As it turned out, Gosling wasn’t quite important enough to request that breakfast be made early. He had been given a peanut buttery granola bar, a smile, and then he had been sent on his way. Feeling as though he was going to die from starvation at any moment, he had waited in the dining room, becoming the first pony to arrive for breakfast, which was served sometime just before or after dawn.
Forced to wait, he sat in his chair, popped his lips, made funny faces, practiced making silly voices as well as amusing impressions, (he felt as though he captured Prince Blueblood’s snark quite well) and tried to get a feeling for the changes wrought to his body by Cadance’s magic. He was different. He couldn’t help but feel that he was a lot more handsome. And his wingspan? Bigger than ever. He could not wait to show it off. The world had to know. There was a lot more to show off and he planned to make an impressive display for his chosen mate. He was going to wow her.
Stuck in a room, filled with far too much energy, Gosling’s mind raced from subject to subject, thinking about everything from Skyfire and her new foal to him being a father. It didn’t take much to convince himself he was ready for fatherhood. Certainly Celestia knew what she was doing and he could just learn as he went.
There was still the matter of Luna, but all he felt he needed to do for Luna was earn her friendship. If anything else were to happen, and that was a big if, no doubt about it, it would happen later as a progression of their friendship. He would just be a very flirty friend when he felt he could get away with it, a loyal, devoted, dedicated friend when the situation demanded, and a loyal soldier when it was asked of him.
The door opened and the sounds of hooves behind Gosling made him turn his head. He saw blue in the corner of his vision. He turned his whole body and focused upon Luna. She was eyeing him, giving him a wary stare, no doubt still flustered by what he had done. He could see that she was a bit out of sorts. He found that he rather enjoyed seeing her in her flustered state.
“Hello, Luna,” Gosling said in a warm greeting. He saw her pause mid-step near the table, her eyes focused upon him, staring, and for a moment, her nostrils flared. She had a different beauty than her sister. Where Celestia was big and larger than life, Luna was big while remaining lithe, graceful, and she had a petite frame. Yet, as Gosling knew from experience, she was solid and quite heavy. She wasn’t fragile. She was still limping, but seemed to be undergoing some rapid recovery. He wondered if that was a property of alicorns.
“Good morning,” Luna replied as she recovered herself and sat down at the table.
“Lookee here, Luna, I has something to say.” Gosling leaned forwards over the table and kept his eyes locked upon Luna’s. He gave her a saucy eyebrow waggle and much to his amusement, Luna rolled her eyes as her ears twitched and flickered.
“Out with it.” Luna’s eyes narrowed.
“As your husband, I plan to respect every inch of your body, except for your lips. I’m kissin’ those any chance I get, because you gotta know that somepony loves you. You ain’t the type that can feel lonesome. But you ain’t gotta worry, ‘cause I ain’t gonna do anything else untoward or uncouth or put you into a bad position by telling you that you owe me something just because I’m your husband. You got that?” As he spoke, he saw a dark blush come over Luna’s cheeks, as dark as the deep purples of the sunset, and Luna’s eyes twinkled like the moon as it rose over silvery grey clouds into a sky full of stars.
“Your candor is appreciated,” Luna said after several long seconds of saying nothing at all. “I can agree to that, after all, we want my sister to be happy. That is our common goal and it is a worthy one.”
“Well,” Gosling began, “there is also the matter of your happiness, I’ve been givin’ that some thought. I’m thinkin’ that you could do with some happiness of some kind, ya know what I mean?” His smile vanished and he became quite serious looking.
“Is that thinly veiled innuendo?” Luna asked.
“Do I look like I’m playin’ around?” Gosling replied as the blush on Luna’s cheeks grew even darker. It was like spilled red wine on black silk sheets. Even her neck was now a deeper shade of blue. “A husband has an obligation to keep his wife happy. Or both of them. Or as many as he has. It’s something that he do.” Gosling’s thickening accent sounded more like he said, ‘It’s someting dat he do.’
What he did not know, was that his voice had the same power over Luna as it did her sister. He did not know how Luna struggled on the inside, fighting to keep her composure. Adding to this fact was that Gosling’s voice was now a somewhat deeper baritone, as his larger barrel gave him far more resonance, and a far more commanding voice. It was like butter—but not spread on toasted bread—and left poor Luna as a well buttered mare.
