Chapter 5
Walking beside her mother was not really ideal. Celestia could see waves of almost nervous behavior as her normally firm maternal figure, walked with a slight skate in her hooves. Her eyes darted ever so slightly as she licked her lips. They walked down the cloud road, few alicorns were out this late. If she had to guess, her friends must be home as well. So the question remains, Why does her father request her presence at the castle? Could he have not been able to speak to her once he returned like always?
Celestia and her mother approached the Irony building and walked up to the tall front entertain.
They stopped.
A guard noticed them from an open window.
He nodded to his side and slowly, the door opened. Mother and daughter walked in. Once inside, it closed behind them.
Even though Celestia had already walked through these halls before for "The meeting" it still was quite a sight to behold. They walked on. Passing the meeting they went. Even more grand hallways. It was getting a little tiring as they walked in what seemed like endless castle halls.
Finally, finally they came up to a large, single door. It had a vibrant red and gold frame. There was some sort of animal engraved on the door. It looked like a bird, but with wings made of flames! It had its wings of red and gold fire, spread far out. Looking ready to fly off the door.
Thus when the door began to open, Celestia jumped back a little.
The door opened to reveal another guard. He had a stern look on his face as he gestured them inside.
They walked in.
The room was made of gold. Pure gold with accents of red here and there. Different designs of fire flowers embedded on the bottom panels. The furniture was quite a slight as well with gold paint that just glowed off each other. The walls and floor themselves were of a much lighter shade of gold, almost like a it was lightly rubbed into the otherwise white room.
However, her were not as drawn to the room itself, as they were to the two figures at the far end of it. Two alicorns were setting on bright red pillows facing one another. One of them was her father. The other was the Empress herself.
She went to bow before her majesty only to stop midway when she noticed that her mother did not bow with her. She saw her mother’s eyes look down at her in a seemingly expressive way. Celestia then stood back up facing the Empress and her father, who got up and walked over to them. Without a word said to each other, they nodded and started to walk to the door. Celestia went to follow her parents…
“Celestia.”
Her hooves froze in their tracks.
Eyes widen greatly.
Slowly, she turned to face the Empress that just spoke her name.
Her name.
“I am requesting for you to stay,” Empress Radiant Gold stated with a strange looking at her. She that strange look in her eyes again, like the one at the meeting. She turned back to see her parents leaving with the guard. He notices looking over her and turns to close the door.
Celestia turns around to face the Empress. Her majesty looks at her then gestures for her sit on the pillow that her father previously sat on. The young alicorn looks at the placement of the pillow on the ground that is directly next to the Empress. She swallows a thick gulp of her saliva before slowly walking up to the pillow. When she is standing in front of it, see looks back at her majesty one more time then turns to sit down. She is looking everywhere that is not the Empress herself.
“Dear child, why not thou have the need to not spare a glance at thyself?”
Oh dear was it that obvious.
Ever so slightly, she moves her head to look up at her glowing ruler with an evident look of discomfort.
“Thy humblest apologies your majesty, I wish not to offend thee at all. I just…”
She sees that the Empress wants her to go on as she nods her head at the filly next to her.
“It's just that... I don’t understand why you have need of me your grace.”
Her excellency gives her small look of distress.
“Dear girl, I believe that simply turning your head must be uncomfortable for you.”
Celestia continues to feel a sense of anxiety before the Empress turns to face her side.
“Perhaps it would be best for you to move as well, in order to not strain your body and posture.”
Celestia gives a slight nod, who would argue with the wise words of their leader. She rotates to face her majesty’s front view from her seat. Then the young pony looks up to face her. Despite the clear view of her still distress face, there is at least a smile on it now. Something to show the Empress that she has no ill will towards her of all equine! Oh goodness that would be just awful!
Her excellency looked at the filly for another moment, try to show her a half smile. Then she turned away to look around her room with that same rarely seen smile. Her eyes stopped suddenly. Celestia turned around to see what she was staring at. She first sees the door but then notices a tapestry that was hung next to it. It had a depiction of four young fillies surrounding at an older female alicorn from all four corners. However, what really cause her eyes to go widen were the fillies themselves.
They were each a different race.
The first one depicted an earth pony with a light yellow mane with a light green body who stood next to a fully grown Lilly at the bottom left of the tapestry at a cliff edge of what appeared to be of a green lush land. The second pony was flying around the sky at the top left of the picture. She was a pegasus with light blue body and flowing rose main. The third was that of a proud light lavender unicorn with a solid white mane with a single streak of pink. She stood on top of a mountain side with her magic aura holding a gemstone at the bottom right of the image. The final filly was an alicorn flying in front of the sun itself.
Celestia blinked a couple of times.
The appearance was almost identical to that of a younger version of the Empress. She was the only pony, other than the pony in the middle of it all, who had her eyes closed.
Speaking of the pony in the middle, the largest and oldest of the ponies was that of an alicorn. She stood on some sort of ground that was floating in the sky. Her wings were spread far out for all to see and her head was facing front. To describe the appearance of this pony was difficult. It was as if she were painted with rainbows. And yet see was none of those colors at all.
Her body looked light toned…
No dark toned…
Both?...
Nether?...
It was hard to tell really.
Celestia looked at the tapestry, trying to figure out its meaning.
“This…”
She was snapped out of her gaze for a moment to hear Empress Rose speak. Only drawn back in at her next words.
“Is of the time of the beginning of ponykind. The beginning of Harmony’s reign”