Chapter 58
“So that is the news, is it?” Luna asked as she and I both stared toward the ceiling of the throne room.
“Yeah. I thought about this for some time and I’ve decided that this is what I want.”
“And you have considered the risks?”
“What risks?”
“I’m sure I do not need to remind you that you have been hurt before. You thought you were in love with Miss Roseluck then, too.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” I placed a hand on my chest, “I have the literal scars to remind me. But this is Fluttershy we’re talking about. The filly is far too kind and considerate to ever risk hurting anypony. In fact, the only thing I am worried about is that she may simply accept to avoid doing something unkind.”
“And have you not considered that you will outlive her by many centuries, possibly even millennia?”
“Believe me, I’ve sat up many nights ‘considering’ that very fact.” I pulled my attention away from the ceiling to look at Luna. “But, when that time comes, I know I have two amazing relatives who will be there for me.”
Luna smiled as she too looked away from the spectacle going on above us. “Indeed. Both I and your mother will be here for you, always.” We both turned back to the prancing, giggling, and cheering alicorn above our heads. “If we ever get Tia down from there that is.”
“I just hope she doesn’t expect me to clean all those hoofprints off of there.”
Celestia had literally shot to the ceiling when I told her and Luna why I had gone to Cloudsdale. It took her about ten to fifteen seconds to realize what I had said to her, then she spent another five seconds staring into space before she teleported to my side and snatched my in a bone crushing hug while she squealed in my ear. After I managed to pry myself free, she started to giggle, skip, and pluck random guards off the ground by their cheeks and telling them she was going to be a grandma. I, however, was forced to follow her and apologize to the guards.
That was about fifteen minutes ago, and this was starting to get old. Luckily, I thought of the perfect thing to say to get her down. “Too bad she said no,” I sited as mechanically as if I was a foal doing a school play.
“WHAT?!” was the response that came raining down from the ceiling just before the reigning ruler came raining down after.
That looked like it hurt. “Now that you’ve joined us back here on Equus, we can discuss this like normal adults.”
Celestia giggled and blushed, “heh, sorry about that. I just got so excited.”
“I know, but first thing’s first. I need to ask her.”
“Yes, and knowing you, Nephew, we need to think of something extraordinary,” Luna pointed out.
“Of course. A filly as special as Fluttershy deserves only the very best. There just aren’t any other ponies like her. I mean, how many other ponies can say they yelled at a dragon and got away with it?”
Luna raised a hoof. “Twice.”
“Three times for me,” Celestia added.
“Fair enough. But neither of you are normal ponies, nor can you talk to animals.” I sat down on the dais in a near daydream, I never felt comfortable sitting on the throne itself. “Besides, not even you, Aunt Luna, can invade my dreams so completely.”
Luna looked toward Celestia with a smirk. “Remind you of somepony?”
“Indeed. Young Cadance spoke of Shining Armor in much the same way.” She then looked back at me with a smirk of her own. “It was just as annoying then as it is now.”
“Whatever. I love her and I want this to be perfect. Is that so much to ask?” I asked sarcastically.
“Of course not, Sweetie,” Celestia cooed as she wrapped a wing around me. “Your aunt and I just want you to be happy and we’ll help you any way we can.”
“Have you given any thought as to what sort of engagement trinket you would like to give her?” Luna asked.
“I have an idea or two, but I will need to see Iron Hammer about the trinket and Cadance and Spike about the gems.”
“Sensible. What about the proposal itself?” Luna asked. “You could ask her at the Grand Galloping Gala. That is only a couple months away.”
“No! That’s not nearly soon enough!” Celestia protested. “I need grandfoals and I need them now!”
“Come on, Mom, try to act like the grown mare you are.”
That apparently wasn’t the right thing to say, because I soon found myself being plucked up by Celestia and brought face to face. “Give! Me! Grandbabies!”
“Crazy lady! Crazy lady!” I cried out in desperation.
It took the combined efforts of Luna and two guards to pry Celestia’s hooves off my face long enough for me to make a mad dash out the doors and down the hall to freedom and sanity. It was just lucky that that particular corridor led to the smith where Iron Hammer was working, thus hitting two pegasi with one ball. I just hope he’s as good with gold and silver as he is with iron and steel.
*****
“No, I’m being serious here, Cady. I really want this to be special for Fluttershy. I’m not going to do something as boring as leaving a ring in a wine glass,” I complained as Cadance and I walked through the gardens.
“That’s how Shining proposed to me,” Cadance deadpanned. “Look, everypony wants their proposal to be special and unique, but most wind up just being a bended knee in a fancy restaurant or the local park. If you want to make this special for her, then be yourself. Nothing on this planet is more special than you.”
“Whoa, easy,” I raised my hands in a defensive manner, “I’m spoken for.” We both chuckled at that. “What do you mean anyway? I’m nothing special. At least not when compared to you and the other princesses.”
