Chapter 8
The royal gardens were in bloom and held the promise of the perfect evening. The sun lingered near the horizon, almost as if it couldn’t decide to continue along its journey just yet. Princess Celestia held her head high and waited, a soft, warm smile gracing her muzzle as her companion moved to keep up with her.
Her consort, Gosling, struggled with the simple task of walking. He teetered along on creaking knees, his joints popping, and a pained grimace could be seen upon his face. Celestia watched him, an expression of love visible upon her regal features. Cadance had said that she would get a century out of him, and Celestia had been blessed. Prince Consort Gosling had just celebrated his one hundred and twenty fifth birthday just a few days ago.
Where he had once been young and full of vigour, he was now old and full of mischief. He was still a shameless flirt, but with his vision problem, he tended to flirt with the maids, the drapes, or the dessert cart, and once, he had managed to make Cadance turn a very vivid shade of pink indeed. One eye had turned milky, but the other was still a piercing, vivid grey.
Gosling insisted on nosing her, giving her a good goosing, but now, he needed assistance. She had to stand very, very still and be patient so he could get just the right angle. He didn’t seem to be in a goosing mood at the moment, and his ability to swim had fled from him long ago. Right now, more than anything, he just seemed tired.
“Beloved…”
Ears perking, Celestia felt a tugging upon her heart. Even as old as he was, she still fell prey to his charms and she loved the sound of his voice, even if it was the voice of a tired, worn out old stallion.
“Beloved, I’m feeling tired… I think I need a rest. You’ve worn me out… well, you and our great, great… oh bother… I can’t remember how many greats there are… our granddaughter is a scamp… you’ll need to keep an eye upon her. Cadance will teach her to be a troublemaker now that Shining is no longer here to make Cadance behave.”
Celestia’s sad smile widened, but was no less sad. Prince Consort Gosling had lived a full, wonderful life. There was so much they had endured together. Invasions. Changelings. Monster attacks. Minotaur trade wars, three of them. Twilight Sparkle getting the alicorn flu. The birth of enough foals to start their own private army. Celestia’s many pregnancies were so common that the press got squirrelly if she wasn’t pregnant and there would be accusations that the royal family was having a squabble, perhaps even sleeping in different beds. Through everything, good or bad, Gosling had been her constant companion.
“I need to sit down,” Gosling said as one of his hips popped.
Saying nothing, Celestia led him over to a patch of grass, feeling a dull ache. The sun, perhaps sensing Celestia’s feelings, lingered near the horizon but did not go down. She felt Gosling brush up against her and even now, all these years later, his touch caused her to tingle; she still got chills running up and down her spine that made her feathers ruffle.
Celestia wished that some of her many foals were here now, but they were off living their own lives, doing good in the world, and they had all inherited their father’s sense of mother worship. Using her magic, she eased Gosling down onto the grass, making certain that he wasn’t jostled too much.
He bruised so easily now.
“The sunrise is beautiful,” Gosling said in a low voice as he craned his head to look at the distant sun. “You… you did a good job.”
Swallowing, Celestia did not correct him. Instead, she nuzzled him, brushing her muzzle up against his, which caused cool tingles to gallop up and down her spine. Her lips found his and she kissed him. He might be a little old, but he had aged like a fine wine. His kisses were still fiery, but that was about all that he could do. The kiss lasted until Celestia was sure that her heart would burst and then she pulled away, looking into Gosling’s eyes as she did so.
She was still holding him up with her magic and she felt him go limp. She eased him down into the soft, tender grass, cradling him in her magic. She heard his laboured breathing. The kiss had excited him just as much as it had her. He was laughing, just a little, a tired, worn out laugh, but a giddy sounding laugh nonetheless.
There was a soft clank from several guards as they snapped to attention. Celestia did not turn away at the distraction. She nosed Gosling once more, wanting to feel him against her, needing him in a way she could never fully explain. He completed her. Everything she was, all of it was made better by having him near. She had lived up to her full potential with him at her side.
“I’m tired,” Gosling gasped. “I hope you won’t be disappointed, but I need a nap. You’re just too much mare for me to handle. All that constant stud servicing. I was only too happy to oblige, of course.”
