Red Lily vs. The Horses of the Sun

Chapter 1

"Aunt Celestia? Why do I have to go to this ball?" Asked Princess Red Lily, from her spot in front of the mirrors. She was dressed up as if she weren't a being that could breathe.

Princess Celestia ignored her question. "You look beautiful, Red Lily. But work your magic on your mane. I know that you are powerful enough."

Whenever an alicorn was powerful enough, she could make her mane wave in an unnatural fashion.

Red Lily huffed as she slowly cast the spell. She turned to the mirrors to look at herself after all of the tedious jobs done to her looks.

Her light red fur was sparkling with cleanliness, while her dark red mane was down, longer than what she was used to; her bangs pinned up, so that her eyes could be seen. Her eye lashes were far too long in her opinion. There was simply far too much makeup on her.

The makeup made Red Lily's eyes look, in her opinion, like she was weak, compliant, and easy to deceive. Far from the truth. But perfect for a stallion who only wanted a trophy wife.

She repeated her question.

"Because, Lily, you must make a great first impression on your future husband, Strong Bull." Said Princess Celestia, patiently answering Red's questions, looking with pride at her niece. The Horses of the Sun were all only earth ponies, who could not fly or do magic, which is why they insisted on marrying royalty, so that their brides would be alicorns.

"Great. My husband you picked out for me. What kind of name is 'Strong Bull' anyway? Am I marrying a Bull?" She kept plowing on with no expectation of an answer. "You know, this goes against everything Equestria stands for. Love and whatnot. I never would have guessed that you were the ruler for Equestria. Having me marry someone I don't know, let alone love."

Princess Celestia sighed, used to her niece's questions, the way she rebels without being a full-on rebel. "We've been over this. We must make the bonding ceremony with the Horses of the Sun in order to maintain peace with them. Without their blessing, I cannot raise the sun. And without the sun, all of Equestria would not be able to survive."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But why couldn't you make peace without having to marry me off?"

"Royal marriage between our two worlds is a tradition that has gone on for-"

"'For thousands and thousands of years.' Yeah, I know that. But couldn't you break tradition for once? When Equestria was first founded, its rulers didn't want anything to do with 'love' but now that's exactly what Equestria stands for. Obviously, if our views change, then our traditions have to change as well."

"The Horses of the Sun are not a forgiving nation." Princess Celestia walked closer to look at her niece in a better perspective. "And are not ponies of change. They like their way of life perfectly fine."

Lily huffed at her aunt.

"...I'm sorry." Celestia bowed her head. "This is my only option."

"But Aunt Celestia-" whined Lily.

Celestia looked up into her niece's eyes. A flash of something went through her eye...Fear? It quickly passed and Celestia hurried to become stern. "As a princess, the first thing on your mind should be what's best for the citizens. Being a Princess has a lot of responsibilities." She walked from the room, door slamming shut behind her.

Lily flinched as the door slammed shut. She was not used to her aunt getting mad at her. Normally, Lily was pretty good at keeping the peace with her aunt and still getting what she wanted.

She slowly turned back to the mirror, taking herself in. Too much makeup. she thought. And the dress, the dress!

Her dress was a yellow color, with trim that touched the floor. In her mane, two yellow suns were holding a see-through veil that covered her mane delicately and glistened when she moved.