Gosling knew the power of communication. He was a pony from the Signal Corps, and was now in intelligence with the rank of Lantern Specialist. The need, the ability, the desire to communicate had been pounded into his head as part of his training. When communications broke down, conflicts established themselves or wars started. Silence was the ultimate undesirable outcome, and he thought about that now while he held Luna. When everything else had failed or fallen apart, he fell back on his training.
He had never had perfect faith to begin with and there was a lot of trouble remembering all of the dates for all of the holidays. Being shunned, he realised, there was a problem with the outreach of his faith, the connection to the community, but his belief held sound. It was just the way his mother had raised him. Fearful of the looming silence, Gosling thought of the terrifying train ride to Ponyville while transporting Celestia’s beloved sorcerer. He had prayed then, and something profound had happened. Through the power of faith alone, something had happened and they all had felt it.
How could that depart from him?
“Tell me,” he whispered, somehow finding some words to say, though he could not be sure if they were the right ones. “What is it like to die and be reborn?”
Blinking, Luna lifted her head and seemed startled. Though she shuddered, the hard sobbing ceased and her ears flapped around with endearing confusion. The Night Princess hiccupped and with the sudden sound she transformed, taking on the aspect of a bewildered foal. Having departed from her, no outward trace of maturity could be found, and somehow, she seemed much, much younger than she was.
“When you die and spontaneously reincarnate, how old are you? Does it hurt? Do you remember dying? Help me to understand you, Luna. Has facing death so many times damaged your mind in some fashion, do you think?”
“The pain can be very sudden but it is over very quick,” Luna blurted out while she stood in Gosling’s embrace, bewildered and confused. “I don’t know how old I am when I return… there is some variation with each renewal, but I am always at an age when I can talk, use magic, and care for myself, though small. I would guess a year or two beyond a yearling, give or take a few years.”
“I wonder what point there is to returning at such an age?” Gosling asked aloud.
“Celestia believes it aids in our development. We return at that stage of foal development when rapid learning takes place. This allows us to take in information rapidly, learn new languages, absorb new magic, all those things that foals miraculously seem to do when they hit the ‘why phase.’ I am inclined to agree with her. We have benefited from our many foalhoods.”
Musing on this, Gosling took away an unintended piece of information from this, something that confirmed his own beliefs: Celestia was the big thinker, Luna was the doer. If Luna was the thinker, she might have arrived at this conclusion on her own, but relied instead upon her sister’s ruminations. Sun and Moon, thinker and doer.
It also helped to explain how Luna had caught up on one-thousand years of missing history, because she had no doubt been schooled almost to death. It might explain why she had gone missing from the public for a time, for purely practical reasons. Luna was almost panting now, but no longer sobbing. He wasn’t sure what getting her to talk had accomplished, but it was better than silence.
“Gosling, I cannot bear the idea that I might have cost you your faith because of my vanity.” Ears pinning back, Luna leaned up against Gosling to the point where all of her weight rested against him, and then she went still. “Surely you must have something left to believe in?”
“Tell me about Bronze Blaze—”
“Why, Gosling?” Taken aback, Luna now looked panicked and she pleaded with him using her eyes.
“What was he to you? I want to know so that I might know what I am to you.”
“Gosling, the answers will be very damning—”
“Nevertheless, I want them. What damnation awaits me?”
Whimpering, Luna bit down upon her bottom lip with a savage chomp and then squirmed while fresh tears glistened in the corners of her eyes. “Bronze Blaze was sturdy and he was an enthusiastic breeder. While I held some degree of affection for him, we mostly had a physical relationship. He went about his business during the day and I ruled the night. Sometimes, I would pay him a visit as the sun was setting and catch him before he went to sleep. I was very selfish and I demanded so much of him. While I liked earth ponies for breeding, I prefered the company and conversation of the pegasus ponies, and that always bothered Bronze Blaze… that we had so little to talk about. I didn’t keep him around to talk to him, he was there to sire foals.”