“Flatterer,” Celestia said in a voice loud enough for Gosling to hear her as she helped ease his head down to the grass. She lay down beside him, and with a sad, patient smile, she lifted his head and then placed it upon her foreleg so he would have something pleasant to rest upon. She felt him wiggle a little closer, or try to. His efforts were feeble in the extreme.
Beside her, she felt him tense up for a moment. There was one final breath, a deep, untroubled breath, then, Gosling shuddered and went still. Celestia squeezed her eyes shut, leaned her head over, and rested it upon Gosling’s neck, but doing so with the lightest touch possible. It was over, it had ended, Gosling had used up every precious second that he had been given.
As tears began to trickle down her cheeks, Celestia allowed the sun to set.
Almost blind with rage and grief, Celestia charged down the hall with gritted teeth and bloodshot eyes. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she roamed the halls, looking for her sister, Luna. She walked with her wings out and steam rose from her back. In her emotional state, she had trouble holding back and some of her harder hooffalls caused the marble floors to crack.
She felt Luna drawing nearer. Such cheek… such gall… such unmitigated gall. Grinding her teeth together, Celestia prepared herself to give Luna a piece of her mind. When she was done, Luna was going to be living in a different castle, preferably not one in Equestria.
At the end of the hall, the double doors opened and Celestia, almost blind with rage, had trouble even seeing her sister. She could only make a vague, blurry blue outline. A part of Celestia wanted to unleash her fury and let Luna have it.
“HOW COULD YOU!” Celestia’s voice caused the windows to shatter and she stomped her hoof to punctuate her words. A fissure opened up in the marble from the force of the blow.
“I couldn’t stop it from happening! I’m so sorry!”
Celestia, who had almost been driven mad with rage, now had immaculate sanity. Luna’s voice was filled with pain, her little sister was hurt. Celestia’s many emotions reversed as a sense of worry for Luna flooded through her. She could hear the fear, the pain, and the guilt in her sister’s voice.
“We doest apologise!” Luna’s voice was frantic with pain. “We cannot always control the magic… we feel fear, we sense weakness, and we answer!”
Now burning with shame, angry with herself, Celestia stormed forwards towards Luna, who did not move and was frozen with fear. There was a frightened shriek from Luna as Celestia wrapped her wings around her sister. The pair of them collapsed to the floor together, clinging to one another as guards began to file into the long hallway.
“I didn’t want to do it,” Luna sobbed, “I tried to make it stop.” The smaller of the two sisters sniffled and clung to her big sister’s neck. “When I realised what was happening, I did everything I could to make it stop but I was powerless.”
Celestia crushed Luna to her and tried to think of what to say. She was scared. She was terrified, even if she didn’t wish to admit it. A future with Gosling was so uncertain. There were so many unknowns. It was a future that would end in heartache. A sorrowful, mournful cry escaped Celestia’s lips and no matter how hard she squeezed her eyes shut, she could not staunch the flow of hot, burning tears. She felt Luna sobbing against her, she could feel Luna’s own tears against her neck.
“I’m sorry, Luna—”
“I am too!” Luna’s voice was almost a yelp of pain. “I never want to hurt you again!”
Brought together in pain, the two sisters did their best to console one another.
The remains of predawn tea was scattered over the table. Luna, red and bleary eyed, sat chewing upon a slice of raisin toast. Her muzzle was sticky, covered in both butter and jam. She ate with the vigour of one who turned to food for comfort. A thousand years ago, Luna lived during lean times, when food was scarce, and now, during this more modern age, Luna celebrated living in a land where there was plenty to eat.
Sitting across from Luna, Celestia nibbled upon a croissant, looking distracted. She had dribbled grape juice down her chin and it had trickled down her neck, leaving behind a purple stain. She glanced at her sister, felt a pang of guilt, and turned away.
Both seeing and sensing her sister’s guilty look, Luna blinked and swallowed her enormous bite of raisin toast. She smacked her lips, and kept her eyes focused upon her sister. “Thou doest know that thine guilt will only lead to more dreams.” Luna coughed, looked embarrassed for a moment, shook her head, and tried again. “Sister, when the guilt calls, when the fear beckons to me, I must answer.”
“I know, Luna,” Celestia said in a dull, flat voice. “And yes, I feel guilty right now. I assumed the very worst about you. Once again, I beg your forgiveness.”
