A thick white blanket covered the land when I woke up the next morning. The windows were frosted with glistening crystals of ice, giving the light filtering through a rainbow effect. The fire kept the cold out, but there was something about the way everything had settled that made me reluctant to leave the bed beyond my normal slow wake-up.
It probably had something to do with the mare that had huddled up next to me, a foreleg thrown across my withers.
I eased myself out from underneath her leg, slipping down to the kitchen to start the kettle boiling. While I waited, I saw a few of the leftover cookies from last night and smiled. I was a fair cook and could bake pretty good too, but I ceded defeat to Sunshine when it came to the kitchen. With some help from her magic, she had decorated the large gingerbread ponies with our manes and a decent representation of our respective cutie marks. She had made two each, and we had eaten two of them last night.
“I wonder what Freud would say about eating a cookie caricature of your equine self,” I mused. I didn’t get a chance to ponder it as the kettle started singing. I took it from the fire, and let it hover while I prepared my favorite mix of tea. It was a dark tea, with hints of peppermint for the season. I liked my tea a little strong so I ignored the standard rule of “One for each person and one for the pot” that Celestia had taught me. I added six scoops of the tea mix to the boiling water and while it steeped I make some toast and spread some apple butter on it. Plating up the toast I set it on a tray with a pair of napkins.
I looked for teacups or mugs to pour the tea in and came across an amber mug that was uneven in its circular pattern. I levitated it from the cupboard and rotated it, finding my scrawl on one side, my name haphazardly painted there. I smiled, remembering the day I had made it. I had been five, maybe six and I had l just learned how to write my name but I hadn’t developed my magic to where I could use telekinesis to hold the quill. I sat it on the counter as the smell of tea caught my attention. I pulled some regular mugs from the cupboard and a strainer, poured the steeped tea through it into the two mugs and started up the stairs with breakfast.
Sunshine was still out cold, her mouth hanging open slightly and a tiny snore issuing. I smiled and levitated one of the mugs over just a little ways from her muzzle, making sure the steam and smell of the tea wafted towards her. Her nose twitched slightly and she cracked open an eye, seeing the mug hovering there in the teal aura of my magic.
I smiled at the sleepy look in her eyes. “Tea, Twi?”
She rolled over slightly and sat up, taking the mug from me and sipping it gently. “Marry me,” she sighed after the second sip visibly perked her up.
“That’s a little forward, Twi,” I said with a smirk before sipping my own tea.
“Not you,” she said with a smirk of her own. “The tea.”
I placed a hoof on my chest, feigning injury. “O!, I die, Twilight, the potent poison o’er crows my spirit.”
She grinned. “Hamlet, Act Five Scene Two. I think you misquoted a bit, though.”
I brought the tray over and sat on the bed with her to enjoy a quiet breakfast. I noticed she had fallen silent after our giggle over the exchange, a slight frown creasing her features. I looked at her pointedly, keeping my voice light.
“Equestria to Sunshine,” I said. “You’re brooding.”
“I am not,” she responded, her smile returning.
“You’re a cape and a hood away, honey. Talk to me.”
“Would you want to?” she asked slowly, her gaze going distant for a moment.
“Want to what?”
“Marry me,” she said, face flushing slightly as she looked at me.
The world seemed to slow for a moment and all there was in it were the two of us. I watched her blink in slow motion. I took in all the lines of her face, her bed-head, the color of her coat and the angle of her horn. I also saw in my mind’s eye her human form, hair wrapped up in a long tail or a bun, her glasses perched on the tip of her nose, the nervous way she kept adjusting them, the way her tongue would poke out from her lip when she concentrated on something. All the little things that added up to her beauty in my mind.
Time returned to normal and I smiled.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I leaned forward and sent a current of love through my horn into her. “Though we should probably get the blessing from your family first.”
“Do we have to? You weren’t there when Shining and Cadence told Mom and Daddy that they were engaged.”
“What’s the worst that would happen, they banish me to the moon? They like me and Shining didn’t threaten me not to break your heart.” I paused for a beat. “Though I wonder if that goes both ways. Proposing to tea was pretty mean.”
She reached over and gave me a gentle push. “I’m serious! You saw how Mom got when you mentioned books. Imagine both of them getting like that and fussing over you, asking you questions you haven’t even had time to consider yet!”
She blew her bangs out of her face and went on. “Cadence - Cadence - had to tell them to calm down and not get ahead of themselves. They didn’t even hear Shiny when he was trying to say they hadn’t set a date when they started asking about colors, themes, flowers, it was just so….Argh!”
She put the mug on the bedside table and put her face in her hooves. “I love them to death, but their overexcitement over matrimonial details and planning is something I actually dread! I would almost rather tell them after I got married, but I know how much they’d be hurt if I eloped.”
I reached out and rubbed her shoulder. “You know what you need, Twi?”
She looked up. “What?”
“A trip to the spa before the ball tonight, something to relax you. Lets put this on the back burner for tonight and worry about it when we come to that bridge.”
“You hate the spa,” she said, an eyebrow quirking up in confusion.
“I think I’ll survive it just this once.” I smiled. “It’s for my special somepony after all.” I picked up the empty plates and set them on the tray. “You go ahead and finish waking up, I’ll take care of the dishes.”
Once down in the kitchen, I set the tray down and started prancing in place, a huge smile spreading across my face.
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!”