The Only Chapter
The room was deathly silent.
Celestia has never in her life saw such a proclamation made so boldly, and by a foal nonetheless.
“Care to repeat that?” The princess asked, not sure whether she heard him correctly.
On that Friday morning, a class visited the castle, among them, were foals from the royal orphanage in Crystal Grooves. Despite the procession going smoothly, one foal stepped out of the program and crossed her path with his request.
“As I said,” The foal reiterated, “Will you marry me?”
Guards looked shocked, noblecolts glared, his teacher probably had a heart attack. The wind blew a tumbleweed outside the windows. The throne room was never this silent. All ears perked to hear the unfolding answer, all eyes upon them to see their interaction.
Celestia thought of the many ways to deal with a single insolent foal. But a colt is a colt, so there is no need to be dismissive or even mean. Celestia decided to play along. “I’m flattered, truly,” She formulated her reply with measured words of playfulness and seriousness befitting this situation, “But aren’t you too young to be wedded?”
“Well, duh!” The colt reacted, “I’m not asking you to marry me now.”
“But you are asking me to marry you when you grow up,” The princess played along.
“Yes,” Came the quick response.
“Well, then, what do you have to offer?” A reasonable request from the princess should jolt him in his place, “I am the princess of Equestria after all, you didn’t think that I come cheap, do you?”
The foal scrunched his face in thought, giving Celestia the time to measure her little suitor. An upright posture with good musculature for somepony his age. A green coat with a blonde mane, not a bad combination, bright orange eyes giving him a fiery stare, and a four leaves clover cutiemark covering his flanks. Not a bad looking foal by any measure, he might become a handsome stallion that will turn the mares’ heads, if he drops this charade.
The foal searched his pockets, only to find a few bits of change, not enough for a candy bar here in Canterlot. He then turned toward one of his friends who shrugged at him in response. “Since I’m not going to marry you right now, I have nothing to offer,” The foal relented, much to the relief of every pony in the room.
Celestia sighed of relief, this little game was most pleasant, “If you have nothing to…”
“If, by any chance, I were to try again,” The foal then rudely interrupted, “What should I offer the princess of Equestria to accept my hoof in marriage?”
A mischievous smile adorned the princess’s lips. If she answered correctly, she could free this child from his aspiration to marry her, and at the same time, give him the best ambition to have him move forward. “For starters, you need to be a noblestallion; an important title and vast lands are to be expected as the offering if you wish my hoof in marriage.”
The foal nodded fervently, but Celestia still needed to seal his fate for never attempting to ask her hoof in marriage. “And you either need to be in my royal guard or have somepony in your family as a ranking officer of the royal guard to vouch for your protection.” She declared.
What she said was a bit uncommon, but not unheard of. It was encoded in Equestria's ancient Magna Carta for what made a pony worthy to propose to an alicorn. Those two laws in combination were enough for the majority of her would-be suitors to give up without even trying. Even if a pony had all the necessary qualifications, Celestia found out the hard way that they lacked in almost every other department. In shorts, she wasn't afraid. In her mind, the foal will give up soon enough.
The foal smiled, “Sounds easy enough,” He declared before going down the stairs to join his class, but stopped midway and announced, “My name is Lucky Clover Seven, the luckiest colt in Equestria, and just you wait, Princess, I’ll make you the happiest mare in Equestria soon enough!” before returning to his group.
As the class exited the throne room, the commander of the royal guard approached the princess. “That colt got guts,” he whispered.
“He sure has,” Celestia replied, a nagging feeling still lingering in her heart that this wasn’t just a random encounter. A feeling she soon forgot about as her day went by.
A feeling that suddenly came rushing back when, twenty years later, the Duke of the latest domain in Equestria called Coltmel, walked into the room. “Duke Lucky Clover, thank you for your invite.”
“Thank you for accepting, my princess,” The duke said with a bow.
The occasion was the opening of his new manor. Many ponies from across Equestria were invited to the event, but to have the princess attend it personally brought on some whispers. And those whispers grew loud when the duke asked the princess for a moment of her time to talk in private on the grand balcony.
“Twenty years ago, I asked your hoof in marriage, princess, do you remember?” The Duke addressed the princess.
“How can I forget?” Celestia reminisced, “You were the first to ask such a question in eons.”
“Then can I ask it again?” The duke fell on his knee, “Will you marry me?”
Celestia sighed, “Duke, you are no longer the foal; you cannot still believe that I wish to marry you, or anyone for that matter.”
“I am well aware of that,” The duke confessed, “But my offer still stands.”
“Your journey, coming from nothing and gaining everything is one to be applauded, even your ploy with having your adopted brother becoming a captain of the royal guard was ingenious if I say so myself,” The princess admitted, “But neither titles or status are enough to impress me, nor are they enough to convince me to marry you.”
The duke nodded in agreement, “I know, but they got me some time alone with you.”
With suspicion, the princess stared at the duke, “If this is a ploy to get me to bed with you, then…”
“Please, Princess, I am not of the sort,” The duke interrupted.
“Then explain yourself.” Princess Celestia demanded.
With a sigh, the duke started, “Twenty years, almost a month before I met you, my mother passed away. She was the one who called me the luckiest colt in Equestria because my birth gave her the luck she needed to give me a living… or perhaps the boldness needed to seek that luck. I can’t tell you which is which.”
“Get to the point, duke,” Celestia spoke impatiently.
“I saw, in you, the same loneliness as I saw in my mother,” The Duke explained, “The loneliness of someone who has suffered betrayal and has yet to recover.”
Celestia did not speak. Five hundred years have passed since that incident and no one saw what was truly in her heart. She knew that someday, the truth would come out, she did not expect it from a colt.
“My mother said that the bane of that loneliness is to get over that pony and continue your life, to fall in love again, get married, have foals, and live the happiest life you can ever dream of,” The duke continued.
“It wasn’t a lover that betrayed me, duke,” Celestia said.
“Regardless of who he was, you can’t halt your life for any pony,” The duke said, and for the first time, Celestia felt all her masks removed.
“What do you know of my life?” Celestia asked defensively.
“Besides what we were taught in the history books, not much,” The duke admitted, “But I would like to know if that’s okay with you.”
“Marriage is never easy, duke,” Celestia reprimanded.
“And what in life is?” The duke asked, “Like my mother always told me, the luckiest stallion is the one who gets the best mare as his wife. So imagine my luck if I got the best mare in existence!”
“You are still acting like a mere foal, duke,” Celestia responded with haughtiness.
“You have had an eternity to be mature, I’m only in my early thirties,” the duke said with a hint of playfulness.
“And you expect to woo me with skill skills like that?” Celestia rebuked, before leaving the balcony. “You have yet to impress me, my dear Lucky Clover Seven,” She said while reentering the grand hall, “I still will not marry you.”
And the whispers grew louder than ever.
Clover smiled, “But you did not say never, my sweet Princess, there is still a chance.”
Princess Celestia smiled as she shook her head and walked away.
“I will marry you someday, Princess!” Clover yelled after her, “I promise.”
And five years later, all the bells in Canterlot rang announcing the wedding of Princess Celestia of Equestria and Duke Clover of Coltmel, and the start of what would Celestia recalls as the happiest times of her life.