“I cannot stop the dreams no more than you can stop the sun,” Luna replied and then chomped off a huge bite of raisin toast. She chewed with great vigour and much lip smacking, her table manners at least one thousand years out of date.
Tossing her half eaten croissant down upon a plate, Celestia snorted. “What do I do, Luna?”
“Fash yourf fearsh,” Luna replied around a mouthful of butter, jam, and raisin toast.
“How?” Celestia asked, shaking her head. “I’m not even sure what it is I am afraid of. I felt it, Luna, I felt that spark of love at first sight last night. It was so wonderful.” Celestia lifted up her teacup, poured more tea, and tossed in at least half a dozen sugarcubes. “But I will confess, I am afraid. I don’t want to complicate his life. I don’t want him to have to suffer. I don’t want him to worry about the safety and happiness of his mother. I don’t want—”
“Shush!” Luna gulped down her food and tried to lick the sticky from her lips, her orange tongue darting out for a moment. “Sister, it isn’t your place to make these decisions. It is his decision and you need to respect his ability to choose what is right for him.” Luna pointed her hoof at her sister. “You don’t have the right to take his freedom of choice away. He will make a decision, for good or for ill, and then he will live with the consequences.”
“And what of me and the consequences I face? I face them alone, Luna.” Celestia shook her head and felt more anger bubbling just beneath the surface as she knew that she was feeling sorry for herself. “He’ll be gone and I’ll be alone.”
“Such is the cost of our immortality. So long as there is a sun and a moon to mind, we will continue to do the tasks we are bound to.” Luna jammed the remains of her toast into her mouth, causing her cheeks to bulge, and when she bit down, jam dribbled down her chin, along with some butter.
Sipping her tea, Celestia considered her sister’s words. She thought about backing out. She still could. Gosling would be hurt, but he would recover. He was still young and resilient. It would sting though, Celestia knew that. It was one thing to be burned by a filly, it was a whole different issue to be burned by an alicorn princess. Celestia was confident that Gosling was strong enough to recover.
But he was handsome. He was bold. He was witty. He was a diamond in the rough and Celestia knew it. If there was anything that Celestia knew, it was potential. Gosling had potential. His mother had raised him right, as the expression went.
Potential. If Celestia kept him as a consort, he would live up to his potential. If she rejected him, she could not help but wonder if he would still live up to his full potential. Thinking about this caused her ears to droop down to the sides of her face. She took a sip of tea and scowled as her unsettled mind continued to torment her. Rejection would be robbing him of his potential.
There was also the matter of infatuation. Celestia suffered an inwards cringe. Infatuation? Was she being honest with herself? A part of her knew it was love, but it would soften the blow if she called it infatuation. She didn’t know what to do and she had a tough decision to make. She felt a headache coming on and she cursed the tension in her body. She wanted to go back to sleep. More than anything, she wanted to be back in her warm, comfortable bed.
“We’re going to be having a lot more early teas together,” Luna said in a sad voice.
“What makes you say that?” Celestia asked.
“Because of the nightmares you are soon to invite upon yourself,” Luna replied.
Looking at her sister, Celestia felt her blood run cold.
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Damn you, kudzu, and that kidney punch to the feels... Almost made my mood drop from Tartarus to "Where the hell am I?"
Well done
It took me a moment to figure out just what in hezmana had happened here, but once the penny dropped... Aye, well done indeed.
you sonuvabitch
Don't get me wrong, I like you guy, but seriously FUCK YOU NEVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN! I was so disappointed until about halfway through. I thought everything was over before it even had a chance to begin.
Dang. That dream was very reminiscent of the Death of Raina in The Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind.
Such a powerful scene is terribly undermined by it being a dream... but it was indeed poignant evidence of Celestia's fears.
I know it's not exactly a great argument, I always hate the "well what other choice do you have?" moments in movies, but I'm surprised neither Cadance nor Luna have mentioned to Celestia that she has to love a mortal unless she wants to try Twilight.. or Discord. That or continue with her life bereft of romantic love.
Those are her choices.
I don't think there's anything wrong with DisLestia, it can be fun, but totally wrong for this version of Celly. Twilight would probably be fine... eventually. I always felt in stories where Twilight and Cadance are true Alicorns that they'd make a perfect fit once Twilight grew into her status as a Princess and her power as the Alicorn of Magic. But again, this Celestia would be without love until that time.
