//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: The First Impression // Story: What Society Expects from a Princess // by cursedchords //------------------------------// Chapter 4: The First Impression Inside the castle, the Entrance Hall was a reflection of the city outside, festooned with bright streamers of gold and silver, every window draped with regal purple and every surface polished to a mirror-like sheen. For the moment, the cavernous space was mostly empty, save for a few servants and guards seeing to last-minute details, and for Princess Luna, who was standing at the peak of the hall’s grand stairway. Like every other important pony in the country tonight, Luna was dressed in her own preferred fineries. Her crown gleamed in the chamber’s ambience, and with the silver sash of her office as Lady Chancellor of Equestria draped prominently across her right shoulder, she made an imposing sight. Even more so due to the pensive frown upon her face. Her sister was late, not unreasonably so, not yet at least, but still later than Luna would have liked. In her absence, the younger princess had already been forced to deal with half a dozen developing crises, ranging from a shortage of hors d'oeuvres to a last-minute cancellation from the night’s pianist. It was requiring all of her effort now not to pace nervously about on the stairwell, as the hour at which the doors opened ticked nearer and nearer. The nerves were nothing new for Luna. While her sister might by now have hundreds of Galas under her belt, this was only Luna’s third. She remembered a time long ago when being a princess had been a much simpler affair. Of course, that had been an age when socialization didn’t so critically tie into matters such as economics and policy making. Every day since her return, it had been a challenge to live up to the bar that her sister set, which was why she was usually so grateful that Celestia could deal with all of the little details of planning events like this one. But now, with time ticking on and Celestia nowhere to be seen, Luna was rapidly beginning to wonder if she would have to go it alone tonight. With a mere ten minutes left on the clock, she was on the verge of initiating a full-scale search for Celestia when her sister finally emerged from a side-entrance to the hall. Celestia’s favoured Gala dress was a resplendent array of bright colours, reminiscent of a garden in bloom as they flowed back from her neck and down into the trim around her hooves. In spite of the time, she was looking cool as a cucumber. Immediately behind her trailed Octavia, taking rapidfire notes on a clipboard. The pair paused to exchange a couple more hushed words, and then the earth pony rushed once more back the way that they had come, leaving Celestia to ascend the stairs to where Luna stood waiting. “Good evening, Luna,” she said cordially. “Where have you been?” Luna blurted out in answer, all of her anxiety erupting forth with the question. “I’ve been dealing with everything for you in the meantime.” Celestia took a calm look around the room. “And doing a fine job of it, by the look of things. I was merely performing a final inspection of the auction showcase, getting all of the little details rolled up before that event. I trusted that you could handle all of this on your own.” Luna took a deep breath, trying her best to steady her twitching nerves. Of course, Celestia was right. Sometimes it was a little irritating that her sister could stay so calm even when everything around them seemed to be poised on the brink of disaster, but in the end it was always refreshing to know that things were under control. “Of course. Thank you,” she said once she had gotten her thoughts back in order. “So everything is looking good, then?” “For the most part. It’s a lot of extra complications to throw on top of what’s already a complicated affair. I hope that you don’t mind if I leave from time to time to check on things?” “Well…” Luna hesitated on the reply. Of course, it was a very reasonable request, and for anything else the younger Princess would have approved immediately. But tonight’s event hadn’t even properly started yet, and she already felt like she was getting buried under decisions. “Don’t worry,” Celestia said, still smiling serenely. “Remember that this year Cadance is here too, in case you need any extra help. And I’ll still be free most of the time, unless something unexpected comes up. I’m sure that you’ll do just fine.” Luna took a look out through the hall’s grand windows, into the outer court where an expectant line of guests of honour had already formed, snaking its way out of sight around a corner. She took another deep breath, feeling her unease die away as she exhaled. “Okay,” she replied. “You do what you have to do, and I’ll take