Chapter 4
Try as he might, Gosling could not bring himself to look in the mirror, even with the cloak covering his body. To say that his spirits were dampened would be an understatement and with his current funk, he wasn’t looking forward to the holidays, at all. He was inconsolable—even the promise of bigger, better wings once his feathers grew back did nothing to make him feel better—there was only the cold, hard reality of now. And right now, everything sucked.
Of course, he did not regret his actions, only the consequences. Saving Luna and Moon Rose was something that he would do again, even knowing the outcome of such an act. Right now, he looked very much like a plucked bird, and to make matters worse, some of the patches of his beautiful, dappled pelt were gone as well, lost to frostbite. At least Cadance had fixed him.
But as long as he was bald, patchy, and featherless, Gosling was going to be in quite a funk.
“The cloak suits you, Gosling. It’s quite dramatic.” Turning his head, Prince Blueblood cocked one eyebrow and tilted his head as he studied Gosling. “You know, if you do not feel up for this, we can postpone this meeting until later.” Reaching out with his mind, Blueblood dimmed the lights a bit, hoping that it might help Gosling not feel so self-conscious about himself.
“Thanks, Blueblood,” Gosling replied in a huff. “And no, no postponing anything. I feel fine. Physically, I can serve as the Lord Mayor.”
“Good.” Saying the word felt hollow to Blueblood and he drew in a deep breath while trying to settle his own thoughts. What to say next? What to do next? How did he make his friend feel better? With a slow turn of his head, Blueblood’s gaze followed Gosling as he crossed the room, reached a chair, and sat down.
“So, what’s this about you being my assistant?” Gosling asked.
“Oh… that.” Thankful for a distraction, something other than trying to make Gosling feel better, Blueblood lept at the chance to answer Gosling’s question. “The Ethics Committee approves of my relinquishment of power and my vacating of my various positions. Raven is going to be allowed to keep her job as Celestia’s assistant, much to the relief of everypony, and I am allowed to be your assistant, with a few caveats.”
“Such as?” Now sitting, Gosling pulled his cloak around him, and his muzzle extended out past his hood.
“As your assistant, I can give you advice, but I cannot specifically tell you what to do,” Blueblood replied.
“Why is all of this so complicated, anyhow?” Gosling asked, cutting in just as Blueblood was about to continue.
Blueblood, who had been about to say something else, reacted in a swift manner to the change of topics. “In the wake of Nightmare Moon, there was a careful pruning of the branches of power. It led to the bureaucracy that you see today. It started off as a buffer, to prevent corruption from untoward influences at the upper echelons of our government. I suppose it worked for a time, but it took on a life of its own and it is now very difficult to remove. We can’t have too much authority concentrated in one area, and we have to be careful of influence. I might say, become infested with some dreadful brain parasite, or be under changeling mind control, so me suddenly telling you what to do would be a warning sign, rather than me suggesting things for you to do.”
“That makes sense,” Gosling replied.
“As awful as it is, the bureaucracy works. During the changeling invasion of Canterlot, with so many under mind control, the upper levels of government and the lower levels of government had an effective barrier between them. It saved us, it saved our city, and it greatly slowed the takeover of the changelings. They could not penetrate so many layers of bureaucracy.”
“I see.” Gosling’s eyes narrowed. “So that’s why you couldn’t hold all those positions of yours and be in a relationship with Raven. It’s the… uh… dissemination of power to keep it from being collected all in one place, and thus, making it harder to hold sway or influence over key members of our ruling body.”
“Correct.” Quite pleased with his student, Blueblood grinned. “You’re starting to sound like a prince, Gosling.” The established, older prince looked at the younger, inexperienced one and felt a growing sense of pride. Gosling was an apt pupil who had learned much in a short time. He had taken to politics in much the same way as say, a duck took to water. Or a rubber duckie took to bathtime.
“So, you still exist as the Spymaster, at least, off of the books, but hold no other official position.” Gosling began to chew on his lower lip, he blinked once, and his head tilted down to the piles of paper strewn out over the polished granite table. “And if you ever start telling me what to do, rather than suggest to me what to do, I should be concerned about your mental integrity. I’ve also reached the unsettling conclusion that I can’t just tear apart the city’s bureaucracy, because it keeps us safe from outside influence.” From within his hood, Gosling heaved a weary sigh of resignation.
“It pains me to say it, but the impenetrable bureaucracy of Canterlot was our hidden ace against the changeling takeover.” Blueblood’s eyes narrowed, though he did not realise his expression had changed, and a cruel, keen smile spread over his lips. “We also have many spies now embedded within the bureaucracy, listening to gossip, looking for dissent, and many of these agents are buried. To just remove the bureaucracy would undo much of our carefully constructed defenses.”
“I get it,” Gosling replied while he tugged on his cloak, pulling it around his body. “Say, speaking of changelings, can I get a report about our, uh, special guest that we have staying in our special guestroom?”