“What of love?” Gosling asked.
Shaking her head, the raspy sounds of Luna’s breathing was all that could be heard for a time, and then with a timid voice she replied, “Things were different back then, Gosling. Love existed, but it was a luxury for the privileged few. Marriage, breeding, it was done for practical purposes. Celestia and I would tell ponies who they should breed with so that strong, viable bloodlines were created. They obeyed. It was a matter of survival. Bronze Blaze was of exceptional strength and a desirable type of intelligence, traits that were most advantageous, and Celestia bred him with dozens of mares, while using her magic to help them conceive. It was a duty like any other.”
“She made him sire foals with other mares?” Incredulous, Gosling’s scalp tightened while his ears stood straight. He thought of the tickets that had been sold that granted access to a dance with him.
“Sometimes, when funds or political favours were necessary, Celestia would bring our husband to a noble house and allow breeding rights. Gosling, please… you cannot judge the past by the standards of today. I am trying to be open with you, but this is very painful for me. I understand how this must sound.”
Overcome by his own curiousity, the very thing that had caused him to stumble into this whole mess, Gosling wanted answers and he knew that he had Luna right where he wanted her, because she was in no position to refuse him. Care and concern tempered his curiousity, but he still wanted answers—and would have them.
“What am I to you, Luna?”
“Gosling—”
Reaching out with his wing, he pressed his primaries against Luna’s lips, silencing her. “Answer carefully.”
Silence returned to the devastated library and Gosling, still holding Luna with one wing, pulled the primaries of the other away from her lips. Had he saved her from speaking too soon, or had he given her time to think of something convincing to say that might sway him? For now, all he could do was trust that her intentions were good.
“I’m here with you right now, trying to sort this out.” Blinking once, Luna turned her head away and stared down at the floor while her lower lip trembled. “I never meant to break our vows. I meant those. Gosling, I was looking forwards to having you as a husband… I just needed a little bit more time until I was ready. I was so busy thinking about myself… that I didn’t stop to think about you. It seemed like such a short time for me… and I had myself convinced that everything would work out. Gosling, please… please, you have to believe in my desire to do better and make this right somehow.”
To believe Luna now, in the aftermath of all this trouble while standing in the ruined library, such a thing would be a tremendous act of faith. Gosling stood with his wing still over Luna’s back and around her neck, and he struggled to determine if Luna was being sincere. Was she doing this for her sister’s happiness? For her own? For his happiness? There was no way to know, no way to tell, and if he believed her—if he chose to take her words at face value—it would most certainly be an act of faith.
“Gosling… your touch is almost unbearable right now… I am curiously and terrifyingly aroused—”
“Are you trying to seduce me now? Is that how you plan to keep me?” Gosling waited, holding back his emotions before he reacted, wondering what Luna was up to.
Luna responded with a nasal squeal, saying, “No! No! Gosling… I’m scared right now! Surely you can smell my muskiness and I keep having these thoughts, these thoughts about you having your way with me. If you did, I would not refuse you, because I want to keep you, and that scares me, because I wouldn’t tell you no. I’m having crazy thoughts right now! All of this is getting to me! You keep touching me and rubbing up against me and it is making me feel things! My fear of losing you is stronger than my fear of being taken advantage of!” When the last word was blurted out, Luna began crying again and this time, she hid her face behind one of her wings.
Crazy thoughts, Gosling thought to himself. This was his future, because Luna would continue to have crazy thoughts. She would progress from melancholy to mania, waxing and waning like the moon itself. Was he strong enough? He thought once more of faith, taking Luna’s word was a tremendous leap of faith, because she had crazy thoughts. When, for the first time, he worried that he might not have the mental fortitude required to fulfil his duties, he felt another tearing sensation in his heart—something that had happened so many times already that he had lost count.
