Chapter 55
The room had been far too stuffy and packed with far too many ponies. Gosling had retreated, excusing himself and saying that he needed air. Now, he strolled along the parapets, moving from guard post to guard post, enjoying the cool of the night. It was going to be a big day tomorrow, a momentous day, a day when history was made. It felt as though an era was ending so that a new one could begin.
The first stars of the evening were beginning to twinkle, glittering jewels in an endless indigo expanse that stretched from horizon to horizon overhead. Gosling took a moment to take it all in, he stood looking up, and filling his lungs with the night air that held the suggestion of autumn.
Looking about, he saw her. She glowed with a soft, pale luminescence in the night, the stars in her mane highlighted the blue in her pelt, and there could be no doubt in Gosling’s mind—she was beautiful in her own way, much in the same way the night was beautiful, but also full of mystery. She moved with grace as she turned to face him.
She was every bit as different from her sister as night and day could be. Gosling felt his mouth go dry and he felt a case of the jitters coming on. Her eyes narrowed and he knew that he was being studied, perhaps she was trying to gauge his intentions, or his desire. He felt the need to say something, but he didn’t know what. The sound of her breathing was distracting. It wasn’t love or infatuation that prompted his feelings, but concern. She was out here, alone, all by herself, while others were indoors, enjoying one another’s company and having fun.
“Do you mind if I bend your ear?” Gosling asked in a low whisper, so he wouldn’t disturb the dark, sacred night.
“You would bend mine ear?” Luna replied.
He paused, unable to tell if she was teasing or just using old speech that he lacked the context to understand. Or maybe, she didn’t understand his choice of expression. It was difficult to tell. He shifted on his hooves, going from right to left, and then back to right again. A cold breeze caught his tail and made it rustle against his hind legs, tickling him and making him start somewhat.
“I just wanted to talk,” Gosling said, explaining himself.
A blank stare was all he got for his troubles. He couldn’t read Luna’s expression. She was like a marble statue, beautiful and unmoving. For a moment, he resented her a little bit, she wasn’t making this easy for him. She was being distant and he had something of an idea that perhaps Luna wanted to be alone, perhaps so she could brood and maybe feel sorry for herself. Or maybe he was reading too much into it and he was wrong. Maybe it was unfair of him to feel that way.
He decided to continue. “You know, talking. That thing that ponies do sometimes.”
“And what shall we talk about?” Luna asked.
Hearing her words, Gosling was seized with inspiration. “How about the trial?”
As he stood watching, he saw her lips press into a small, thin line. Her cheeks went taut against her jawline. He saw her nostrils flaring. For a marble statue, she showed many signs of life. He couldn’t tell if she was angry, or just reacting.
“You couldn’t even begin to understand my feelings or my opinions on that issue.”
That stung a bit. Things weren’t going as well as he hoped. Feeling dejected, he nodded. “Fine, if you want to be snobby about it, I’ll leave you alone. I’m sorry.” He turned to go, feeling as though he had failed.
“It has nothing to do with snobbery or conceit,” Luna said in a flat voice that was as cold as midnight. “This is why We shy away from others. Thou art so quick to turn about and leave.”
Freezing in place, Gosling paused but did not turn around. He kept his back to Luna. “So then, explain it to me. Make me understand. If this ain’t snobbery, then what is it? Or am I just some dumb colt from the Broncs that couldn’t possibly understand your point of view?” He noticed that her speech was changing, perhaps because of her emotional state.
“You are a pony from a different time.”
Unmoving, Gosling stood still and waited.
“A thousand years were lost to me,” Luna said in a soft voice. “The world has changed so much. There is much that I do not understand. In my lifetime, I have seen so much change, but then I went away for a time… and I did not get to witness the changes like mine sister, I did not get a chance to adapt to them as they happened as she did.”
“I’m sorry.” He didn’t know why, but Gosling felt the need to apologise. He turned around and looked Luna in the eye.
“When I was young, a young male such as yourself would have been a trading resource. Fine stock, suitable for breeding.” Luna blinked. “Make no mistake though, you would have been property. The serfs came with the demesne and you, Gosling, would have been a serf. I could have had you flogged for speaking to me, or even looking me in the eye, such was the way of things. But things have changed…”
Gosling waited.
