hollyverse xx. 2021 references

sometime ago one of you asked about a reference for my princess amore unshaded, so i decided to touch up my colorpicking ref and make it into a proper ref sheet! here we have the three rulers of equestria pre-nightmare. this is their look approximately 500 years since the sisters' ascension. amore, while not alicorn-immortal, is very long lived, and is about ninety years here.

queen celestia amaris aetheria, immortal goddess-princess of equestria, the monarch of the grand pony nation in all but name. the name amaris means 'promised by god', a name she took to represent her percieved role in the country; by all means a blessing, a gift, a promise from the universe to right the wrongs done to ponykind by discord, and each other. she believes her very purpose to be to better the lives of her people. behaves in rather naive ways due to her impression that she's made the perfect country, but it mostly comes from some deeply buried war-related trauma and a fierce denial that such violence could ever exist under her rule. her people tell her she's perfect for so many centuries, it's hard not to believe. here she wears a traditional unicorn crown incrusted with her three elements of harmony, made after the elements were used to deal with tirek about three centuries into her reign, one of the last times they were used before the war for the crystal empire. she's tall, elegant and graceful, and very warm to the touch. i often see people turn her palette to orange and yellow since she doesn't look very sunny in canon, but i actually really like how the greens and blues remind you of the day instead of the fiery sun. hollyverse celestia is deeply connected to nature and the physical world, so it seeps into her looks.

queen luna asteria aetheria, immortal goddess-princess of equestria, the less popular of the royal sisters. used to be the darling of the realm, but her mercurial nature, as changeable as the moon, soon led people to approach celestia for most matters of state, and most of luna's duties go unnoticed by the population by night. a few years into her relationship with amore she reconnected with her pre-ascension folk, the batponies, dropping the glamour she'd wear to look feathery and prim like celestia. the bat population would die for their goddess of the night, but other ponies didn't take kindly to her creepy wings, 'unkept' fur and vampire fangs. has a more militaristic approach than celestia as well. she tries to unite both sides and be loved by all like her big sister does, but ponies just don't...like her as much. people start laughing behind her back, spreading rumors of the wicked dark alicorn who eats foals and bathes in blood. this complicates her relationship with celestia, whom she loves deeply but blames for many things as well, and ultimately envies how effortlessly she manages to be so beloved. here she wears a crown incrusted with her three elements, except hers was crafted by batpony smiths and jewelmakers according to their custom; it's dark and iridescent, decidedly spikier and shaped like unfurling wing talons. her hair changes from fully white to very dark blue, dependant on the phases of the moon.

princess amore 'amadea' of the crystal empire looks very...common. prefers to wear practical clothes over silks and jewels, and never had a crown that she'd wear for an hour after any formal ceremony that absolutely requiered it of her. built thick, she takes after her mother, who was a draft horse-like earth pony, whereas her skills in magic come from her crystal unicorn father. the couple eloped when the crystal ponies first made their migration north, to find a place of their own. and amore was born on the way there. earned her cutiemark saving her best friend from a backfiring spell by pushing them out of the way, getting her fur singed as she did; a crystalline heart emblazoned in a shield. they took it to mean her destiny would be to protect, and in this they were right...but of course they REALLY understood when she grew up to find the actual crystal heart and founding the empire. more knight than princess, she's a warrior at heart, and excellently trained in physical and magical combat. her role in the world is to keep her people safe with her love through the crystal heart. an unnaturally gifted empath who's very down-to-earth, calm and open minded, she acted as an unifying bridge between the sisters as well. for this she was nicknamed amadea, 'god's beloved'. amore endlessly loved celestia and luna, her people and the folk beyond her snowy borders, and was deeply loved in turn. singers and poets like to think she got to marry queen luna in secret before the war against sombra, but the truth of the matter is buried under five hundred years of history, rumor and memory.