A Day in the life of a Princess
Akari panted as she galloped as fast as she could, with Gallant and Nori at her side. Chi, in her wolf form, leaped from the tree branches until she reached her friends, running in their direction. Iris zoomed on by on her skateboard, which hovered four feet off the ground, with a small generator powered by gemstones inside that radiated with electricity from within. Her cousins Mai and Hiro also rode on them. They were as fast as the ponies were on all four legs.
Iris turned her head around to see the shadows looming overhead from behind, their glowing eyes piercing through the shadows cascading from the tree branches.
"They're gaining on us!" Iris exclaimed.
Gallant's ears perked upwards and looked sideways behind him. "There's more of them!"
"Good. It'll keep things interesting." Akari said, all while bearing that smug grin on her face. Nothing excited her more than the thrill of the chase and the dirt in her hooves.
The group ran over a small hill slope, with Chi and Nori close behind. Chi's blue wolf fur moved like rapid ocean waves as she ran. Nori was only a head behind her. Not so much dragging, but she feared if she wouldn't pick up the paste she would lose more than her breath.
"Come on, Nori! Pick up the pace!"
Nori panted, accelerating her speed as best she could until she was almost neck in neck with the wolf. "Easy to say for a girl with paws! I'm a merpony! I'm faster on fins than I am on hooves."
"Well, maybe that will motivate you." Mai pointed her thumb to behind her. Nori looked back and gasped once she saw the wolves leaped over the small slop and pick up speed. Their jaws snapping and barking mad.
As Mai predicted, this was all the motivation Nori needed to speed up. She even bypassed Chi herself and was now at even level with Hiro on his overboard and Gallant Steed. "Make way! Pony who wants to live to her twenties coming through!"
Hiro looked back to see the wolves by passing various trees and rocks just to reach them. "Man these guys are persistent."
"Yeah? Well, so am I." Iris said, giving her cousin a daring look, a mischievous glint in her eye. "If we split up we'll outmaneuver them faster."
Mai nodded. "Let's do it!"
Iris stirred her board towards a rocky hill, a few feet higher above her friends. "Meet you at Komodo rock!"
"Sounds like a challenge." Akari said as she galloped ahead down below, looking up at Iris.
"Think you can keep up?"
"Oh, it's not me you have to worry about."
Iris arched a brow before looking back up. "Uh, oh." one of the wolves was following her. Iris pressed her foot on a small panel on the board and accelerated the speed and she and everyone else went their separate ways.
"He's your problem now!" Akari called out before making a sharp turn and galloped into the forest, passing through multiple trees whose branches nearly blocked out the light, but she knew these woods perfectly well, so she knew her way around. However, she wasn't alone. The sound of a wolf's bark caught her attention. She rolled her eyes seeing another wolf behind her.
"Oh, great."
(~)
Hiro and Mai scattered their way across a small forest ravine, where two wolves were gaining up on them. "Alright sis, follow my lead--Whoa!" Hiro's eyes widened when a large fallen tree was in their path. The space underneath was too small for them to skate under. Hiro let out a terrified, somewhat girlish, scream, while Mai kept her eyes focused on the fallen tree, and positioned herself.
"Jump!" she yelled. At the same time, her and her brother leaped from their respective boards, flipped in mid air over the tree trunk, and landed feet first onto their boards. The contraptions were thin enough to make it through. Hiro pounded his fist into the air, cheering loudly, while the wolves chased after them, also leaping over the tree. One managed to land perfectly, while the other tripped and fell.
"Ooh, good thing the ground broke his fall." Mai joked.
"That's why you never mess with a Sato." Hiro high five his sister and the two rode off as quickly as they could away from the last remaining wolf.
(~)
Gallant Steed was making record time, using the forest's trees and rocks to his advantage, taking sharp turns and leaping over specific areas, like poison oak and thorny bushes to try and outmaneuver the wolf. Of course, the wolf also knew this forest well, so whatever Gallant managed to pull off, he did so as well.
Gallant managed to get a head this time around only to gasped in terror at the obstacle that stood before him. Gallant screeched to a halt, jute kept on going, careful with where he stepped.
"Whoa! Bunny crossing! Sorry, sorry, watch the tail, my bad, sorry! Cute little bunnies!" he successfully got through without harming a single little rabbit. The wolf came after him, only to also come to a halt once he saw the bunnies. He screeched and ended up bumping into all of the bunnies, now on his head. Naturally, wolves ate bunnies, but this particular wolf has a terrible distaste for the furry things. Long story. He much preferred dear and or ox, but hardly bunnies.
(~)
"Here, wolfy, wolfy, wolfy! Who wants a fish fillet?" Nori taunted the wolf, who's jaws were close to chomping her flank right off. Spotting a branch overhead, Nori leaped and with her long and powerful tail, managed to grab hold of the branch and flip over, landing on it, while the wolf leaped ahead, whimpering in regret once he saw the giant mud pit before him. He landed face first, unharmed, but filthy.
"Ooh, excellent choice. The mud mask does wonders for your pours." Nori said before leaping into another branch, away from the wolf, but not without a salute.
"Later!"
(~)
Chi laughed as she was being chased by the wolf. This guy didn't scare her one bit, and no it wasn't just because she had just taken on the form of one. She acrobatically leaped from one tree branch to the other, confusing the wolf, who came to a halt once he lost her. Chi saw her chance and shook the tree branch, causing the leafs to fall all over him, temporality blinding him as she made her move and leaped ahead at top speed, laughing all the way.
