Chapters It’s finally time. I finally managed to become one being again. I was finally strong enough to break free.
With a shout of exertion that echoed throughout the surrounding waters and made the walls of the crevice shake, I broke the chains of magic that I had imposed upon myself to keep from hurting anyone in my maddened state. I then crouched low before launching myself towards the surface, creating a small, but powerful current to speed myself up. When I breached the surface, I soared through the air before crashing down on top of a nearby high rock.
From here, I could see for miles. Miles that were filled with nothing but empty sea. Sighing, I stepped down and fell to stand on the water. My natural sense of nautical direction kicked in and told me to head east. After all, that was the way home. It didn’t help that I had a really bad feeling that something was happening.
With that in mind, I surrounded myself with water...And flew.
Celestia watched in despair as Chrysalis’s army invaded Canterlot on a magical screen the changeling queen had conjured. There was nothing she could do to stop it, being trapped in a cocoon along with her sister, her student, and her student’s friends and brother. She started to shed tears as the changelings forcibly drained the love from her subjects, leaving them to pass out before being cocooned just like her.
Chrysalis opened her mouth, seemingly getting ready to boast about her imminent victory when something happened. A literal blue streak soared across the sky on the screen, before starting to circle above Canterlot. Within the circle, a cloud started to form. Small and white at first, the cloud quickly expanded and darkened into a massive storm that covered the entirety of the royal city.
Lightning streaked and thunder roared as the rain came down in a nearly solid stream, flooding the streets and washing away several changelings that failed to get to higher ground but strangely gathering the cocoons in the central plaza after knocking them loose from the ground and walls.
“What is this?! What is happening?!” The insectoid queen screeched as the rain lightened and the floods subsided, for the most part, leaving streams in the streets at least an inch or two deep.
The navy blue streak that had been circling the storm the entire time finally dived towards the ground, crashing down in front of the castle gates. The resulting plume of water was as tall as, if not taller than the said gates. It created a silhouette of a pony-like figure who stood from his crouching position. Even after the plume settled, the rain was still too thick to make out any true details about the figure.
The figure was quickly surrounded by changelings, and so they held out a hand. To the astonishment of everyone in the throne room, the rain coalesced and froze into the shape of a trident which the figure grasped before charging at his foes.
While most of the others were wondering who this was, Celestia had her suspicions. However, she quickly dismissed those thoughts.
‘It can’t be him. He passed away long ago.’ She reasoned mournfully.
A horizontal swing of the changeling’s sword was ducked under before a jab of my weapon pierced his stomach. As he gave a last, rattling gasp, I had already formed a shield from the rainwater and blocked a spell that his comrade sent my way, deflecting it to another of my foes. It blew his head off as I decapitated the caster by throwing the sharpened shield.
Another rushed in with a spear, which I sidestepped, before forming a dagger and lodging it firmly in the warrior’s back. A sweep of my leg tripped the next attacker, and I formed a spike from the water underneath him that pierced his heart. I grabbed the arrow that one of them launched at me and crushed it, making the rest back up in fear.
The water underneath the figure was now glowing from the pooling changeling blood, allowing the figure to be identified as male. The rest of the warriors that surrounded the lone fighter started to back away, to which Chrysalis snarled.
“Cowards! Don’t you dare run away! Fight to the last changeling!” The queen ordered. The soldiers looked at each other... and charged. The lone warrior stood for a moment, briefly shaking his head before going down into a three-point position. He slowly brought his other hand up before slamming it down into the water, freezing it solid around him and trapping the soldiers by their feet.
With that done, he wrenched the hand that had been frozen free and flung it up, making spikes form from the ice and pierce all of the soldiers through places such as the stomach, the heart, and the head.
The ponies and the changeling queen stared in shock. In a few moments, this warrior had dealt with most of the changeling army. Shaking his head in the neon green light of the frozen blood, he freed his feet and walked toward the gates.
Rearing back his fist, he punched the said gates, sending them slamming open. The sound echoed throughout the entirety of the castle. As he stepped inside, the lights of the castle illuminated his features, revealing his face at last. Pale skin was covered by a simple blue t-shirt and tan cargo pants. Black hair hung bedraggled and soaked from the storm outside, the bangs covering one of his sea green eyes, yet seemingly not impairing his vision as he made his way through the halls.
