A Broken Sea of Ice

“Mighty Hephaestus and Shining Theia, I offer to you this gold and these gems and ask that you bless me with the skills to make a ring worthy of the goddess that is my beloved.” I muttered as I kneeled with my hands upon a single golden ingot and a small pile of small diamonds bought from Rarity.

With my prayers made, I slowly stood and placed the gold into the forge, the diamonds going into a pool of water laid out in the sunlight from a window. The gold was red hot, and so I pulled it out with a pair of tongs and brought it to the anvil. Deftly striking the heated metal, I slowly began to thin it out into a rod.

The heat ran out, and I put the metal back in the forge so I could continue manipulating it. As I waited, I began to remember when I had started worshipping the Greek gods.

I’d been 18 at the time, and my family was firmly Catholic. We were in dire straits, our money was running low and our house was on the verge of being foreclosed on. Thus we turned to prayer. After 3 weeks of no help, however, hope began to run low. Thus, I decided, in both desperation and as a form of teenage rebellion, to pray to a different pantheon.

The Greek gods could be assholes, there was no doubt of that, but the times they did favor humans their feats were among the most amazing. And so I went out behind the house, started a bonfire and prayed for aid before tossing what was then my most precious possession into the fire...A stuffed animal that my grandmother had hand-made and given me as a final gift before she passed away.

I cried for a few days after that, before finding strength enough that I could move on. A day or two after I had gotten over it, I got a sudden urge to buy a lottery ticket. Figuring that it couldn’t hurt, I bought one of the most valuable ones and picked some completely random numbers. That night, I tuned in to the drawing.

I won. I won the grand jackpot. My parents and I were staring at the screen in shock for a while before we started celebrating. The next morning, I called in the ticket and asked for the lump sum payment. We used the money to pay off all of our debts.

I knew that I had to do something to earn more to keep my family going, however, so a week later...I joined the Navy.

My parents were not happy. They felt that a job as a soldier was a sin, as it meant I would be taking lives. That, plus the fact they found out I prayed to someone other than their God, meant that they cast me out. They were more than happy to try and keep the money that I’d gotten for them.

Let’s just say another prayer and a lawyer put a stop to that real quick.

Back in the present, I saw that the gold was done heating and brought it back out before using the horn of the anvil to form the end of the rod into a loop before taking a hot cut tool to remove the excess.

For a full day I worked, and still found my job unfinished. A week later, at least three prototypes had been rejected and sold to jewelry stores for cash needed to buy more gems and gold. Another month, and more than 10 more prototypes gone. 2 months passed in total since Celestia and I had stepped things up, and now I was truly cursing my lack of skills.

With a sigh, I decided on a final option. I started a small fire, and recited yet another prayer.

“Beautiful Aphrodite, I ask for your blessing. I ask that you grant me the knowledge of the ring that my beloved truly deserves.” With that, I dropped in a single bandage. A bandage that had been lovingly applied when I first came to this world, and had kept hidden in remembrance of that moment when Celestia and I first met.

That’s when I heard them, the whispers. The whispers that had guided when my family needed aid, the whispers that had shown me the way to go. They came to my ears on a gentle wind, softly tickling the flesh.

Without even realizing it, I had stood and began lighting the forge using a stick set aflame from my sacrificial fire. The whispers came louder, the words becoming nearly audible, yet at the same time in a tongue I could not understand. My gems were deposited into the water as usual, and then the water was frozen near solid. The metal was put into the flame and heated to near melting point before I pulled it out, my body and mind acting on these newly instilled instincts.

For yet another month I worked, this time all of that time was devoted to a single ring. I set the stones with microscopic precision, blended the metal to form a seamless loop, and nearly froze it in the water when I quenched it. All of this was done by the instructions and instincts blessed into my being by what I could only assume were the gods themselves.

At the end of the 3rd month, I finally found myself ready.

Hiding all of this from Celestia was not easy. Several times, she nearly caught me sneaking out to the forges. In the end, though, it was all worth it up to this point. Now, I could only hope that my work would pay off.

It was time for the Grand Galloping Gala. I knew that this would be the perfect time. I waited until Celestia was just wrapping up her farewell speech before I stepped onto the stage with her.

“Celestia, wait.” I said, getting her and everyone else’s attention, “Before you wrap things up, I have something that I need to ask you.”

With that, I walked over, reaching into my pocket, speaking all the while.

“We were in love for years, before we were forcibly separated.” I began, “But even after that, you stayed loyal to me, just as I did to you. I never really got the chance to show how much I appreciated that.”

