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// Chapter 2: Portraits and Painted Smiles 
// Story: Antumbra 
// by Ice Star 
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Princess Stellaura squirmed slightly as she felt the painter's gaze evaluate his subject, a critical look in his eyes. Queen Elinora, or Nora as she called her elder sister, had commissioned a portrait from an artist hailing from the Everfree Kingdom to the north. The art there was very different from the smooth, gleaming floral mosaics, symmetrical shapes, and elegant flourishes that made up the styles of Al Far'iimbra, which was lacking the warmly shaded, lucid scenes, and life-like creatures that danced across Everfree canvasses. 

Much to Stellaura's dismay Nora had told this master of the brush to include both the young filly and colt, Princess and Prince. This did not sit well with the Princess, who was bashful and tongue-tied in the presence of strangers with an untamed habit of blushing at the slightest discomfort. Even though Nora was in the background with an encouraging look on her face and her eyes twinkling kindly, Stellaura still had a hard time attempting the royal duty of Not Fidgeting.

She wanted to tell Nora that it was so much harder than it looked, and surely if she were in her place Nora wouldn't want somepony staring at her.

Instead, she bit the inside of her cheek and tried to make her shy grin as happy looking as possible while avoiding looking like a maniac. She had to stand completely still as well and hoped to the stars that her dimples weren't showing. 

As discreetly as she could, Stellaura flicked her gaze towards Hasad. Despite his seemingly meek expression he shone with the softer confidence of any self-assured foal, looking as if today were his coronation.

Meanwhile behind the easel that held the masterpiece in the making, the unicorn foreigner was trying to create every detail in his oil paints: the sunlight filtering throughout the room, the slightly silvery coats of the twins, their large green eyes, a rarity in the desert, the purplish manes and tails, both curly, worn somewhat long, and of course their wings.

Stellaura's had the swallowtail look shared by nopony, not even the queen observing him and Hasad's overlarge and powerful looking ones, even though neither could fly yet, nor will they anytime soon.

In the end it didn't matter because the one detail the artist captured perfectly was the Prince's painted smile.