(~)
Iris outran various wolves and then blocked the path of one who was still chasing after Akari, startling him in the process.
"Perfect timing!" Akari said with a wink.
"Was there ever a doubt?" Iris replied with a smug grin. Before long, everyone caught up to one another. "We're almost there!"
Unfortunately, one last wolf was on their tail. Hiro rolled his eyes and groaned. "Oh, come on!"
Iris, Akari and the others kept their eyes straight ahead, where they spotted a small river, with yet another broken tree. The head was dunked into the water, with the roots positioned upwards. The team jumped over the river, with Akari letting out a wild cheer, "Woo-hoo!" which echoed through the forest until they landed. Chi landed on the root of the tree trunk, which caused it to fall into the river itself… and the wolf did too.
While everyone else kept on going, Chi stopped for a moment to see the wolf surface and spitting the liquid from its mouth. Chi only winked and gave him a pointing gesture with her paw.
"Lookin' good, bro." she said before running off again.
Iris and her friends finally arrived at Komodo rock, where Iris leaped out of her board, stepped on its tail, causing it to leap into the air where she caught it in her hand. Akari panted, but was still shaking from the adrenaline rush.
Mai, Gallant, Hiro, Chi and Nori all arrived last, in that specific order. Nori was panting from exhaustion while fanning herself with her hoof in a desperate attempt to cool down, while Gallant only shook his dark orange mane from the sweat. Chi changed back into her blue human form and the two ponies changed into their anthro forms. Instead of wearing the blue dress from years back, Chi decided to go for something a little more casual and now wore a dark blue t-shirt with long striped sleeves, and a symbol on the center depicting a fox's head taking the form of a heart. the shirt rose upward a little, slightly exposing her midriff and navel. She wore navy blue jean shorts and a pair of blue converse that had the image of a purple wolf paw print on the ankles. The only thing that remained from her past attire was the crescent moon necklace her brother, Nova, gave her many years ago.
"Ha! I won, I won, I won, I won!" Hiro cheered victoriously to himself while flexing his muscles, which was pointless since his arms were covered by his jacket.
"What are you talking about? You were the fourth one." Mai pointed out, picking up her board.
"To Iris, maybe, but I came first compared to Chi."
"What?!" the wisp scoffed. "T-That's not fair! You never said this was a race!"
"No? I'm pretty sure I did. Sorry, better luck next time."
Chi clenched her fists in anger and then tacked the young boy to the ground, giving him a nuggie in the process. "Want to say that to my face, Jr.?"
"Oh, you always got to play the "I'm older than you" card, don't ya?"
"Knock it off!" Iris called out, using her magic to levitate the two away from each other.
Just then, the wolves arrived, cornering the children, growling with their teeth bare and leaped towards them!… only to start licking Gallant Steed, tackling him to the ground.
"Okay, okay! Glad you had fun too! Gah, stop, your tongue's in my mouth!"
Akari couldn't help but giggle at Gallant being trampled by the wolves. She kindly helped him stand back up and he reached for his pockets to pull out some treats for them. The wolves happily munched on the treats.
"Thanks for your help guys. I'll give Fluttershy your regards!"
The wolves howled in reply before running off back into the wild. "You really have a knack with animals, Gallant." Akari said, folding her arms while smiling.
Her smile made Gallant blush and become flustered. Then again, she always did that to him, ever since they were little.
"W-Well, I guess all that time helping out at Fluttershy's animal sanctuary kind of rubbed off on me."
"I'm amazed you guys managed to keep up with us." Nori said to Hiro and Mai.
Mai beamed with pride as she gripped her board. "What did I tell you? My geode powered skateboard works like a dream."
"Impressive job, Mai." Iris said, nudging her younger cousin's arm. "Another addition to your long list of technological achievements."
"Oh, don't count your feathers just yet. With just a few more tweaks, these things won't just levitate a few feet off the ground, they'll full out fly!"
"I think I'll be satisfied with the first edition model, thank you." Nori said. "That, or my legs. Anything that's as close to the ground as possible."
"Come on, Nori. You can't be scared of heights all your life." Akari said.
"Why not? Hiro's still afraid of snakes."
"They move around on their bellies and have no legs! It's not natural!" Hiro exclaimed.
"So Something like thisssssssss?”
"Yes, Chi, Something like-” a quick glance at the wisp was all he needed to start freaking out like a little girl. Chi hard changed herself into a blue colored snack and slithered onto his shoulder. “GAH! GET IT OFF!! GET IT OFF!! GET IT OFF!!" Hiro screamed, but soon stopped when the laughter of his friends made him realize it was just a joke. However, rather than get upset, Hiro only laughed along. "Okay, okay, you got me. Nice one you guys. Not exactly inventive, but still a classic."
Chi laughed the hardest out of all of them. “Never gets old!” she said as her snake head reverted back to its original form. “Consider this payback.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Bubbles.”
While everyone was laughing at Hiro's little freak out, Iris herself turned her attention to the sight before her. She looked out into the horizon, taking in a deep breath as the wind picked up, billowing in her long hair.
The area had the perfect bird's eye view of the city, ocean and all, with the two beacons of light, the Equestrian and Spirit portals respectively, shimmering while rising from the earth and sea towards the sky with no end in sight. The wind picked up and Iris took in its freshness, catching a hint of floral aroma, no doubt from the flowers surrounding the area.