“Now, We still have subjects, but mine sister frowns if We speak of them as property. That went out of fashion. Technically, the ownership is still there, that is what being a subject is all about… you are one of the ponies that come with the land, the demesne. We are obligated to feed you, care for you, provide for your needs, protect you, but there are far too many of you now.”
“I suppose that makes things complicated,” Gosling said.
“It does.” Luna nodded. “You have a level of freedom now that once belonged to ponies with titles, with ranks, and landowners. You vote… a thing once done by Counts and nobles of sufficient rank.”
“Yeah, we call it democracy. In democracy, your vote counts, which is different than feudalism, when your Count votes.” Gosling’s ears stood up when he heard Luna begin to snicker. He had made her laugh and something about that felt good.
Still chucking, Luna said, “So you ask me how I feel about the newspaper trial… but I am still trying to sort out mine feelings about the world around me, which is so very different than the world I left. I do not even know where to begin.”
“It must be rough.” Gosling felt bad for jumping to conclusions. This was far more complicated than he thought. He looked Luna in the eye, wondering how she felt about a pony like him making eye contact with a pony like her.
“I still find myself wondering why we don’t just strip them of everything they own, have them publicly flogged, place them in a pillory of some sort, and have them left to rot,” Luna said, her voice a conspiratorial whisper of admission. “And I feel ashamed for feeling that way, I do. It bothers me. The world has moved on, progressed, but I am still trapped in the past.”
Tilting his head to one side, he saw Luna break eye contact and look away. He could see a pained expression upon her face. He had trouble comprehending, but he had an inkling of an idea—Luna was somehow expected to catch up on a thousand years of progress, of societal change, she was expected to be a princess and to rule a nation that had moved on and progressed without her. It had to be rough. And even Celestia was still stuck in the past, Gosling knew this, but she struggled and fought a good fight to adapt to modern thinking. They had discussed it in therapy.
“My last husband… I loved him… I really did. I treated him well, but after having been exposed to modern ideas, I am filled with regret. I find myself wishing I had treated him more as an equal…” Luna’s words trailed off and her wings hitched against her sides. “Looking back, even with my affection for him, there were so many times I treated him as property, or spoke down to him… times I reminded him of his place, to mind his betters... I fear I will do the same to you. I have, in fact, done this to you.”
“Hey… you can’t judge what you’ve done in the past by the standards of the future.” Gosling took a step forwards, closer to Luna, and then he stopped himself before coming too close. He didn’t want to spook her, or make her run away. He had a stunning realisation of just how fragile she was. Down deep beneath the bluster, hidden away deep inside the pony that liked to roam the halls at night and scare ponies, there was a tender, easy to injure heart.
“I can do whatever I like by virtue of who I am,” Luna said, the first hints of becoming a little cross now audible in her voice.
“Yes, you can, and when you do something you regret, I’ll be there to listen.”
Luna’s gaze focused on Gosling. It was cold, as cold as the vast emptiness above the clouds. No expression could be seen upon her face. No warmth. No feeling. Not anger, not sadness, nothing. She just stood there, staring, and Gosling began to wonder if he had perhaps gone too far.
Or perhaps not far enough. “You know, that attitude of yours… I don’t exactly feel like your equal right now. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you just talked down to me. Tell me, did it make you feel better? Was it satisfying?”
“No,” Luna said, spitting the word out. “No, damn you, it doesn’t make me feel better at all. Why even ask? Do you plan to gloat? Do you wish to rub my nose in it? Do you revel in the fact that you can say whatever you wish and I cannot have you flogged, for the fear of upsetting my sister?”
“Wow, when you get upset, you really lash out at those closest to you. Celestia was right.”
Lifting her head high, Luna said nothing in return, but gave Gosling an imperious stare.
“There are other ways of blowing off steam and relieving tension,” Gosling said to Luna in a gentle, but firm voice. “Pushing others away from you so you can sulk and feel alone is a terrible thing. It only reinforces your misguided belief that you don’t fit in. You keep sabotaging yourself—”
“What do you know?” Luna huffed.
