//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: The Perilous Romance of Swans // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// “A mother could die—” “Ma…” Gosling, who didn’t dare look at his mother yet, looked over at Blueblood instead. Blueblood was looking quite satisfied and smug. Truth be told, Gosling was feeling quite satisfied and smug. His ears perked as Blueblood chortled. “Gosling, do you even know what you have done?” Blueblood asked in a low, snide voice. “Shamed my mother?” Gosling replied, feeling his mother’s stare boring a hole into him. Blueblood chuckled and tapped his front hooves together. “The press can’t have it both ways. If they claim you are too young, I get to claim they are placing perverse images of foals on their front pages for the sake of sexual exploitation. This is advantageous.” Huh. Gosling stared at Blueblood. That was… something. “Blueblood…” “Yes?” “About my age and my status as an adult… that thing we spoke about… do it.” Glancing over at Celestia, who was with Luna speaking to a reporter, Blueblood’s thin, pinched lips curled into a hideous, obscene parody of a smile. His eyes narrowed and his eyebrows formed a vicious ‘V’ of ecstatic evil. “Gosling, what are you doing?” Sleet asked, looking worried. Fearing that he had upset his mother enough for one day, Gosling decided it would be wise to spill his guts. “Ma, you know how I had my bit mitzvah, right? And now I am an adult?” Sleet nodded. “I worked overtime and took on a few spare jobs to make sure you had a nice one. We went to see, what was it, ‘Abandon Your Wagon,’ that night I think. You sang the songs for a whole two weeks.” “Yeah, Ma… here’s the thing. Blueblood has this plan that since I am an adult in the eyes of the First Tribes—” “That any word spoken about you and your age in the papers would be a crack about the First Tribes?” Sleet blinked her pretty blue eyes and her face became expressionless. With a slow turn of her head, she turned her matronly stare upon Blueblood. Ears drooping, Blueblood ducked his head, flinching from Sleet’s blank stare. Blueblood had lived long enough to be wise. He wanted no part of Sleet’s ire. She was motherhood equinified, then squared. Or something. “I approve,” Sleet said in a low whisper. “I understand the necessity. Under every other circumstance, I would be against this, but my dear Gossy is going to be fighting an uphill battle every step of the way. Pull no punches. We can’t afford to play nice or play fair.” “You approve?” Blueblood asked, blinking in disbelief. “Twilight Velvet told me about the sort of stuff Shining Armor went though. We were talking about it when we came here… and then I found my son doing the unspeakable nasty.” Sleet’s voice became a little reedy near the end and far more nasal. “Oy vey, a mother could die.” “I must confess, I am surprised that you would go along with this.” Blueblood’s ears stood up when both Celestia and Luna laughed. He turned and saw a reporter heading towards the table where they were sitting together. “Gosling, prepare yourself…” The reporter was a pegasus and he had a camera mounted on a neck brace. There was also a notepad with an auto-writing quill, which Gosling realised would be a great thing for Seville to have. He made a mental note to ask Raven for one. The pegasus was older, smiling, and had kind amber eyes. His pelt was the colour of wet sand. He was wearing a battered bowler hat with a purple grosgrain ribbon around the crown. “Hello, my name is Tiddy Oggy and I was hoping to speak to you.” The pegasus spoke with a thick, strange accent. “It would be my pleasure,” Gosling replied. “Shall I call you ‘Mister Oggy?’” “Tiddy, call me Tiddy.” The pegasus nodded and grinned. “Call me Gosling.” Gosling was aware that there were many eyes on him at the moment. So many eyes. He could feel them, so many eyes, so many expectations, and he began to feel a little itchy. “Uh, Mister Gosling,” Tiddy began in a low, scratchy voice, “I’d like to know more about you. I know that you are a Private and that you serve in the guard. I know you have a mother that loves you a great deal… but I was hoping to learn from you whatever it is that you’d like the press to know about you.” Blinking, Gosling tried to process what was just said, trying to make sense of it. It sounded as though he was being given a chance to give his side of things. Gosling glanced at Blueblood and saw a faint, almost unnoticeable nod from the snide prince. “I come from the First Tribes and I’m a bit of a traditionalist.” Gosling cleared his throat. “I’m also young, foolish, and a bit silly.” The colts ears splayed out and he glanced over at his helmet sitting on the table, then back at Tiddy. “I think more colts and fillies my age should serve. I know that it has sorted me out and given me a better perspective on life. It is my desire to fall in love, settle down, and raise a family, starting as soon as possible. I suppose I want the same things as everypony else in life, though perhaps not what most colts my age want.” Nodding, Tiddy replied, “Have you seen this morning’s papers yet?” A cold prickle of fear crept up Gosling’s neck, giving him goose bumps. He felt his mouth go dry. “No I have not. Is there something I should know about?” “Oh, I suspect that you’ll find out soon enough, but I want no part of that. I’m from The Las Pegasus Picayune, and we don’t print filth or attack articles. We’re a smaller, centrist, conservative family paper, with a focus on family friendly news that a pony of any age could read.” “I see.” Gosling could hear the wavering in his own voice and it unnerved him. “Look, I know all about the foolishness of youth, so no worries about that little wingspan display earlier… but overlooking that completely, would you go on the record to say that you champion the cause of family values and the traditional family?” Gosling, fearing a pitfall, raised his guard. The cold prickle vanished as his eyes narrowed. His lessons in communications came into play. He knew the power of a word. Sergeant Circinus would box his ears for hours if he