The city just looked so much more magical from up here. She could see every single detail, from downtown, to uptown. Even spot the Sato Estate and City Hall, which was shining even brighter with multiple colors and bright colorful spirits floating all about, giving it that urban fantasy feel. Iris often forgot how such a big city can make her feel so small.
In more ways than one.
"Hey, Iris!"
The young princess was awoken from her thoughts when Chi called her out. "We gotta head back. The Welcoming Ceremony starts in two hours."
"Right. And my mom will blow a fuse if we're not ready at least five minutes before the guests arrive." Akari said, folding her arms while rolling her eyes at the thought of her mother going berserk. She always became hectic when it came to these types of things and yet they always worked out fine in the end. Suppose some habits are hard to break after all.
Nori screamed next, startling everyone. "AH! I still haven't picked out an outfit for the Harmony Gala!"
"The Gala isn't until Sunday." Mai said with a deadpan expression.
"It never hurts to be prepared, Starfish." Nori said, using Rarity's own words, to which Mai only shrugged.
"Whatever."
"Come on, Princesses, let's get this show on the road!" Hiro said, clapping his hands once. "Oh, maybe I can finally convince that cute girl from fifth period to be my date."
"Yeah, sure. I'm sure the eighteenth time will be the charm." Mai said as she went on ahead.
"You know, sometimes your sarcasm hurts."
"That wasn't sarcasm."
Iris took one last look at the city. This was one of the most important days of the year for them, and the first one Iris would attend as an official representative of the Harmony Family alongside her parents. While going to an activity such as this wasn't anything new for her, just attending it with everybody else in her family being celebrated and adored for their deeds often made her feel…
Left out.
"Iris, come on! You can look at it some other time!" Akari called out, snapping her best friends from her daze.
Iris decided to brush these thoughts aside, as she often did during these types of events, and jumped down and got back on her board, speeding away. "Race you back!"
Akari and Chi wasted no time in changing into their pony and wolf forms respectively, with Hiro speeding close behind on his board, alongside his sister. Nori and Gallant only groaned from exhaustion.
"Here we go again."
(~)
At City Hall, Rarity was pacing back and forth anxiously at the entrance, while Nori's father Kombu awaited alongside her.
The years of growth had already begun to show for the white unicorn. While her coat/skin remained shiny as always, sheer features became more defined, her cheekbones were more noticeable, and she often wore her long violet hair in an up-styled do, while still maintaining her signature over the head bang. The spectacles she wore whenever she designed her fashions were almost always on.
Kombu, Nori's father, was indeed a striking merstallion. He was strong and muscular looking wit fur and/or skin a prominent sea green, eyes deep purple much like Twilight's eyes, and notable shiny, lime green scales with blue highlights on both arms, and the back of his muscular legs. His hair was styled into a ponytail, which had a grayish-blue tint to it. A thin scar reached down from across the lower left eyebrow down to his cheek. He looked more like somepony who would be at a wrestling match, or something of that sort, but this anthro was as kind and gentle as his daughter.
Rarity looked at her watch once more and groaned in frustration. "Oh, where are they? I sent them a text fifteen minutes ago! I have to make sure the gowns fit properly, then there's hair and makeup, and you know how fidgety Iris is with her makeup, and if I know Akari--which I do-- she'll probably have her feathers all covered with muck and leafs. Maybe I should send them one more text--"
Just as she was about to send out another one, Kombu gently lowered the geo-phone and began moving his hands in a specific fashion. Since he was mute, Kombu used sign language to convey his words. Rarity was selfless enough to learn the language so she could properly understand him better.
After about a year of getting to know one another, becoming fast friends with their shared love of creativity and equally generous and kind spirit, the two had only recently decided to start dating. So far, all was going well, which was great news for Nori.
"Rarity, calm down." he signed, "I know we have a lot going today, but if there is anypony who can make somebody else look great and do so in record time, it's you. You've already taken care of the rest of the gowns for your friends, and Pinkie Pie is already ahead with the decorations, Applejack's got the catering, we've all got this."
Unlike Rarity, Kombu was always calm under pressure. Hearing one of her friends soothe her anxiety with reality wasn't anything new for Rarity, but given how overly dramatic she tends to be at times, it was still vital she hear it from someone she cared about.
Rarity took in a slow deep breath. "Thank you, darling. You're right, I shouldn't stress myself about this too much. After all, it's not the first Harmony Celebration event we've had so I really--" she was cut short when the doors opened up, with the kids walking inside.
"Oh, thank the sweet merciful heavens!" she exclaimed while simultaneously exhaling a breath she didn't even know she was holding and made a sprung way towards the two princesses.
"Sorry we're a little late, Rarity." Iris apologized, only for the unicorn to take her and Akari by the arms.
"No time for apologies, Iris. The Welcoming Ceremony starts in one hour and fifty minutes and I need to…" Rarity's eyes narrowed when she took notice of the trail of mud Akari had made when she walked in. "Seriously?"
Akari chuckled nervously. "Sorry?"
"It's okay, Rarity. I'll clean that up for you." Nori said. "Just get me some water and it'll be sparkling like a newly made ocean pearl in no time."
"Thank you, Nori. What would I do without you?" she smiled at the young merpony and then at her father. "Both of you." she then turned her attention back to the two girls and effortlessly dragged the two teenagers towards the stairs, while turning her head back to the merstallion.
"Kombu, could you please alert the Queen's? Tell them the girls will be ready in twenty!" she shoved the two into the hallways of the upper floor and disappeared from view…only to reappear, literally, two seconds later. "Make that twenty five!"
