Chapter 51
All of Equestria stretched out beneath him and Gosling could not help but feel a sense of pride. He had fought and bled for this land. Doing so had given him new perspectives, it had caused him to grow, it had given him strength, courage, and conviction. On the train ride north, he had found purpose. He had found his way. Before, he only had vague ideas of what to do with his life, but now, now he was filled with an all consuming sense of purpose. He had a new sense of direction. He had ideas. Flying back to Canterlot gave him time to reflect upon these ideas.
An entire wing of crystal pegasi flew with them, some of them pulling sky chariots behind them, and quite a few unicorns were along for the ride. Seville rode in a chariot and was busy being a shutterbug. They were making good time, fantastic time even, Cadance had used some of her magic to give them a powerful tailwind to aid them in their long journey home.
As they flew, a dragon was spotted, but nopony seemed to panic, so Gosling didn’t bother wasting the energy to panic either, but he was a little concerned. Much to his surprise, both Hush and Hotspur waved to the fantastically large beast, and the dragon waved back.
“That’s Gorgonzola,” Hotspur said to Gosling as they flew over the dragon. “And if yous look close, you can see Grey Owl, her foal.”
“Her what?” Gosling asked.
“Gorgonzola is Grey Owl’s mommy.” Hotspur let out a boisterous chuckle, flapped his wings once, and slipped into a comfortable glide.
Gulping, Gosling began to think of the implications. Alicorns help whomever might mess with that foal. She had a dragon mommy that had to be at least a hundred feet long. Okay, maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him and Gorgonzola wasn’t quite that long, but she was the biggest dragon he had ever seen. Her scales were pinkish gold and purplish silver, all of which were polished to a mirrored finish.
“Gorgonzola teaches dragon magic to curious unicorns who are capable of learning such things,” Hotspur said as he continued his energy saving glide. “I don’t know jack about such things, but I know that it’s rare, real rare. Princess Luna spent some time learning some magic from Gorgonzola and Hush got to be a foal sitter for a while. Grey Owl talked his ears off.”
Whipping his head around, Gosling glanced over at Hush, who made no response to Hotspur’s words. Gosling turned his head back around, looked over at Hotspur, and then looked below him at the massive dragon, who appeared to be holding a little foal in her massive claws. Each claw had to be as long as his wingspan, and Gosling had an impressive wingspan, as he kept telling anypony that would listen. And you know what they say about pegasus wingspans…
Already, Gorgonzola was growing smaller as they continued towards Canterlot. Gosling hoped that he might get a chance to meet the dragon face to face. He was curious and he found that he wanted to get to know her. It was too bad that now was not the time for such things. Perhaps a wedding invitation would be in order when the time was right.
Wings aching, Gosling could see Canterlot in the distance. While he was in fine shape, all things considered, he had been in a major battle, been injured, and had flown a few thousand miles in the span of just a few days. He was beat and he knew it. Returning home, he knew that he would have to return to his job almost right away, there was much expected of him, and there would be reports to give. There would be no rest.
Plus, there was his assignment, but he looked forwards to that. He would keep his promise to Princess Cadance and he wouldn’t be lewd. At least, not much. Maybe just the occasional saucy, spicy detail, and that would be it. His belly gurgled. These long trips took a lot out of a pegasus and a good five or six thousand calorie meal was in order. Even though it would be heavy and sit in his stomach like lead, Gosling was in the mood for pizza… Manehattan style. Maybe something extra cheesy, with green apple bits, pineapple, mushrooms, olives, onions, peppers, all of the good stuff. He had no doubt that he could polish off several whole pies all by his lonesome if given the chance.
He wondered how his mother was doing. He missed her, he missed her so much that it hurt. He knew that she would be worried and would probably be waiting for him when he landed. No doubt, there might be a princess or two waiting for him to land as well. He was heading home… yes, Canterlot was home now, and he had family there waiting to welcome him. Thinking of this, he realised that he had family in the Crystal Empire as well… ponies that he loved a great deal and he would do anything for them, should the need arise.
The skies ahead filled with pegasi as the guard took wing, taking to the skies to greet them. Gosling flapped his wings, trying to get a little more speed going. He was exhausted, but knowing that those he loved were waiting for him lifted his spirits and gave him the strength he needed to keep going. The promise of food, any food, was also a great motivator.
Angling down, Gosling slowed down as he began his descent. He angled his wings, gave them a few flaps, and lined himself up with the landing strip. There was a bit of a side wind blowing off port. He was too tired to do anything fancy and there were far too many ponies also trying to land. There was no point in being a showoff and putting his fellow soldiers at risk.
The wind gusted, but he compensated. The first chill of autumn could be felt in the wind. Canterlot, at its high altitude, experienced a short, hard autumn that was quick to give in to the winter. Winter meant cocoa and snuggles by the fire.