fell for a simple word dupe. One eyebrow went up. “I am all for family values, traditional and otherwise. I was raised by my mother and my father wasn’t in the picture. She taught me tolerance as a virtue. So I have some very open ideas as to what a family is. It can be two mares, or two stallions, or a mare and a stallion, or even a polyamorous herd. It can also be a single mother or a single father. I champion family values in whatever form they take.” Tiddy Oggy blinked, stood staring, and blinked again. His pen was scratching down every word said in teeny, tiny letters on the notepad mounted on his neck with his camera. He blinked once more, and then nodded. “When I said ‘traditional,’ I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I think I see how you might have taken it wrong and become a bit worried. My bad.” Gosling let out a little huff of relief. He still felt eyes on him. Other reporters had now gathered around in a half circle and were listening at a respectful distance. Gosling felt hot, sweaty, and itchy beneath his wings. “Mister Gosling, I don’t engage in vicious wordplay. It benefits nopony.” Saying it didn’t make it true, Gosling reminded himself. “We at the Las Pegasus Picayune, we just focus on the family. We don’t really care what the family is like, so long as there are family values. Las Pegasus is the city of sin. Too many single mothers. It is a plague upon society. Too many ponies not making commitments.” Tiddy drew in a deep breath, one eye narrowed, and the other eye widened. “We’re not against single mothers, either. We just recognise them as a symptom of a much larger problem.” Gosling nodded. “There are some rather sensational headlines about you this morning,” Tiddy said in a low whisper, his eyes darting about to other reporters. “And I’d like to believe that they aren’t true. Working under the assumption that they are just lies and sensationalism, on behalf of the Las Pegasus Picayune, I would like to say that we are looking for somepony to champion our cause. Please, keep us in mind, okay?” “I’ll do that,” Gosling replied as he felt his back muscles jerking. What had the papers said about him? He was itching to know. He wondered if Blueblood knew anything. A part of Gosling didn’t want to know. “Thank you,” Tiddy said as he bowed his head and began backing away. Feeling worried, even scared, Gosling glanced at Blueblood while another reporter advanced. It seemed that now that one reporter had spoken to him alone, the floodgates had opened. Princess Celestia felt Twilight Sparkle brush up against her side. Twilight had a cup of pink punch held in her telekinesis. She looked down at Twilight for a moment, and then returned her gaze to Gosling, who had engaged not one, but several reporters at once. Celestia’s fine hearing allowed her to listen to everything being said, every word spoken. Gosling was talking about what his service in the guard meant to him and how it had made him a better pony. “He’s charming,” Twilight said in a polite, conversational tone. “Oh, you have no idea, Twilight,” Celestia replied. “A little young,” Twilight said to her former mentor. “I seem to recall another young pony that was about his age. She took on Nightmare Moon, went on adventures, and became a princess.” A wry smile crossed over Celestia’s muzzle. “Ponies criticised her because she was far too young. She went to war with her critics, a long, terrible, bloody war that shows no sign of ending.” “Cadance was far too young.” Twilight took a sip of punch. “She was just a little filly when she took on Prismia. Sometimes, youth is an advantage. I think I’ve become a little less cocky as I’ve grown older. Now I send ponies half my age off into danger just to find out what sort of potential they have.” Twilight said nothing about her war against the press. The less said about that, the better. “Are you happy?” There was silence as Celestia considered Twilight’s words and it took her a few moments before she could answer. “I am apprehensive, I am worried, especially in light of some of this morning’s headlines, but yes, Twilight, I am happy.” “I saw some of the headlines. Only a few. I felt sickened and it put me in a bad mood.” Twilight took another sip of punch and watched as Gosling laughed along with a few reporters. “If Blueblood is the bastard, Gosling is the jester—” “Twilight, what a terrible thing to say.” Looking down, Celestia turned her gaze upon Twilight. She fought to keep her smile in check. She saw silent laughter in Twilight’s eyes. Her student had grown so much. She was now the pony that Celestia had hoped she would be. She looked up and her eyes fell on Gosling. “I already have plans for him, Twilight.” “Like you had plans for me… or for Cadance… or for Trixie.” Twilight’s eyebrow arched. “Technically, it was Applejack that has a plan for Trixie,” Celestia said in a low whisper. “I just helped her sort out the fine details. Applejack has good horse sense. You are wise to keep her as an advisor.” Celestia’s voice dropped even lower and her horn glowed for a brief second. “Trixie is not to leave Ponyville once she arrives. Do you understand? No more running. It is time she got with the program and lived up to her potential.” Twilight nodded but said nothing. “I have been watching Sumac Apple for a very long time now,” Celestia said in a voice that only Twilight could hear. “Just like you’ve watched me and so many others,” Twilight replied. She looked up at her former mentor. “What do you see in him?” “Somewhat above average greatness.” Celestia’s ears twitched as Gosling talked about his relationship with his mother. “Not everypony is cut out to be an alicorn prince or princess, but many ponies are cut out to be heroes. Little Sumac Apple shows promise. I sense… a power about him, but I cannot yet put my hoof upon what it is just yet.” “I see.” Twilight cleared her throat. “And what about him?” Twilight asked as she gestured at Gosling. She waited for a reply from Celestia, who stood staring at Gosling. Celestia let heave a sigh. “I see myself falling in love just a little more each day…”