Chapter 25
Heaving a sigh, Gosling realised that his work was done. He looked around the empty office. He was alone. He had been trusted to finish his work unsupervised. Raven was off with Princess Celestia, taking care of some Crown business together. Gosling had finished everything, and he had finished early.
He liked this work. He liked it a lot. Others might find it tedious, but as far as jobs went, this wasn’t bad at all and Gosling could see himself doing it for the rest of his life. It appealed to his meticulous nature. He liked perfection. Wings with perfect preening and not one feather out of place. Perfect telegrams with no errors. Perfection was something to strive for. You couldn’t be a perfect pony, but you could do perfect things. Perfection was possible in the mundane acts done everyday.
Truth be told though, he wasn’t going to be doing this for the rest of his life, and he knew that. He was no longer a pony just looking for a way to muddle through life and find a way to survive. Now, a whole lot more was expected of him. His tasks would be a lot more demanding… and far more difficult to do with his sense of perfection.
He had to go back to school, which meant perfect grades. He was going to be Celestia’s consort, and he had trouble even fathoming the level of perfection that demanded. Then there was the Luna issue… and Luna was an issue. He didn’t have strong feelings for Luna and he didn’t know how to proceed. He hardly knew her. She was just the lonely mare that had jumped out and scared him in the darkness.
The deck was stacked against him; any efforts on his part to be kind to her, to make her happy, to make her feel good, all of those things would be viewed with suspicion, and Luna wondering about his motivations—was he doing it to make Celestia happy? That created a problem for Gosling. He didn’t know how to reach Luna. But he wasn’t about to neglect her, his sense of perfection wouldn’t allow for that. If he was going to be a husband, he was going to strive to be a perfect husband. There was just the matter of somehow reaching Luna.
Gosling didn’t know what to do and it was time to go. His work day was done.
In the hall, he was surprised by his mother. She was sitting on a bench in the waiting area, humming to herself, and when she saw him, she burst from the bench and took off flying indoors. Something she had punished Gosling many times for doing. He braced himself—
WHAM!
His mother, though small, was solid and hard muscled. She had spent all of her life doing hard work. He staggered from the blow and felt his mother’s forelegs tighten around his neck. It was also at this point that he remembered that he had left his armor in Raven’s office.
“Gossy!”
Ugh, she kept calling him that. In public. Gosling rolled his eyes as she squeezed. There wasn’t anything he could do. His mother was soft and smelled like nice perfume, which made him feel sneezy. She had done something to her pelt. Had she been to the spa? Been pampered? He didn’t know.
“Come along, Gossy, we need to talk. In private.”
He felt his mother let go of his neck and he looked down as she was looking up at him. Her blue eyes were happy, but also worried… and perhaps a little scared. He could see the laugh lines in the corners of her eyes. His mother was pretty and beautiful… and oh how he loved her.
“Oy vey, Gosling, you stink like garlic… ew, what’s a mother to do?” Sleet said in a nasal voice as she shook her head in disapproval. “So shtanky… yuck!”
“Cream of garlic soup was served with lunch, Ma.” Gosling’s eyebrow lifted and he let out a chuckle. “Raven calls it a power lunch… those who eat it have power over others.”
“That is no mouth to kiss a princess with—”
“Ma, please… Princess Celestia ate two bowls of soup.”
“Two? Gosling, please tell me that you’ve behaved yourself in private and she’s not eating for two—”
“Ma!”
“—a mother could just die, Gosling! Of shame! Don’t shame me!”
“Ma!”
“I mean, I know she’s pretty and you have urges, but I told you how to look after those urges and you had better not—”
“Ma, slow down!” Gosling begged. “She’s a big pony, alright? She eats a lot. She feels self conscious about it sometimes.”
Sleet went silent and looked up at her son, staring into his eyes, searching for any sign of guilt, treachery, or deceit. After one uncomfortable minute, she nodded. She reached up with her hoof and tapped Gosling on the jaw. “You’re a good colt. You make your mother proud.”
“Sheesh, Ma, a mother could live…”
Sleet’s ears stood up straight and she began snickering. A wide smile spread over her muzzle as she took a step closer to her son. “Let’s get out of here and go someplace private. We need to talk, you and I. A mother knows when her son is troubled and he needs her.”