Hush didn’t land so much as he just dropped out of the sky and smashed into the ground. Gosling pitied the ground. Some of the paving stones cracked when Hush came down and the earth failed to get out of his way in time. The big bat winged brute just sort of stood there for a moment, looking around, and then he folded his wings against his sides.
Gosling landed with far more grace. About two yards above the ground, he folded in his wings against his sides, dropped down the rest of his way, made a light landing upon his hooves, and then stood there with a nonchalant smile. Some pegasi needed a runway to land, but not Gosling. Having lived in pigeon coop apartments in the big city, long landing strips were a luxury he never had. He could land on top of a pizza box if need be. For Gosling, it was a matter of inner city pride—your landing zone was something that you bragged about, just like your wingspan.
He hardly had time to recover before he noticed a whole herd of ponies stampeding over to see him. He braced himself, the little white pegasus was moving at quite a clip, she wasn’t running so much as she was flying inches off of the ground, and she showed no signs of slowing.
His mother was sobbing too much to say anything. She hung from his neck, doing her best to strangle him, and Gosling wasn’t sure if even Hush was strong enough to pry Sleet’s legs from around his neck. He stood there, letting his mother cling to him, and he could feel her crying against his neck.
A few feet away, Princess Celestia stood with a relieved smile upon her face, and at her side stood a very sleepy looking Princess Luna, who didn’t look relieved so much as she looked both bored and exhausted.
“Hello, ladies of my life,” Gosling said to the princesses.
Now anxious looking, Celestia took a step closer. “Gosling… are you okay? The reports… the reports were bloody… I’ve been worried—”
“He’s a soldier and soldiers get bloody,” Luna said in a bored deadpan. She leveled her sleepy stare upon Gosling and his mother. “You did well, Private. We are most pleased with your performance. We had the utmost faith in your abilities.”
“So I heard,” Gosling replied as his mother doubled down upon her grip. “Princess Cadance said that you had predicted that I would deliver my dispatches.”
“We did.” Luna lifted her head high and something fierce blazed in her eyes. “This pleases me a great deal. We like a soldier that follows through with his duties, even when the going gets rough.” After a moment, Luna relaxed her stance and her heavy eyelids sagged.
“Luna hasn’t slept since you left. She’s been worried—”
“Untrue!” Luna snapped.
“—and she gets cranky when she hasn’t slept and she’s full of worry—”
“Lies!” Turning her head, Luna gave her larger sister a sour look.
“ —she was up all night and day and she was in quite a snit—”
“Falsehoods!” Luna stomped her hoof.
“—and during the night, she scared a few ponies so bad that they wet themselves.”
“Well, that We did do,” Luna admitted. “We were bored and We do find screams so very amusing.”
“If I don’t get food, I’m gonna die. I want pizza. I mean it. I want pizza and there is no way I’m taking no for an answer. I don’t care what I’ve gotta do… I’m gettin’ some pie.” Gosling drew in a deep breath, lifted his foreleg, wrapped it around his sobbing mother, and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “What do I gotta do to get some pizza?”
“Well,” Celestia replied, “I guess we do the only thing that can be done in this situation… we go out. I know a place—”
“But We art tired,” Luna whined.
“—and there are arcade games there for foals—”
“Tired or not, We art going! Guards! Form ranks! We leave for pie of pizza at once!”
“—and it might be nice to spend some time amongst our subjects,” Celestia added.
Satisfied, Gosling grinned. “Sounds like a plan…”
Exhausted, but ecstatic, Gosling finished off yet another slice. He had eaten dozens at this point and his belly was starting to bulge. His mother sat beside him, sipping a grape and rhubarb soda. Celestia was nearby, talking to a group of foals who had gathered around her. Hush showed no signs of slowing, he was an eating machine that gobbled entire pizzas in just a few bites. Hotspur was leaning back in his chair, sipping a glass filled with bright pink Cadance~Cola, looking a bit sad as he watched the foals flocking around Princess Celestia.
Seville, looking stuffed, leaned against the table and watched everypony around him. He was smiling and quite pleased, as one tended to be after a large meal at an all you care to eat pizza buffet. Beside him, Princess Luna chugged down yet another can of Crimson Minotaur. She almost appeared to be vibrating as she finished off the eleventh can, and she reached for the twelfth, going for an even dozen.
Somepony was going to be up all night going to the potty.
“We wish to play Whack-A-Pegasus!” Luna shouted at an incredible volume.
Ears ringing, Gosling wasn’t so sure he liked the sound of this game. “What?”
“Whack-A-Pegasus,” Luna repeated. “A little rubber pegasus sticks his head up out of the clouds… he is quite rude, he is sticking his tongue out, he is a churl begging for his comeuppance… and when one sees him, one must whack him with a mallet! When you do, he makes a rude farting sound to compel one to whack him again!”