care of everything else.” “Thank you.” Celestia reached a hoof across Luna’s back, and two shared a tender half-embrace, interrupted by a loud toll from high in the castle’s belltower. The two castle guards by the main entrance shared a nod, and then took hold of the doors’ big brass handles and slowly pulled them inwards. The two Princesses quickly released each other and took their positions as a page in a bright red coat and silver spectacles took his spot by the entrance, pulling a large roll of parchment out one of his pockets. The page examined the first name briefly, and then announced in a loud and clear voice: “Presenting His Highness, Viscount Caesura of Fillydelphia!” The name brought a quick gasp and a muffled murmur from the nobles outside, and Luna could tell why. Normally, the guests were introduced according to ceremonial order, which would have put the remaining Princes and Princesses first. It was very unusual for any deviation to occur from that protocol, and she cast Celestia a questioning glance. “He was a late RSVP,” Celestia whispered as the two waited for the viscount to make his entrance, “and a very good friend of mine. He’s been out of the country for years, and is only making the trip back for the auction, I think. Either way, I’m very happy to be able to have him.” Luna nodded thoughtfully. It explained a little bit, and it was perhaps true that her elder sister was usually not as concerned with etiquette as Luna thought proper, but putting him at the front of the line still seemed a bit odd. Any extra doubts that she would have voiced were stilled as Caesura came over the threshold. The viscount was a light tan pegasus, dressed conservatively in a black tuxedo, though the collar was undone at the top, and he wore no tie. A set of light blue eyes sat atop a calm grin on his round face, with a black mane falling back over his shoulders in unkempt curls. His steps as he came over the floor were unusual too, not the rigid, overbearing plod of the usual noble, but instead a casual stroll, as if he were walking in the park on a spring morning. When Caesura had ascended the stairs, he extended a hoof to Celestia. “How’s it going, Your Majesty?” “Excellent, Caesura. It’s so good to see you!” Celestia replied, taking his hoof warmly. “Your business is still going well?” “Outstanding, thank you. I expect that it will soon be improving, as well, thanks to the efforts of your sister here.” He turned to Luna, and gave her a small bow, the first sign of deference that Luna had seen from him. “It is an honour, Your Royal Highness.” Luna took a moment to try placing his accent. There was just a hint of Fillydelphia there, no doubt from his upbringing, but it was overlaid with a very rough and heavy eastern drawl, which sounded vaguely griffon-esque to her experienced ears. “The honour is mine, Viscount,” she replied, offering him a nod. “If I may ask, your accent? If I didn’t know better I’d say Griffonian?” Caesura gave a hearty chuckle.. “A very good guess., yes. Though I grew up here, I do live across the ocean now. This is my first time visiting Equestria in fifteen years, and may I say, Celestia, that you haven’t aged a day!” Celestia smiled wryly. “Thank you, though to be honest, I do get that one a lot.” “Of course you do,” he said, a mischievous twinkle lighting up his eyes. “Well, I don’t want to hold things up here, and I’m sure that we’ll have plenty of time to talk later. Have a good evening.” He turned around, and after descending the stairs made his way off toward the ballroom. “Hmm, an old friend indeed,” Luna gave her sister a questioning look. Celestia was still watching Caesura’s back, her expression far away as though she was intently thinking on something. “Yes, he’s quite the character. Some time tonight we shall have to find him and talk a bit more.” “Pardon me, Your Majesty?” The voice came from Celestia’s other side, and when Luna looked over she saw a castle guard standing there with an uncertain expression on his face. Celestia leaned down to hear him, and for a few seconds he whispered in her ear. Luna strained to hear a hint of whatever he was saying, but to no avail. From the frown that grew upon Celestia’s face though, she knew that it probably wasn’t good. Finally, the eldest Princess nodded, then straightened her neck, her frown now fully grave. “It seems that something has come up which requires my attention. I trust that you can manage things until I return?” “What has happened?” Luna asked, concerned. “Is there any way that I can help?” “That won’t be necessary. Somepony has to stay here and greet the guests, otherwise the party will end in confusion and disarray before it even starts. That pony needs to be you.” “Sure, I can do that. But can you at least tell me what’s going on?” Luna felt