The town was alive today. Ponies hustled around left and right for items they had on their shopping lists or things they wanted to buy or get. Though there was one pony who looked for something very few had looked for this fine day. A ring to propose to the one they loved. Lunar Flarion was in disguise as he looked around the shop for the perfect ring. He had gained some bits from working as Prim’s personal guard, around thirty bits an hour. When Prim had heard of this, she was surprised and a little angry that Flare accepted it since Midnight didn’t tell her about that, only about the medal. However, she couldn’t stay mad for long, especially when Flare calmed her down and told her it was something he would do without a problem, and if she wanted to be left alone he would do so.
That was nine days ago, and Flare worked a good ten to eleven-hour shift, so he had a good amount of bits he could spend on the ring. Midnight and Night heard of his plan and asked Prim if she were ever to get a wedding ring, what type would it be? Prim told them how she didn’t really care about the ring, all she cared about was the pony who bought it, she then questioned why they would ask and they had an amazing comeback... Just a random thought they said. Flare had to chuckle when they told him the story.
As of now, Flare was, as stated, in disguise as Neutron Star as he looked at different rings within his price range of 200 bits. He looked at different rings of all types, diamond, gold, ruby, sapphire, and now he had his eyes on tungsten. A few other vamponies were in here as well, both male and female, all looked at the rings and other jewelry the small corner shop had to offer. One of the jewelers of the shop had helped Flare look for different types of rings, of course, they tried to sell him the more expensive stuff to gain a more favorable profit, however, they showed him the less expensive stuff, stuff that wasn’t over 300 bits. That is how he landed on the tungsten rings. The jeweler stated that if he were to buy one, he could have something written on it. Flare nodded and knew already what he could put on it. After he had searched for a good few minutes, Flare found a rather lovely looking ring and waved the jeweler over.
“Have you found the ring you wanted, sir?” the jeweler asked.
“Yes,” Flare replied as he pointed at the ring,” I would like that one, if I may.”
“Of course, sir.” The grabbed the ring and walked it over to the counter,” Would you like anything inscribed onto the surface?”
“Yes,” Flare replied,” I want Amica mea to be written on the surface.”
The jeweler nodded and lit up the horn. A golden glow covered the ring and it slowly started to have the words engraved into the metallic surface. Once the jeweler was done, they placed the ring back down and said,” My love? An interesting thing to engrave on a ring, are you planning on proposing?”
“Yes, to a pony I love dearly,” Flare responded as he placed the amount the ring cost onto the table.
the jeweler bagged the ring and put the bits into the register,” Then I wish you luck.”
“Thank you,” Flare responded as he took the bag in his magical grasp and left the building.
The cold November air lightly ran over his fur as he exited the building. The Moon hung highly in the sky for it was noon. He walked down the small set of steps and out onto the street. Many foals ran around the town some wore thin coats as they chased each other or talked. He heard school was out due to a holiday he hadn’t heard of before, a holiday called the Falling Sun. Normally, he would be confused by the name, but he had asked Prim about the things she had read and she told him about the Solar Empire, more than what Star had told him previously. She then went over the upcoming, or soon to be an upcoming holiday called Falling Sun, which celebrated the fall of the empire. When Flare asked to see the Royal Archives, Prim told him that only her family had the ability to go down there, it was kinda an ancient spell set on it that anypony not of their royal blood will be flung backward and no spell could counter it.
Two small vampony foals ran by him and he stopped and watched them play along the cobblestone road as they giggled and ran in a game of tag. He watched a little as the two foals ran around each other as one tried to confuse the other so they wouldn’t be tagged. He couldn’t help but smile at the child-like innocence these foals held, something he kinda wanted back but knew he couldn’t gain. So he enjoyed the moments when others held it when others used it. Even as he walked on. Few ponies stopped and looked at him, something he expected since he wasn’t exactly normal here, he hadn’t really worn his disguise out in public all that much and was rarely shown in public for the matter. Though most just went about their business and he went about his.