Chrysalis gave another snarl as she stared at the screen, which showed the figure approaching the throne room as water slowly flooded the first few inches of the hallway in front of him as he walked.
“If you want something done right…” She grumbled as she turned to face the doors, doors which soon slammed open and revealed the very figure that they had been watching as the magic screen dispersed.
“...YOU HAVE TO DO IT YOURSELF!” The woman who I could only assume was the changeling queen shouted as she fired a large spell at me. I formed a shield from the water and sent it back, Knocking her flat on her back as the water finally finished reaching the desired depth throughout the room. I froze her in place before walking up and kneeling next to her.
“You know…” I said, speaking for the first time since I had broken the chains, “...I just don’t get it. You could have had all the love you ever needed by simply continuing as you were. Instead, you got greedy and tried to take all the love from a race who has said force as a fundamental value of their society. Why?”
“Because I was sick of being seen as a freak! We, changelings, deserve to rule, we have far superior abilities than ponies !” She exclaimed, spitting the last word as if it were the vilest curse in the world. I shook my head in response, unable to believe what I was hearing.
“So you’re saying that, rather than be content with what you had and taking your subjects into account, you would use them as pawns just so you could get more power?” I asked, “I swear, there are shitty rulers, then there are people like you. I think you need to chill and think about what you’ve done because now your entire hive has been all but wiped out because of your greed.”
And thus, I started to retract the water, forming a dome around the changeling queen before freezing her within a large block of solid ice. With the enemies eliminated, I turned to the cocoons containing the ponies who had been in the throne room. I held out my hand once more, a knife forming within my grip. Then I approached the first cocoon.
A wild swing of my arm split the membrane of the front, allowing the goop inside to rush out and dump the lone white stallion inside onto the floor. I walked to the next, this one contained a blue mare with a rainbow mane and repeated the process. 6 more times did I repeat these actions, each one releasing a mare I did not know. The 7th cocoon in all I sliced into more carefully, gently setting Luna, who had been inside, down.
It was the 8th that brought a sad smile to my face. Starting at the top I slowly dragged the knife down the frontal membrane in as straight of a line as I could. As soon as it burst forth, I dismissed the knife and caught her in my arms. The mare I had sacrificed everything for was as beautiful as ever, even with her white coat slickened and matted by a thin layer of slime. Her aurora-like mane hung limply, yet its colors only seemed to be brighter than before from this ordeal.
There was a groan, and I held her in front of me so that we could see each other properly. When her gorgeous pink eyes fluttered open, they widened at the sight of my face.
“Percy?” Her melodic voice was tinged with hope and confusion.
“Hello, Celestia, how is my Dawning Dream doing?” My sad smile as I gently moved a stray hair from her face seemed to be the final straw that convinced her, as she practically tackled me to the floor with a hug using a surprising amount of force from such a short distance.
“Percy! You’re alive!” Her gleeful shout drew the attention of everyone in the room, and while Luna snapped awake at her words, the others did so at the sight of their ruler hugging an unknown male.
“Perseus? Is that truly you? I thought you were dead?” Luna said with understandable suspicion.
“Heh, yeah...About that…”I began as I managed to get Celestia to let go of one of my arms so I could rub nervously at the back of my head, “That’s kind of a long story, one best told after everything is cleared up from whatever the hell that psycho in the ice cube did.”
As it turned out, that wacko bug had interrupted a wedding of all things. As if the invasion itself wasn’t evil enough. My bad mood didn’t last long, though. After all, a glance to my right where Celestia had yet to let go of my side and was resting her head on my shoulder contently was always going to bring a smile to my face.
After the festivities had passed and a round of showers, everyone I had freed from the cocoons personally along with the newlyweds had gathered in the dining hall.
“Alright, buddy, who are you and why is Princess Celestia so clingy around you?!” The rainbow-maned mare asked bluntly, getting most of the other mares to roll their eyes or shake their heads in exasperation except for the purple mare who sighed.
“Rainbow, while I would normally be mad about you being so tactless, I think being blunt is rather appropriate in this situation.” The mare’s words were accompanied by a glare in my direction.
Celestia looked back at her with a fond smile.