I pulled my hand out of my pocket, revealing the box I’d bought.

“I’d like to change that now…” I finished my small speech as I went to one knee and opened the said box to reveal the ring I’d made.

It was a solid gold band, with a large circular setting. Inside that setting were several diamonds, all cut in such a way that they caught the light and trapped it in a starburst. The entire layout was that of her cutie mark, surrounded by a series of oceanic waves.

Celestia’s gasp was drowned out by the ones that came from the crowd that was watching.

I gave a loving smile as I looked into my beloved’s eyes.

“Princess Celestia, will you marry me?” My words were followed by a stunned silence, the audience waiting with bated breath.

Celestia’s eyes began to water as she gave a blinding smile, brighter than any I had ever seen her give and nearly enough to match the celestial object that she controlled.

“Oh, Percy...How could I say anything but yes?” Her words brought me endless relief, and so I stood, placing the ring on her proffered hand as I did. The crowd was cheering and clapping, even the nobles who did not really like me giving a few polite claps.

Once I was at my full height once more, I initiated a chaste kiss. A kiss which Celestia surprised me by deepening in front of everyone there. With that done, she turned to the crowd and spoke once more.

“Thank you all for coming. This has been a wonderful evening, and I hope to see you all again next year.” With those words finally spoken, the crowd began to file out of the dance hall, save for the element bearers and Cadence and Shining who had recently come back from their honeymoon.

“Oh. My. Gosh! That was so romantic!” Cadence squealed, making her husband wince and rub his ear from the volume and pitch.

“I can’t believe you proposed in front of all those ponies!” Rarity said, “That being said, may I see the ring Princess? I’d lie to see the end result that all those gems I sold him went into.”

As Celestia raised her hand and Rarity examined it carefully, the others who were present blinked in shock. It took a moment for Celestia to register what she said before she turned to me with a raised brow.

“Why would you need to buy gems, Percy?” She asked.

“Because I made that ring myself. I went through about 20 different prototypes before I lost count…”

Cadence’s jaw dropped before she let off a squeal that rattled the windows and made everyone wince.

“You actually hand-forged the ring?! That is beyond romantic! How long did it take you?” The princess of love babbled, only quieting down when her husband put a hand on her shoulder.

“Well, like I said, I lost count of the prototypes that I sold to the jewelry store at around 20. It took me a full month of working on nothing but this specific ring to make it just right.” I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment at the shocked looks everyone was giving me, “What? I...I just wanted the ring to be as perfect as she is…” I trailed off with a tomato red blush, turning my head down and to the side.

Celestia grabbed my chin and pulled me into a very heated kiss.

“Percy, you didn’t have to go so far for me. That said, I’m glad that you did.” My beloved’s eyes glowed with the promise of a reward later that night.

“You know that this calls for another party, right?!” Pinkie exclaimed suddenly, getting me to groan, “What?”

“Pinkie, I think we’ve had enough partying for a while.” My words were met with silent nods, “If you absolutely must throw a party for us, then wait a few months or so.”

“Awww, okay…” Pinkie’s mane deflated and her coat got a little darker as Twilight patted her on the back.

With that, everyone was escorted to their rooms, the bearers, Cadence, and Shining all deciding to stay the night again. Celestia dragged me back to her...No, our room, and as soon as she shut the door, she was all over me, her lips covering mine.

“Celestia...Not tonight.” I said, getting her to look at me strangely, “I’m more than happy to do this normally, but the stress of making the ring and the proposal have tuckered me out. I think it’d be best if we just snuggled for the night.”

The sun princess had a soft smile as she went to get changed, giving me a small show while she did so, to which I had to struggle to hold back my urges. When she climbed into bed with me, spooning us with me being the big spoon, she let out a happy sigh.

With smiles on both our faces, we slipped into Hypnos’s realms to dream of the future.

Down in Tartarus, Hades was seething once more.

“Nothing!” He snarled, “Three months of searching, and still nothing! There has to be something that I can use to kill that brat!”

Reaching out with what little power he could muster, the god of the underworld made a connection with one of the local monsters. To his disgust, it was only a mindless beast, and so it provided no new information.

Commanding the beast to approach another, more intelligent creature was taxing, as was intruding into the new monster’s mind. It was in this mind, however, he found a possible solution to his problems.

“Oh? Oh! Oh yes, this could work. This could work very nicely…” Hades gave a quiet, malevolent chuckle, that quickly turned into full on maniacal laughter.