Turning Back the Winter

by Dinkledash


Triumph

"Captain, your report is quite disturbing." Princess Platinum leaned forward on the throne, speaking to Thunderhooves in private audience. "To think, an organized rebellion, right here in the Capital! You have our eternal gratitude for putting it down, but it seems obvious that this required considerable planning. There is obviously somepony who was waiting for the moment to strike!"

"Yes, your highness, and I don't believe it was the pony with the eyepatch. He and his crew were mercenaries, from what intelligence we've been able to gather from the bodies and the interrogations before we strung the survivors up. If one of the officers had survived, you could have spared them in return for information as to the source of the money that hired them, but the Grand Archmage's Apprentice sort of made that impossible." Thunderhooves grinned like a skull on a spear.

"Yes, about that. So you are saying that if it wasn't for this Celestia, that the Royal Guard would have been cut down like wheat and the castle would have been largely defenseless in the middle of a rebellion?"

"Best damned war mage I ever saw, your highness. Some of the boys actually started hailing her as Imperatrix. It's been a very long time since THAT happened." He failed to mention that he joined in on the march home.

"Indeed. And you say she dispersed the crowd in front of the castle simply by shaming them?" The grey-coated, silver-maned mare leaned back, put her elbow on the edge of the throne and scratched her chin. Her platinum and sapphire crown sparkled in the torch light, complimenting her sapphire eyes.

"It was something to see. And she's just a kid! She's not even cutied yet, your highness!"

"Perhaps her cutie mark will turn out to be a massive explosion. Still, this certainly deserves an award of some sort. Oh, and you and your men did splendidly as well, but I appreciate you giving credit where it is due."

"Technically, your highness, if a pony is hailed as Imperator or Imperatrix, they are supposed to receive a Triumph." His eyes danced merrily.

"What does that entail, exactly? Our ancient Roanan history is a little rusty, Captain."

"A parade, where she rides in a gilded chariot to receive a laurel wreath from you, with the public lining the streets praising her and a slave whispering in her ear to remind her that she is just a mortal." He grinned. The princess was kind and wise, but she was a bit on the staid side.

"That seems a bit much, and we haven't had slavery here for few hundred years. And none of our gilded chariots would be big enough, from what we are told. Do you think she'd settle for a medal?"

"I'm sure she won't think she deserves it, your highness. She's very shaken up right now. I sent her to bed in one of the guest rooms, but she needs to talk to somepony when she wakes up. I'm an old vet and I've never seen anything like what happened out there. She personally killed at least seventy-five ponies, and probably closer to a hundred, but there isn't enough left of them to be able to count individuals." The princess gasped and put her hoof to her mouth.

______

Knock knock!

"Celestia?" The voice was female, cultured and unfamiliar. Good. I don't want to speak to anypony I know right now. I don't want anypony to see me.

"Come in!"

The door opened and Princess Platinum entered the room. Celestia sat up in the bed with a start and started to clamber out to make a curtsey but the princess stopped her with a gesture. "Get back in bed this instant, young filly! Oh, by the moon!" Platinum was shocked, not only by Celestia's size, but by the smell of smoke, the grime, the bloodstains on her coat and most particularly by her red, puffy face, where she had been sobbing uncontrollably into a pillow. "Forget what we just said! You need a bath this instant! Get up, come on!" The princess waved for Celestia to follow her as she walked out of the room.

Celestia got up, momentarily too overwhelmed to be depressed. The princess addressed her as she led her through the castle. "Captain, we mean, Major Thunderhooves was discussing with us whether to give you a parade or just a medal, but we suspect that a hot bath is the reward you truly crave!"

"You are a wise and benevolent ruler, your highness!" Platinum chuckled and started yelling for the maids to draw a bath. It was then that Celestia realized that the princess had led her to her private chambers. She stared at the general opulence; full length mirrors, walk-in closets, a canopied four-poster, and everything in silver and white marble, it took her breath away. "Your highness... you do me too much honor!"

"Oh piffle! Look, now that we're in my chambers, call me Platinum. I seem to owe my kingdom and my life to you, and that makes me rather grateful. And to tell you the truth, I need somepony to be friends with and it seems to me that you might be a good friend to have. And in any case, there's only one bathtub in this castle that you'll fit in."

"Your, er, Platinum... I haven't been able to fit in a bathtub since I was twelve." For a moment, the horrors of the day were banished as troops of maids brought buckets of steaming water into a chamber next to the royal bedroom. "It's been showers and spongebaths since."

"That simply will not do!" The princess walked into the royal bath, gesturing for Celestia to follow. Celestia did so.

I died in that battle. I died and went to bath heaven. Everything gleamed. The marble floor gleamed. The silver mirrors gleamed. Even the mares standing by with soap, brushes and towels gleamed. But the thing that gleamed with the most gleaming gleamingness that ever gleamed was the enormous porcelain bath full of gleaming... um... steaming hot bubbly water.

"In you go, Celestia!"

She looked down at herself, realizing how little she herself gleamed at the moment. "Y... Platinum, I think I need to take a bath before I can get in that tub." Platinum's laugh rang off the walls and even the attendants were having a problem keeping their faces straight.

"You go ahead and soak for a few years. Lavender and Sandalwood will get you clean and dry when you are ready and then, if you please, come meet me in the throneroom. And there you call me your highness and I'll use the royal we and all that nonsense. Ladies, I would like for her to be most presentable." The ladies-in-waiting bowed and smiled as Celestia gingerly dipped a hoof into the hot water. Hot... but not too hot. She eased herself in. Oh holy moon! As she lay back and the filth and matted blood started to lift out of her coat, as her mane floated free in the sweet bubble bathiness, as the heat of the water penetrated stiff muscles, accentuated by the finest bath salts and oils, Celestia involuntarily released a moan of ecstasy that echoed in the chamber. The attendants giggled while she blushed, and then Platinum poked her head back in and grinned. "Bathgasm? Happens all the time!" Then she disappeared while Celestia submerged herself from embarrassment.