There is an old saying from the Perytons. “The Wind will deliver both warm and cold showers. It is our purpose to enjoy both.”
I have often meditated over that saying as I attempt to find meaning from the dream plaguing me. I cannot help but believe that what I see holds a deeper meaning than appears.
Or perhaps, it does not hold a single meaning.
— Silverleaf, Cervyderian Shaman
***
I nudged a primary feather to the side. In the last month, I had gotten a lot better at preening, despite the elaborate teasing from Sunshine. I wasn’t perfect at it, especially since this was the longest I had gone with my wings present. Usually, when I manifested them on the human side of the mirror, they were already preened.
I was sitting at a table in my old home, having come to look over the restoration of my house from the damage it had taken during a recent set of riots in the city. The smell of hot tea was rising from a set of cups before me on the table.
“So, why don’t you just use your magic?” Tempest asked as she sipped her tea. “It seems that it would be faster and more accurate than using your nose and tongue.”
“I just got used to it.” I plucked a stripped feather from near the alula with a brief wince. “When I started doing this I didn’t exactly have the greatest control of magic, as you well know.”
Tempest grunted.
She was still wearing a crystalline cast around her horn, the ice blue material now carved into the natural shape of a horn, giving her a way to control her magic in a slightly less destructive manner.
“And you aren’t having your wife do it why?” she asked.
I felt my face turn bright red. “Wings are a bit…sensitive. Sunshine found it extremely amusing to tease the more responsive spots when she was ‘helping’ me.”
“Sensitive, eh?” The plum mare smirked as she lifted her cup again in a silvery aura. “Is that why you were late to the inspection today?”
The heat in my face didn’t dim, and I felt my wings stiffen a little as I recalled momentarily just what had caused my tardiness. And I wasn’t that late for the final checks on the house reconstruction.
“Like I said,” I muttered. “She likes to tease.”
I bit down hard on a keratin sheath to free a feather while Tempest laughed, her throaty chuckle tossing kindling onto my blush to keep it on full heat.
“Welcome back, Princess,” a Thestral saluted as I passed into the corridor that housed my temporary quarters. “I trust your journey was successful?”
“I suppose you could say that, Java,” I said as I returned his salute. “The house should be ready for us to move back into in a couple days. Just needs a fresh coat of paint and a new couch or two.”
“I’m glad to hear it, Princess,” he said. “It has been an honor to be assigned to your detachment while you stayed here. Life will be a bit dull when I report back to the mess hall.”
“I don't know,” I said with a wink. “The coffee hasn’t been the same lately according to Princess Twilight.”
I heard him chuckle as I walked into my room and shut the door, immediately pulling off my tiara, shoes, and peytral. While I had become more used to wearing the silvery regalia, it always felt great to shed them at the end of the day.
Thea cracked an eye from her perch near my desk but went back to sleep when she saw who it was.
“Sunshine? Are you here? I’m back.”
“Welcome back, Sunset,” came a different voice.
I stiffened as Celestia gracefully slid into view from one of the anterooms.
“Princess,” I said, fighting the urge to dip my head.
As a princess myself, I no longer had to bow, but old habits die hard.
“I trust that the reconstruction effort goes well?”
“It’s close to being done. Just have to replace the burned furniture and try to air out the smell of smoke. You’d think after this much time it wouldn’t still smell like smoke.”
Celestia nodded sagely.
I moved to the small cupboard set to the side of my room, a teapot floating out in my red aura as I went to prepare tea. “Would you care for some?”
The Princess of the Sun shook her head. “I’m afraid I can’t stay but thank you. I actually wanted to find out if you were staying longer. I know you must be anxious to see your friends across the mirror.”
“It’ll be nice to sleep in my own bed again,” I agreed. “No matter how comfy someone else’s might be, there’s just something about your own. But both Twilight and the doctors have agreed that another week or two would be good to finish setting the ridges in my horn.”
“So, you’ll be here in that time?”
I didn't like the way her voice sounded. It was too casual.
“Yes," I answered hesitantly. “We’ll probably move back to the house later this week, but I’m never more than a messenger away.”
“Excellent!” she cooed, clapping her hooves. “Would you two be willing to attend dinner a week from tomorrow?”
“Don’t we usually end up eating dinner together anyway, since I’ve been here?”
“Yes, well.” Her wing twitched. “Next week the Cervyderian ambassador is coming and I thought it would be a good chance to introduce you and Twilight since they haven’t visited on diplomatic business since before Twilight’s ascendancy.”
I groaned. “A diplomatic dinner? Really? I’m not even assigned to a domain in Equestria!”
“Sunset Shimmer,” my old teacher suddenly gritted. “I’m surprised at you. It’s just a dinner, nothing more. Our relations with the Deerkin are mostly trading since their borders are more alongside the Crystal Empire than ours. You won’t have to do anything more than smile and wave when they arrive and maybe exchange pleasantries at dinner.”
I sighed and bowed my head. “Can I at least ask the cooks not to serve me watercress? It doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Oh, this is so exciting!” Sunshine said as she pranced. “I didn’t know there were sapient deer here! I wonder what they look like. OOOOH! Do they have magic too?”
She likely would have continued in that fashion if Thea hadn’t spoken up.
Is she always this excitable?
I glanced back at the young Phoenix that had become my courier and frequent assistant during the time Twilight and I had held our thrones. She sometimes reminded me of Philomena in her wit.
“She found out she’s invited to a dinner with an entirely unknown species to her.” I turned the page in my book before smiling at my wife. “You may as well wave meat in front of a chimera.”
“I’m not that bad,” Sunshine pouted.
“No, you’re not,” I agreed. “You’re cuter than that. It’s only a week away and you’ll have to go have your peytral and diadem fitted. You’re attending as a duchess, after all.”
Her eyes shot open.
“I-I am?”
I stealthily shot Thea a wink.
“Oh yes,” I said gravely. “If I have to wear full regalia and be as regal as I can, then you must observe proper court manners as well.”
“But, I never had to before!”
Her mind started to churn, looking for any flaws or protocols she missed in past dinners.
“I’m teasing, Sunshine,” I said when I could no longer keep a straight face. “You’re not held to the finery like I am. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing you with a diadem in your mane, giving it a bit of sparkle.”
As she blushed, Thea covered her head with a wing.
You’re incorrigible.