Kombu gave her a salute, followed by a wink, and Rarity zipped away to get to work. Akari managed to pry away long enough for her to pop her head, giving her friends a pleading look.
"Help… me!" she whined right before getting pulled away by Rarity herself.
Mai, Hiro, Gallant, Nori and Chi stiffened their laughter as to make sure Akari didn't hear them.
"There you two are!" a voice came from the other side of the room. Bolin and Asami walked in to greet their two kids. Asami's features, much like Rarity, had become more defined and her dark hair had already started to lighten, yet there were no gray strands to be seen as of yet. While Bolin himself had grown a mustache and a goatee.
"Ya see, honey? I told you they'd be fine."
"Why wouldn't we be?" Mai asked, cocking his head a bit.
"Your father was worried something had happened while you were out testing your latest invention." Asami said, folding her arms and giving her husband a sly look, to which Bolin only chuckled nervously while scratching the back of his neck.
"Whaaaaaaat? No, I wasn't worried. Why would I be worried? Just because a few… dozen of Mai's earlier inventions ended up blowing up half of the living room, and dinning room. And the workshop."
"And the pool." Hiro pointed out, earning a glare from his younger sister. "What? We got it all fixed."
"Don't worry dad, you'll be happy to know that everything went perfectly this time." Mai said happily, showcasing her mother the board, which still looked to be in perfect condition even after a test run in the mountains. "If I can calibrate the extent of the electromagnetic aura of the geodes and adjust the wires to correspond with the equal temperature of each one, while also measuring the amount of weight it would take to--"
"She's gonna make it fly." Hiro interrupted. Once again, earning an annoyed look from his sister. "That's what you said, I just gave em the short version."
"Wow, impressive." Asami said with great pride before gently taking the board out of her daughter's hands. "Thought, how's about you experiment on that after the Welcoming Ceremony. You guys still need to get ready too."
"Right."
"I should go find my mom." Gallant said, pointing his thumb to the doorway. "I'm part of the Airbender flight show, and she'll throw a hissy fit if I'm late." he waved farewell and bursted to the door.
(~)
Applejack and her husband Double Diamond were nearly done setting up the serving table, while Sunset Shimmer and Nova Nightshade proceeded with organizing the tables for the guests once they arrived. The official banquet would be the evening to come, but for now, their visitors would sample some of the best foods the city and Ponyville had to offer.
Applejack took in the sweet smell of her family's home made Apple Pies. "I gotta say, Hon. This year's batch of Apple goods are our very best yet!"
"You say that every year, AJ." said Double Diamond.
"I know. It's really more for good luck."
"Since when are you the superstitious type?"
Applejack laughed, tilting her hat. "Alright, you caught me. I was praisin' your hard work. I don't think the Apple Farm's had an apple farmer as hard working' and quick on their hooves since, well, me."
"Well, I had a pretty good teacher." said the white anthro stallion, wrapping his arms around his wife and sharing a loving kiss. "And patient, considering I burned almost every apple pie I made on my first day."
"Yeah, but by the thirty seventh time you finally got it right." Applejack winked.
Pinkie Pie was focused on the order of the sweets on the desert table. The cupcakes were stacked in a specific order. Pinkie may be the bombastic type, but when it came to parties, this pony did not fool around. She stroked her chin and hummed in suspicion.
"Cheese!" she called out. Her husband came zooming in in record time, giving her a salute, while wearing a waiter's uniform and holding a tray balanced perfectly on his head, while another was balanced on his tail, and a third on his free hand.
"Yes, my cinnamon roll lollipop?"
"Does this look a little off to you?"
Cheese studied the order of the cupcakes, also stroking his chin in thought. "Now that you mention it… there's three cupcakes missing!"
Pinkie Pie gasped. "You're right! How did I miss that?!"
"How can you even tell?" Sunset Shimmer asked, inspecting the two.
"Uh, duh!" Pinkie Pie said, showcasing the cupcake display. "Every single cupcake was placed in color coordinated order." she said, pointing her finger at each cupcake in the row. "Pink, blue, green, purple, white, orange and yellow. But now, this row is Pink, white, orange, yellow, then pink again, then blue then green then--"
"Okay, I get it." Sunset finished, raising her hands to silence her friend.
"I think I found the culprit." Nova chuckled as he pulled on one of the table cloths, revealing a certain little anthro pony underneath, eating away at the cupcakes.
She was a three-year-old anthro pony with a light gamboge coat/skin color with matching ears, and a wild mane of curly brown hair, streaked with white, and bright pink colors, with a matching tail. She wore a pink and white dress with a small apron-styled pattern with streamers and candy wrappers imprinted on it. She wore simple mary-jane shoes and had white freckles on the bridge of her nose. Her forehead also had a heart shaped white symbol and the lower half of her arms and legs were colored white. The white made it seem as if she had dipped her hands in whipped cream which dried up and percale a permanent addition to her body. In reality, this was just the way her coat had come out when she was born. The white also had faded tints of pink if examined closely. Her eyes were a bright baby blue, identical to her mother's.
She gave her parents a bashful smile, her face entirely covered in frosting. Pinkie and Cheese gasped in terror, as if they had just witnessed their only child commit some kind of murder.
"Cookie Cream Sandwich Pie! We talked about this! No eating the cupcakes until after the guests have had theirs first." Pinkie said, speaking in surprisingly stern fashion, while still keeping her usual energetic tone.
Cookie stepped out from her hiding place, giving her parents the rest of the uneaten cupcakes. "Sorry. They were just so delicious looking I couldn't help it!"