“The whole of the world is gonna see me romancing you in the same way I romance your sister.” Gosling’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to give those reporter bastards an in and give them a chance to say that you’re shunned, or that you’re not pretty, or attractive, or that I only love Celestia, no, see, because at some point, the papers are going to print some of just the right words and you’re gonna read them, and they’re gonna lodge in your heart like a splinter, see, and then all kinds of bad stuff will go down. And I ain’t gonna give that a chance to happen, ya dig?” He blinked, tilted his head to one side, and noticed Luna’s heavy breathing. “You okay, toots?” As he spoke, there was an audible gasp from the alicorn across the table.
“I’m fine,” Luna replied in a somewhat husky voice, “it is far too warm in here. Why must the heat be turned up so high? Cooler air keeps the humours in balance.” A scowl crossed over Luna’s face like sheep crossing the road as she began to fan herself with her wing.
The door opened and Gosling expected Raven, or Blueblood, or perhaps Cadance or Celestia, but it was just a pale green unicorn mare with a serving cart. She rolled it in and the room filled with the fragrant scent of coffee. Gosling’s mouth began to water and he saw a platter piled high with fresh made donuts. The moment the platter was set upon the table, he filched one, not caring if he was violating some bit of decorum that he wasn’t aware of.
The whole donut went into his mouth, which caused both the unicorn mare and Luna to stare at him as his cheeks bulged. He chewed for a bit, swallowed some of what was in his mouth, and then managed to get out the word, “What?” The serving mare rolled her eyes while shaking her head and Luna just stared at him through narrowed eyes.
Not caring about their disapproval, Gosling filched another donut. He was starving. He stuffed this one into his mouth, gobbling it down, and then began licking his now sticky fetlock with his long orange tongue.
As Gosling was getting himself sorted out, Raven entered, followed by Blueblood, who was helping Celestia along. Turning his head, Gosling looked over at the mare he loved while licking sticky glaze from his lips. She was squinting through narrowed eyes, as if the lights were far too bright, and a broad smile spread over his lips. He wondered if she knew and if she didn’t—how long before she noticed?
“Ooooooh, it is far too bright in here,” Celestia said in low whine, “turn down the lights.”
“Are the lights even adjustable?” Blueblood replied as he assisted his aunt. He looked around the room, trying to spot the light switch.
“Oh, never mind, I’ll be fine,” Celestia breathed in a somewhat nasal sounding voice. She did not sound the least bit majestic, not at all. She sat down beside Gosling with a huff and leaned against the table, unable to give a damn about decorum.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Gosling said to the alicorn sitting beside him.
“Gosling, now is not a good time to be a morning pony,” Celestia said, giving the love of her life fair warning. “Oh my head… ooooh… I’m going to have Cadance exiled, I swear.” Swaying back and forth, she reached up and began to rub her head with her right front hoof, which had no shoe this morning. She wasn’t even wearing her regalia or her crown, either. Clutching her head, she whimpered and let out a pained utterance.
“Please, she is rather dehydrated,” Blueblood said to the unicorn mare, “please go and fetch some juice or something, and hurry!”
Bowing her head, the unicorn mare hurried away, leaving her serving cart behind. Blueblood sat down beside Raven, slumped down in his seat, and yawned as he rested his forelegs upon the edge of the table. Beside him, Raven began to pour coffee.
Grinning, Gosling drew himself up to his full height beside Celestia, and much to his glee, he was noticeably taller sitting beside her. Oh, she still dwarfed him, but every inch gained felt like victory. Across the table, Luna hunched over her coffee, now looking sleepy as the sun began to peep over the horizon far to the east.
“I had some strange dreams last night,” Celestia said as she closed her eyes, still swaying from side to side in her seat. She reached out with her foreleg and touched Gosling, fumbling around for a few attempts before she found him in her blinded state. “Very strange dreams… I used my womb as a cannon… I was shooting out foals at high speed and knocking down ponies… I would cock my leg, point my backside, take aim, and let rip... it was a very strange dream. Poor Luna took one right to the kisser.” There was a pause before she continued, “The foals were like pillows… they were fine, unhurt from being launched.”
Celestia, who had her eyes closed, was being watched by everypony present with wide, staring eyes. Even Luna now appeared to be wide awake, at least for the moment. Raven took a sip of coffee, but since she wasn’t paying as much attention as she should have, some dribbled down her chin.
“I was annoyed about my condition.” Celestia swallowed and her voice sounded dry. “I didn’t want you touching me anymore, Gosling, as this was all your fault. Every time you got near me, I’d turn my backside towards you and shoot you with my foal cannon. It’d go off, rapid fire, and you’d be hit one right after another, until it knocked you down.”
