscalculated a storm that missed us on the way here, will that be much of a problem?”

Luna decided that it would be a good time to step in, “Not at all, Queen Eventide,” She shook her head, “But may I also inquire about your second carriage? Are we also expecting a dignitary or a friend of yours as well?”

Eventide’s mask let a single emotion slip through; pure confusion. Her brows arched, and bemusement radiated of her, “Of course not, my daughter decided to come with me this time, I thought you might have presumed...?”

Cadence’s jaw dropped, and everypony else became wide eyed, “D-Daughter!?” The pink alicorn exclaimed, gaze shooting over to the purple coach, “Y-You have a daughter!?”

The Queen blinked, “You... weren’t aware that I had acquired an heir?”

“No, we always thought—”

A lavender hoof landed on the smooth pavement, the quiet click of her silver slipper making contact as the topic of their discussion left her coach, drawing everypony’s attention.

They stared.

Blueblood made the mistake of allowing his throat free rein.

“YOU’RE AN ALICORN!?”

Author's Note

8/10/20 - I’ve been procrastinating a lot lately, with exams here and teachers practically shoving work up my throat, so I apologise for the lack of updates. This chapter was kind of rushed.

14/10/20 - Edit : Changed the desc. of Eventide and Aurorians in general.

18/10/20 - Made new cover art to account for the markings on Twilight’s body! (Hope you enjoy, I’m not really an artist, I know)