“Twilight, my dearest student, didn’t I ever tell you why I had never pursued a relationship, despite your occasional attempt on Hearts and Hooves day?” She gave a small giggle at the blush on her apparent student’s face.
“Ummm, no, I don’t think you ever did.” That sobered up my beloved, and so she cleared her throat.
“Ah, my apologies then. It seems that an explanation is in order.” Celestia sighed, “This began about 30 years before Luna’s banishment. We had been, at that point, rulers for at most a century. We believed that we had seen just about everything there was to see.”
“Indeed,” Luna continued, “That was what we thought until the storm came. It struck without warning, with no input from anyone. That wasn’t the first time, though. There is always a storm like that every few centuries or so. In fact, if I remember right we’re about due for another one, aren’t we sister?”
“We are, but that is a topic for another time.” Luna nodded in agreement before Celestia picked the story back up, “Anyway, we immediately ordered everyone to the underground shelters and called on the weather teams to help disperse it as was our established method of dealing with these storms. This time, however, the storm was even more severe than usual. A tornado appeared in the center of town, lightning strikes destroyed several buildings, and the rain created floods that scattered the rubble further.”
“It was to the point where we ourselves had to fly up and try to help the weather teams. We fought it for hours until the storm began to act strangely.” Luna spoke again, “The rain began to be absorbed into the tornado, to the point that it became a waterspout. The floodwaters rose and formed a sphere inside the spout before lightning struck the sphere. That caused a figure to come flying out at high speed towards the ground. My sister, the noble soul that she is, flew down and managed to catch the figure before they hit the ground.”
“That figure...Was me.” I began my part of the story now, “I didn’t remember much of my life before that point at the time, just my name. Anyway, when I opened my eyes and saw Celestia as the sun shined down upon her, I asked if she was an angel before I passed out.”
“Percy was badly injured. He looked as if he had come out of a warzone.” Celestia said with a slight blush at the memory, “I was one of the main caretakers, as most of our other medical forces were helping to treat any injuries on ponies who had been caught in the storm before they could reach the shelters.”
“Over the time we interacted, Celestia and I slowly began to fall for each other.” I said, my smile soft in remembrance, “It wasn’t instant, hell it was slow as a sloth thanks to me being denser than a rock. When I was fully healed, I would have left, had Celestia not confessed before I could go.”
“I remember that moment,” Luna said with a mischievous smile, “You tried to get the words out for at least a minute before you decided that actions would be louder and kissed him on the lips. The looks on your faces…Ha!”
Celestia and I were both blushing tomato red, which brought giggles from the mares and a chuckle from the lone stallion at the table.
“Things were great, at least for a while. Then Nightmare Moon appeared…” Luna trailed off, her face one of shame as she lowered her head. I reached over and put a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s not your fault, that damn monster possessed you and corrupted your mind. If you had been in your right mind then you never would have done it.” I said with a comforting smile, before turning back to the others, “When Nightmare was on the verge of being defeated, she decided that she had to have the last laugh. She cast a spell that forcibly brought my memories to the surface and forced me to relive the worst of them repeatedly. Considering that most of them were particularly traumatizing, my mind snapped. I would have done severe damage, and probably could have killed a lot of ponies. I couldn’t risk it, and so I flew out over the sea and dived into the deepest crevice I could find before binding myself to the bottom with chains of magic that even I couldn’t break at that point.”
“I followed him as far as I could and saw where he fell.” Celestia began to finish up the tale, “I’d thought that he was dead, and so I honored his memory every year on the day of his ‘death’ by dropping a bag of-”
“Sakura and rose petals.” I interrupted, getting a wide-eyed stare, “I remember. Every year, even in my fractured state, I saw those petals fall into the depths around me. It was one of the main things that gave me hope and kept me going in my attempts to pull myself together. It may have taken me more than 1000 years, but you still never forgot me.”
My smile became watery as I put my other hand on Celestia’s, “You could have moved on, I would have understood. Instead, you stayed loyal to my memory and that means everything to me.”