“I know about the tantabus,” Gosling replied. He watched Luna’s eyes go wide for a moment, and then they narrowed until they were no more than slits. His ears twitched as he heard the rustle of feathers, both hers and his own. Alicorns had much the same body language as pegasi, and right now, Luna’s stance suggested that he was about to have his neck broken and his helpless body stomped on until it was unrecognisable mush.
It took him a moment, but Gosling realised that he was terrified. He did his best not to show it, but he knew that Luna probably knew anyway. There was no help for it. The situation seemed pretty bad and Gosling felt a keen sense of regret for trying to engage Luna in conversation.
He took a step back and began to wonder if he could fly away. Doing so might trigger the very worst in Luna. Gosling knew all too well how pegasi were. Show weakness and you could end up stomped. Fly away and you might get chased. He began to worry that this might end in violence. He began to calculate his chances, which seemed rather slim. If he bolted, she wouldn’t need to chase him, she could just blast him with magic. In hindsight, the remark about the tantabus had been going a little too far.
Luna’s wrathful posture shifted and her expression softened. She stood there, looking murderous one moment, then hurt and ashamed the next. She blinked a few times, then looked at Gosling with pleading eyes.
“We are sorry.”
Still frozen, still trying to decide upon fight or flight, Gosling felt his stomach muscles clench and a terrible, almost crippling cramp tore through his insides. He kept himself rigid, not wishing to show weakness.
“Please, I am sorry… I let mine anger get away from me. I am not accustomed to somepony speaking to me so brazenly. You… you act with such cocksure confidence… you are so bold. I have trouble dealing with you sometimes. You are one of the new things that gives me such trouble. Such behaviour was unthinkable at one time. But I am fond of you.”
Hearing sincerity in Luna’s words, Gosling tried to unclench his sphincter and relax a little bit, but he found it difficult. He stood, stiff legged, his wings twitching at his sides, ready to unfurl so he could make some sort of escape, if it were even possible.
“I don’t want you afraid of me…” Luna’s voice was almost a whimper and close to a whine. “Gosling, I am sorry.”
Staring at Luna, Gosling knew that he stood at a crossroads. He could let Luna have it right now, or he could be brave, he could be bold, and maybe try to reach her. He swallowed, his mouth feeling dry, and he took a step forwards.
“Don’t be such a bitch,” he said in a trembling voice. He saw Luna flinch and he felt bad for saying it. “Look, why don’t we go for a walk and talk with one another. You know, talking. That thing that ponies do with one another. We can try to sort this out. Or, you can just keep being a bitch and I’ll be glad to leave you alone.”
“You would walk with me and spend time with me, even after what just happened?”
Gosling nodded.
“I would walk with you, if you would bear my company,” Luna said.
“Just a walk and nothing more,” Gosling promised, “I’ll be on my best behaviour if you’ll do the same.”
“Such an agreement is amicable,” Luna replied. She lifted her head high. “Walk beside me, Gosling, as my equal, if you will…”
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A decade brings so many changes. A century more so especially in the modern world. 10 centuries is almost inconceivable. OF 0 AD to 1000AD not so bad. 1000 to 1500-1700 a little tougher 1700 to 1900 much tougher 1900- present crazy. We went from hot air balloons to landing on the moon.
Wow now THIS chapter right here along with amazing emotional content in school for fantasy is foals is why we live for and Love your work.
It always annoyed me how the show barely went into Luna's culture shock and so few authors weight about the confusion, frustration, and even anger she must be going threw trying to adjust.
The want to be a good ruler clashing with the needs of the respect/reverence she feels she deserves and has earned....
Here's hoping Gosling can help ease some of her burden. Smiling Luna would would make so many ponies happy.
Honestly Luna just needs to get Laid then she will be hunky-dory
Yet another excellent chapter. And I can appreciate it how difficult it may be. I applaud you for continuing to work on this. Princess Luna's Suicide Solutions was in very much the same emotional vein.
7393054 Quite right. I can't even conceive how difficult it must be for Luna to even begin to try to adjust to modern times, nor do I think anyone else could. However Gosling may well be the pony that she needs.
I love this luna such character development much wow.
7393054
Seeing history plotted out makes my head spin.
Just the change in language is crazy.
In culture?