herself growing frustrated in spite of the clear seriousness of the situation. Sometimes, Celestia’s penchant for secrecy, especially during crises, could become rather exasperating. The guard cleared his throat loudly, and took a worried glance at the door on the eastern staircase that rose up from the landing, leading deeper into the castle. Celestia gave him a reassuring nod. “I’m sorry, Luna, but I really need to go and deal with this. With any luck, I’ll be back within the hour, and we can talk all about it then.” Without another word, she left, her steps receding quickly until the guard closed the door behind her with a soft but still decisive snick. That left Luna alone at the top of the stairs, trying to figure out precisely how she felt about this turn of events. Everything that Celestia had said was true, and if being here keeping things under control was the best way that she could help her sister, then that was what she would do. But at the same time, Luna felt inwardly envious that Celestia was going to be dealing with some emergent situation, instead of sitting here going through the same motions with every guest for the next hour and a half. She had half a mind to get some other guard to take over for her while she ran after Celestia, but of course she knew that would never work. So instead she just sighed, and settled down as the page at the front of the room got ready to read the next name. “Presenting His Highness Prince Blueblood!” The white prince stepped over threshold with his muzzle proudly pointed skyward, and then cleared his throat loudly. The page gave an exasperated sigh, then unrolled a few more lines on his parchment. “Presenting His Highness Prince Blueblood of Las Pegasus and the Western Marches,” the page announced again, taking a deep breath before continuing, “Marquess of Manehattan, Earl of Trottingham, Viscount of Northoofton, Baron of Stableshire, Grand Stallion of the Order of the Iron Horseshoe…” As the page continued, Luna put on her best Princess smile over her gritted teeth. When Twilight and her friends arrived in the castle’s courtyard, they were greeted by a trim, middle-aged white unicorn with a pencil behind her ear and a very thick roll of parchment tucked into a pocket of her dress. As they approached, the mare’s eyes perked up on sight of Twilight’s crown, and she immediately dropped into a humble bow. “Good evening, your Royal Highness,” she said. “Um, hi,” Twilight replied, unsure of what was expected. “We’re here for the Gala.” The attendant raised an eyebrow. “But of course you are.” She pulled out the roll with her magic and scanned down the names. “You and a… party of five ponies plus one dragon. But I see six ponies here.” Twilight glanced over at Vinyl, who simply nodded and pulled out her golden invitation, holding it aloft in front of her for the attendant to examine. Satisfied, the unicorn pointed off to the side, toward a set of closed double doors where several other ponies were already clustered. “Enjoy your evening, Miss Scratch.” “We’ll meet back up inside,” Vinyl said, tucking her ticket back into a pocket as she trotted off. Twilight held up her own ticket for the unicorn to examine, familiar at least with this process from the first time around. But instead of giving her invitation the usual scrutinizing glare, the attendant just shook her head instead. “There’s no need for that, Your Highness,” she said, once again studying her parchment intently. “No need for you to go through the same process as a commoner. I can quite plainly see that you are Princess Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville and its Surrounding Municipalities. Follow me.” She turned around and started walking back toward the castle. Rarity was the first to follow, trotting along serenely behind. After a momentary glance again over to the doors where Vinyl was now waiting, Twilight followed. “I suppose that I should have mentioned this, Twilight,” Rarity said to her as they walked. “Since you’re a Princess now, our arrival needs to be announced to the rest of the Gala. So we can’t just go in when the doors open like we did two years ago.” “Sounds like an awful lot of rigamarole just for walking through a doorway,” Applejack put in. “And did you hear the way she spoke down to Vinyl? As if anypony without a crown wasn’t even worth her time.” “That is just more of what we’re used to where Canterlot is concerned, though,” Fluttershy sighed. “Eh, doesn’t sound so bad to me.” In contrast to Fluttershy’s concern and Applejack’s irritation, Rainbow looked genuinely excited. “What better way to make an impression could there be than having your name announced to the whole party, before you grandly swoop over the threshold with moonlight gracing the tips of your ears and wind rippling your