A/N: Alright, everyone! This is the second chapter, and I hope that you all enjoy it!
The ballroom doesn't take long to fill up, as ponies of all ages and type filter in. Each one is garbed in bright colors and soft fabric, with powdered faces and done-up manes, as though it has been held in their honor and not Celestia's. They walk as though the spotlight is on them and them alone, and Rainbow Dash has to try hard not to snort.
It's ridiculous, the way that they act. As though they are oh so important, even though most live off of old money rather than work to support themselves, to support their family. Like the world would quit turning if they were ever to vanish.
Rainbow Dash gives the floor an impatient paw, frowns as a stallion passes by her charge and his gaze lingers just a little too long, means just a little too much. None the wiser, Fluttershy continues to watch her sister from her spot on the ground, forced to look up at the stage as though she's a common mare and not a princess.
That bothers Rainbow Dash too, though she isn't really sure why it does. Doesn't say anything on the matter, because it doesn't seem to bother Fluttershy much anyways.
"She looks so happy," whispers Fluttershy, giving Celestia a soft smile that isn't returned.
"Of course she is," grumbles Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes. "This whole thing is about her, isn't it?"
Fluttershy nods, doesn't seem to notice her guards irritation - which just makes the pegasus even more aggravated, because they don't need another self-centered mare as a leader!
"Her and mother both," says Fluttershy. The young pegasus princess moves forward, flitting through the crowd in an attempt to get closer to the stage, and Rainbow Dash is given no choice but to follow her.
She feels awkward in this dress, like her movements are being halted. Each step is a bit harder to take then it normally is, and she knows that she will never get off the ground with such a flowing skirt.
Rainbow Dash is trapped on the earth, and that thought hits just a little closer to home than it should.
-x-x-x-
Even though Rainbow Dash doesn't respect the queen very much, there is no way around the fact that she is an imposing figure. Her coat is the color of the earth which she rules over and her mane is of the deepest greens, held back by a crown of thorns and roses and gleaming emeralds.
Something about the look in her eyes makes one listen to her, even more so in these recent years, as both her gaze and her heart has begun to harden.
Most are not around her enough to notice it, but Rainbow Dash has. The way that Terra's posture has grown stiffer, her voice her harsher, her concerns less about the lands outside of Canterlot and more on herself, on her two eldest daughters.
She has noticed and, standing there at the base of the stage, Fluttershy on one side and a nameless stallion on the other, Rainbow Dash sees it again.
"Equestrians. It is a pleasure to see how many have taken up my invitation to attend this evening," says Terra, and her voice is that of a rumbling brook, smooth and flowing. "Today, I havee something very important to tell you all. But first, the reason that you have all come here!"
Terra holds her head up high and spins around to face her eldest daughter. Celestia mimics her mother - and maybe, thinks Rainbow Dash, maybe that is why so few like her. Celestia is far too close to her mother, their thoughts far too similiar.
Luna and Fluttershy, at least, are each their own ponies. A little more rebellious, a little more withdrawn, but nothing at all like their mother, who always looks at Celestia with such pride in her forest green eyes.
"We live in a time of relative peace, so my duties as Bearer are not needed as often as they once were," begins Terra, voice echoing through the room. "It will not always be that way though and, as much as I hate to admit it, I will not always be there to protect you."
The white specks that have begun to form along the alicorn's muzzle are proof enough of that fact. She may have a much, much longer lifespan than a normal pony, but Terra is far from being immortal.
The Queen's gaze is on the crowd before her again. "Eventually, my time as your queen will be a thing of the distant past - and when that happens, it will be Celestia who will guide you!"
Celestia steps forward, head held high, and the crowd errupts into a cheer.
Rainbow Dash doesn't joint it. Neither, she realizes, does Fluttershy.
-x-x-x-
The Coronation Ceremony is, simply put, boring. Rainbow Dash is forced to stand there and listen as Terra praises her eldest daughter; ignoring Luna, who stands at her side, and Fluttershy, who stands beneath her, half hidden by the excited crowd of blueblooded ponies.
Eventually, Terra casts a spell and Rainbow Dash is only vaguely aware of the bright light that surrounds Celestia, her attention instead on a young unicorn mare that stands on the far side of the room, watching with wide eyes and a piece of red string caught up in the end of her tail.
Now, Rainbow Dash doesn't know much about the upper-class and doesn't care to learn about them. It's her job to notice things though and, in that moment, in that simple piece of strings, she sees a mare that isn't of the right class for being in that ballroom.
Rainbow Dash flicks Fluttershy on the shoulder with the tip of her tail. "Stay here."
The pegasus filly blinks, turns wide eyes onto the guard. "What? Is everything okay, Rainbow Dash?"
"Just stay put," grunts the guard, already forcing her way through the tightly packed throng of ponies.
Someones ribbon clad wind comes close to smacking her in the face. A hoof comes down on the hem of her skirt. Shoulders bump into her and nasty looks are cast her way and, by the time that Rainbow Dash makes it to the outskirts of the group, she is far past ready to challenge someone.
Even if that someone is just a suspicious looking mare with a far too white coat. A large magnolia blossom has been fixed into her purple mane and a red ribbon around her neck.
"You there!" calls Rainbow Dash, making a beeline towards the mare.
She holds herself like she belongs there, head up and mouth pursed. "Excuse me?"
"Who are you?" demands Rainbow Dash.
The mare snorts, turns her head away. "Oh, darling, you cannot be speaking to me like that."
"Really? Because I'm speaking to someone, and there isn't anyone else over here," snaps Rainbow Dash, and this wouldn't be an issue if she were in her actual uniform. Ponies respected the armor of a pegasus guard, even in these days of peace that Terra speaks so highly of.
The mare looks absolutely aghast and even a touch upset. "Honestly now, have you no manners?"
"Me? That's rich, lady. Talking about manners when you're in here, crashing Celestia's coronation!" Rainbow Dash, snorts, resists the urge to look over her shoulder when a gasp rings out and the whispering starts. Like no one was expecting Celestia to leave here an alicorn.
The mare's gaze flicks from Rainbow Dash to the stage and then back again. Purple eyes show the slightest hint of panic and a lot of surprise. "Why I would never! The things that you're accusing me of are beyond preposturous!"
Rainbow Dash has her mouth open, ready with a sharp come back to end the arguement, when a sharp word from the Queen quiets her, and the rest of the whispering room.
Silence!
Terra has that look in her eye again, where she is not quite herself but also not quite a different mare. Hard and stern and a touch reproachful, and Rainbow Dash's stomach flips and twists and turns.
Something bad is coming. She knows it.
"As many of you know, Canterlot City is one of the few places in Equestria to remain free of the White Plague. Our walls are high and, as of yet, our defences mostly unbreached," says Terra, taking a step closer to the edge of the raised platform. Her mane seems to catch in a wind that isn't there. "I plan on keeping it that way and, thus, enact this new decree. Those suffering from the White Plague are no longer allowed within the walls of this city, Beyond that, they are no longer to be recognized as a living pony. Offer them no help, no shelter, and give them no physical contact. Those who disobey this law will be forced to live in the tained outer world among the rest of the ill."
An image of Scootaloo flickers to Rainbow Dash's mind. The white beginning to smatter her orange muzzle. The wings that will never allow her to reach the clouds. The frost that coats the ground where she walks and the ache in her legs and how she still goes out into the fields every day and works until she is so tired that she can barely move.
Rainbow Dash thinks of her sister and feels faintly sick.