Chapter 29
Entering her room, Celestia stopped before she stepped in a puddle. She stood on three legs, her right front hoof still raised, and stared down at the pool of yellow-greenish puke. The room stank, the acrid scent of vomit burned her nose and made her eyes water.
“Gosling?” Celestia strained to get the words out of her mouth. She heard splattering in the distance, then coughing. She stepped over the puddle, now feeling sick herself. Her dock tingled and she felt chills. “Gosling, answer me…”
There was no answer. She stepped over another puddle and hurried over to where Gosling’s room was. She froze in the doorway, horrified by what she saw. She felt her heart rising into her throat and she could feel the blood pounding through her ears.
His head hung off of the edge of his bed and his body was racked with dry heaves. His wings hitched against his sides. His eyes looked vacant and bloodshot. He had been choking. A long string of bile and drool hung from his lips. She heard him gagging, straining to breathe, and as she stood staring, vomit trickled from both his nostrils.
“Guards! Fetch a doctor at once!” Celestia commanded in a reedy voice that was almost screechy with worry. She rushed forwards and using her magic, she began to try and clear his airway. “Gosling can you hear me?” She shook him, perhaps a little harder than she intended in her panic, and strained to hear some kind of response.
His wings flapped against his side, his barrel expanded, and his whole body was racked with more dry heaves. The bile that dribbled from his lips as he sputtered was green. Celestia could smell the acrid tang of urine in the air.
She touched her snoot to him, placing it against his ear. His skin was feverish—he was burning up and far too hot to the touch. He was soaked with sour smelling sweat that smelled foul and left her nose damp. She heard a weak whimper and stood there, helpless, unable to do anything as he continued to dry heave.
“Gosling…” Celestia kept trying to clear his airway to ease his breathing, but his nostrils kept clogging. She shook him again, trying to clear him out so that he could breathe. She could hear him choking as he heaved. His breathing sounded soupy and wet. Something was raspy and his lungs gurgled. She began to worry that he was drowning in his own vomit.
“GUARDS!” Celestia’s shriek shattered glass all around her.
When she saw the doctor, Celestia ceased her pacing. She stood still, waiting, feeling that somehow, this was all her fault. The doctor approached with her ears pinned back against her skull. Her white coat was covered in greenish yellow stains and needed changing.
“Well?” Celestia asked in a sandpapery voice that was nothing at all like her usual dulcet tones. “Don’t mince words.”
“He’ll be fine, but he needs rest. His lungs filled with highly acidic bile, which burned them. He needs his stress level reduced considerably. I’ve also spoken with his therapist. He’s missed a few visits. She says that he is naturally high strung. She’ll be stopping by to check on him when he’s awake, aware, and feeling better. Right now, he’s been medicated with a heavy dose of ketamine and dilaudid. All that dry heaving has taken a toll on his body.”
Celestia thought back to the week that Gosling had spent with her. The heaviness she felt grew to the point of causing physical pain. She grimaced and saw the doctor cringe. The little mare stepped backwards. She began to feel ill herself.
“Majesty?” The doctor sounded worried.
“I’ll be fine,” Celestia said, lying through her perfect teeth. “I need to go. I want reports every hour. When he is awake and can talk, I wish to speak to him.”
“Of course.” The doctor nodded.
“I have an empire to run.” Celestia lifted her head high. “Keep me informed.”
Celestia now feared the worst. Distracted, confused, and hurt, she gulped down a glass of cold water and allowed it to spill over her muzzle. She had just done something awful. She had sent her sister away. She didn’t wish to speak to Luna at the moment for the fear that she might start screaming and then be unable to stop. The hurt she had seen in Luna’s eyes had almost been too much to bear.
The Princess of the Sun feared that she neared her own breaking point. Luna of all ponies should have known better, as she knew Gosling’s mind, having been in his dreams, knowing his fears, his worries, his fragile state. And Luna had known these things, but she had torn into him anyway, which Celestia found inexcusable. She wanted to hurl her sister off of the mountain and into the valley below. She had refused to listen to Luna’s excuses.
She heard the sound of Raven creeping up on her in a cautious, fearful way. She wanted to chew out Raven, too… Raven had been the one who had selected an officer to speak to Gosling and explain the new rules rather than do it herself. Frustrated, Celestia ground her teeth together and the scraping sound filled the room. She heard Raven’s hooves go silent as Raven froze, just outside of her field of vision.