Gosling had testicular fortitude—a fact that he took immense pride in—but he had some serious doubts manifesting about his future. He had participated in combat a number of times, he had gleefully and recklessly thrown himself into the chaotic fracas that was the harpy invasion of Ponyville. Disobeying orders, he had lead the charge—and the guards that had followed him had suffered immense casualties. Gosling fought on the front lines though, and had refused to hide behind his own troops.
What he faced now scared him far more than charging into a flock of harpies.
“I take back what I said, Gosling… about not having faith.” Luna’s voice cracked halfway through her sentence and she peered out from behind her wing, cautious. “I was wrong. I do have faith, I just couldn’t see it until just a moment ago. I have faith in your commitment to duty.”
Using his own wing, Gosling pushed Luna’s wing away from her face. “I don’t follow.”
“You saved me from the darkness elemental. You somehow pushed your way through a living nightmare and you talked a darkness elemental to death. Even now, I don’t understand how you did it, but it gives me something to believe in.” Luna shivered and when her mood shifted once more, she pressed up against Gosling once more.
He considered these words, but had no idea how to feel about them and Gosling felt his thoughts dividing, distracting him. Was Luna having crazy thoughts again, or did she really mean this? Did he dare ask? What consequences might his questions have? Would his callous queries or insensitive inquiries rip apart whatever fragile bloom that was Luna’s newfound faith? Having felt his own faith shatter, he couldn’t risk doing that to another.
Why?
What belief did he possess?
Perhaps he was wrong. What drove him to be a better pony? Something had inspired him. What motivated him for greatness? How had he rescued Luna? Could he save her now? Surely something had given him the strength to go on in that dark house of horror. What gave a pony greatness? The answer had always been faith—but now?
Gosling arrived in an odd place, a sort of limbo that existed beyond his understanding, and he found it terrifying. His mother had warned him about questioning faith, because faith was like a knitted sweater; if one picked at it too much, it would unravel and be a sweater no more. All the hard work to make it what it was, a sweater, would be gone, and you’d be left with string. And what good was string?
“Does having this faith in my sense of duty make you feel better?” Gosling asked while he floundered, hoping against hope that he could find his own way out of his own mire of doubt. It almost felt like he had flown for some great distance, that he had flown past the point of reasonable exhaustion, and now, he approached some unknown destination that he was ill-prepared for.
For her part, Luna seemed quite surprised by the question; yes, she was thrown off guard and Gosling could see it by how she reacted. She withdrew, blinking, her ears rising and falling, and her lips pressed into a tight pucker of concentration—that, even in his current state of mind he could not help but think about kissing. What did that say about him, he wondered?
Moving about in some great animated way, Luna shuffled on her hooves, wiped her nose with her wing, and her almost-luminous eyes became unfocused while lost in her continuous cogitation. Gosling found her beautiful, even now, even with her acne, with her chapped lips, her face left soggy, sodden, and stained by tears, and her bloodshot eyes. Luna, lost in thought, failed to notice when Gosling closed the distance between them and pressed his lips against the corner of her mouth.
At his touch, Luna shrieked and then had something of a screamy-filly moment while Gosling pulled back, apologetic. He had no idea what had come over him and he thought about Luna’s terrifying, crazy thoughts about him taking her right here on the spot. Luna’s voice was like some great force channeled through an organ pipe, more musical note than terrified utterance.
Yanking his head away, Gosling did everything he could to look harmless.
Something almost like anger flashed in Luna’s eyes and she hissed out the words, “Terrified arousal is the worst!”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.” Unsure of what good his words were, Gosling saw that Luna was jittery now and her hind legs shuffled from side to side while also squeezing together. Relaxing his hold on her with his wing, but only just a little, he waited for an answer to his question.
Eyes narrowing to a half-open state, Luna’s emotions ran their course, going from terrified, angry-whatever to something that appeared to be reluctant acceptance, followed by a softening of her features. “My faith in your sense of duty is the only way I have of knowing that your intentions are good right now. But for a second there, I had crazy thoughts, Gosling… crazy thoughts!”