7393219 the changes of a century weren't so bed before the 21st century. But change is getting faster and faster just look at computers. Now we carry cell phones that easily outstrip the processing power of the top of the line computers from a decade ago
Ok, I was really not so much liking Psycho Hose Beast Luna, but then, I think, there was a meeting of the minds. Yes, I remember now why I like her despite her bitey moments.
No I'm sure it's not easy. Both this story and Twilights school. I honestly don't know how you do it. The only thing that I can think of is that you have an amazing gift with words. How many active stories do you have in weed world? Like 6 or so? Then I beleive that you also have a story or two out side WW as well. And you give us at least one well written chapter a day. Averaging around 2,000 words. Do you know how many authors can do that? Not many and in most cases the chapters were pre made and posted at the authors leisure. To have both the quality and quantity that is a very rare thing.
I really enjoyed this chapter.
-BFBL
Just found this on Tumblr. Enjoy
66.media.tumblr.com/5c712938f8404ac40f8519fae5696847/tumblr_oabv8xioJR1sykyk2o3_1280.jpg
please Gosling go talk to the some of our politicians. Thy wand us to feel bad and pay of there guild for the slaves that were sold to us by Africans and we sailed to the new world. Thy use it as a means to silent all that are opposed to the privileges thy give the black people now. the black that were never slaves.
Excellent chapter. Excellent characterization. Even a little growth and development. Nice.
7393693
Let me break this down.
Your grandfather goes out and steals a car. It's a nice car. A very nice car. He then gives this car to you, as a gift.
Now, tell me, should you be able to keep this car? You didn't steal it, but your grandfather did. You enjoy the car an awful lot. You like it, because it is a nice car. Now, should you keep it or should an effort be made to return it to the rightful owner? Should you keep something your grandfather stole? Is it right? Is it moral?
7394015 This is such a difficult subject to debate about. Using your example now it's considered stolen. But in his grandfathers time he legally drove away with it. Taking it was acceptable in the eyes of the law.
Now this doesn't change the morality of it, I have no argument what so ever that slavery (theft in example) is wrong, but it's like he's being fined and charged decades latter with the theft that his grandfather committed because laws changed.
Now if they could return said car to it's rightful owner then yes absolutely that should be done. However said owner died along time ago and the laws making the theft of the car have already changed.
All anyone seems to be doing is generating hate for the sake of creating hate. We must NEVER forget the past but we can't be bound by it either otherwise no one moves on and His grandchildren will be dealing with these issues.
7394258
I tossed it out as an example to encourage discussion.
7393571
7394267 Well played!!
I love debates like this... as long as we can all respect each others opinions. Alass it all to often breaks down :(:(
Quick question? Seen some crossover with Fantastic foals and Venenum Iocus, Whatever Way the Wind Takes You and Together they fight crime. Any other meet ups planned.
I would Love to see Holly Heartwood meet Gosling/Celestia and or Maud. Everything i can imagine in those scenarios makes me laugh,.
7393256
I was born in the early nineties. I fully remember dial up internet. And now fifteen years later I mentally party at being able to use the internet on my phone!
It really makes you wonder what will be around in say 25-30 years when I'm fifty.
(still hopeing for waterproof books!!)
Imagine if ponies hade the same development bell curve humanity has. Luna going from say 1000->2000 poor pony be lost even more with just tech advances. Not to mention language drift.
7394015
My (great) grandfathers weren't even in the country when that car was stolen. But apparently because they looked like the guy who stole the car I should feel feel bad or check my privilege or whatever the kids are calling it these days?
Pretty much everyone has some kind of history of being screwed by some other group. How shall we adjudicate which grievances have merit and which shall be ignored? Is it right for me to pay to redress a sin that I had no part in? For my children? Hell, for my parents?
Is there a statute of limitations? There has to be otherwise madness pretty much ensues.
The example does provide discussion, but the analogy has some (already ponted out) flaws. But have some discussion anyway!
But being chased can also be a good thing for pegisi, Bucky accepted his chasing now look at hi-er not the best example but you know what I mean!
7394512
Ah, let us replace cars with land.
Should the natives get their stolen land back?
