Celestial Love Book 3: Marriage.

l February 2, 2013

The rest of the time up until the wedding would be fairly normal. Me and Luna would wake up together. We'd both do something to plan for the wedding. We would come home. We would spend a few minutes kissing eachother, showing our love. We'd go to bed.

Okay, maybe that's not entirely true.

Yeah, our day on the 2nd started out normal enough. I remember waking up next to Luna, grinning as I did so. My eyes slowly cracked open, casting themselves upon the same glorious sight as I always had. I grinned, and reached my hand over and caressed her teal locks. She didn't wake, but she smiled in her sleep. I chuckled gently, finding the way she looked when she smiled adorable.

Finally, after laying there several minutes, I backed away from her and rose up from the bed. I walked from the bed into the bathroom. I opened the door and quietly shut it. I took a towel and placed it beside the shower before stepping in. I turned on the hot water full blast.

As the burning water hit my flesh, heating my body to near-feverish temperatures, I reached over and grabbed the soap. As I scrubbed the lye against my body, I allowed myself to relax in the warm stream. After several moments of scrubbing my body, I moved over and rinsed the lathered soap off. After that, I took the same oak musk as I always used, squirted some of the fragrant gel into my hand, and went on to lather it through my hair.

I chuckled; I still couldn't believe that I had become anthro. My hair was noticeably shorter than my mane, but it was the same mixture of ruby and sapphire. I once again savored the feeling of the suds flowing through my hair, cleansing it and relaxing me with the scent.

I rinsed the shampoo out from my hair, then stood there for a few moments. I savored the heat of the shower a minute more, then turned off the water. I stepped out onto the mat, then proceeded to drying myself. Being more humanoid and having hands instead of hooves, it was much easier. I wrapped the towel around my waist.

I walked back out into the bed chambers. Luna was getting up, stretching herself a bit and yawning. She looked over at me from her position beside the bed, and said, "Good morning, love." I smiled at her.
"Morning, my little Crescent Moon." She giggled. I came over and hugged her. She snuggled against me and kissed my neck. I chuckled at the feeling that gave me. Warm, inviting.

"Luna," I began, kissing her upon the brow. "I have something special for you."
She looked into my eyes. "What, dear?" I smiled at her as I looked into those beautiful, sparkling teal eyes.
"Well, Luna, you see... You know how I said I was out making something for the two of us?" She nodded. "Well... I was making a home for the two of us." She looked at me, puzzled.

"What do you mean, love?" She asked me. I grinned.
"Well, you see... I was making a palace for the two of us to live in. I was hoping that we could move in there together." I looked at her, hopeful. As she realized what I was saying, she nodded. "So you'll leave the castle, and live with me by the Ocean, below the Moon?" She nodded ever-more eagerly, smiling and deepening our embrace. I smiled at that; I was glad we would be able to live in our own home together. And yet, I was still amazed by this all. I mean, I was 16 years old. In a couple of days, I would be 17. I had a beautiful fiance, I was going to get married in less than two weeks, and I was having a child. And yet, at this age, I had no regrets.

.....

After telling Luna about the palace, the two of us went flying together. We were going to go to the palace later, so that she could view it and tell me what she thought, but until then, I wanted to spend some alone time with her, both of us doing something we love. Ever since I was a young child, I'd wanted to fly, and loved it now that I could, and Luna, ever since she first came off the ground, loved flying.

So, we enjoyed it all we could. The wind flowing through our hair, whistling through the feathers on our wings, the cool, brisk feeling on our faces. We flew together, joy, passion, and love in our smiles, and with every part of our body. I looked over at her as we soared high through the great blue, and smiled. She returned the expression. As we did this, I felt great joy overtaking myself.

Within a few moments, I closed the 15 yard gap between the two of us and wrapped a wing around her back. She grinned a bit wider and looked over at me. "Oh, you," She mouthed, though I couldn't hear it over the wind. I smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

We were flying high over the Ocean. We weren't near the mainland at the moment; Instead, we had flown out a bit from the east coast. I was loving the salty spray of the Sea's wind. Luna and I were happy about being with eachother and feeling the wind. Finally, we returned to the coastline. We flew over where the palace lay, and when we did so, I pointed over at the top of the Acropolis-like building. She followed my finger, and smiled.

We descended towards the beach slowly and calmly. Moments later, we touched down. I walked with her over to the beginning of the bridge that connected the land to the palace. She smiled as she looked at the building. White marble columns, great granite walls. She smiled. "What do you think, honey?" I asked her lovingly. She looked back at me. "What do I think?" She asked, beaming with a great smile upon her face. "Love, I think this is wonderful! Oh, this is so beautiful, and the fact that you did it yourself is just..." She ran from where she was standing at the beginning of the bridge over to me, and peppered my face wtih kisses.