“Yeah, me and the three other alicorn princesses like me. You, however, are the first male alicorn in over two thousand years. Plus, how many humans do you see walking around Equus?”
“I get it, I’m unique. So is each and every pony, griffon, and minotaur ever born.” I sat down on the grass and plucked a random flower and stared at it without really paying any attention to it.
The flower was snatched away in a teal aura and angrily devoured by Cadance. “Don’t you dare sell yourself short. You are special, and not because you’re unusual,” she nearly growled at me. “Now I’m telling you to really think about what makes you special to her and her to you. I can help normal ponies with that, but because you’re immune, I can only point you in the right direction.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“You’re darn right I’m right. Now shut up, sit down, and think about the pony you love.”
“I am sitting,” I snarked.
“Shut up!” Cadance can be blunt sometimes, but this was new. “That mare is one of the prettiest and sweetest ponies out there and she deserves you giving this serious thought!” She looked like she was about to bust a vein in her forehead.
“Why are you yelling at me?”
“Because I’m frustrated!”
“With me? But we’ve only just started.”
Cadance sighed, “No, not with you, although you’re not helping. I haven’t been myself for a little while now and I don’t know why.”
“Maybe you should go to the infirmary and have them look you over. I’ll just look through the gems you brought in the meantime.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I think I’ll do that. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Alright. And don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing. Probably just some horrible, awful parasite growing inside you.”
“*Hehe* As long as it doesn’t look like you, I might just keep it and raise it as my own.”
“Aww… that’s sweet.” I waved at Cadance as she left the gardens and headed back inside the palace. When she was gone, I did as she told me and started thinking about all the things that made Fluttershy special to not only me, but the whole world. It wasn’t long before I started to form a plan.
*****
Fluttershy and I were walking through the snowy fields along the frozen river, checking on all the little critters that were sleeping through the winter. We made sure that each one was still tucked in safely and warmly and still peacefully asleep. We even made sure to check on Tank, but Rainbow had beaten us there and was currently reading the latest Daring Do, the one that featured herself.
It was a beautiful day, despite it being overcast and breezy. The snow was up to my shins at times, but thanks to the scarf Rarity made and Twilight enchanted, I was very warm. Fluttershy was being kept warm by my scarf as well, but that’s only because I was cradling her in my arms like a baby doll. Even though I was holding her upside down and over a meter off the ground, she and I were talking as though nothing were out of the ordinary. Just one more thing I adored about her.
“…and we used to wake them all up one by one, but Twilight came up a great way to wake them all up at once using bells and some string. It made it all so much easier that we were finally able to get all this,” she gestured to the snow covered woodland, “cleaned up on time for spring.”
“Yeah, that sounds like something she’d come up with. She’s all about the precision and organization.” Fluttershy giggled a little, despite it not being very funny. “Speaking of Twilight, I wanted to show you something she taught me.”
We walked around a bend in the hoofpath and came to picnic set up under an evergreen. There was a basket filled with fruits and veggies and sandwiches, a large flask of hot tea, and, of course, a blanket. The blanket was also enchanted for warmth, as was made evident by the few inches of snowfree grass around the perimeter of the blanket.
“Ooh, this looks lovely,” Fluttershy said as I set her down gingerly.
“I’m glad you like it, but this isn’t what I wanted to show you.” I laid back on the pillows that I brought along and Fluttershy crawled up onto my lap and laid out across my abdomen while I took my scarf off and coiled it up on top of us both followed by a quilt Applejack loaned me. “What I wanted to show you, was this.”
I lifted my ringed hand toward the nearby bushes and a pair of snow birds, as in literally made of snow and coated in a thin layer of ice to hold the shape, went swooping out and flew around us for a little while before they came to rest in Fluttershy’s hooves. She smiled broadly and looked up at me. I smiled back before I nodded back towards the bushes.
A moment later, a snow deer fawn walked out and curled up just outside the line of melted snow. That one how proven to be a lot trickier than the birds. To be fair, the deer was a lot bigger than the birds and had four moving legs.
She was so busy cooing over the deer and the birds she was still holding, that she almost missed the most important thing. A small swarm of snow butterflies came fluttering over. They danced around us in an aerial ballet for a few moments before swooping down just above Fluttershy’s head, one even touched down on her nose for a couple seconds, making her go cross-eyed and therefore extremely adorable. Then all the butterflies flew up and clung onto the tree bark.
“Wow. That was all so pretty. Thank you for showing me that.”
“You’re welcome, but that was nothing compared to what’s coming out next.”
Again, I raised my ringed hand and focused on the bushes. Out through the brush came a snow pegasus with the same mane and marks as Fluttershy. The real Fluttershy watched in awe as Snowy-shy walked over and nuzzled the snow deer before laying down next to it. The, the snow birds flew over and landed on Snowy-shy’s mane. Fluttershy was so enamored with the spectacle that she didn’t even notice me taking something out of the tree branches.