Celestia smiled with tears in her eyes as well and embraced me. With that, the floodgates opened, and we began to let the feelings we had been holding back run free. The grief of separation and the pure joy of reuniting with our beloved other halves. It took a few moments for us to calm down, and at that point, we noticed that the others had joined in on the crowded around us and joined in on the hug. My smile widening, I pulled back and wiped my eyes as Luna put a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m convinced, such a level of emotion could never be faked. I’m sorry I ever doubted you Perseus.” She said with a soft, apologetic smile.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Luna. It’s only reasonable that you were skeptical.” I replied with a nod.
With that, everyone returned to their seats and we began to enjoy a happy dinner that began with introductions before being filled with nothing but happiness and joyful conversations.
By the time dinner was over with, the time had come for the sun to set. Thus it was decided that Everyone, including the newlyweds, would stay the night in the castle and then set off to their destinations in the morning.
Everyone said good night, and then those who did not regularly stay in the castle were led to their rooms by the servants. I personally began to head toward my old chambers when Celestia grabbed my wrist.
“And where do you think you’re going?” She said, mischief in her eyes making me weary.
“Umm, to bed?” I replied hesitantly, the words coming out as a question instead of a statement.
“And why are you heading that way?” Her eyes were practically glowing with amusement.
“This is the way to my old room, remember?” Celestia raised a brow at my response.
“The key word there is old ...” Her words confused me, “Come on, I’ll show you to your new room.”
With that, she began to drag me down the hall, and after several twists and turns, we were standing in front of a door with a stylized sun on it.
“Here we are.” Her smile was nothing but trouble as she opened the door and pushed me inside.
The walls were done up in a tasteful shade of off white, with dark red drapes and sheets on the large four-poster bed. The window was framed by a pair of mismatched curtains, one orange, and the other yellow.
“Ummm, Celestia?” I asked slowly, “Why am I in what I’m guessing is your room?”
My beloved cleared her throat and made me turn, only for my eyes to widen and my jaw to drop upon seeing her in an opaque, but rather tight, nightdress. It didn’t show anything truly inappropriate, but it hugged her figure rather well. She was laying under the covers and holding up one side with a soft, slightly sad, smile.
“Perseus Jackson…” Her tone was slightly strained, almost as if she was struggling to keep something in check, “I lost you for over 1000 years. If you think I’m letting you out of my sight until I can ensure that this isn’t a dream, you have another thing coming. Now come and lay down beside me.”
I could see the tears in her eyes and realized that she was desperate. She had to know for herself if nothing else that I was back. With a resigned sigh, I shuffled over and laid down. Celestia lowered the covers and curled into my side, her head resting on my chest over my heart. I gently ran a hand through her mane, feeling it flow around the digits as if it were a river while it blew in an unseen and unfelt wind.
A soft smile graced my face as she sighed in pleasure with closed eyes and snuggled closer to me. Soon, her breaths began to even out, and a light, adorable snore began to exude from her. As she drifted off, her mane began to dim and settle, until it simply became like any other pony’s, except for the exceptional softness that I could only compare to silk.
I slowly began to stop my ministrations, my hand stilling and finally resting on the small of her back. I pulled her slightly closer, and let off a sigh of my own at the pleasant excess heat her body gave off. I let my eyes slowly begin to shut.
‘I’m finally back with my beloved Dawning Dream.’ I thought as I began to slip into the realm of Hypnos, ‘For me, all is right in the world.’
Meanwhile, as the recently re-awakened warrior slept, a being stood in a cage. Locked within the deepest depths of Tartarus, this being let out a string of curses.
“Damn him!” He cried, his voice echoing throughout the empty cavern, “Damn him to Tartarus and back! How in the name of The River Styx did he survive!?”
The being’s blue flames flared on top of his head, the light revealing a pale, gaunt body with a black robe covering everything from the neck down. Yellow bulging eyes glowed with rage as he paced back and forth before taking a deep breath and raising his hands in a placating manner.
“Okay, okay Hades, chill.” He said to himself, “So your plan to conquer the world via that dumb bug failed, so what. There are other ways to break free and win, you just have to find them.”
With an evil grin, he began to plot once more...
I opened my eyes to find myself alone in my new bed. Sitting up, I found a positively disgusting smell in the room. A quick check revealed it to be coming from my clothes, which made sense due to being underwater for so long. With a grimace, I headed over towards the door to the room, intending to leave and find a shower.