Turning his head, Gosling looked at his mother and he watched as she shrugged.
“Come play with me!” Luna demanded as she raised her can of Crimson Minotaur. With a manic gleam in her eye, she downed the canned beverage in one gulp and then slammed it down upon the table. “We want a teddy bear and We shall need many of those little paper tickets. Private Gosling, thou must assist me, We require your aid!”
Feeling sluggish, Gosling wasn’t sure if he had it in him. He was exhausted. He didn’t see any way out of this however, and he thought about the importance of Luna’s happiness. After a bit of soul searching, he found that he still had a little left to give.
“Let me finish eating and then I’ll join you,” Gosling said to Luna and as he spoke, he saw a crazed rictus of manic, energetic glee spread over Luna’s muzzle. “Also, I think I might need one of those energy drinks you’ve been drinking…”
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Im guessing Crimson Minotaur is Redbull. Bleh!
i hate RedBull. Sooooo, what's next?
Crimson Minotaur.... I love it yet had to facepalm so hard after reading that...
This chapter was a joy. Seeing them all eating as a family at a equestrian Chucky Cheese was wonderful.
7352862 The ball pit, I should imagine.
RedBull is evil, and poison.
Yes, but does it give you wings on your wings?
7352965
So's alcohol, but the human race has a love-hate affair with that stuff which spans tens of thousands of years.
People who drink those things constantly make me shudder, though. Imbibing is something best done in moderation, regardless of your tipple of choice.
Luna's description of Whack-a-pegasus is hilarious and cute.
And the next day, a small addendum was added to the "All you can eat" sign at the buffet.
(Slight Additional Charge for Alicorns, Hush and Gosling)
That's not the only thing it gives you....
Let me get this straight. You gave energy drinks to Luna? Not just one or two, but almost a dozen?
Are you trying to destroy Canterlot?!
Oh, this will only end with complete chaos or a very zoned-out dark-blue Alicorn passed out in the middle of some fountain somewhere...
Wow 12 energy drinks when she has been up for over 24+hours. Well that can't be good for them but for us absolute hilarity.
I hope you pick up where you left of this chapter or don't it's your call.
-BFBL
I can see it now...
Gosling is going to arrange some clouds, give Luna a soft squeaky mallet, and play a super-size version of Whack-a-Pegasus, with himself as the pegasus.
7352862
Vodka
7353419 not Rum or moonshine? Aww, okay then, Vodka will suffice.
7353426
Vodkas about the only thing with little enough flavor to not make red bull worse
Hey, don't diss the Redbull! It's an important component in a TVR (Tequilla, Vodka, Redbull)
7353449 Matters not, Red Bull is still disgusting! Alcohol i can down, Red Bull disgusts me. Not quite as bad as monster though, my body treated that like poison, my stomach freaked the fuck out and i was vomiting for the next hour.
The wings hath been doubled?!
i needed this... improved my shitty mood
I forget, was it ever spelled out exactly what happened to Gosling's father? I don't recall him being dead. Curious if he's going to reappear, now that Gosling is famous.
7354452
I've thought about that, actually. I don't know if I want to go there. He was a love 'em and leave 'em sort who used pretty words.
7354568 As long as you have the 6 pack for it, I guess so.
D'aww.... Maybe it's the caffeine, but Luna's starting to warm up to him :)
and then it steals those wings after a while and watches in evil mirth as you crash. XD
7353449
Everclear or bust
A dragon with a foal? Interesting.
Neat.
Takes longer to preen?
I hope that Gosling does get to meet Gorgonzola at some point, because I'd like to read an account it.
Pizza does sound good right about now.
Heh. A wrecking ball with wings, it seems.
C'mon, Luna, just admit you were concerned about him.
And yet again I'm reminded why nobody liked you a thousand years ago, Luna.
Celestia, immortal spirit of motherly-ness.
7356752
Gorgonzola was introduced in The Weed. More can be learned about her in that story.
Crimson Minotaur hey? At least it wasn't Munster or Mare or Boulderstar or Full Surge.
7353118 don't be silly. Everyone knows Discuss is her supplier.
"When Gosling returns to Canterlot, the newspaper trial will be going in full swing. After that, the engagement gala. And after that... the story ends."
I discovered the Sun Also Surprises 3 days ago and now I'm all caught up and I have to say I'm loving this story. However, it seems that I've arrived as the story seems to be wrapping up according to the above author note. I'm wondering if you're planning on writing a third part to the story or if you'll finish after the engagement gala. Really hoping that you keep writing because I want to spend more than just a few days adventuring through this fabulous story!
7373539 oh dont wprry a third is planned
Crimson Minataur... sounds a hell lot better then red bull
(Thinking)
Oh shut the fuck up!
Gamerluna for the win.