He entered Town Square in a few short minutes, the many trees held brightly colored leaves, or at least what was left of the brightly colored leaves since most had fallen from the trees. Still, it was a beautiful sight, one Flare had never seen before much like most other seasons like Spring, Summer, and Autumn, other than a little bit last year. Truth be told, the first time he had ever seen them, he was absolutely amazed by the colors and the feeling of warm winds. Lavafracture, the place that held the mighty Core, was hot, yes, but it wasn’t the nice and comforting warmth of the Summer’s winds. The Square was most awake this time around, many of the townsponies hung up decorations of a moon covering up a sun or a red sun. He remembered what Night had actually told him those two mean, the Red Sun symbolizes the end of the fiery torment and the moon covering the sun symbolizes a new dawn. So it was a big deal, this holiday. Some shops sold different types of candy and food while others sold hats and clothing. Some of the shops tried to sell him some of the stuff and Flare gave in and bought a few treats for Prim then made his way back to the castle.
The outside of the castle got an upgrade of sorts, a large fence with spikes at the top roped around the whole castle and two guards stood at the entrance to a large gate door. As Flare walked up he removed his disguise and the guards allowed him entry back into the castle. Once he got past the two guards and heard the gate slam shut, he walked up to the castle doors where another set of guards waited. One checked Flare to see if he really was who he said he was while the other checked for weapons. When the found the ring, he noticed a small smile on the guard's muzzle since they wore the old armor and they simply plopped it back into the bag and handed it back. Flare gave the guard a sideways glance and walked inside. Now was once again the time to wait for the perfect time to propose to Prim. Maybe at moonset? When the sky was a brilliant shade of light and dark blues? Flare smiled as he imagined the scene, it was simple, yes, but it was lovely.
“Now, all I have to do is hide the ring and make sure Prim won’t find it,” Flare muttered to himself as he found a small pocket watch chain to wrap through the ring and turn it into a necklace.
‘Maybe you can stick it up in a high place.’ An all too familiar voice chuckled.
‘Don’t be rude.’ Replied another and a small yelp came from the first.
“Bout time you two came back,” Flare replied as he opened the door to his room,” Where’ve you been?”
‘Should I tell him or should you?’ Solar asked Light.
‘I’ll tell him, you would just be a jerk about it,’ Light replied.
‘Flare, when you went berserker on Star, that flame... it kinda... killed us for a while,’ Light said,’ We only came back since you survived.’
“Oh...” Flare replied as his eyes widened in surprise.
‘Yeah, hurt like hell and such,’ Solar snickered,’ I’m not sure if you meant to do it or not buuuut~.’
Flare vision grew black as Solar appeared in front of him. With a cold voice, he said,”Never. Do. It. Again.”
Flare gave a deadpan expression to Solar for his hard work. With a similarly cold voice, Flare replied as he towered over Solar, the blood red eye growing small and sharp,” Last time I checked, you aren’t in control and NEVER will be in complete control.”
Solar gave an awkward smile as he cowered under the stallion,” True, very true!”
The vision faded as Solar disappeared. Flare looked back at the bag, then around his room. He didn’t have many places to put the ring in, but he felt he had a good hiding place for it, one where Prim wouldn’t find it, even if she had gone to look for it. He placed the ring in the closet and hid it with anything he could find, which happened to be a bunch of books and DVDs. With that mission completed, he made a mental image of it so he could summon it when the time was right.
It was half past noon at the current point in time, so he had a little while to wait. He would’ve gotten the ring later rather than earlier, but all the shops were closing for the holiday. He heard there was going to be a parade going through the town tonight, maybe he could take Prim? The idea was up there, but Prim was shy and didn’t really like being around strangers all that much less she had to. Most likely she’ll stay at the castle with her family, though it may be hard to get her away from them to propose and he doesn’t want to make a big scene out of it, especially since Honey Glow and Night Blossom will be there. What he doesn’t want is Prim to get too embarrassed that she passes out or something of the sort, and he knew Night and Honey were going to have a field day if he does.
“Huh... Who knew this much planning went into a simple gesture of love?” Flare wondered a loud to nopony.
‘Nah, everything you do is complicated,’ Solar’s voice was distant as he replied,’ Go fish.’
‘Darn...’ Light’s voice was also distant,’ I thought I had you...’
“Are you two seriously playing Go Fish right now?” Flare asked, not sure whether he should be amused or not at the random game.
‘Yes, and I’m winning!’ Solar shouted trimphantly.
‘Only because this is more of a game of chance than skill,’ Light replied with a growl,’ Unlike chess or checkers.’
‘Somepony just has a thorn up their nose cause I’m beating them~,’ Solar cackled a fake cackle.
“Not how you normally say it,” Flare sighed as he sat on his bed.
‘Sush, I’m winning,’ Solar replied.