mane? Almost makes me wish I could’ve gotten that treatment last time.” “Sounds to me more like it’s only meant to fan the egos of everypony involved,” Applejack replied, rolling her eyes away from Rainbow, who was still lost in her vision of glory. “For those among us who need that.” “Really now, both of you!” Rarity snapped at them. “It’s just a small formality, meant to inform the rest of the party-goers that we are in attendance. No discrimination is intended, nor does anypony make a particularly grand impression. When our names are called, we’ll walk in, exchange a greeting with the Princesses, and then we get on with the Gala like normal.” Up ahead of them, the unicorn with the scroll turned around a corner in the castle’s wall, into the gardens. When Twilight also made the turn, she was greeted by a very long line of nobles, standing in reasonably straight order while still clustered in bunches to whisper and exchange gossip. Silver pendants and gleaming jewels sparkled throughout the line, and suddenly Twilight was very grateful that Rarity had crafted her such a masterful outfit for the occasion. Without a word, their attendant led them further along, occasionally consulting her list. As they walked, Twilight did her best to imitate Rarity’s poise. The white unicorn had her head high, aloof and smiling lightly. The posture felt odd and a little uncomfortable, and Twilight could feel the eyes of the ponies in the line following her as she passed. Murmurs filtered out from the conversations as they went on, their meanings incomprehensible. It took a great deal of effort not to worry about those words, especially as she was also concentrating on not tripping over her shoes, and on maintaining her pose, just as Rarity seemed to be doing so effortlessly. By the time they stopped at a small break in the line, Twilight was sweating a little under her crown. “Here we are!” the unicorn declared, marking seven quick check marks on her scroll. They were very nearly at the front of the line, standing in behind a rather recognizable white stallion in a red military dress outfit. “Twily!” Shining Armour turned around to look at the group, though when his eyes settled on Twilight’s dress, his jaw slackened. “You know, whenever I’m back in Canterlot Mom always asks me when it’ll be time for the family’s second wedding. If you’re always dressing like that out in public, then she won’t have long to wait.” “Oh, don’t tease her so, Shining!” Princess Cadance said, also turning around from her spot in line to regard the group. Twilight blushed, thankful that here at the front of the line there weren’t so many other ponies watching. “Welcome to the Gala, Your Royal Highness,” Cadance continued, offering her a warm smile and a small bow. “Nervous at all?” The Princess of the Crystal Empire seemed to have an almost telepathic ability to sense the internal conflicts of the ponies around her, and in this case Twilight couldn’t have been more grateful to have it be pointed out. She nodded fervently. “Don’t be. You really do look great, all kidding aside.” Cadance and Shining, standing together at ease, were the very picture of regal splendour. Something about them just seemed to shine powerfully. There were no nerves in their faces, merely a smile of assured confidence. Twilight wanted to ask Cadance about it, to see if she had any advice, but just then there was a loud call from the open door ahead. “Presenting their Royal Highnesses, Princess Mia Amore Cadenza of The Crystal Empire and the Northern Realms, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Prince Shining Armour, Knight of The Golden Sun!” Her sister-in-law offered her one last smile. “See you inside, Twilight,” she said. And then the two of them walked gracefully through the door, disappearing quickly from view, though a smattering of gentle applause marked their reception by the ponies inside. Twilight was left with her questions frozen on her lips, wondering only how she could possibly hope to match their poise, or to equal their demeanour. Beside her, Rainbow Dash was trying out various impressive poses, still eager to make a grand entrance. Only several minutes had gone by before the page inside the door made his next announcement. “Presenting Her Royal Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville and its Surrounding Municipalities!” There was a slight pause, followed by a much quieter, “And company.” “WHAT?” yelled Rainbow beside her, and then she was gone, a streak of colour blazing around the corner and through the doorway. Twilight didn’t have to look to see Rarity wince. Instead, she tentatively took her own few steps around the corner, until she could see the entirety of the Entrance Hall spread out before her in its splendour. To the side, Rainbow had the page