Blueblood’s grin became shiver inducing. “You sure can… Prince Gosling…”
With one crisis over, the next one could begin. Or maybe it already had, Celestia didn’t know. Upon returning from the hospital, Gosling had thrown himself into his work, and Celestia was fine with that. It was better to have him focused and working than brooding and self-pitying. This was something that only time could fix, so it was important to keep Gosling distracted until time passed.
“Professor Inkwell,” Celestia said to one of her most senior instructors. “Report?”
“Nothing is getting done,” Professor Inkwell replied, smiling up at Celestia. “The little ones are too excited for the coming holiday. The older ones are only too happy to snog one another beneath the mistletoe. There’s lots of hot new romances breaking out all over, lots of sloppy first kisses, and even the teachers are getting into the holiday spirit. I fear that productivity has frozen over for the winter.”
“Good… good,” Celestia replied, distracted. “Prepare those awful, banal assignments, the ones that look important but aren’t., you know, the Twilight assignments. Ease into holiday mode. Appear tough on the students, but give them the slack they need. It’s been a rough, rough year and an even rougher fall. I’ve been worried about the stress. Professor Inkwell, I want this year’s holiday gala for the school to be extravagant. Spare no expense. Dip into mine own coffers if necessary. I want a gala so fabulous that it is the only thing ponies will talk about until spring. I want it pushed into the very forefront of the public consciousness.”
“Worried about dissent, dearie?” Professor Inkwell asked.
Sitting back in her ornate high-backed chair, Celestia rested one hoof upon the table before her and nodded. At the other end of the table, Raven was scribbling down something, but Celestia did not know what. Head down, her gaze fell to the carpet, which needed replacing. Along the wall was a worn down patch that she had spent many long hours pacing upon, going the length of the long room.
Past Raven, in a massive fireplace, a well-stoked fire blazed, crackling and spitting out cinders. Over the fireplace was a magic mirror that held many, many secrets. On the mantle were photographs of the Royal Family, many of them taken by Seville Orange. The room stank of tea and desperation.
This was the place where Celestia did her best thinking. She loved this room, even though she hated it sometimes. It just wasn’t long enough for proper pacing. On the walls, painted portraits seemed to watch the meeting, their eyes seemed to have the uncanny ability to follow those who moved about the room. It was important to hate the room you loved, just a little, as it prevented you from spending too much time in it, and this was why Celestia had never redesigned the room to compensate for its flaws.
“Dearie, if you don’t mind me asking, what is this year’s theme for the gala?” Professor Inkwell asked as she lifted up her steaming cup of tea.
“I don’t know yet,” Celestia blurted out right away in response, and even she seemed shocked by her own abruptness.
“Dearie…” Professor Inkwell leaned forwards, and the old, wrinkled mare smiled up at Celestia. “Do you need to talk about what happened?”
Ears twitching, Celestia looked down at the old mare looking up at her, and she could feel her insides twisting into knots. Talking about it would make her feel better, but she wasn’t sure if this was right. Professor Inkwell was one of her most senior associates, one of her most trusted accomplices, and the old, maternal mare was also… her friend. The white alicorn swallowed and there was an audible gulp.
She poured herself a bit more tea, adding some to a cup already half-full, added honey, and splashed in a bit of heavy cream. Some of it sloshed over the sides, unnoticed, and nopony could be bothered to care. Was this just a professional friendship? A relationship based upon educational interests? Already, the questions in Celestia’s mind were distracting her, robbing her of her concentration, and depleting some of her precious, much-needed confidence.
At the end of the table, Raven’s quill had stopped scratching.
“The pressure has become a bit much,” Celestia said in a low whisper, throwing caution to the wind. “I am far more shaken by recent events than I care to admit. Mister Mariner’s gambit, Queen Chrysalis’ successful infiltration of Ponyville, the changelings attempting to murder Mister Teapot and others because of the threat they posed…” Celestia’s voice, which had become a bit shrill, trailed off and she shook her head.
“It was a clever attack, that’s for sure, designed to hit us in all of our weak places at once,” Professor Inkwell remarked. “They took the sorcerer, tried to kill our heroes, and they hit us real hard when we were already reeling from everything else that had happened. But we prevailed. Why do you suppose that is?” The old mare’s smile vanished, and she became Professor Inkwell, with her stern, hard, unyielding gaze focused upon Celestia with all of the intensity that the nonagenarian could muster.
“Because anypony or anything trying to kill Mister Teapot is inviting disaster upon themselves?” Raven replied, her body trembling as she tried to hold back her most inappropriate snickering. She covered her mouth with one hoof, coughed a few times, and went silent when it was clear that Celestia was in no mood for laughter.