Sleet took off at a prancing trot and Gosling followed after her, both confused and mystified by his mother’s power over him. He loved her so much, even if he didn’t understand her. His brows furrowed when he had an unsettling thought—how much of his attraction to Celestia was because she was a bit like his mother? White, fierce, and fiesty. Gosling shoved the thought from his mind and tried not to think about it.
“Gossy, I know you love her, and I know that all kinds of things are going to happen between you and Celestia, but you need to remember who she is and be reverent towards that,” Sleet said as she walked. “Be respectful of her and her body. Don’t be lewd or obscene.”
There was no reply from Gosling as he followed after his mother. He would have to get his armor later. He might get a bit of a lecture, but that would be okay. He needed some time with his mom. He sighed. His mother was in full blown lecture mode.
“Princess Celestia is the deliverer of our kind… do you remember your lessons?” Sleet turned her head and looked over her shoulder at her son.
“Yeah Ma, I do.”
“She and Luna challenged Discord to a fight, saying, ‘Let my ponies go!’ and of course, Discord, being the meshuggener that he is, he cracks wise and says no. Such a bad mouth… his mother didn’t raise him better.” Sleet paused and then made a spitting sound. Ptoo! Ptoo! Ptoo! “He held an entire nation in slavery and made them go mad… he destroyed our tribes and the sisters had to save them. He ruined our way of life, our culture, he took from us something we can never get back. But the sisters, the sisters saved us and restored us. Never forget that, Gossy.”
“I know, Ma.”
“Don’t be smart,” Sleet said in a chiding voice.
“I’m not, Ma.”
“Good… I raised you better.” Sleet’s prancy step became a prideful strut and it was easy to see where Gosling got his own peacock prance from. “I raised my son to be good enough for the deliverer of our tribes. A mother always hopes for the best for her son...”
He was barely even in the chair when his mother whirled on him. The gatehouse apartment where his mother was staying filled with a cringe inducing silence. Gosling could feel his mother’s piercing stare burning through him. She had some terrible power. Sleet’s love was both terrible and beautiful.
“Gosling, we’re going to be having a very open discussion. I’m your mother, you can say anything to me and not be afraid, okay? Anything at all. And I know that you need to talk about this little development. Right?” Never taking her eyes off of Gosling, Sleet bounced into an overstuffed high backed chair, sat down, and settled in.
Taken aback by his mother’s abrupt words, Gosling tried to collect his thoughts. He had so much he wanted to say. But these were difficult things to talk about. His mother would be so open about them and Gosling could feel his ears burning in anticipation. He drew in a deep breath and tried to figure out where to begin. His mother’s blue eyes and how she stared at him made it difficult.
“Ma… I… I can’t figure out how I’m supposed to feel about Luna,” Gosling began, his gaze dropping down to the floor. The rug had a paisley print pattern. It still somehow looked new, even though it appeared to be quite old. It was a rug that hadn’t aged. “She and Celestia are one pony, really… I don’t know how to explain it, but they are. Ma, I’ve seen things. Learned things. And I don’t know how to deal with them just yet. I don’t think I can talk about some of those things with you, either.”
“I understand, Gossy.”
“Thanks, Ma.” Gosling looked up from the rug. He couldn’t read the expression upon his mother’s face, it was unknown to him. “Ma, I think that even if the law wasn’t there, I would still end up in the middle of them. That’s just how they are. I dunno, Ma… I’ve been thinking about this on and off today while I worked.”
Sleet nodded, but said nothing, acknowledging her son’s words.
“The way I see it, Ma, is that it would be like living in the day and refusing to admit that the night even exists. The sun and the moon kinda go together. You can’t have one without the other. I’m making a mess of this. It sounded better in my head when I was working earlier.”
“I can see some sense in it,” Sleet said to her son in a soft voice.
“Luna… she’s real lonely and real guilty. And she’s got her whole life wrapped up in serving her sister… and Celestia… she’s the same way. She’s real lonely and she’s really guilty too… and I has this fear… I has me this fear that if I’m with Celestia, I’ll be taking her away from Luna, and Luna will grow resentful and jealous, because let’s face it, she needs her sister. The two balance each other out.” Gosling’s brows furrowed.
“My son got wise,” Sleet said in a low whisper.