Fluttershy turned to look up at me with a huge smile on her face and a look of wonder in her eyes when she suddenly focused on what I was holding in my hand. “W-what’s that?”
“This,” I held my hand out, “is a little sign of my feelings or you. However, you only get it if you give me the right answer to my question.”
“W-well, what question is that?”
I held out my hand again and raised my ringed hand near it. My ring began to glow bright with the solar light, a trick Celestia taught me. The light gleamed of the petals of the flower, the alternating gold and silver lined with the opposing metal in intricate little designs. Any light could do that, but it had to be solar light to activate the enchantment placed on the heart shaped turquois in the center. Whenever the stone was hit with direct sunlight, a small, translucent butterfly with a green body and pink wings would appear on the stone and gently flap its wings. Spike had spent over an hour sniffing and tasting each and every gemstone Cadance brought along from the Crystal Empire and made certain that only the best one was chosen, the rest were quickly devoured.
“Fluttershy, since the day I met you… well, maybe not the very day, you’ve been the kindest and sweetest pony I’ve ever met. Every time I see you, I think you actually get cuter than the time before. Each day, I kick myself for not seeing how special you are sooner.” I looked deep into her gorgeous cyan eyes and took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and let it out. “The question I wanted to ask you was this, Fluttershy, will you marry me?”
At first, she just stared back at me, eye shimmering in what little light there was. For a brief moment, I honestly thought I’d done something wrong and hurt her feelings, but I was soon convinced otherwise. She wrapped her forelegs around my neck and tackled me, smothering me in the fiercest kisses I’ve ever received. She was so happy, that she didn’t seem to mind that the quilt had fallen off and snow was slowly starting to collect in her mane, making her look sugar coated.
“Is that a yes?” I asked when she finally released my lips. She merely laughed and nodded her head emphatically against my cheek. The warmth shared between us was so great, that we didn’t mind the cold anymore.
*****
The next few weeks were very exciting. Spring had come along in a wondrous fashion. Flowers seemed to be more colorful, birds sang sweeter, and the sun shone brighter. It may have all been just in my head as I haven’t gotten the images of buttercups and butterflies off my mind since Fluttershy agreed to be my wife. It might have been that the most beautiful mare on Equus has been spending as much time as possible with me, to the point that Dust Bunny has actually started to knock before entering. Of course, it could have also been that Celestia had been downright giddy ever since I told her what had happened and has possibly made the sun itself shine brighter. I had to flat out demand that she cancel the commission of the stained glass window.
It had been very difficult for both Fluttershy and I to keep the big news from our friends until we were ready. We had decided to tell them all during the Grand Galloping Gala, barring some huge disaster. And that is what we almost got, thanks to Discord and that weird Smooze guy he brought along. Thankfully, everything turned out okay with only a few stained dresses and suits. Normally, this sort of behavior would have enraged Celestia, but she was too excited about the big announcement to really care, which confused a lot of ponies.
After the Gala, and the cleanup, the Elements, the Princesses, and I gathered out in the gardens for the big announcement. I stood there with Celestia on one side, Fluttershy pressed to the other, and, since she was Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie was clung to my back, playing with a strand of my hair that had gotten loose.
“I sincerely hope you all have a good reason for keeping us here, Darlings. These dresses are in desperate need of urgent cleaning,” Rarity whined before she realized who she was in the presence of, “um, your majesties.”
“Good save, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash teased. “Seriously though, what are we doing out here?”
“Well, Rainbow Dash, my son and Fluttershy have a very special announcement,” Celestia said with a huge smile on her face. “Honey, tell them before I tell them myself.” She was practically vibrating in anticipation.
“Alright, Mom, calm down.” I wrapped my arm around Fluttershy and looked into her eyes as she looked up at me. “Girls, Fluttershy and I… are getting married.”
The squeals that erupted from the mares were deafening. Fluttershy and I were tackled to ground while I was nearly choked back to death by Pinkie Pie. We hadn’t even gotten to sit back up before the girls were already planning the wedding. They dragged Fluttershy away to coo over the hairpin I gave her, I, on the other hoof, was approached by Celestia and Luna.
“I think that they approve, Nephew.”
“Yeah? You think so?” I asked sarcastically.
“*Giggle* I agree, Sister.” Celestia stood next to me and wrapped a wing around me. “How are you feeling about all this?”
“To be honest, I’m nervous. I mean, I’m deeply in love with Fluttershy and I think she likes me back, but… I don’t know. There’s something that’s bothering me.”
“What’s wrong, Dear?” Celestia asked as she nuzzled me.
A tear rolled down my cheek. “I guess… I just wish my parents could be here for this.”
Celestia and Luna looked at each other and shared a single thought, ‘We can fix this.’