doing the announcing by the collar. “That’s it?” she was demanding of him, “We’re just ‘and company’?” “Pardon me, madam,” the page answered, looking surprisingly calm for a pony being wrangled by an angry pegasus, though perhaps it was the presence of the nearby guards that gave him confidence. “Did I miss you? What was your name again?” “Rainbow Dash,” she said, emphasizing each syllable. Letting go of the page’s neck, she struck a heroic pose, hovering in mid-air in front of him with her dress flowing quite majestically out behind her in a draught that was coming in through the door. “Best Young Flyer in Equestria, Wonderbolts trainee, and all-around the coolest pegasus in this city or any other! My name’s gotta’ be on that list!” “Well of course, madam,” the page said, indicating the names he had just crossed off to her. “Right here, party of six, entourage of Princess Twilight. As I just announced, if I recall.” “Rainbow!” Rarity’s whisper was soft, but sharp and high enough to carry to the farthest extremes of the hall. Though Rainbow already had her mouth open to further insist on her notability, she turned around at the noise to look irritably back at the group. Twilight suddenly became aware of the silence in the room, and how every other set of eyes was fixed firmly upon them. She felt herself frozen by their judging looks, uncertain if she should apologize profusely for disrupting the natural flow of the evening or instead carry on as if nothing untoward had happened. Once again, it was Rarity who stepped out in front of her. “Just keep walking, Twilight,” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth. “Just keep walking.” The distance from the entranceway to the base of the Grand Stair stretched on forever in front of her as she walked, every reverberation of her hoofsteps echoing loudly off of the room’s walls. Each second that ticked by brought another wave of anxiety, made even more acute by the slippery floor. Finally, the group reached the base of the steps, and Twilight was able to join the rest of her friends in offering Luna a deep bow. Then there were only a few paces more to ascend the stairway, before she was standing face-to-face with the Princess. “Salutations, Your Royal Highness,” Luna said rigidly, extending a fore-hoof in greeting. “Um, thank you,” Twilight replied as she returned the hoof shake. “You’ll have to excuse Rainbow. We’re all a little unfamiliar with the protocol now that I’m a princess.” Luna took one look past her, down at Rainbow Dash, who was still standing resolutely at the bottom of the steps, and a slim smile came to her face. “No apologies are necessary. She is hardly the first pony to insist on a full reading of her proper titles. Indeed it is I who must apologize. My sister wishes that she could be here, but important business has taken her away.” For whatever reason, Celestia’s absence hadn’t struck Twilight as odd until now, probably because she had been too busy thinking about not making a bigger fool of herself than she already had. Now, though, the potential gravity of the circumstance hit home. In her experience, business important enough to take Celestia away from her ceremonial duties was usually very important indeed. “Nothing’s wrong, is it?” she asked discreetly, concern gathering in her eyes. Luna coughed once. “Uh... no, nothing that you need to concern yourself with, Twilight. My sister has everything well in hoof, and I will be seeing to things in the meantime. You and your friends should focus on enjoying the evening.” “Well, okay,” Twilight said, still uncertain. But Luna’s eyes had already returned to the front of the room, ready to greet the next dignitary. She could only walk the few steps back down to the floor, once more taking extra care not to trip in her new shoes. “Well, now that’s over with, who’s up for hitting the buffet?” Spike was already eagerly rubbing his claws together as they stepped off to the side, into the groups of guests that were standing about near the entrance to the ballroom. “Spike, we just got here,” Applejack said, looking down at the dragon in surprise. “How could you have worked up an appetite already?” “I skipped dinner,” he quipped. “No offense to any of the cooks in Ponyville, but nothing beats Gala food.” “You and me both,” Pinkie chimed in beside him. “I may live in a bakery, but this is an opportunity that can’t be missed.” The two of them raced off through the open doors to the ballroom, heading directly for the far wall, and the buffet beckoning upon it. Twilight was only too happy to follow, welcoming the opportunity to blend into the crowd and cease being the centre of attention. And she still had to meet back up with Vinyl and potentially even Cadance. With the two of them, perhaps this evening could still be salvaged.