As I approached, however, the door opened and I found Celestia entering the room in a beautiful white dress.
“Oh! Good morning Percy!” She exclaimed as she went to kiss me, only for me to put a hand up and stop her.
“Sorry Celestia, but I absolutely reek , and likely the sheets do as well now that I think about it. I need a shower before we can kiss or anything.” I explained, getting a fond smile and a shake of her head.
“I see, in that case, there is a bathroom through that door over there. I’ll have a servant come in and change the sheets on the bed.” She said, pointing to a door to the right side of the room coming in.
“Oh, thanks!” I smiled and made my way to the bathroom, quickly stripping down to my birthday suit, I stepped into the stall and turned the water up as hot as it would go. Sighing in pleasure at the sensation of my muscles unwinding, I completely missed the sound of the door opening again. There was a quiet rustling of cloth, before the door opened, making me yelp.
Turning with my hands covering my decency, my jaw dropped at the sight of Celestia standing bare before me. She smiled sultrily and stepped into the shower with me.
LEMON WARNING!
“C-Celestia, what-!” I began, only for her to silence me with a finger over my lips.
“Shush, Percy. I think we both know what I want…” She came around behind me, grabbing my now hardened member, “And it seems you want it too…”
When she started rubbing it, I had to bite my lip to keep myself from moaning.
“C-Celestia, wait…” I said, getting her to stop for a moment, “What are you doing? Why are you…?”
Another finger over my lips silenced me before she came around and went to her knees in front of me with her hands running over my member the entire time.
“You know exactly what I’m doing, dear.” Her smile widened as she sped up slightly, leaving me with no way to hold back my voice, “As for why? Do you really think I would be satisfied with another stallion? All these years, every heat cycle, I held myself back. It hurt, but I swore to myself that I would wait for you before your ‘death’.”
The mare of my dreams leaned in closer, her breath tickling my crotch, “Now that you’re back, I don’t have to hold back anymore, and I am extremely pent up. So just be quiet and let me do this.” With that, she took my member into her mouth, sucking it with such force that I was amazed that she didn’t rip it straight off.
I could only moan in pleasure, feeling her tongue run over every inch of it with her teeth occasionally just barely grazing my flesh. I had to wonder how she had gotten so good at this if she had never taken another lover. Alas, it didn’t take long for a pressure to start building up.
“Oh gods, Celestia! I...I’m gonna-!” I could only release a loud groan as I instinctually grabbed her head and forced her to take as much of my member in as she could before dumping a load of cum down her throat.
Realizing what I’d done, I quickly released her and she pulled back, coughing and hacking up globs which the still running water washed away.
“I’m so sorry! I ran on instinct and-!” My words were cut off by a kiss.
“It’s okay, I’m fine. It actually tasted rather good.” Celestia said before she looked down and her eyes widened, “No way, you’re still hard?!”
Looking down myself, sure enough, I was still as hard as a rock. I looked up at Celestia, only to see her smile and turn around before leaning herself up against the wall with her hind end presented and her tail moved aside.
“I guess that it’s a good thing that I’m ready to go then, isn’t it?” The mare stated. Indeed, I could see liquid running down her inner thigh, and the smell told me that it wasn’t water, “Hurry up, Percy! I’ve wanted this for so long, I don’t know how much more I can take!”
Hesitantly, I stepped up behind her, my member rubbing against her slit, she gave a slight moan as I bent down and whispered in her ear.
“Are you sure about this? Once we do it there’s no going back…” My words were interrupted again by another kiss as she grabbed my head and pulled me closer, and when she pulled back, I could see that her eyes were practically glowing with lust.
“Percy, if I wasn’t sure I never would have come in here at all. Now hurry up and put it in!” Celestia’s confirmation was all I needed as I began to line myself up. Once I was in position, I slowly, gently began to enter her slit.
Both of us gave loud moans as the pleasure began to run through us. She was wet and tight, her walls gripping me like a vice. I took my time and eventually bottomed out, feeling the tip of my member hitting what I assumed was her womb.
“Oh gods, Percy, you’re so big, so deep…” Celestia managed to pant out, “G-give me a minute to adjust…”
“Not a problem, my Dawning Dream.” My response was accompanied by a kiss and nibbling while sucking at a spot on her neck, giving her a hickey and making her moan even more. A few moments later, she moved backward a bit, signaling that she was ready.