We have evidence of a great theft. The descendants of the perpetrators still profit. The rightful landowners can still be found. Much violence has been visited upon them and they live in what amounts to prisons, held in place by poverty, ignorance, and a system rigged against them.
I love your characterization of Luna in this story. So many fics don't really do justice to the cultural changes brought about by 1000 years.
7394842
Fair question. Should they? Should all the great-x grandchilden of the people who did the stealing be kicked out (would this not be stealing from them? If not, why not?) of their homes and sent....where? Back to Europe and Africa and Asia?
It is fair to say that indiginous people have been treated badly (true) and still are being treated badly by the government (true) but is the solution to these wrongs to perpetrate a very similar wrong upon the distant descendants of the original perpetrators?
History does not get to declare a do-over. We don't get to try to stand all the dominos back up.
To steal a phrase from the Paksenarrion series:
"A warrior is responsible for keeping his own shield clean."
I am not responsible for my ancestors honor. If their honor was clean I can take pride in that lineage, but their honors and shames are not mine to claim or bear as my own.
People who live now must right the wrongs commited now as best they can and can, in kindness and justice, make what restitution they are able to redress past wrongs without inflicting that redress as punishment on those who were not guilty of the original wrong.
It is hard when wrongs and the benefits accrued by them are vast and diffused over many.
7394015
What I hate the most is not that thy get some help for the group. But the way thy go about it. Things thy do is send money to country's with corrupt governments as a way to pay of the guild. Give schools extra money if thy have a bigger share of the groups in question. ( that never ware slaves in the homeland, only in colony's. ) This gets worse if you know that the school system is open, no scholarships and the like. Yes I don't mind that the low income groups get extra help but than all low income groups.
And this is not even talking about that thy want rules that on all the high paying jobs a minimum of those minority's must have the job. especially in the government. ( not that I will say that the government will ever select people for skills )
and now thy want art pieces that show black people as slaves removed from the public, and the destruction of a children's holiday ( sinterklaas ) because it shows black people ( black Pete ) as servants of the big child friend helping him spread happiness. ( cant have the black people get a good image than thy don't neat help right? )
I hate those people that are willing to help people with sad story's as long as an other pay's the cost.
I will stop ranting. I sound like Geert Wilders.
7394842
Casinos have air conditioning, so it's not all bad.
But yeah, it's a conundrum.
7394436 while not exactly waterproof books I can read ebooks on my cell phone which is waterproof
Now apply this in reverse to Cadance, a modern mare who rules an empire out of date. Granted, the Empire seems to have been a bit further than the rest of Equestria, they don't talk in Elizabethan English and things did seem quite idle in Sombra's colthood in his Fiendship is Magic comic.
Hmn. Well, of you squint a little this kinda sorta feels like Gosling taking Blueblood's advice, if you replace "spank her" with "confront her".
I'm sure that the actual spanking will come later.
I do like how you portray Luna here, though sometimes I do feel it is a bit much, but then again it's also more accurate I imagine.
I also feel that you really capture just how wounded Luna is, with how hard it is being so out of touch with society, with that just making everything worse
Hmm there are issues with the evolution of governance in the presence of immortal benign and overly powerful rulers...
The thing is when you have magical means of determining if somebody is lying a LOT of things due to corruption and bad governance go out of the window... You can CHECK a lot and there will be a STRONG selection for good qualities as the whole society will purge and scorn the bad behaviour as undesiderable... With that kind of powers it takes a LOT of incompetence to get so much corruption. It simply does not make sense once you have somebody that IS benevolent and has the way to MAGICALLY KNOW if somebody else is going to be an ass or not.
8049624
So, you have a means to check if somebody is lying. Wardens.
Now, you have millions of citizens, Millions. You have thousands of Wardens.
Now, everybody, please, form on orderly queue. We're going to be here for a long, long while. And whatever you do, please don't use magic to prevent us from checking to see if you are honest.
8049871
Not to mention if you have somepony that may have a cutie mark of some kind that makes lies easy to swallow or befuddles the truth so wholly that even Wardens' perceptions are altered ...
... What? Illusions can be that strong ... and yes, it is possible to "lie to yourself", y'know
Being cheesey
10788556
Damnit! you beat me to it by 2 years!