Luna had crazy thoughts, but Gosling had crazy questions. Why was he a good pony? Right now, he could most certainly take advantage of Luna and she would let him. He could dominate her, he could have the satisfaction of conquest, and like she had said, she would not refuse him, she couldn’t refuse him because she wanted him to stay. Right now, he could establish himself as the dominant partner in this relationship—he could exploit her weakness and vulnerability.
So why didn’t he?
Where did morality come from, if not faith?
The empty ache inside offered no answers and Gosling was left wondering, what made him good? Why didn’t he just dominate Luna? She would cry, she would blubber, she would sob and shriek beneath him while he had his way with her, and no doubt, it would be satisfying. For the rest of his life, he would be able to lord himself over Luna, having established that he was the stronger of the two, and she would do nothing for fear of her sister’s loss. In public, he would be the devoted, loving husband, but in the bedroom, he would be a brutal, dominating tyrant.
But Luna would not be happy—and happiness meant something to Gosling. What it meant was unknown, but Luna’s happiness was more important than his own, which meant that his fantasies for revenge and power meant nothing—were nothing—because without happiness, there was no point. Without happiness, there was no point to anything… not even faith.
He could be just awful and Luna would bear this, knowing it would pass, knowing it was temporary, and that one day, he would be no more. She would do it for her sister’s sake, she would hide it for her sister’s sake, and no doubt, Luna’s self-flagellating nature would secretly relish such torment behind closed doors. There might even be a sort of happiness—but not a good happiness.
“Gosling… dearest, there is something up with your mark—”
Scarcely hearing Luna’s words, Gosling was lost in thought. He was lost in questions of what was good, what was moral, and what was faith. Luna had faith in his sense of duty, and that sense of duty and the faith she had in it, it held back the worst parts of himself that Gosling held within, the parts of himself that he refused to even acknowledge that they existed…
But surely Luna knew of them.
Luna had to know.
Surely, Luna had seen.
Without a doubt, Luna had seen the awful dreams he had about Skyfire Flash, and all of the dreadful ways he longed to punish her. All of the ways he wanted to hurt her, to dominate her, to break her will. To strip away all of her free will and sense of free agency for what she had done to him. Gosling lived with such awful things hidden away inside of him, and it was his faith that kept him turned away from his darker nature.
And Luna had to know. Right now, at this very moment, Luna had to know, and here she was, alone with him, facing him after having lied to him, she had to know what dreadful monsters lurked within his psyche, what real danger she faced by remaining with him, alone, with no sister to guard her in this now-ruined library.
“—it’s glowing.”
“What?” Snapped from his reverie, a bewildered Gosling tried to make sense of things while shame and uncertainty clouded his mind.
“Gosling, your ducks… they have a curious glow about them.”
Whipping his head around, Gosling saw the light emanating from his hindquarters, but had no words. His rubber ducks—both of them—were illuminated with a brilliant, golden-yellow light. What did it mean? Why was this happening? Why was this happening now? What purpose did this serve and what was the point? Was this a message?
“Gosling, you have achieved a state of enlightenment—”
“But how?” he snapped, annoyed and now angry. “All I have are questions! I have no answers! I don’t understand myself at the moment and nothing makes sense!”
Clearing her throat, Luna tried again, this time in a softer, more gentle voice. “You have achieved a state of enlightenment. You have become the sort of pony that your cutie mark wishes you to be. During a moment of great growth, or upon reaching some profound state of understanding, a cutie mark can glow. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does happen, it is a treasured, precious thing.”
“But… but… but…”—Gosling sputtered and battled to form a coherent sentence—“I don’t understand anything! I’ve only reached a place where I have nothing but questions! I’ve never been more uncertain in my life than I am right now! What meaning could this possibly have?”