"So... You're willing to leave the castle behind, and live here, and help me rule an empire?" She looked straight into my eyes, and, with tears of joy in her own, she nodded. I leaned down, and kissed her upon the brow. She nuzzled my neck lovingly.

I took her by the hoof, and led her into the palace. We took a quick walkthrough of the beautiful castle, me telling her about certain aspects of the various rooms. When we got to the center of the castle, where I had the tube to Atlanteia, I stopped her. "Hold on a second," I told her. I wanted her to see the kingdom for herself. So, the night before I read some of the book that the Dragon-Born Warrior, and in it I found a lost Dragon-Born spell, the Spiraculum Mare. It was a spell that would allow whoever used it to breathe beneath water anytime you touched the waves.

I touched my horn to her heart and spoke the spell, chanting, "Bonum Dei gratia et virtus omnis spiritus in caelis est, dabit virtutem spiritus mortali mare quo loco vivere non potest." Slowly, a golden glow spread from my horn to her chest, slowly engulfing her, first with her breast, to her neck and head, slowly to her front legs and midsection, and, slowly, ever so slowly, to her rear.

The golden coloration over her lasted a moment, then disappeared. "Oh my... What was that?" Luna asked me. I smiled at her. "A spell. You'll be able to breathe underwater for a while." She looked a bit puzzled. I chuckled. "So you can see the empire, and everything down there." Luna looked at me for just a moment, then her eyes widened in what I assumed was fear.

"Um... I, I uh... Well that's not... Necessary, love..." She looked down nervously, blushing.
I looked at her, confused. "What's wrong, Moon Pie?" I asked her.
"Oh, nothing," She replied. "I just... Um... I... Don't know how to swim..." She began mumbling.
"What was that?"
"I... I... Don't know how to swim..."
"Luna," I continued. "You obviously have some kind of problem, and whatever that problem is, I want to help you with it. But to help you with it, I need to know what it is, love. Now then, will you tell me? Please?"

After several moments looking down, blushing, she smiled slightly, then looked back into my eyes. She nodded. "Well, General," She continued, still blushing but not looking away. "My problem is that... I... I don't know how to swim..." She looked away then, very embarrassed. I didn't want to laugh, but, I was unable to stifle a small chuckle. "Luna," I said lovingly to her. "Don't be upset about that. It's nothing to be ashamed of if you don't know how to swim, Moon Pie. But, there is one thing I must ask you."

"What?" She replied, curious.
"Um... Well, how do you not know how to swim, love? I mean, there's nothing wrong with it, but I would expect you to know how to swim." She smiled coyly.
"Well, you see... Celestia and I were even younger when I was banished than most think. Our father died when we were just a few months old, and our mother, well... She disappeared before I was old enough to remember her. Sometimes I see little snippets and pieces of her in dreams and in visions, but I've never seen her in person. And then, shortly after Mother disappeared, Celestia and I began raising and lowering the Sun and the Moon ourselves. Mother left us with only some ancient tomes and Celestia's skills to learn how to. And, we never truly had the time for anything, because as soon as either one of us rose our own celestial body, we would feel so weak we would need to rest, and the other would watch over everything to make sure nothing bad happened."

A few tears slipped from her eyes. "And then, when Celestia reached the adolescence at the age of a hundred, and I was a few years younger, it happened. Me and Luna were slowly beginning to become more powerful, and we had been having tutoring sessions with our nursemaid. I was starting to realize how much people loved Celestia's Daylight, but how much they disliked my Night. You know what happened shortly after that. And, because me and Celestia never got a chance to be children when we were young, I never learned how to swim before I was banished."

I nodded. "I see the issue. Well, hon' I'll tell you what: When we get under the water, just wrap your hooves around me and I'll help teach you." She nodded. "Alright then. Let's go." She came up behind me and put her forlegs around my stomach and chest. She blushed a bit as she did so, but was still smiling. I slowly approached the tunnel, the down we went.

Now, the way the tunnel was designed, it was just stone protected from the water, down for about 30 feet. Then, the tunnel opened up into the open sea. As we touched the water, Luna took on a golden hue. I began paddling my arms and kicking my feet to propel the both of us through the water. Within a few moments, we could see the great city, Atlanteia. As she looked upon the great city of golden and silver treasures, a great smile came upon Luna's face. I chuckled. "Do you like it, Luna?" I askee her, smiling.
"Yes, it is... Beautiful..." Her grin became even wider.

As we approached the domed city of gems, I thought of something. "Luna, bring your forelegs up and hold onto me by my shoulders."
"What?" She said, confused.
"I want to help you, just, take me by the shoulders." She nodded, and slowly brought her hooves one after the other over my shoulders. "Now, straighten your body and start kicking your hind legs, slowly." She calmly straightened out and began slowly kicking her legs. We cut through the water slowly.