So.. what choice does she have?
Perhaps Cadance and Luna are just being diplomatic and don't want to put it like that.
I was chilled to the bone at Luna's atrocious eating habits.
Oh, nice dream, btw. I need a therapist now.
Damn u got me good
7116426 Welcome to kudzu´s land....where fellings ride roller coasters and tears come by the buckets.
Other things "come" by the buckets too...but we don´t talk ´bout then...
Bulls***! Why do you do these things to us kudz?! Nearly had a heart-attack when the 'dream' started. Thought you pulled a bs timeskip on us when the story is so good.
Wow I thought it was over right there... I'm happy & really mad for you tricking me to think it was over, but really loved the chapter
Omg, thank you for making that first part just a dream and not ending the story there. I mean, I couldn't even be upset as I was reading at first just because it was such a beautiful, sad picture, but seriously, thank you for the sudden turn of things.
(Closest thing I could find to a 'relieved looking' emoji).
Dang it Celestia, you have a chance at happiness! Don't throw it away like an idiot! I will slap you!
7116281
Thanks for the reply! Do you have a schedule for your updates, or should I just keep lurking? :)
7116721
It was just updated...
I am currently hammering together chapter 9
7116727
Thanks for the info!
No pressure, just curious
Well played.
vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/e/e1/FANMADE_Luna_I_see_what_you_did_there.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130405221911
Jeepers, man!
I has to go back and look at it again from different angles until it all clicked into place.
If you ever went evil, you would be a very effective villain.
I figured out that the first scene was a dream sequence early on, but that still didn't keep me from getting nervous- I've seen a lot of stories just skip right to the end like that.
You people are too quick to feel. He's going to die happy, loved and with someone special with him. I have no tears of sadness - only tears joy.
Fucking retartedly designed mobile site
Huh, okay. That was confusing, right up until the point where it suddenly wasn't.
I kinda hope that was a bit of a prophetic dream, though. For a bittersweet future, it was pretty heavy on the sweet and light on the bitter.
Damn you kudzu. Thats the first time any author has ever caught me off guard with a dream i really thought you time skipped, and would have been fine with it. Being tricked like that annoyed me to no end.
7118039 same here
i.imgur.com/e9Wjhv0.gif
I'm lost. Doesn't she control the sun in the future?
7138226 I think it was a Sunset.
Oh, lord my heart. Kudzu, you evil bastard.
s2.quickmeme.com/img/fe/fe002a7058e49fd1564f0ed696fb8b2dc01930a3df9c681ccd900811f18397df.jpg
Bah.
Bah!
We cry not for the deceased because they have died, we cry because they have left us.
GOD DAMNIT KUDZ!!! NEVER FUCKING DO THAT AGAIN YOU BASTARD!!!!
... Okay, okay. God. At first i was pissed for the time jump, than "oh yeah sequel, probably covers the mid. Not optimum but fine." but death in the middle caught me off that she charged Luna and i was lost until it clicked and when it did you succeeded in making a heart-gut hibrid that should've exploded by now You brilliant bastard!
am i bad for just thinking oh somepony else like a little tea with her sugar.....
At first, I was all "That was an abrupt time-jump but OK." But then it turned out to be a nightmare.
Ouch. That first part felt like a direct hit into the heart.
Fortunately, it was just a nightmare. A particularly nasty one.
Unfortunately, it is what the future bodes anyways.
I figured it was a dream rather quickly but Celestia's best option is simply to prevent her fears from becoming true. The best outcome would be if Gosling and Shining Armor as well become Alicorns. Personally I think that that is Twilight's job to figure out how to ascend more ponies.
7591147 In this particular universe, only Greater Alicorns are eternal, the possibility of lesser alicorns is a very real issue, and apotheosis as a process- with only two successes in millenia, is probably not a science understood in the least.
I started re-reading this so it would be fresh when I read the sequel.
Two times out of two times, Kudzu. You jerk.
Keep it up!
Don't be the that guy. Please.
Well, she does deal in futures...
NOW YOU REGRET EVERYTHING
DREAM SEQUANCE AAARRRGH