Through an intense act of will, Celestia forced her teeth to stop scraping against themselves.
“I think the crucible became too much to bear,” Celestia said, almost spitting out the words. Her tongue and lips felt dry even though she had just been drinking. “So… Raven, how is our situation? How did the press conference go?”
She heard Raven clearing her throat. She heard the swish of a twitching tail. Celestia was almost certain that she could hear the sound of Raven sweating. She hadn’t moved a muscle and Celestia felt a twinge of guilt.
“Would it be better if I left?” Raven asked in a cautious, fearful voice.
Slumping on her cushion, Celestia’s ears drooped in shame. “No.”
Moving with slow caution, Raven came over and sat down opposite Celestia at the low table. She set down her carryall bag and peered at Celestia through her spotless glasses. The little unicorn made no sudden movements, made no sound, and never once took her eyes off of Celestia.
“Skyfire has been placed under observation… a psychiatrist wanted her placed under suicide watch. It’s sinking in and she’s starting to realise the enormity of the consequences. She’s in bad shape… not much better than Gosling. There is some concern that the stress could make her miscarry.”
Raising her water glass, Celestia took a drink.
“Blueblood has asked to be the judge.”
Swallowing a mouthful of water, Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “He is not an alicorn.”
“But he is a prince. He is a royal, as much as any of the rest of you. He has the authority. He just doesn’t have the wings. He says that it should be either him or Shining Armor. You have too much invested emotionally, Luna, well, I think we all know how Luna feels, Twilight would take this badly because of the press connections—”
“And Cadance?” Celestia asked.
“This would break Cadance’s heart. Having to sentence Gosling’s first love. Blueblood brings up an excellent point. There are no appropriate judges available for the high court.” Raven let out a dry sounding cough, took off her glasses, and began to rub her eyes.
“You know what… let Blueblood do it. He’s remained calm and objective through all of this. He earned his title of ‘prince’ the hard way, so I say, let him do the work he is suited for.” As Celestia spoke, she felt the pressure in her barrel ease a little bit.
“I have been less than perfect,” Raven admitted in a low voice that was full of shame.
“I have too,” Celestia replied, looking her most trusted assistant in the eye. “All of this stress and pressure… it’s getting to the both of us. I wish things could go back to how they used to be, when this crown wasn’t quite so heavy.”
“As the country grows, things are only going to get harder,” Raven said.
Celestia nodded. “I know…”
Warm and floating on a cloud, Gosling drifted in between the waking world and sleep. He could feel his mother’s warm body beside him in the bed. It was good to be a colt again, a little colt, free of worry and stress. He had just had the most terrible dream that he had grown up and his life was ruined. Smiling, content, Gosling snuggled closer to his mother. She was so big and warm and soft. He pressed his face against her, glad to have her close.
“Gosling?”
Squirming, Gosling struggled to remain asleep. “Ma, I don’t wanna go to school today.” It was hard to talk and he swallowed, trying to get the burning tickle out of his throat. His voice sounded funny in his own ears. It was all wrong. “Can we go to the museum instead?”
“Gosling…”
Opening his eyes, Gosling woke up and looked up at his mother. She was blue. She was so very blue and so very big. She was so very blue and had teal eyes. She also had a long blue horn. Gosling blinked. His mother was all wrong. His groggy mind had trouble accepting this reality. He had to still be dreaming. He didn’t want to be an adult like he had been in the dream. His life had gone all wrong.
“Gosling, let not thyself be troubled…”
His mother talked funny. He blinked again. His mother looked funny and his mother talked funny. Gosling’s drug addled brain had trouble making the connection, but when the connection was made, Gosling responded in the only way his doped up immobile body would allow.
He began screaming. Weak, gurgling screams that made his damaged lungs bubble and he began to choke on fluid that oozed up from deep inside of him. He tasted blood and bile in his mouth. His screams died and became whimpers.
“Thou art a most silly pony…”
“Majesty…” The breathless guard stood in the doorway, his sides heaving after running. “Your sister—”
“Yes?” Celestia’s eyebrow raised.
“She is in Gosling’s room and refuses to leave. She became quite hostile toward the guard when we told her that he is not to be disturbed. She ordered us away.”
Celestia sucked in a deep breath. “Oh sh—”
Raven let out a startled, frightened gasp.