"Now close your eyes, Moon Pie."
"Why?" She replied, much bewilderment in her voice.
"Just do it, please. You'll find out why soon enough." I looked back at her and smiled.
"Okay, love." She obeyed. After several moments, I slowly edged my way out of her grasp. I swam away a few yards, and there she was. Luna was swimming.

"Open your eyes now, Luna. Oh, and don't be afraid!" I yelled to her.
"Why would I be afra-" She opened her eyes, and saw she was moving. Her back legs were kicking, and her front legs were also slowly moving her through the fluid. "See Luna?" I said. "I told you I would help you." She nodded once, then smiled and began to swim around a bit faster. She swam in different patterns, making shapes in the water. She smiled and laughed as she did this. Finally, she slowed down a bit and swam over to me.

She threw her forelegs around me in a hug. "Oh, General," She cried out, a great grin upon her face. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" She tightened the embrace until I could barely breathe. She kissed me deeply and passionately upon the lips before letting go of me and slowly backing away.

"Thank you so much for teaching me!" She giggled once more, then swam beside me. We were just a few yards from the entrance of the city, and we continued forth. We both smiled lovingly, and we entered into the city. Everypony there stared in amazement and bewilderment at their king and who he had brought. I heard them whispering to each other, probably trying to figure out what was going on.

"Ah, General," Mare Puerum came from the left and waved at me as he swam over. "Good day, milord." I nodded. "Good day, friend. How are you, Mare?" He grinned.
"I am just fine, thank you. And you?"
"I am fine. Oh, and, Mare, this is my fiance, Luna." I gestured at Luna, smiling.

He saluted. "Good day, Queen Luna." He voiced
"Hmm?" Luna replied, surprised at the title used. "Um... I am not a queen, but you flatter me, sir."
"Oh, hoho, I see the problem," He chuckled. "You arenot a queen yet. Once you have married General, though, you will become queen to us, the sea ponies." She nodded, understanding.

"Well, thank you. But, just know that you mustn't be so formal. It will be fine if you simply call me Luna."
"Very well than, ma'am." He replied. "In any case... Lord General, you must come with me, quickly." I was confused. "Come with you? Why?" He chuckled.
"Well, you see, you fell from us a thousand years ago. But, you see... When you fell, you were only of the age of 160, the age of adolescence among sea ponies. You weren't old enough to be king, though your father had died a few years before, so you were still the Prince. So, the coronation ritual was never performed on your 210th birthday. You're not the king yet."

I reeled a bit, in shock. "Oh. Wait, so then... How old would I be now?"
He grinned a bit. "Well... you're about 1,500 years old now. In fact, by my count, your 1,500th birthday is two days from now!"

Well, that made me grin. "So, when will I be crowned?"
"Today, my lord, today!"

.....

He took Luna and I to the largest building in the city: The remains of the Old Palace, where the royals would stay before I apparently disappeared. It was perhaps the secondmost plain building in the city, rivaled only by the temple. I was led up to the front steps before a circle of runes on the ground. From what I knew, in clockwise order the runes read Birth, Honor, Love, Life, Truth, Justice, and Death.

I grinned; These runes were probably going to imbue into me the full power of the Sea Alicorn, the power to truly be as the king. Now, I would know my true potential. Now, I would find the truth. Now, I would find myself. Now, I would find the hole within my heart and fill it, a hole that couldn't be filled by anything, not even by Luna's love for me.

Following the directions of the priest there, I knelt down in the center of the circle. He then adorned me with a crown of golden glamour, a blue stole of sapphire gleam, and brazen pauldrons with silvered edges. "Now," The priest continued. "You pray. You may pray to any God you please, in any language you please. Tell us when you are done."

I nodded. I thought long and hard of what I would pray for and about. Finally, I decided. Aloud, I prayed, "Misericors Deus magnus et sanctus, laudo. Donari me vobis gratias ago pro omnibus et cum omnibus viribus constituisti me affectus es, Deus. Facies me, quaeso, forti et constanti opera mea, dabo tibi et ducam in nouo populo, ut est genus benignus dux crudelitas iniquae spurium. Deus, succurre mihi in omnibus et virtutis ades. Sed tua voluntas mea non fiat. Amen."

After I said Amen, I paused for a moment, then said, "I am done." The priest nodded.
He then went on to continue the ceremony. "Do you swear to lead your people well to the greatest extent of your ability?" He asked. "I do."