“You said to always look for answers in the natural order of things, so I have,” Gosling replied. “Now, where was I? Oh yeah… so I can’t take one sister away from the other. That’d be bad I think. They need each other to balance themselves out and if I married Celestia, that’d be wrecking the balance. The way I sees it…” Gosling’s words faded into silence.
“Yes, Gossy?” Sleet leaned forwards in her chair and waited.
“It’s gotta be like it is in the natural order.” Gosling’s ears drooped and his eyes dropped down to study the paisley print again. “I gotsta stand in the middle and let de sun and de moon move around me. It’s like some kinda funny bidness harmony ding. Dose sisters, dey squabble, and dey bicker, but dey love each other. Dey share everyding.” At this point, Gosling’s accent had thickened to the point where few ponies outside of Manehattan might understand him.
“Gosling, don’t talk like a hooligan or a cheap dime store hoodlum… I raised you better. I’ll fetch the soap.”
“Sorry, Ma.” Gosling took a deep breath and kept going. “If I do this right, I can bring the sisters together on common ground.”
“And that is?” Sleet asked.
“If they both love me, that gives them a place to meet in the middle.”
Sleet’s head made a slow, deliberate nodding motion, her ears bobbing as her head rocked back and forth. She sat in silence and waited for her son to continue, her expression one of patience.
“But Luna, she’s already got me stumped. She… well, she said that anything I do to make her happy would just be done to make her sister happy… and that’s not the same as making her happy for the sake of her being happy, and I don’t know how to fix this problem. Luna’s smart… she’s already got me played as a stooge.” Gosling let out a frustrated grunt. “Ma, let’s face it, I’m not so smart.”
“Son, Celestia is going to love you wholeheartedly and without reservation. She’s like the sun… she just shines, she can’t help herself or make it stop. But Luna… Son, you are going to have to go into the darkness to find her. And she is going to make you work for any affection you might have. The night is cold, but there is warmth to be had.”
“Think so, Ma?” Gosling asked.
“Light a fire,” Sleet suggested.
“Ma, these metaphors are gonna get me killed—”
Sleet’s body inflated, her barrel puffing out, and her feathers all fluffed. “Don’t get mouthy!”
“Sorry, Ma.” Gosling’s ears drooped down. “I wasn’t being mouthy.”
“You’re going to have to go deep into Luna’s darkness and figure out a way to show her some warmth and light. You’re going to have to prove to her that you are interested in her happiness.” Sleet paused for a moment, reached up, and rubbed the side of her jaw with her left front hoof.
While his mother was silent and thinking, Gosling sprang an important question upon her. “Ma, do you approve of what I’m doing? I’m not going to shame you or anything, am I? I couldn’t live with that. A son could just die...”
Snapped from her thoughts, Sleet almost tumbled forwards out of her chair. She braced both forelegs against the front edge of the cushion and sat straight up, even her ears pointed straight towards the ceiling. Her eyes narrowed into blue slits and she stared at her son.
“Gosling, of course I approve. Now, if it was any two other mares, I’d say you were inviting disaster and yes, I would be trying to talk you out of it. But this is different. This isn’t just marriage, this is service. You’re representing the First Tribes and our values. I can’t even imagine a higher honour for our kind.”
“Thanks Ma.” Gosling watched as his mother relaxed a little. “So Ma… any advice?”
“Yes, actually,” Sleet replied.
“Well?” Gosling waited.
“Gosling… darling… my little sweet potato knish, there is one thing that you must be very mindful of…”
“And that is, Ma?”
“Never go from one mare to another with the scent of the first still upon you—”
Gosling recoiled in horror at his mother’s words. “MA!”
“Oy vey, Gosling”—Sleet shook her head—“make sure you take a shower first so that—”
“MA! PLEASE! MA!” Gosling shook his head and gave his mother a pleading look.
“ —those musks don’t intermingle—”
“OY VEY, MA, HAVE MERCY! WHATSAMATTA WITCHU?”
“—it would be like two sisters touching each other in a most inappropriate way… you can’t let certain bodily fluids intermingle, you just can’t! You can’t let the sisters touch each other through you, it’s unclean—”
“Ma, I swear by the alicorns, I am going to tie a millstone around my neck and throw myself into the ocean!”
Sleet, looking wounded, stared at her son. “You wanted my advice and I gave it.” She sniffed, blinked, and made a dismissive wave with her hoof. “It was advice that you needed to hear. We have laws, culture… we have ways and means for dealing with herd marriage, and you’ve never learned them. We can’t be unclean, Gosling, you know the laws and the traditions.”