"Well, considering it's Harmony Celebration Day, we'll let you off with a warning. This time." Cheese said to his daughter, who looked down sadly. Seeing her heartbroken expression, the two married anthro ponies looked at one another with regret. "And, in the spirit of the Celebration, why don't you help me and your mom wait the tables for the guests."
Cookie Cream's expression immediately shifted from sad to delighted. "Really? Hooray!" she jumped up high, remaining in mid air for a few more seconds before speaking. "Wait a second." she landed back on the ground. "Is this just so you can keep an eye on me the entire time?"
"Yep!" the two said in satisfied unison. Pinkie Pie then lowered down to her daughter's level, her eyes darting back and forth, "Your father and I have eyes at the back of our heads." she said, right before she and Cheese turned around… to reveal they were both wearing glasses, with matching glaring eyes, matching their respected eye colors behind their heads as they walked on ahead.
"Come on, Cookie!"
Cookie sighed in defeat. As much as she loved her parents, she could never pull a fast one on them.
"Speaking of kids…" Applejack began, already looking rather concerned. "Has anypony seen Sweet Gala and Half Pipe?"
"I'm here, Mama!" a young three-year-old filly called out to Applejack. She had bright blue eyes, a pale yellow coat, almost identical to her aunt Apple Bloom's, and bright red hair with equally bright golden streaks. She wore a simple country outfit, though with a little more style and flair. A slightly ruffled skirt with leggings underneath, classic cowgirl boots and a lovely cowgirl hat with a pink bow tied to the left side.
"Sorry, I was praticin' some of my dancin' at the ball room." she said in a light southern accent, while twirling gracefully before her parents. "I wanted to make sure I wouldn't trip over myself like last time."
Applejack smiled sweetly. "Aww, that was lovely, Hon." she said, spreading her arms wide, inviting her daughter for a hug. "You're gonna knock em dead at the Gala, I just know it."
"You sure will." Double Diamond agreed…until he realized somebody wasn't present. "Uh, where's your brother?"
"Incoming!"
A young anthro pony, also three-years-old, came skateboarding through the room, swiftly gliding through the tables with ease before stopping in front of his parents. He shared the same light yellow coat as his twin sister, along with orange, yellow hair, and instead he had green eyes instead of blue. Like his sister, he too spoke with a southern accent.
Little Half Pipe pounded his fist into the air. "Yes! Record time!"
His parents, on the other hoof, were not so amused. "Son, we told you, no skateboarding inside!" snapped Double Diamond.
"I wasn't inside… at first. But, then the doors opened and I didn't want to stop because I was on a roll! I skated down the stair railings and--oh, man! Papa you should have seen…" his excitement quickly died down upon looking at the unamused looks on his parent's faces. "I think it's best I stop talkin' now."
"Skateboard. Now." Applejack said sternly. Half Pipe sadly returned to his mother his board. "Now, why don't you kids go and help your Aunt Pinkie Pie and Uncle Cheese with organizin' the tables."
"Yes, Ma'am." the twin replied and ran off to do just that.
"Wow." Nova said, folding his arms after having watched the two set of parents lay down the law with their kids. "Please tell me this whole parent stuff gets easier."
"Depends, you want us to tell the truth or do you want to get your hopes up with unrealistic expectations?" Applejack asked.
"Unrealistic expectations."
"It gets a whole heck of alot easier!" Applejack said, sounding more sarcastic than sincere.
"Good to know, thanks." Nova said, very much picking up on the sarcasm from the country pony.
"Anytime."
Sunset Shimmer had just finished adjusting the floral arrangements when all of a sudden her vision became rather blurry. Her head felt light and had almost completely lost her sense of direction. She would tripped onto another table behind her had not her husband caught her in time.
"Sunset! Are you okay?"
The orange unicorn rubbed her forehead and adjusted herself. Her stomach felt it was in knots. "I think so. I need to use the restroom. Excuse me." she made her way through towards the nearest restroom available, holding her hand towards her mouth.
"Is everything okay?" Double Diamond asked with concern.
"Not sure. She's been like this for a few days." Nova said. "I told her to schedule for a doctor's appointment, but she keeps insisting it's nothing."
"Well, I'll go get her somethin' to drink for her stomach." Applejack said, getting right on that task, while Nova traced his hands through his dark blue hair, streaked with white, concerned about his wife.
(~)
Iris coughed when Rarity sprayed a little perfume onto the princess. While the smell wasn't terrible, in fact it was one of her favorites, the sensation of having something forcibly sprayed on her was not a good sensation. Still, it made the unicorn happy to see the princess look her best, so she dealt with it.
Unfortunately, Akari wasn't as subtly about the feeling as Iris was. She not only coughed, but she also tried to fan the odor from herself.
"Alright, we're almost done." Rarity said, taking a step back to admire her work. Iris was dressed in a lovely dress consisting of lilac and sky blue colors with a few splashes of pink. It had a sweetheart neckline and a see through lace fabric that wrapped around her shoulders, adorned three strands of silver fabric that started at the top and wrapped around both her shoulders, while the rest of the sea through fabric extended towards her wrists, hugging her well toned arms. The rest of styled as a waterfall skirt, with the saw transparent fabric wrapped around the waist with the same silver linings, and evident leggings underneath that reached a few inches below her knees. She wore a pair of simple platform sandal heels and a simple pendant around her neck.