Luna’s words—spoken but a short time ago—now echoed in his mind like overzealous alarm bells, drowning out all other thoughts with their sheer mental volume. I see the worst in the dreams of ponies! Whatever evidence of good there might be is tainted by the knowledge of evil! I believe in nothing! When Gosling thought of how this applied to him, his mouth went dry and he struggled in vain to make the pieces fit. Whatever good that Luna saw in him was corrupted by the darkness he held within—but she had trusted herself with him—she had her moment of faith and had to believe in something in spite of evidence to the contrary.
The light grew blinding and Gosling squinted while a crick settled into his neck from turning around to look at his own backside. Just when he didn’t think he could look any longer, the light subsided and his pair of rubber ducks no longer rivaled the sun for brilliance. What was the meaning? What was the point? What had just happened?
Though he was filled with more questions than answers, though everything was uncertain and unsettled, though nothing made sense, Gosling had an overwhelming compulsion to act, not as Gosling the pony, or Gosling of the Royal Guard, but as Confessor. A great mystery filled his being, flooded his mind, and indiscernible emotions filled his heart.
Whipping his head about, he gripped Luna with his wing, pulled her close, and looked her in the eye. “I will spend the rest of my life trying to prove worthy of your faith in me, Luna. Such a faith is to be acknowledged and rewarded. For in spite of all you’ve seen, all you’ve witnessed, for knowing all of my dark secrets, you chose to believe in me. It was a courageous act, Luna, and I will spend the rest of my life tending to the tiny, helpless flame that is your faith.”
“Thank you… Confessor…”
[authors note]
Twily,"But... but... but..."
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I wonder if this means a restructuring of the first tribe's faith. Something a little less dogmatic, and more unifying. One where the sisters aren't placed on such a pedestal as they are,
and seen more as benefactors for ponykind that while supreme, are not infallible. That'd be really interesting.
8774489
Agreed. This is NOT the end. I REFUSE to believe it.
I have to be honest, you've lost me at this point. I don't understand why Gosling just did what he did at the end of the chapter. Him asking himself all those questions - that I understand. Him taking action and doing what he did, that confuses me. To me this Luna is nothing more than a liar and a spoiled brat, and not worth his devotion. He was used -BY BOTH HIS WIVES- and married under completely false pretenses. I can understand his staying with her (and Celestia) because of "duty" but not because of Luna's faith in him. To me, she's lost all respect I had for her. Celestia not much better. Gosling got suckered.
I'm thinking this is one of those times again where I don't understand the actions of between characters because I'm misanthropic and have limited tolerance for people past a certain point, so my social interactions with others are completely different than what I'm seeing here. (I'm a severe pessimist because people suck and they never stop meeting my expectations of being horrible to each other. In my opinion, people being nice to each other is more of a happy accident than the rule.)
I'm quite surprised at Gosling staying through all this. Me, I would have been out the door earlier in this conversation and odds are Cadance would have had a black eye at a minimum (personally, I now blame her for ALL of this, I now believe she's seen Gosling as nothing more than a someTHING to use and make Celestia feel better about herself. She just chose him for Celestia because he was easy to manipulate into this whole position. Princess of Love, my ass.)
I now find myself wanting to read the rest of the Weedverse looking for more instances of the Big Players merely using the rest of Equestria as their playthings.
8774540
There has been a good deal of discussion about it on the Discord. You might have to scroll back a bit, but it's there.
8774540 He took that leap of faith that most relgions require. Even after meeting his 'gods' and knowing far better than anyone else they are ponies just like everyone else and have the same troubles that normal ponies have. Gosling has embraced his duty as confessor
8774540
Gosling stuck through this conversation up until sometime during either this or last chapter purely out of the duty you mentioned, but his staying further at this point is driven, I believe, by what I would describe as curiosity. His faith, which is what he built his entire worldview on, that he leaned on to keep him a moral person, was shattered. In spite of this, for some reason that he can't understand his views on right and wrong haven't shattered with it, and he's sitting through this entire chapter in shock trying to figure out what's holding it up.