Flare shook his head and continued to plan to propose to Prim with the least amount of pressure on either of them. His plan had two paths. One, if Prim did come with him, then he could propose and hope she would say yes. Two, if she wouldn’t, he would pop the question right then and there and hope nopony makes too big of a scene. He looked at his clock, no more than 5 minutes had passed. Maybe he could use this time more wisely and spend it with Prim, not as her guard for today but more as her lover. She had dismissed him from guard duty, something he thought only Midnight could do. His plans now set, he got off the bed and went to Prim’s room.
---A few hours later---
The Moon hung a little over the horizon as the Royal Family sat at the dinner table. A small feast had been made for them and after it had been set on the table, all the cooks were given the rest of the day off. The family chose from different options of food, turkey, chicken, ham, mash potatoes, carrots, and so on. Prim sat next to Flare and happily ate some turkey and ham, Midnight and Tattered sat together as well, finally, so did the two monarchs as well. Prim and Flare saw Night as she sat alone and happily invited her over to sit with them. Other than that small little thing, the family was alive and happily chatted with one another. Soon, the conversations went from between certain ponies then out to where the whole group was involved.
“Still, kinda bad that it happened twice!” Night grumbled.
“Trial and error help,” Flare shrugged,” Even if my bro looked like a giant pile of feathers and fluff.”
“Did he not test it?” Honey asked.
“He tested it hundreds of times on himself until he got it right,” Flare shrugged,” Sometimes there were random side effects, he didn’t have much fur like us and he didn’t have any feathers either so he couldn’t have seen that coming.”
“Then why-,” Night started with her hooves together.
“Because the other scientists were working on other things and he was also too busy to ask them, so when he saw that there was no lethal, harming, or lasting effects, he allowed us to try the potion out,” Flare responded,” I turned purple for a day and my bro’s wings looked like a cloud threw up on them. Also extra fluffy.”
“Well, it wasn't all bad, was it?” Prim asked as she looked at him.
“Not really,” Flare responded with a gentle smile,” He was a great guy, whenever we were sick, he’d take a day off to make sure we were fine, he loved to play games and he didn’t have much of a problem if we came to the lab either, just as long as we didn’t touch anything that is.”
“Well, it’s good to know he was a good stallion,” Honey replied.
“Yeah...” Flare’s smile dropped a bit,” He was.”
“Did something happen?” Night asked.
Flare looked at Prim and she looked at him, silently, they agreed to tell them the fate of his father. Flare cleared his throat and simply stated,” My father... fell into one of his machines, a weird machine he thought could traverse time... it didn’t work. Instead, he fell into the power source and was evaporated.”
“And scattered across time and space,” Prim added on.
The table went silent, Night wanted to ask more questions, but she felt that now wasn’t the best time to do so. Midnight and Tattered tried to imagine being presumed dead only to be scattered across time and space. Honey and Moon didn’t know what to think of it, so their minds stayed empty.
“How about we change the topic, at least from this or the underground?” Honey asked as she looked at everypony at the table. They all nodded in agreement, yet didn’t know what topic to talk about. The past few weeks had been weird, the sudden return of Flare, making him into the royal protector, and so on. The Wereponies attack still had a few after effects. Some houses were burned down and some in other villages had seen similar damage. Though they stayed away from this thought, and all of them tried to find an idea to lighten the mood.
“So... the weather is nice,” Midnight smiled.
Night snorted while the others gave more of an awkward smile. Midnight looked around with a confused look,” What?”
“Nothing nothing~!” Night replied.
Midnight looked at Tattered with the confused look and he only shrugged. She pouted and looked down at her plate.
“Well, the weather is all right, isn’t the best but isn’t the worst,” Flare answered.
“Yeah, your “comfortable” range is between -45 and -200 degrees!” Night joked with a sharp smile.
“Nah, if it was, I’d be spending more time in your so-called freezer,” Flare countered with his own smile,” Seriously, how cold does it need to be?”
“Cold,” was Night’s only answer, for dramatic effect, she squinted her eyes at Flare.
The got a giggle out of Prim. The group had found a new topic to talk about, the weather and a... freezer. It wasn’t much or the best, but it is what they came up with to not think about any other bad thoughts.
---
The night had finally begun to show. The family had finished their meal and were out to watch the festival from the balcony of the castle’s top floor. The lights danced in the air, streamers lined the houses and shops, and down below were many vamponies that seemed to enjoy the rather large festival, though the family could see why from their vantage point. It as kinda like Nightmare Night, bobbing for apples, little mini-games were set up, and so on.