Akari's dress was also styled with a sweetheart neckline, but had sleeves that hung off of her shoulders with light ruffles at the bottom, and the top had a rather corset-like design, but only in appearance, it wasn't an actual corset. The front was pale white pink with a yellow outline, also on the sweetheart neckline, which ended at her waist, while the back of the top was colored a bright aquamarine. The skirt itself was blueish purple, while the fabric around her waist, which was colored a sky blue, fell back like Iris's waterfall skirt. She also wore simply platform heels.
"Perfect! You both look simply divine!" Rarity said, smiling proudly at her work. Now she just needed to adjust their hair. Once she was done adjusting Iri's long ponytail, she turned to Akari and scoffed. "Oh, Akari, really?"
"What?"
"What do you mean, "what"? Look at your feathers, they're filthy!" Rarity inspected Akari's wings, taking the alicorn princess slightly off guard, "Oh, we're going to have to fix that. Might take us a few twenty minutes more, but it'll be worth it."
Rarity tugged on Akari's wings a bit, to which the young princess let out a surprised yelp. A knock on the door caught the three off guard. Two figures enter the room, a human woman who bared a striking resemblance to Iris, aside from eye color and had different colored streaks across her hair, which was styled into a low ponytail, held together by three separate bands. The second was an author purple alicorn who resembled Akari almost to a T had not for the different coat, eye colors and cutie marks.
"Oh, Twilight! Korra! Don't worry, the girls are just about ready." Rarity apologized, releasing Akari's wing, much to her relief.
Korra approached the fashionable unicorn, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think we can take it from here, Rare."
"Of course, no worries. I'll just go and inspect everything downstairs." Rarity nodded to both of her friends and closed the door behind her. Both Korra and Twilight took the moment to truly look at their respective daughters.
Korra was almost left speechless. Her baby girl was growing into a stunning, strong and intelligent young woman. It felt like the time had just flown by.
Iris spun around in her dress once. "What do you think mom?" she asked, looking rather self conscious as a result. Korra remembered the old days where she too had felt her not-so-confident self when she first put on a dress Rarity had designed for her all those years ago. No matter how uncertain Iris may had felt, in Korra's eyes…
"Iris, you look… absolutely perfect."
"So do you, Akari." Twilight said, admiring her little girl. Akari proudly showed off the dress to her mother.
"At least it's not itchy this time." Akari said.
Iris giggled before addressing back to her mother. "Though, seriously Mom, don't you think it's time to spice it up a bit. Not that I don't like it, but you've been sporting the same pants with open dress look for years."
Indeed, Korra was wearing pants with the rest of the dress cut open to reveal them completely, while the rest of the dress was merely a cape wrapped around her waist. It was the only way Korra would ever wear anything formal for any event. Pants and boots or no deal.
"Maybe so, but I can still pull it off." Korra said, proudly showing off that charismatic confidence she was always known for.
Twilight playfully rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Akari's wings, gently cleaning them off with a simple spell she had long since memorized for this specific situation, while Korra straightened Iris's long sleeves.
"How you holding up?" she asked.
"Busy. But, busy is good." Iris said, though the nervous look on her face revealed a lot more than what her words led on.
"I'm glad you think so, Iris." Twilight said, nearly done with her daughter's wings, while arching a brow whenever she found either a twig or leaf in between her feathers. "Because this Welcoming ceremony is only the tip of the iceberg." she went on to explain, while Korra gently shook her head while smiling softly.
Some things just never change.
"Tomorrow is the festival, followed by the royal banquet, and that's all before the actual Harmony Gala on Sunday. Not to mention, now that you girls are old enough, you will not only be representing yourselves and the family, but all of Harmony City."
"Come on, Twily, give the girls some room to breath." Korra said, placing a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder. "We've been over this a billion times already."
"I know, I know, I just want everything to be perfect. This is going to be the biggest celebration yet! Bigger than last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the--"
"Year before that, we get it."
"At least there's no ancient face stealing spirit this time around. Which, in my opinion, was downright awesome!" Akari said, which only made her mother narrow her eyes. Akari chuckled nervously and scratched her neck. "You know, except for the terrorizing the people part."
"Don't worry, Aunt Twilight. We won't let you down." Iris said, gently gripping her right arm.
Akari opened her mouth to speak once Twilight was done cleaning her wings. "Actually, while we're on the subject, I mean, all these royal activities are great and traditional, and all, but do you think we might be able to catch a little downtime soon."
"Well, that depends." Twilight magically zapped a clipboard out of thin air and a very, very, very, very long roll of paper outstretched across the room, shocking the two young princesses, while Korra stood her unfazed. After so many royal events, it pretty much became second nature to her. Not to mention, years of battling power hungry villains and well intentioned extremists, one grand event was a walk in the park for everyone.
"I think we could squeeze something in between, oh no, wait, I think that'll be a bit more difficult. Perhaps if--no, that won't work either." Twilight read along, only to stop when Korra gently lowered the clipboard down.
"Of course, you girls will get to have some fun. We and your father's will take care of the important stuff, you kids just relax and have fun. After all, this is what the Harmony Celebration is all about."
Twilight took in a deep breath. "Yes, you're right, Korra. You girls just leave everything to us. If there is anything you need to know, we'll tell you right away. Just relax, and do your best."
Iris bit her bottom lip. Seeing this, Korra cupped her daughter's cheek, smiling sweetly. "Everything will be fine. Just be yourselves."
"Of course, Mom. Just… be myself." Iris repeated, with a very evident aura of uncertainty. She knew her mother meant well, and as much as she looked forward to all of the fun activities yet to be had during this joyous of times, it still made her feel… rather left out.