From Gosling's perspective, this chapter would not have played out any differently if he -had- stormed out and ruminated on it over an indeterminate time before barging in on Luna at some later date demanding answers on why she still trusted him. She serves purely as a sounding board from his perspective, speeding up his thought process.
Had he stormed out as soon as things went keel-over, though, Luna would have been devastated, possibly irreparably, and the part of Gosling still bound by duty and still trying to put the shattered pillar of his faith back together knows it. He even mentions it a few times in his internal monologue, and attempts to storm out when Luna keeps tries to play the 'it's for my sister's sake' card one too many times.
As to Cadence, it's been long implied that what she saw in Gosling wasn't just that he was a useful tool for fixing her dysfunctional aunts, but the same potential that she and Twilight had for growth toward Alicornhood. It doesn't excuse her by any means, though. A broken snout is the least she should be getting out of this with... That being said, Alicorns do have to play the long game, it's just that Gosling hasn't figured out yet that all three of the elder Alicorns are already thinking of him as part of that long game.
8774505
That certainly seems like a possibility. A faith founded on the concept of unwavering truth is inevitably going to wind up being proven to be wrong in some way or another, especially when the Goddesses that faith defines as perfect actually exist and sit in seats of power for all the world to observe. Now that they're being more open about what goes on in the castle, it would be impossible for many faithful of the First Tribe to miss all of Celestia and Luna's imperfections, though I'm sure the more zealot-like of the bunch would blame their imperfections on them having to deal with imperfect, fallible mortals.
This is only compounded by the fact that the Confessor, the pony the First Tribes are supposed to turn to in something like a crisis of faith, has himself lost his faith entirely. Gosling's entire internal struggle in this chapter is also why I've never been a big fan of religion: up until now, he's never once gotten in touch with who he truly is deep down. He wore his faith like a mask, never letting anyone see the pony underneath it, not even himself. To see it torn away and he's still the good pony he's always been underneath is very refreshing.
You don't need faith to be a good person. I personally think it gets in the way of you confronting yourself and your behavior, coming to terms with it, and then working on making yourself a better person. I do, however, see the allure and in some cases necessity of it.
Now that his butt did the glow thing, he'd probably be super worthy of the alicorn soul/body transformation thing! Maybe for both versions, even!
8774624
Borrowed from the Discord:
Also, everything that happens here is the reason why we see the Luna statue in The Mask Makes the Pony. The cringing, cowering, frightened Luna.
Once old age gets solved for Gosling, Celestia and Luna have all the time in the world to make amends. Surely that's their goal as they love gosling, have agreed they want him to be an alicorn, and are just a touch evil. I think they're trying to do the thing they know for sure gives multi-rez I don't think Cadance has died ever, so that way might not do it and it's not like he can get rid of the strong immortality once he has it.
8774640
Can't say I've read that one, but in the context of this story it makes sense.
8774697
It's on the Discord server, the place where the secrets are. Link is in forums. Forum link is found in story description.
8774540
The most basic answer to all your issues is that Gosling is not you. You and several others have said 'this is not what I would do', and that's not the case. It's about Gosling. He's not a self-insert avatar, he is his own person with a biology, history, environment, and personality generally radically different from anything we are first-hand familiar with. We have to make comparisons only with what seems the same or similar. This chapter was about Gosling's goodness. He is sacrificing his blind anger here for compassion and understanding - he has evolved as a person in this chapter, or beginning to. Restructuring what duty and faith means to him, and finding a new basis for his concept of morality. He was broken, and is now remaking himself.
The Sisters did not mean to harm him. That was true. Both genuinely care for him, even crazypants Luna, and want to be happy together. The issue of their marriage wasn't the breaking point here, it was just ammunition for his anger. The entire thing is that his conceptualization of faith, religion, and his own morality was frail and balanced on a pin's point, supported by lying to himself about them. When he found out they were capable of lying (by omission) to him, everything broke and he gave in to his confusion and anger and lashed out. Literally all of this is leading to and from that lie, what came of it is secondary.