Shuddering, Gosling tried to recover from the words he had just heard come out of his mother’s mouth. He swallowed. His mother looked hurt, wounded, and he knew what he had to do. “Okay, Ma… I’m listening… teach me of the old ways… tell me what I need to know…”
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I think I like them a lot too, I'm learning more about Gosling through these times when he lets his guard down. Though, I have to admit it made me sad learning that his growth might be stunted. Gosling seems to be built a lot like a Shining Armor if he were a slender young pegasus, now, think about what he'd look like if he wasn't underfed as a child. He'd probably be built like a tiger, sleek grace mixed with a shit-ton of raw muscle. Nobody likes hearing that they've been permanently damaged by something that happened in their past, nobody.
Also, I really find myself liking all this First Tribe stuff. It adds a bit of flavor to everything that I feel wouldn't otherwise be there.
So I'm guessing ponies have mikva'ot?
Tell what...Sleet does have a good point:
Celestia: Oh my heart´s dearest...your kiss taste quite spicy tonight...what did have you eat before we met...
Gosling: ...
C: Gosling ? What did you eat before we met !?
G: ...
C: Oh Luna, I must sa...
G: How do you knew !?
C: Knew wha....OH STARS ABOVE...I NEED TO BRUSH MY TEETH !!!!
7183556 Yeesh, yeah, a soph ought to avoid that kind of thing, belike...
7183543 There is a reason why the average person in developed countries is bigger than someone from an underdeveloped, impoverished nation: food and good nutrition. You can see that in micro form in just about any large city in the world, too.
Poverty is a very real and sad thing, yet politicians do little to help them beyond mere talk.
7183556
7183561
...You mean you don't brush your teeth afterwards? I thought that was just common sense.
Wonder how Luna will react to Gosling’s accent when she hears it. We already know of Celestia and the rain in the sandy valley.
7183586 But I love the aftertaste...
7183586
Brush your teeth or eat altoids beforehand.
The minty feeling will drive her wild.
7183597
cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/mt/2014/09/The_More_You_Know/lead_large.png
7183590 derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/6/22/354187__solo_princess+luna_animated_solo+female_questionable_plot_upvotes+galore_happy_persona+4_artist-colon-2snacks.gif
This works!
Uh... are you allowed to swear on a grouping which includes two ponies you most likely going to marry?
7183737
Well he will likely be swearing by their names a lot during the honeymoon.
7183786
He better keep straight which name he uses when or he end up being a plucked Gosling!
7183737 Well, he is *now* :)
7183792
Maybe he should swear by Cadence or Twilight's name just to be safe. Take one of the middle grounds.
7183803
Some how I don't think that will improve his chances of survival.
How about "Discord!". Would that work? On, second thought, let's not go there.
So kosher sex?
....Your not planing for them to have a 3 way sex are yea?
*sigh*
if this goes the whole 'herd' direction.....I'm out. "shrug"
7183883
Nope.
7183885
Well, good thing I have the resolution planned outside of the time frame of this story. You'll never know one way or the other. You'll just have to keep guessing and wondering.
7183844 Somehow i think the priest is going to be saying a lot of things that aren't a blessing if there in the room when Gosling and Celestia start festivities.
I do quite enjoy the story and all, but... I dunno. The whole jewish thing is kinda killing the character, I feel. The way they talk, that is, not the religion. It just kinda... breaks the flow of things. I rather liked them before Sleet started on that whole 'a mother could die!' spiel, and I feel you've let yourself get caught up with the whole idea and are, well, overdoing it somewhat?
My two cents.
Hmm I'm loving the interactions between Gosling and his mom it's so much fun to read. I wonder how they are going to resolve this complication. Oh well I guess I will just have to buckle up and enjoy the ride.
7184139
There is a bit of a duality to Gosling. Who he is and who he projects. Around his mother, or when excited, he changes a bit. It shows that he isn't as in control of himself as one might first think. But hey, I've gotten plenty of anti-semetic messages so I get that people hate the jews and don't want them showing up in their horsewords. So I understand.
In hindsight, I shouldn't have done anything different and kept it as bland as possible to keep from disturbing people.