"Meet us downstairs in thirty minutes." Korra said before giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead. "I love you, Sunshine."
"Love you too, Mom."
Twilight also kissed Akari on the forehead. "See you in a bit, my little pony."
"Love you, Mom."
The two queens exited the room, leaving the princesses to their own. Once alone, Iris sighed and gazed out the window of the dressing room. Already the streets were aligned with dozens upon dozens of humans, spirits, ponies and mythical creatures alike. Dragons, griffons, changelings, even breezies, all talking, playing and laughing together. People from all four nations, benders and non benders, children frolicking and playing ball with one another, while the rest of her family assisted with the preparation for the event.
Seeing all of these multiple colors merging together reminded her of the colorful constantly changing petals of Irilissis flowers in Equestria. Her parents named her after the flower because of her own colorful heritage.
Akari's reflection appeared behind Iris on the glass window. "That is one gray looking rainbow." she said, referring to her best friend rather than the view. Iris sighed and turned around to face Akari, leaning against the frame of the window with her arms crossed. "You know, you've been getting mopier and mopier during these events."
"I guess I'm just used to it by now. There's not much for us to do except smile and wave and stay beside our parents when the guests arrive. Nothing ever changes, except maybe a few more heroic deeds are added to our family's long list of accomplishments." Iris looked over her shoulder to the people down below. "And I'm still stuck where I started."
"Come on, Iris. You've done a lot over the years."
"Name one."
"Well, you saved that puppy from drowning in the park. You volunteer at the hospital every weekend, you're head of the science team, you gave away all of your old toys to the orphanage, and you volunteer to read to the kids at the library."
"Yeah, but those are all things anyone with common comprehension of decent morality would do."
"Iris, you don't have to stop some fifty foot monster to be a hero. You're a hero to a lot of people in modest ways."
"It's not that I don't like doing that stuff, I do, even if I don't have to. But, no matter what, I always feel like I stick out from the rest of our family. And that's saying a lot, considering I have three lizard spirits for older siblings, and aside from being the first human alicorn to have been born rather than made. The only truly heroic and climactic thing I have ever done was break a sword. That's it. And that's been seven years ago."
"So you've had one mega heroic act, so what? I haven't done much of anything else either?"
"Oh, really, Miss I-uncovered-an-undocumented-species-of-healing-plants-in-the-Everfree-Forest-tamed-a-timberwolf-and-became-the-youngest-known-alicorn-to-master-sword-fighting-in-less-than-three-days?"
Akari opened her mouth to speak, but quickly realized she had nothing.
"That's what I mean, Akari! You could be a master swordsman, an explorer like Daring Do, heck you could be in the police force like your dad, but what can I do? I'm just a goody-two-shoes who can memorize a bunch of spells and broke one powerful sword and hasn't done anything grand ever since. Wow, how progressive!" Iris did sarcastic jazz hands and groaned before sitting down on a stool with her arms folded. "I have nothing else that makes me stand out. I can't help but feel I'm meant for something more, yet I have no idea what it is. My cutie mark has got to mean something else, right?"
"Haven't you ever asked the CMCs? They're whole job is helping others find the meaning behind their cutie marks."
"I've been asking them for years, but I still feel like I've hit a wall. It's not their fault."
Akari scratched the back of her neck, "Well, your mom is the Queen of Friendship. Somebody's got to carry on her legacy. Wouldn't you like that?"
"Of course I would. But, I don't want it to just be handed to me. I want to earn it the same way she did. I do want to uphold the family name, but how can I do that if I don't even know what I'm really good at on my own? All I want is to feel like I'm making as much a difference as my family does. What's wrong with that?"
Akari took a seat beside her best friend. "Iris, I've known you my entire life. You are the most loyal, brave, smart, sometimes perfectionistic, but also the most selfless person I have ever known. You're great at making friends and you do a lot better at this princess pink-girly stuff than I do. Ironic, because I'm, you know, peach pink." Akari pointed to herself, which made Iris giggle. "My point is, whatever it is you're meant to do in this world, take it one step at a time and trust things will work themselves out in the end. If you focus too much on what may or may not happen, you'll miss out on all the good things that are happening."
"You got that from Starlight Glimmer, didn't you?"
"Well, she was my mom's student."
Iris laughed and playfully punched her friend on the arm. The two laughed and hugged things out before getting back to their feet.
"You're right, Kars. Besides, there is a lot more to the Harmony Celebration than what happened in the past."
"That's right. It's about celebrating the future, and I have a feeling it's gonna be bright. You'll see."
(~)
"As you requested President Iroh, we doubled security on both the south, east and west streets."
"Good thing too, the guests should be arriving." said Iroh. While he still looked as fit and handsome as he did before, his age was starting to show, his dark hair was now gray, not exactly white, but gray, with a beard and mustache that made him resemble more of his long deceased grandfather Zuko, whose portrait had been hung on the walls alongside that of Katara, Toph, Sokka and Aang, and even the first General Iroh, in honor of heroes long gone.
King Mako nodded his head to the deliver of the news. "Yes. Thank you, Ali."
Mako and Korra's adopted lizard spirits had grown into human sized lizard beings who walked on their hind legs and lovely dragonfly wings on their backs.
"No problem, Dad."
Another lizard, one wearing a more casual male shirt flew down from one of the picture frames, admiring his work. "Alright, looking good. You for a bunch of old, dead people." he said, dusting his hands in satisfaction.