"Do you swear to vanquish evil if you should come across it in the name of your people, your family, your friends, and your Gods?"
"I do."
"Do you swear to live fast, like the dolphin, strong, like the shark, kind, like the ocean breeze, and calm, like the whale?"
"I do."
"Do you swear to, if need be, join battle and lay down your life for your loved ones and your people, to be sharp like a razor, and be willing to destroy without mercy, yet be honorable?"
"By my Blood, my Sweat, my Tears, and my Honor, I do."

The priest grinned. "Then by the power gifted unto me by our last king and the God's Themselves, I herby declare you, Lord Tridentus Marinas XV, King of the Empire of the Sea!" Upon saying that, he touched the head of his silver staff to my horn. I felt an odd sensation spread through me. Power flooded through my veins. Visions came into my head. Visions of things that happened to me, that I didn't remember. Me as a young baby in my home. Pony versions of myself in this world growing up. Then, the weirdest thing.

It showed the young colt version of me in this universe. I didn't look like much, just a foal, but still at least as old as Luna said she was when she was banished. I was maybe a little taller and longer. I was in the palace here, back before it's destruction. I was staring out a window. There was a great beast, larger than anything I'd ever seen before, charging towards the city. I jumped up high, then swam out of the palace. I flapped my wings to help me swim faster, speeding towards the beast. I kicked the beast multiple times, ripped flesh from it's throat, and shot magic at it. Finally, I stopped it. I came down to the ground. I drew up all the magic I could, from my own body and from the earth and sea round me. I charged this life into my horn, building up a great charge.

I felt what was happening in the vision. I felt my horn begin tingling, as well as the rest of my body. Finally, I released the charge; A great golden beam of energy burst forth, fire lacing it's edges. It zig-zagged, hitting the beast head on. It first hit the beast's flesh, then lanced through the creature, destroying the black hole where it's heart would be. The beast was disintegrated. I stepped back, wobbling a bit, and smiled a weary grin. I looked once at the corpse, then fainted.

I saw myself during my great slumber. Decades passing each second. I saw people come, pay homeage to me, gather gifts of food and drink around me in case I should awake. I saw them salute me, pray to me, and thank me. Finally, on the 500th year, it happened. A figure in a dark cloak, I couldn't tell who, came before me. He knelt down, and drew out an amulet. The amulet was resting upon his slightly-scaled, human hand. The Dragon-Born Warrior.

He placed the amulet before me, then made a symbol in the air with his fingers before walking away. Moments later, I was gone, as were the gifts and offerings around me.

The next thing I knew, I was in a dark forest. It was back on Earth. I was just a foal this time. I was wrapped in a blanket. I was asleep a moment more, but then I looked up. I was in a dark, frightening forest. I had no problems. I guess I had a little amnesia then, 'cause I started looking around. I suppose I was looking around for my 'parents'. I walked into a wolf.

The canine growled at me, but I was unafraid. I growled right back at the beast. When it tried to pounce upon me, I dodged it and bit into it's side. The wolf yelped in pain then as I came around and kicked him in the ass. It yelped again, looking at me. It stared for just a moment, then turned and ran. I began walking East.

Following the Full Moon, I slowly walked that way, not looking for anything, just walking. I walked for hours, and it was still dark. About an hour in, it began raining. I got very cold. I saw a small house up ahead, so I walked to it. I stumbled up the porch steps. I stood up on my hind legs and pressed my hooves against the front door. I let out a quick whining sound before fainting.

The door slowly opened. My parents stepped out, and saw me. They were shocked by what they saw. They considered what they were supposed to do with me. Finally, they decided to bring me inside. My mother picked me up and kissed me on the brow. The door closed behind them as they stepped back inside with me.

.....

I woke up from the vision, tears in my eyes. I looked around, at the priest, at Mare Puerum, at Luna, and at the crowd surrounding the spot I was at. I was confused, and I had several questions for my parents. I remembered a spell I had learned, and used it. "Recipe me ad patriam amore!" I cried out. Moments later, I was in Luna's bed chambers.

I quickly found some paper and pencil, wrote Luna a note, and took out Rend from the nightstand by the bed. I slashed open a portal to my house on Earth, and stepped through.

Upon arriving in my house, I went into my mother's bedroom and walked up to her furiously. "Mom," I said. "We need to talk. NOW." She nodded.
"What do you need, son?" She asked me.

I was angry, then. "Am I your son?!" I asked her, angrily. I looked up and glared right at her. "Are you sure you didn't just find me? Are you sure I didn't just show up on your doorstep 15-and-a-half years ago?!" She took on a nervous look. "What do you mean, General? Of course that didn't happen..."
"I know the truth, Mom. I'm not really your son." She looked at me in shock.

"What, where did..." She sighed, realizing I couldn't be swayed. "How did you find out?"
"That's not important," I growled. "What's important is that I know, and I demand that you tell me the full story, right, the fuck, NOW!"

"Alright," She said. "I'll tell you the truth."