Unsure of how to respond, Gosling grabbed another donut and began eating it. How did one reply to something like this, anyhow? He glanced over at Luna with pleading eyes, hoping for help, for assistance, he had hoped for aid from a fellow soldier in the trenches, but all Luna did was shrug.
“I shot one at Twilight… she flew away with it and kept it.” Celestia, her eyes still closed, rubbed her face with her hooves. “I’m having trouble feeling my face and my head feels like a balloon that is floating far, far above my body.” Celestia stretched out her cheeks, her lips, and contorted her face as though it was made of rubber. “Twilight never brought the foal back. She kept it and she was an adorable mother. For some reason, I didn’t mind that she had kept one of mine.”
Gosling blinked a few times and then ate another donut while staring down at the table. Blueblood was doing the same, staring down at the table, and Raven, never taking her eyes off of Celestia, grabbed a donut as well. Luna’s lips were pressed together into a tight line.
The door opened and the unicorn mare returned, this time with a tray that held several glass pitchers. She set the pitchers down upon the table, bowed, placed the tray upon her cart, and then hurried away, off to fetch breakfast.
Celestia’s eyelids parted just a tiny bit and she hissed as the piercing brilliance of the light stabbed her eyes. She forced her eyes to remain open, but she squinted, and kept her head angled down, away from the harsh overhead lamps. Raven slid a glass of orange juice in front of her, and the sounds of Gosling licking himself clean could be heard.
Everything felt far too weird and serious. Gosling was in far too good of a mood for weird and serious. He squirmed in his chair, unsure of what to do or say, but sat there and tried to think of some way to lighten the mood.
“After breakfast, you have a therapy session with Lumina Loveletter,” Raven said to Celestia as the white alicorn lifted up her glass of orange juice so she could drink it. Turning her head, she glanced over at Gosling. “You also have a session, right after Celestia’s, and then the two of you will be having a session together, so prepare yourselves.”
Nodding, Gosling eyed the donuts and thought about eating another one.
“I understand that Skyfire gave birth to an earth pony colt,” Raven said to Gosling.
Again, he nodded, his eyes never leaving the donuts.
“And that you were caught in the middle of a massive wild magic surge,” Raven continued in a low voice, all too aware that any sort of volume might overwhelm Celestia. “Something different about you, Gosling, but I can’t put my hoof on what it is.”
The colt grinned and looked over at Raven, but said nothing. He glanced over at Luna, and saw a faint smirk upon her muzzle as she poured herself some apple juice. He felt an itching in his wings, but he ignored it. The breakfast table was no place to go preening one’s wings.
There was a yawn from Blueblood, who then sipped his coffee. Half awake, he rubbed his cheek, scratched his neck, and then looked over at Raven. “You were wonderful last night, dear.”
A low giggle escaped from Raven’s lips as crimson crept over her face.
Feeling playful, in far too good of a mood to contain, Gosling grabbed another donut, but did not eat it. He held it in his fetlock, studying it, and then eyed Luna, wondering what he could get away with. Feeling cocky, being young, stupid, and full of youthful bravado, he decided that he could get away with almost anything. With a flick of his foreleg, he launched the donut at the coffee drinking alicorn of the night.
It arced through the air, a perfect parabolic arc, and with a muffled squish, the frosted donut landed upon Luna’s horn, skewering itself. It slid down and came to rest against her forehead. Blinking, it took Luna several seconds to register what had just taken place, and her eyelids blinked in a slow, confused manner as she figured it out. The slow blinks became rapid ones and her eyelashes fluttered like butterflies in a hurricane. Her head turned with a mechanical slowness towards Gosling, who was already wondering if perhaps he had gone too far. Pink frosting stood out in sharp contrast against the dark midnight blue of Luna’s horn. Her eyes crossed as she looked up at the donut resting on her forehead, with her horn protruding from the middle, then uncrossed as she began to glare at Gosling, her upper lip curling away from her teeth as she did so.
“He shoots, he scores,” Blueblood said in a somewhat sleepy voice, not sounding at all impressed. “But will he survive Luna’s retaliation? Doubtful… somepony will be doing an extended combat tour on the night patrol.”
The sound of Luna’s teeth grinding together could be heard and her face was like a furious storm cloud that roiled and churned as the storm gained intensity. As Luna seethed, the pressure building up so she could properly boil over, Celestia began to chortle. She slipped a foreleg over Gosling’s withers, pulled him close, and kissed him on the cheek.
“Hey, something different about you,” Celestia said in a low, confused voice, ignoring her sister’s theatrical, dramatic anger, “are you taller?”