Professor Inkwell harrumphed a bit—she did not smile—but she did glance at Raven with an eyebrow raised. After a moment, the old professor turned to look at Celestia and said, “Young mares these days, so squirrelly. Little Raven never did get over her troubles at laughing at inappropriate times, and what a troublemaker she was in class—”
“Hey!” Raven cried. “You leave my school record out of this!” She coughed again, became serious, and she pointed her hoof at the old mare. “There are some ponies you just don’t mess with, Equestria has some great and mighty heroes!”
This time, the old mare did smile. “And do you know why that is, little Raven?”
“Why don’t you just go ahead and tell me, Professor Inkwell.” Folding her front hooves together, Raven became prim and proper, a student ready for the lesson.
Pointing a hoof at Celestia, Professor Inkwell beamed. “Her.” The wrinkly old school marm’s ears struggled to go erect, and her head bobbed a bit while her nostrils flared. “Princess, you are loved. You inspire the very best in your heroes and the defenders of your realm. Even if they don’t always agree with you… they will always be there for you. As bad as things are, and let’s be honest, things are pretty bad right now, are they not? You have those who are loyal to you… the nobles of Canterlot. Your heroes. Your protectors. Never mind your detractors, the neigh-sayers, the tongue waggers, and the playground bullies.”
“Professor Inkwell…”
“Yes, dearie?”
“I have an idea for this year’s holiday gala,” Celestia said, taken with a moment of inspiration.
“I’d love to hear it, dearie…”
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I wonder how long it will take for Equestria's Enemies to learn to not try to kill Tarnished as they will regret it? Death itself even tried at one point and it is obvious he failed as well... but then again we wouldn't have the hilarity that comes from Tarnished making them regret it.
But it's also a story about a pregnant, hormonal Alicorn, right?
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That goes without saying.
Hmmmmm, OK, it seems like timeline-wise this slots in not long after PTSSFF. Cool.
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Perilous Romance of Swans and PTSSFF happen almost parallel to one another.
I had to finish writing PTSSFF in order to write this, because of the massive ending spoilers, as one can plainly see.
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He's a bad day waiting to happen.
Interesting chapter. Also an interesting take on Bureaucracy though Blueblood is right they take on a life of their own
Uh... brain blanking here. The Special Guest: would that be Moondancer's changeling replacement or possibly Stinkbug?
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Egg.
Beuracracy is fine so long as their are counterbalances and the people within it understand the importance of them DOING their job.
that is why every system og gonverment that has ever existed in our world has always collapsed XD
Raven still has a point. Though I agree with Inkwell that Equestria's faith/Faith in the diarchy holds it together. More so Celestia perhaps, for now.
The banter of "junior" Raven vs"senior" Inkwell about their difference in experience and age which in comparison to "multi millennia" Celestia is nothing, reminds me of an exert from memoirs of a SR-71 pilot, retired, that mirrors this to a 'T'.
The Ultimate Ground Speed Check - Tales from the Blackbird
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rQIaSI9dOF5Aj5JkVijjmkCcOJHvE5vCSOlnSmEsjyw/pub
I must admit, I was surprised to hear that the changelings didn't just ponynap Sumac and his friends, but also tried to kill Tarnish and his family. We didn't get an inkling of that in Twilight's School.
Is this something that's just going to be hinted at, like the event in Manehattan?
Just try to endure, Gosling. Bare wings now, big wings for ever after.
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Sumac was abducted. How could you have any way of knowing?
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Hey Can you guys use the spoiler things? it kinda kills the experience when you tell us what happens in the comments
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As Kudzu pointed out, PTSSFF was focused on Sumac's perspective. We saw things from his eyes nearly all the time. So when he got whisked away, we learned... absolutely nothing except what happened to him. That's what makes hearing about this same-time development interesting, no?
Ah, more slices of delicious Blueblood. I missed it.
Swap the full stop with a comma?
Two times 'idea'.
Wow. You've actually come up with a reasonable rationality for why bureaucracy should exist in a world of magical ponies. I'm impressed, but also a little ashamed of you.
I really need to catch up.
In other words, if you're son's sweet sixteen doesn't make local news, you're dead to me.
8056778 if you haven't read that yet, you should NOT be on this story.
8056778 You really need to catch up on the other stories before reading this then, if you don't want spoilers. Considering this takes place after that, there will almost certainly be spoilers in this story. This is the big problem with the Weed Verse being so spread out, is it's easy to get spoilers that you are not ready for.
I'm so lost, which stories should I read before this?
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To be fair, this story marks itself as a sequel to Perilous Romance. If you're not too familiar with the Weedverse outside of that, it's not too unreasonable to expect to jump right into this one.
You gave a warning in the description of the story but I decided to give this one a chance, even though I had not read a lot of the other in-universe stories. This chapter has Celestia talk about her stresses and it just pushes me away from this story and I loved the previous two. I think I'm calling it here due to my lack of interest in the other stories and the extent of their influence on this one. Good luck.