“—it!” Celestia was off of her cushion in a moment. “Summon more of the guard. As many as possible, as fast as possible! Do it now! Sound the alarm!”
Turning tail, the guard ran off to do as he was told.
“Oh please, not again… not again…” Celestia’s words were fearful, pleading whimpers.
“Thou art a very brave pony to have stood up to me,” Luna said in a soft whisper as she stroked Gosling’s face with the side of her fetlock. “The words thou spake had a grain of truth to them.” Luna looked down into Gosling’s eyes and saw that the fear was gone. He was calming down. She allowed a little more of her magic to flow into him, bringing him closer to a waking dream state, where pain could not reach him. She owed him that.
“Thou hast my apology.” Luna’s voice was a soft whisper. “I shall keep thee safe and free from pain.”
Humming a lullaby, Luna yawned, but kept her hypnotic gaze upon Gosling. His eyes were half closed and he looked sleepy. She saw his lips moving and after a few moments of struggling to talk, she heard him say, “I’m sorry too.” Then, he yawned, and Luna could see that the roof of his mouth looked scalded. Stringy bits hung down and his orange tongue had white acid blisters all over it. Luna cradled his head in her forelegs and kept humming her soft lullaby.
Outside the door, she heard hooves and her ears perked.
Frozen in the doorway, Celestia wasn’t quite sure what was going on. She blinked a few times and behind her, the guard waited. Luna seemed quite unconcerned about everything. She was humming some lullaby from a thousand years ago, a tune that had long ago faded into obscurity. Celestia’s ears stood up when she heard Gosling yawn. Luna was holding him, cradling his head, and if Celestia’s senses could be trusted, was using her magic to keep him suspended in a waking dream state. It took several long, confusing seconds for Celestia to realise that Luna was keeping him free of pain and doing so without harsh drugs.
The white alicorn’s mouth fell open. She couldn’t believe that she had just assumed the worst about her sister again. She thought back to the night when she had dreamed about Gosling’s death. A terrible burning shame filled Celestia and at that moment, more than anything else, she wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
“Well, don’t just stand there, do come in,” Luna said in a sleepy voice.
“Luna, do forgive me, but I would very much like to know what is going on,” Celestia said as she settled down upon a cushion beside Gosling’s bed. She could hear the guard dispersing outside the door. She looked at Luna, but Luna still had her eyes locked on Gosling’s.
“Oh, an understanding was reached,” Luna replied in a low, melodic whisper.
Luna’s answer did not satisfy. Celestia felt her heart thudding against her ribs. For a moment, she detested Luna for being so calm at this moment. So detatched. She seemed so unconcerned that hundreds of guards had been milling about outside of the door. A part of Celestia wanted to be lectured, to be made to feel guilty. To be made to answer for her poor judgment.
“I accused Gosling of cowardice,” Luna admitted as her humming paused, “and I was wrong. He was brave enough to stand up to me and risk losing you. He is brave, if perhaps foolhardy. I admire that. There will be words about his treatment of me though.”
For a second, Celestia wanted to give her sister a good natured neck-wringing. Luna’s mercurial moods were the source of much frustration. She heard a raspy cough from Gosling and Luna’s ears perked.
“He’s trying to speak.” Luna resumed humming, making a soft pleasant sound.
“How much power do I have?” Gosling asked in a croaking voice.
“Gosling, darling, now is not the time to quibble over authority,” Celestia replied, saying her words in the most gentle manner she could muster. “Since when do you crave power? Have the drugs messed up your mind?”
“How much authority?” Gosling’s words bubbled in his throat.
“Oh, the royal consort enjoys a little authority, but you are not yet a royal consort.” Luna lowered her head a little until she was almost snoot to snoot with Gosling. “Be calm.”
“Then I beg for a wedding gift.” Gosling made a feeble effort to raise a foreleg and failed. He lay there, limp, gasping, looking up into Luna’s eyes, unable to turn away, held by her magic.
“What is it that you want, Gosling?” Celestia asked as she leaned closer to the bed. “Speak plainly.”
“I want,” Gosling began in a soupy voice, his body shuddering, “I want Skyfire pardoned in my name. Please—”
“Gosling, no.” Celestia shook her head. “You must understand, every few generations, somepony makes a mess big enough that we have to convene a high court. The public needs a reminder of authority because the public memory fades over time. An example must be made.”