7184152 Oh, naw. Not saying that. It's a fun little thing but, overdoing it can be as bad as keeping it bland, and I feel you're definitely leaning on the overdoing it side at the moment. Just needs to be reigned in a little bit.
7184164
At the moment, Gosling is under a lot of pressure and he's with his mom. Things are bound to be the way they are. Writing them differently wouldn't be true to their characters.
Right now, I'm a bit put out because I've had a few messages stating that Gosling and his mother both need to be put into a camp and gassed. I am a bit angry and disgusted at the moment.
7184177 I do believe you can report those particular messages to the admins - such behavior is harassment and action can be taken.
7184198
I don't bother. I just delete the message and block people.
7184208 But it can get arseholes like that banned. I figure that's worth it :P
I like these to, not as comedic, but still enjoyable.
7184177 jeesh. I forgot about those. Im honestly suprised that people went there over this.
7184177
Dear god. Not only is that fucked up, but those fuckers are too cowardly to say it outside of a PM because of the backlash it would generate. Bunch of fucked up cowards.
7184451
If I see the nazi earth pony just one more time...
7183674
It's Kenpachi Ramasama!
Luna would probably enjoy the Persona series.
7184047
and other such helpful advice.
Unless said priest is actually priestess Candace. Then its ' you should try from the left', 'ohhh such endurance'
7184152 The only solution is to introduce more Jewish ponies!
7183932
Heh, guessing and wondering is always interesting! I'm curious to see how things go!
7184152
No what you should do is tell any of the racist fucks who can't handle a bit of one culture in a equine erotica to stop take five minutes to reevaluate their world view and then pick something in the world they should fucking be upset by and not give two goddamn flying fucks what they think!
If you can't express an idea with FUCKING PONIES without offending someone it'll just lead to them censoring you over and over till you can't speak at all. So no Kudz you DO need to keep going out of the box BECAUSE of these shifty subhuman amoebas and the fact that sunlight is the best disenfectant and fucking slam those sons of bitches like they deserve
7184152
For some people I think it's a matter of taste; they don't like characters being overly ethnic because it makes it harder for them to identify with said characters. For others, they wince at the sight of written slang, and roll their eyes at the use of ethnic words and phrases. I don't believe it comes from a bad place, I just think that some people are more comfortable with the familiar than with the foreign, and that some people see unnecessary complexity where others see depth. Except for the anti-Semites, but fuck those guys.
Then again, perhaps I'm just being overly optimistic. I'd rather think of people as Grammar Nazis than the more literal kind.
Well now. We were all waiting for Sleet's opinion on the two princess possibility, and oh my did she have one and it was fun.
Yeah, that seems like about the right immediate reaction. Though I suppose, in fairness it might be a good idea to look up these herd marriage laws and traditions, there might be some good advice in there.
7184177 ...PEOPLE ARE DOING WHAT?! Really?
Jewish ponies make me happy. As does Gosling's thick
New YorkManehatten accent.I can't stop hearing Adam Sandler as Gosling's voice.
7184177 Trolls, I'd imagine.
Nobody sane enough to be allowed Internet access would post such a thing seriously.
And Ramses said "No"
You know, this is all really interesting, talking about how Gosling has to marry both Celestia and Luna... but there's this one little nagging thought I have in the back of my head: couldn't they repeal that 'old law'?
7716518 They COULD, but it's already stated that they will NOT repeal it. For one, it could invite public disaster. For two, Gosling has already figured out that he NEEDS to marry BOTH. NOT just for the Public, but for Celestia AND Luna's sake. They BOTH need him and he will be the bridge between the two.
Now wooing Luna and winning her heart, THAT will be a tricky business as his mother stated earlier. Tricky, but NECESSARY.
7425619 Considering there was a guy defending his Alt-Right followers with a Nazi Salute and saying "HAIL TRUMP" and such, I am not so sure. More recently there's been surges of internet activity from these guys. Let's not forget that there have been a surge of violence against Non-Whites & LGBT once Trump became President Elect. Regardless of Trump's feelings of Racism, his speeches and rallies have been a call for action for many of these fringe groups. They feel that he is representing and supporting their views, regardless of what he says or does.
So while I am HOPING that these vile individuals are merely trolls, I cannot say for certain. Personally, even as a someone who is not Jewish, but has Unofficial Official Jewish Family, such jokes have make me feel SICK!