Prim’s face held a bright smile and was filled with a filly’s joy as she looked down upon the festival. Flare looked on as well, the many lights reminded him of home, so a warmth had washed over him and he smiled as well. He had enjoyed today very much so, so much in fact that he almost forgot that he was going to propose to Prim. Almost, since a certain “friend” gave him a friendly reminder.
‘Hey, four eyes, you gonna propose to the love of your life or na?’ Solar asked in his sarcastic tone.
Flare’s eyes shot open as he remembered. He looked over at Prim and lightly tapped her shoulder.
“Hm?” Prim hummed as she looked at him.
“Could you come with me?” Flare whispered,” I have something to show you.”
Prim looked over at her family then back at Flare and whispered back,” Where are we going to go?”
“Somewhere private... maybe another balcony?” Flare shrugged.
“Hm, all right,” Prim nodded and smiled.
“Okay, follow me,” Flare smiled as he walked away from the balcony.
Prim quickly followed behind him. Night looked back at her, then quickly looked away as a smile started to form. She lightly tapped Midnight’s shoulder and told her what might happen. Midnight nodded and told her to behave and not to do anything that she would normally do. Night scoffed a little, smiled, then silently went on and followed the couple who seemed to have gone to a nearby balcony, out of sight from everypony else. The two doors closed to the balcony by Flare’s magic, so Night had to push her ear against the thick wood to hear anything. Though slightly silent, whether it was them talking silently or the door, she could still hear them talk.
---
Flare had sat down near the rails of the balcony, a smile covered his muzzle as his horn lit up. He had found a good area to see the full night sky in view, the moon was large and the stars that were visible were bright. Though, due to the light pollution nearby, not all the stars could be seen. Prim sat next to him and gazed alongside him into the starry night. She wrapped a wing around him and pulled him closer. To her, this was a moment between the two of them. Even if they had spent a lot more time together these past few days due to his job, this moment still felt special since it wasn’t for a job.
She looked at his horn and lightly tapped it,” So, why is your horn glowing, mister~?”
“Heh-hey!” Flare chuckled as he caught her hoof,” No touchy~!”
Prim gave a cheeky grin and kissed his cheek. He returned this kiss with his own and looked back into the starry night. Calmly, as he looked back into the stars’ fiery glow, he spoke calmly,” Prim, there is a reason I brought you up here, to show you something.”
“You mean it wasn’t to show me the pretty stars with you?” Prim asked.
“Not exactly,” Flare looked away from both her and the stars as a slight blush hit his cheeks. His horn stopped its glow as he summoned the small box. Inside laid the tungsten ring with a silver chain. He gave a silent sigh as he continued,” I wanted to ask you something important. We’ve been dating for a while now, for around a year?”
The tips of Prim’s ears turned red, he couldn’t be... could he?
Flare nodded,” Around a year or so. I wanted to say that it’s been a while. So, without a long and cheesy monologue, I wanted to ask you.”
Flare turned around and presented the ring and chain that laid comfortably in the box,” Will you marry me?”
Prim was in silent shock as Flare presented the ring. Her wings uncurled and shot out as she looked at it. Flare thought he had shocked her a bit too much for her lack of movement for ten seconds. However, she slowly recovered from her shock and picked up the necklace. Her smile was bright, brighter than the festival’s bright lights. She gently put it around her neck and looked back at him. She could barely hold still from how gitty she felt, finally, she let it loose and tackled him with a bear hug.
“Of course I will!” Prim replied as she crushed him with her hug.
Flare croaked loudly as he felt his ribs start to crack from the hug as all the air in his lungs were pushed out of his body. He was glad he didn’t have to breathe, but he wasn’t too keen on having all of his ribs broken. Yet he couldn’t really fight back since she had him pinned. So he accepted his fate. Which lasted all of a few minutes, Prim finally let go and let him breathe once more. She was like a foal in a candy shop with it, all happy and bubbly that she tired herself out emotionally.
On the other side of the door, Night happily listened to what had happened. She had her news to send to her family, so off she went to tell them. Just in time as well since the door to the balcony opened. Out walked the two lovers, Prim laid on Flare’s back tired whole Flare walked them back to her room via her request. In the morning, they would start to plan their wedding, and Prim’s family, soon to be Flare’s, would happily join in to help set it up for the two.