Lips moving, Gosling’s nostrils flared as he struggled to speak. “Wrong message.” Spittle flew from his lips and splashed upon Luna’s face.
“Gosling, we cannot have the public disrespecting our authority.” Celestia fell silent and tried to think of some way to get Gosling to understand what was at stake here. “If we allow this to happen, such attempts will become more and more commonplace. Our position is already precarious. It is getting harder and harder to maintain governance. We have anarchists trying to disrupt our way of life. There is too much instability.”
“Wrong message,” Gosling said again and then began coughing. He whooped a few times and his lungs whistled. His voice was a frog’s croak. “Forgiveness is a better message.”
“Why forgiveness?” Luna asked. “That seems like inviting disaster. If we show weakness now, more and more agitators and dissidents will see our failure to act as an inability to act. We will be beset on all sides by our enemies.”
“You’re wrong.” Gosling struggled to breathe as he stared into Luna’s eyes. “Forgiveness is what you crave… but you do not offer it to another… is it weakness for Celestia to trust you with me? You”—Gosling coughed and whooped a few times while his whole body went rigid—“you killed a husband that you shared. Should Celestia forgive you and trust you, or send you away and protect me from any threat you might pose so she can be happy?”
As Celestia sat watching, a tear rolled down Luna’s cheek and splashed upon Gosling’s nose. After the first, another fell, and then another. Gosling drew in a raspy, laboured breath. Silent, and not knowing what to say, Celestia began to ponder forgiveness.
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You appear to have forgotten an end-bold tag midway through.
7188161
INCONCEIVABLE!
7188001
I had thought it was Sweeny Todd too, but wasn't sure.
But regradless,
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/9/92/Hub_Promo_-_8_bit_commercial_You_Win.png/revision/latest?cb=20120507005835
Internet points for you!
The way I see it, they could totally have it both ways. Forgive and Pardon the bitch that shall not be named, but bring the full force of the punishment down on the press as she is a stupid, naive little filly who could have never come up with such a plan on her own. Show Equestria that they are capable of both mercy and punishing the truly guilty parties. Besides, punishing a pawn of a plan does nothing if the one behind it is still free, even if the plan depended on the pawn.
Get some rest Kudzu! you deserve it.
7188210
I'll sleep when I'm dead!
Or about 3 or 4 am, whichever comes first.
I was thinking that, you got 4 out real quick. Just know it os pkay to sleep sometimes man.
And damn, this is far less of a shitstorm than I thought it would be. I mean, choking on your own vomit sucks, but it definitely wasn't what i had in mind. And Yay, Therapy!
Huh. Gosling made a very good point here... I swear, is he secretly brilliant or something?
7188213 Dude you are going to tip over and die if you do not get any rest. You just pumped out FOUR whole chapters in ON day. How are we going to know how all of the still ongoing stories of the Weed Verse' end if you tip over and die? At this rate you will end up like Gosling over here.
7188182
I vote a slightly modified plan:
Condemn her with the full force of the law, make it clear her crimes and the penalties. Then forgive her. Make it clear that while she has made Very Bad Choices, that she will be watched and expected to take this gift and to make her life (and possibly that of her unborn child) as positive as she can as an example of what can accomplished when one is granted a 2nd chance. However, make it clear that should she stumble again, it's all over - that's just fair. I can't decide if this should be under Gosling's name or in the name of the Royal Sisters. Or all three.
After that, explain that she was used and then announce that for those behind this, there will be no mercy.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Love ya for these releases. I don't mind for a few days pause.
7188259
...Isn't that pretty much what the Wardens do already?
Two points:
1) I have trouble seeing Gosling's actions against Luna as 'brave'. I have been in his situation where I snap and go off on some one I respect and yell and insult them. That wasn't brave, that was just anger. I'm not sure how to interpret what he did as 'brave'. Help?
2) Those "words" about his "treatment" of Luna: I wonder if those will be "don't you ever raise your voice to me again" or "thank you for pointing out what I needed to hear (but next time, with less vitriol, please)" or something else entirely.
7188247
Well, one only gets into the Communications section of the Royal Guard by actually having brains, has been stated several times, including rather hilariously crassly by Sergeant Shamrock.
7188287
Luna sees it as brave. Doesn't mean that it is. Just means she sees it that way. Who dares stand against a goddess? Somepony brave or stupid? Think she'll call Gosling stupid in front of Celestia?
