So she was flying, again. No amounts of protest had stopped those crazy beings from loading her up in a carriage, and make her sit down. All she could feel was the golden incrusted wood of that carriage. She knew some of them were right next to her, and some of them were flying alongside her. It seemed as if not all of them were able to fly, just the ones with wings, but that little fact didn’t make her any less scared of flying. Yeah, she was scared, not wanting to give up blindness didn’t mean she loved the weaknesses that came with it. And her dear earth was far far below her. If she fell, which they had assured her that “As the princess’ personal escorts” (the ones who were driving this carriage of them) wouldn’t let her do. She could feel the wind blowing against her hair, as they sailed through the air without a sail, and only the power of the flapping of the wings of those male beings, was keeping them up in the air. Toph’s mind couldn’t help but conjure some frightening scenarios. She had felt them while on the ground, and while they were two carrying, and they were even more bulkier than the female kind of being she was being carried with, they were definitively shorter, smaller and more or less inferior to Appa. A couple of those four legged beings couldn’t make her feel as safe as a single six legged sky bison. And for earth’s sake! They hadn’t even closed in the chariot! Who traveled through the air when they didn’t have the safety of not tumbling over onto the ground?
Those thoughts aside, Toph was in a pretty bad mood, as if it wasn’t enough she was being carried in the air against her will, and she had been restrained by some kind of pulsing pushing force against her arms to be put in the chariot as she didn’t want to enter, she now had to go and meet a princess, she had met and befriended Firelords, Tribe leaders, and even kings! It wasn’t going to be a princess that would intimidate her into....well she didn’t know exactly what she was going to meet the princess for. But she wasn’t in control of the situation and she hated that! She was definitively going to tell this so called “Princess” of the “Sun and day” and also “Ruler of Equestria”, that she couldn’t expect all the respect she was hearing about from her chariot companions (who were talking between one another , four of them, one with wings, two with no horn or wings, and one with a horn). If the supreme ruler of those beings wanted to get her respect then she had to earn it.
Meanwhile she could feel them glancing and focusing on her from time to time, she didn’t know exactly how she could feel it. But it was a second ability she had developed. Or a third, after Earthbending, well, technically the fourth after sensing vibrations But whatever. The space was cramped, especially for five beings. And she was being pressed uncomfortably against one of them. She could feel the being’s heart beat, faster than her own. She had the option to retreat to an empty space near the wooden border of the carriage, and to put her feet off into the cold air, leaving them to float in the air attached only to the rest of her body. But she didn’t want to do that.
They had been traveling for what felt like hours now, and she was getting even sicker of all this. Her face was against that creature’s side and the fur was tickling her nose, making her want to sneeze. A sneeze she was holding for she was afraid it would project her over the ledge.
Finally they arrived and oh wonder of wonder! Much to Toph’s enjoyment she could feel that in here, most things were made out of stone. And stone was much better for defense than mere dirt. She put her feet on the ground, firmly, assuming a position that was fit for Earthbending, and she was beginning to put her first batch of rocks through her body when she was stopped by that pulsing against her arms again, and her legs too. The rocks fell down on the ground again. Oh how she loathed this situation, armed with nothing but the full mobility of her face muscles. She tried to earthbend using her face, something that she knew Bumi could do but with no success.
“Is that really necessary Twilight? I mean...hum, look at the faces she’s making, you’re clearly hurting her!”
Twilight looked at her friend, it was odd of Fluttershy to be confrontational, but an animal being hurt was one of the things that ticked her off, and one didn’t want to see Fluttershy ticked off.
“Relax, I’m merely binding her limbs, it may be a bit uncomfortable, but it’s by no means painful.”
Fluttershy looked unsure of herself, she looked at her friend and at the strange creature, then at her hooves, and at her friend again. She wasn’t so sure of herself now. But what could she do? It wasn’t like she had what it took to stand up to Twilight, and if her friend said she wasn’t hurting the creature. Well, twilight wasn’t a liar. Usually, at least.
Ponies stopped and looked around at the strange sight, one of the princesses carrying an unknown sort of creature, followed by her friends and the royal guards. Toph floated inches above the ground, Twilight not giving her a chance of using her bending to do anything. Not that she could, even if she wanted.
As they approached the castle gates, the guards quick in their hooves to open them, Twilight sighed, her letter had explained most of what was going on, and Celestia had been fast to answer, saying that she wanted to see this “Strange, hostile, unknown, rational, bipedal, element bending creature”. So they had traveled, and now she was here, she had not idea of how this was going to happen, even though the creature had been rational up to that point, she had suddenly turned hostile at the prospect of seeing the princess, or maybe just entering the chariot. They could have traveled by train, but the princess had already sent the guards, and though she had the power to send them away, she didn’t have the audacity to stand up against something Celestia had ordered.
The gates opened and, after a few doors, they were there, the throne room. Twilight dropped Toph and removed her binding, getting ready for the worst.