"San! They're not just a bunch of old, dead people. Those are the original members of Team Avatar." Ali stated firmly. "This celebration is just as much dedicated to them as it is to Mom, Dad and everyone else."
"Okay, okay, no need to get all grouchy."
"Everything looks great." said King Flash Sentry, who also accompanied Mako and Iroh.
"It should." another voice said from behind them. Spike, now a fully grown late teenage dragon, almost Korra's size, approached, alongside Ali and San's younger sister, Mika, who wore a stunning floral themed outfit, and a lovely pink flower headband. Spike went over the notes on his clipboard. "These new leaders from the Earth Federation regions are very picky. Like this Mayor Chen lady, very polite by the way, really knows how to give a compliment, but very demanding! She asked for taffeta colored orchids with the thorns cut off! Good thing Mika's an expert florist or else we never would have gotten them in time."
The younger winged lizard spirit blushed. "Well, when you know your way around the Spirit World, and love plants as much as I do, you pretty much know your way around."
Spike smiled graciously. "What would I do without you?"
"Probably lose your tail if it weren't attached." Mika joked.
Spike rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha. Very funny." he said. His purple scales turned a bright red when she kissed him on the cheek.
"Hey!" Mako called out, grabbing their attention. "Just because I allowed you to date my daughter, doesn't mean you can flirt in front of me."
"Daddy!" Mika whined, crossing her arms.
"Just wait until Iris starts dating. That should be quite a show."
Mako, Iroh, Spike and the spirit lizard siblings all turned to see Korra and Twilight approach the two. The two kings greeted their beautiful queens with a kiss on the lips.
"You look beautiful." Mako said to his stunning wife.
"You don't look so bad yourself, My King." Korra said, in her usual flirty tone, earning a chuckle from Mako.
"So, are the girls ready?" Flash asked, his arms still wrapped around Twilight.
"Yep. Everybody is pretty much set."
"Perfect. Then, let us begin, shall we?" Iroh said, gesturing to the others to the door.
"Um, we'll be right there, Iroh." Mako said, surprising his wife when his gripped her hand a bit tighter than normal.
"Okay, just don't take too long."
"We won't."
Once Iroh was out of sight, Korra confronted her husband. "Mako, what's wrong?" she asked. Mako looked around and then led Korra to a quieter location where no one would hear them. The rest of their small party followed close behind.
"How was Iris? Did anything strange happen?" Mako asked.
"No, she's fine." Korra replied.
"You sure? She's not stressing or freaking out?"
"Nothing that we haven't seen already." Korra said, placing hand on Mako's tense shoulder. "Will you relax? She's fine."
Mako pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, I just can't help but be concerned."
"She hasn't shown any signs yet."
"You mean her Avatar powers?" San asked, only to have his mouth covered by Spike, Mika and Ali all at once.
"San! Keep your voice down! You want everyone to find out?" Ali spatted.
"I don't think an event like this is going to rattle her up enough to start bending fire and water left and right." Korra said.
"Yeah but, Korra she's already fourteen, it's only a matter of time before she does." Mako said.
"We don't know that for sure. All we know is that Wan said she would get her powers when she hit puberty."
"Which she already has. There's really no telling when her powers might show up. It could be at any given moment."
"I understand your concerns, but it's been months since she turned fourteen and nothing has happened."
"Actually, I have to agree with Mako on this." said Flash Sentry. "Think about it, Iris was only seven when she activated her Avatar powers. It's been seven years exactly since then, and it was during the Day of Harmony Celebration as well."
"Technically, it was a few days after the event, but I get what you're saying, Honey." Twilight said.
Mako nodded in agreement. "They're right, and if there is anything we all know it's that, in this family, there are no such thing as coincidences."
Korra wanted to reassure her husband that he was worrying over nothing, but he did bring up a very good point. Iris had yet to show any signs of her Avatar powers since she was seven-years-old, and after seven long years she had yet to show any signs of anything. History was repeating itself with the Day of Harmony, just like when Ronin first reeled in his ugly head. The situation lasted several days, and the Harmony Celebration had been outstretched since then from one day to four. She'd be lying if she said the possibility had never crossed her mind.
Mako gently cupped Korra's cheek. "Korra, I know we agreed we would wait until Iris showed signs of her magic to finally tell her the truth, but I really do feel it's time she finally knew. Just in case."
Korra sighed, holding Mako's hand near her face. "I understand where you're coming from. But, what if we're wrong and nothing happens?"
"And if something does?" Twilight asked.
"I just don't want us to scare her if we're all just being too paranoid."
Mako sighed, tracing his hand through his hair. "Okay, how about this. We'll give her today and tomorrow. If she hasn't shown any signs by then, we'll let this go. But, if there is anything, we tell her right away. Is that okay?"
"Alright. You've got yourself a deal." Korra turned to her adopted children. "Ali, Mika, San, could you please keep a close eye on your sister?"
"Of course we will mom." Mika said.
"She's probably right, and we're all worried over nothing." Spike said, hoping to ease the tension. The sound of trumpets were heard, which signaled their cue to go and greet their guests.
"Let's talk about this after the ceremony." Flash said, taking Twilight by the arm, as did Korra and Mako. Taking in deep breaths to calm their nerves.
"Don't worry you guys. I bet everything is gonna be fine." San said, acting his usual optimistic self. "I can feel it in my bones."
"You'll feel it in your bones if it doesn't." Ali said, swatting her brother upside the head with her tail before joining their parents.
(~)