Kudzuhaiku your a story writing machine but get some rest you deserve it. Also the song luna sings him, my head cannon says its this one
Geez, 4 chapters in one day, that's crazy. Good chapters though.
Oh, this chapter makes so much sense! I was wondering why Gosling seemed unusually puke-y lately...
7188330 Personally, I prefer this; mainly because I can play it on guitar and simultaneously sing it at the same time, and it gives me an excuse to break out the full-blown Scottish accent
Sweet Albino Cthulu man are you half robot or something cause the rate you push these out is crazy. I'm serious you need more than rum skip straight to the Vodka and keep chugging until you feel the numbness.
One chapter away keeps the doctor away!
Good job! Will his voice be forever scarred from the burning?
7188416
Celestia better hope it doesn't. Otherwise it won't be able to bring rains to her dry desert.
With as much as your writing for this one it makes me wonder are you trying to get somewhere with it before you get there in your other weedverse stories?
7188424
Egad man!
Veeeeerrry interesting.....
A full pardon would make them appear soft.....but a full sentence would reinforce fear. Quite a pickle the royal crown is in.
Its been long since i saw Kudz in his hyper mode... not the top 7 (or was it8) chapter a day... those were the days.
As far as this chapter
I feel sorry for him... he had it bad and i do agree to a point
I want her to stand trial but pardoned in the end.. the one who paid her... OFF WITH HIS HEAD him we can use to remind people fear (Celestia is merciful. Luna is not)
7188287
It takes great big goose eggs to 'ave a go at the night.
In Soviet Russia, dumb brains you!
7188259
Agreed, maybe give her a suspended sentance?
They should however go after the people who set up this situation, they took advantage of a (dumb) minor to falsely create a major scandal. Both messages can and should be sent.
Where do you find all these words, Kudzu? I'm in awe, here...
Rum! is good!
..I have no rum in... my cabinets...
'Scuse me.
Just saw thse 2 stories about 2 days ago.
I have DECIMATED them both and hunger for more!
You sir need a medal as this storie is a true hidden gem!
Oof.
Every couple of chapters I see the harsh-but-poignant one liners that make me keeping coming back for more.
Well, that and the infectious wingboners.
7188867 Try The Chase. I know it sounds intimidating with 2 million words and increasing...but it is so worth !
Hey, think you can do me a favor and NOT have Skyfire forgiven? Please?
Heheh sounds like me on a daily basis.
Buuuutt, despite that, I must now patiently wait for the next chapter.
7188854 The rum is gone?
Why is the rum gone?
7189139
*tears up*
I don't know... At least I have some...vodka...
7189239 Aaah, vodak. Is there any problem it can't solve?
7189082
Mount Maud was named in Venenum Iocus, the sequel to The Weed.
7188766
Don't you mean Soviet Equestria?
If she has to be pardoned then so be it... But perhaps sending Skyfire away to be another country's problem would be best. I'm sure she could be perfectly happy if banished to Saddle Arabia.
I'm still of the opinion that she doesn't deserve anything less than ruination, but we got four chapters in one day and a cute Luna moment instead so I call it a good trade.
Woah. So it would seem that Gosling was really kind of stressed.
Yeah, but he is a pretty good choice for this.
Relax, Gosling, the terrifying nightmare alicorn is here to nurse you back to health.
Success!
Not only a better message, but exactly the right message IMO. But more than that, it probably also nicely undercuts the plan of whoever set Skyfire down her stupid path.
7198871 the press will probably claim weakness on the princess's part, they will assume the royalty had a reason for excusing her that they aren't telling the press. Maybe they'll assume it is Goslings child, maybe ponies will instantly try to take advantage because they think they can get away with it. Maybe starlight glimmers followers will think it's a perfect time to strike. Maybe I should stop using 'they' and making hypotheticals.
“Gosling, do not let thyself be troubled…” or “Gosling, let not thyself be troubled…”
'dost' would be present tense, not imperative.
“The words thou spake had a grain of truth to them.” Again, '-eth' is present tense.
chapter 29
It is the sad fact that people mistake mercy for weakness. Especially for governments, there have to be consequences. If the government had gone after the Keating mess (late 1980s) harder, there might not have been another banking crisis 20 years later.
Extra "let" in that sentence.
If I don't kill someone every now and again they'll forget who I am. -Edward Teach