With that, I slowly pulled out, before thrusting back in with force. Celestia gave another groan and looked back at me.
“Percy, don’t hold back. I want to feel every bit of love that you have for me!” She said, her eyes clouded over. And who was I to deny the woman I loved what she wanted.
Thus, I was off to the races, pulling out and thrusting as roughly as possible. The sound of colliding flesh echoed through the room, as did Celestia’s moans and screams.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! Dear gods, please don’t stop, Percy! Please don’t stop!” Celestia’s words drove me to thrust even more wildly, making her scream even louder.
Again though, thanks to this being my first time, I felt the pressure build up quick.
“Celestia, I’m close!” I whispered, getting a heated kiss in return.
“Give it to me! Come inside!” She said.
“But what about-!” Celestia cut me off again.
“I took a contraceptive before I came in, now do it already! I’m so close, and I want to feel it rush through me!” With that, Celestia tightened even more, and I found myself unable to hold back.
“Celestia!” I shouted, feeling my ejaculation begin.
“Percy!” Her responding shout was followed by our most heated kiss yet, and afterward, we took a moment to bask in the afterglow.
When I pulled out, all of the cum I’d released flowed out and ran down to the floor of the shower stall, again being washed away by the water now running down both of our backs.
LEMON OVER!
As we stood a few moments after we finished, my chest to her back as I slowly began to run soap across Celestia’s body, I couldn’t help but have a question come to mind.
“Celestia…” I began, getting her attention, “What does this make us? We’re not just boyfriend and girlfriend now...Right?”
“Oh, Perseus…” Celestia sighed as she turned to me, “To me, we were never boyfriend and girlfriend.”
Her words were a shock before she continued speaking, “To me, we were always more than that. I knew from our very first kiss that you were the one for me.”
I smiled and kissed her on the forehead right above her horn before speaking up.
“I’m glad you feel that way.” I wrapped my arms slightly tighter around Celestia’s waist, “I wasn’t as sure about that at first, but while I was chained up I managed to come to the conclusion that we were simply meant to be.”
A smirk crossed my face before I continued, “Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t be doing this properly. Expect a surprise in a few months time.”
“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.
How far? How far can one man go before he has to stop?
How long? How long can someone wait before they have to give up?
How much? How much pain can you put someone through before the snap?
These questions and more have plagued me for years now. I pushed myself so hard, tried for so long...Only for it to end in pain every time. Every time I look at my soul, I see someone different, somebody who makes me question everything I thought I knew about myself.
Who am I? Am I the soldier who fought amongst those harsh waves and clouds, the man who tried to drown out his memories with alcohol, and the person who was struck by lightning for his sins?
Or am I the man who was saved by her love, the one who gave everything he had to keep her safe, and the one who cast himself into the darkest of abysses for the sake of an entire world?
In truth, I know that I am both. Yet at the same time, I know that they are two different people. In this shadowy crevice, so deep beneath the sea, I feel myself being torn to shreds every day. Yet despite that, I remain whole in body.
My very soul is cast out as bait, and the creatures of the depths come to devour it. But even so, they soon perish and burn from the light within it. No matter how much I wish to give in, I know that I cannot...For somewhere, on the surface and amongst its people, she awaits.
The love of my life. The woman who visits the surface of the water above this place every year in an attempt to honor my memory, the memory of one she thinks she lost. She knows not that I live, trapped until my being is able to fully reunite. Every year, she attaches a small rock to a bag of cherry and rose petals then drops it down so that the petals scatter amongst the water currents and float gently down to the place where I am bound. The sight is mesmerizing, and nearly always brings a tear to my eyes.
And yet, still, I find myself trapped and torn into shreds by this blasted curse. My mind shattered long ago in an attempt to cope with the isolation, and yet it has only made me weaker. Over the centuries I have been trapped, I slowly have felt myself begin to fade, my memories slowly dissolving into nothing much like the sand that is stirred from the ocean floor.
But I will not give in. I will not stop. I will break free. And when I do, I will find her. I will find her, and our reunion shall be glorious.
Thus I smile and begin to meditate, once more beginning to draw my heart together.