The carriage shook lightly, as its ornate golden wheels touched down onto the rough, rocky road underneath, stirring both princess' from their slumber. Celestia wore a simply white dress, the colour very similar to her alabaster skin, yet not so similar as to make her seem nude, with gold lacing the neck, and end of the sleeves. She yawned, rubbing her eyes carefully so as not to disturb the make up that had been carefully applied before the long ride, while also smoothing out the stray strands of her long golden hair, cascading over her shoulders before ending at the centre of her back. Straightening, she did a few light stretches before fixing the golden tiara adorning her head, embued with several rubies. Looking out the window she frowned at the harsh and rocky landscape before her, the only sign of civilization being being the unkept road, laden with stones.
Looking forward again she observed her sister, Luna, as she too began to get ready. In terms of similarities, there were none, in fact they may well have been the opposite in everything to do with looks except for their gender, and beauty. Luna had a dark purple, almost black dress , with a myriad of small white stars splattered around the entire dress, closely resembling that of the night sky, yet had no other features to speak of. It's colour also happened to come close to Luna's skin as well, but being a more light violet. Luna also had near pitch black hair, tied up into a ponytail that reached down to her upper back. Not even the tiara was spared being the opposite, being a dull silver, with only a single emerald adorning it.
"Well, I suppose we have arrived than, sister." Celestia said, bringing Luna's gaze from the window to meet Celestia's own.
"Yes I suppose we have." Luna replied, a smile coming to her face, "I must admit, I am rather curious to meet these 'bat ponies'. Even the name seems like it is from a childrens book."
"As am I sister. But we cannot forget our true purpose here, we are to meet with their king and attempt to make an alliance." Celestia reminded Luna, bringing a sharp nod from the other princess.
Before their conversation could continue however, they door to the carriage opened sending a breeze of cold air into the tightly packed room, causing both of them to shiver at the sudden change in temperature. The pony to open the door wore the standard gold plated armor, only being the pegasus variation, with holes in the back of the armor to make room for the wings. The guard bowed deeply, the sword at his belt clanging together with his armor as he straightened back up. "Your highness', we have arrived, however this is as far as we are allowed to take the carriage. " The guard explained, prompting a confused look on Celestia's face.
"Not allowed to go any further? Well just how far away are we from the palace then." She asked, causing the guard to shuffle around nervously, eyes shifting form side to side so as to never meet the princess' gaze.
"Well, forgive me, but I think you need to see just how far away it is for yourself." The guard replied, stepping backwards while offering a gauntleted hand to help her down. Taking the hand Celestia fully descended, her soft white shoes immediately getting dirty upon contact with the ground. Looking to her right, a massive mountain hogged her view, it's craggy peaks going up for miles. It was as breathtaking as it was terrifying. Looking to her left however, she found something even more breathaking.
A massive palace rose before, dozens upon dozens of grey towers and spires reaching high into the air, as if trying to challenge the mountain for height. The palace also stood upon a large rock, large enough that it would be impossible to reach the walls of it on foot form the base. This meant that the only way in was via the stone bridge in between her and the palace, it's stone being well worked, a far cry from the roads leading towards it, the change from dirt to stone being very jarring. At the beginning of the bridge stood what could only be guards, with spears and shields in both hands, although they weren't Equestrian.
They were indeed very much different from Equestrian guards, with the armor being some dark form of steel, and the helmet having wing like designs across it's sides pointing behind. The face was completely hidden as well, a 'T' shape being the only way for whoever was behind the helemt to see. What she found the most interesting however was the pair of wings barely visible as they were folded back against the guard's back. The one thing that had caught her attention was what they were made of. They appeared more akin to a dragon's pair of wings then a ponies, with what looked like black leather instead of feathers and bones tightly wrapped in skin supporting the wings, it was almost as if someone had plucked a pegasi's feathers and put leather in it's place.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts as she realized she was staring, she approached the pair with her guard, noticing the slight shift in their heads towards her, yet not moving a single inch other then that. Stopping in front of them she regarded both of them before turning to the one on her right to face him fully. "If I may ask good sir, why have we been barred entry from this palace?" She inquired sweetly, hoping to coax out a more lenient response with kindness.
"You have not been barred entry." The guard responded, still remaining as still as a statue, "Your carriage has simply been refused entry."
Celestia blinked in confusion before banishing said confusion away, "And why is that?" She asked, still going for the sweetness tactic. "I'm sure you know who we are. The Equestrian envoy."
"We know who you are. But it is not personal. Foreign carriages are simply barred entry from the palace." The guard replied dryly.
That brought a frown to Celestia's face, "But what about our luggage. And how are we supposed to get to the palace?" She asked, confusion battling to be the dominant emotion on her face.
"We will take care of your luggage, and make sure that your carriage is taken care of." The guard responded, head turning ever so slightly to look Celestia in the eyes. "And in terms of how you can get there. Try walking."
Celestia could only blink in shock. They had just been told to give up their carriage and luggage and carriage to these guards to be taken care of. And then, they had basically been told to buck up and walk the rest of the way. And a commoner had told her that! The audacity of it, she was a princess for crying out loud! Rage began to fill her mind at being talked down to by this simple guard, who acted like she didn't even matter.
"I am Princess Celestia Sol, and I demand you let us through!" She shouted, reaching out to grab her magic, a raging inferno meeting her, eager to flatten these insolent little worms. The fire was immediately snuffed out however, as a familiar hand fell on her shoulder, silencing her magic. She turned to face Luna, who had a serene, almost amused look, as she stared at Celestia coolly.
Without a word to Celestia, Luna stepped in front of her and looked at both the guards, who had shifted their stances to put their shields in between them and Celestia, "We will be fine with walking. And if you can, bring our luggage to our assigned rooms." She said before nodding to the four guards that now stood at the ready, whether to help Celestia or stop her was not known, yet they immediately relaxed their grips on their swords upon confirmation from Luna that the situation was under control.
Gesturing for Celestia and the guards to follow, she walked along the bridge, Celestia eventually speeding up to join her side, as the two began chatting, eager to get the very tense situation that had happened at the beginning of the bridge behind them. As they walked the end of the bridge became more and more clearer, and with it, the figure of a thestral pacing back and forth. As they got closer and closer the thestral eventually noticed them, walking forward to meet them as they neared the end.
The thestral wore a dark green shirt, ornately laced with gold along the neck and sleeves, a brown pair of pants with golden swirls spotted over it completing the look. The thestrals skin was an almost black dark blue, the medium cut hair being pretty much the same as his skin. The thestral smiled gleefully as it did a small bow. "Why hello there my dear Princess'. I am Prince Mordeth, and welcome to Aurellia!"
Author's Note
here is what the armor would have roughly looked like
Aurellian
Equestrian
Keep in mind this is not exactly what it looks like, just the general look. Like the Equestrian one has an open faced helmet instead of a closed face one. And it doesn't have the wing designs on the helmet in the picture