As for Cadence, she explained the separation of statecraft and personal interests last chapter. Take that to heart. Celestia needed an anchor. Luna needed a buffer. The Sisters needed an affection wall between them at times, as well as a joiner. If you think back, Cadence was basically interviewing ponies for this, any complaints about Gosling not specifically being cared for by Cadence likely should have been made at the time, as we've all had a very long time to let that soak in - and to my memory no one said a blessed thing about it. It could have been anyone else who met Cadence's strict requirements and foresight. Gosling might very well have just sat in a slum or the barracks the rest of his life. Destiny always has spares, I'm sure that applies to Gosling, too.
Celestia and Luna are linchpins in the safety of Equestria and the security of the future for the entire world, not to mention its day-to-day survival. Whatever it takes to keep them fit for continuing these duties must be done. One person's feelings in the face of the lives of everyone in the world currently and into eternity if it should come to pass mean so far less than nothing even my mind can scarcely conceive of the gap. To consider otherwise is shamelessly selfish evil itself. Gosling himself realized this earlier. But for Cadence, she selected someone who could do the job, and to do this job requires legitimate feelings, affection, temperament, and ability. As we can see, Cadence herself has grown close to Gosling and in her own way adores him - yet she chose him based on a profile and her own foresight. She did a magnificent job, essentially saving the world, saving Celestia, saving Gosling, and now - saving Luna, because of choices she made. Thinking she's done something wrong in that is obscene.
For some reason people tend to have an issue with those who move the pieces on the board. It usually stems from hubris, as I've talked about in the Discord. "People are too important to be played with!" No, they are not. And that statement is usually internally meant as "I am too important to be played with!" when you boil it down. People have severe issue with anyone who has authority, even if that person is doing good things with it. Your post seems to come off as "how dare Cadence play around with Gosling's life like this". ... She is a god, who, due to how alicorns are constructed, is all but FORCED to act in the best interests of her people. If I remember correctly it is something like a constant tug inside their brain, especially if they stray from that path.
They don't treat people like playthings from what I remember. That heavily implies callous maliciousness and only caring about their people as 'things to amuse myself with', with extreme haughtiness and undeserved arrogance. This is not the case with these characters - Luna comes closest, and that she specifically calls out as a sickness, showing even she considers this kind of thing to be disgusting and base. You are attributing more negative things to these characters than are actually part of their characters or the events of this universe. I feel like the only reason for this is, again, the hubris of hatred for authority that is not your own. Even benevolent authority. The kind that makes people gripe and complain that they weren't told everything, or the big plan wasn't laid out for them in its entirety even though they either don't need to know it, shouldn't know it because it might mess things up, or are not yet of sufficient peerage to be part of the planning. The kind that makes people upset that they 'have a part to play' but aren't in on the deepest circles, even though logic dictates that not everyone can be - so why should they?
Don't trash the characters for something like that, Cog. There's plenty of actual shortcomings to criticize them for in the right way.
Ok... I understand that Luna is emotionally upset and everything... but this makes practically no sense... a yearling is a one year old foal... so one or two year beyond that is a two or three year old... and you CAN’T take a few years... you would get to NEGATIVE age...
8774931
Wrong.
A yearling can be up to two, or even three years of age.
Edit: Luna wasn't talking to the reader, for clarity, she was talking to Gosling. What she was saying was, she comes back at about five to seven or so years of age, but it is hard to pin down the exact number.
8774941
How long has it been since her return? HAS it been the 7 or 8 so years I’m assuming if she’s around goslings age? Or does her growth accelerate?
8774969
Yes.
8774839
God or not, I do hold Cadance responsible. I do see her as being in the wrong. She lied to Gosling. She used him. I think she should have explained to him (at least I don't remember this happening) that his purpose was to help Equestria first and be a loving family member second. Instead I think by not explaining the whole situation before now, they set themselves up with a timebomb that could have seriously blown up in their faces and made the whole thing that much worse. Had Gosling walked out or just reduced his role in their relationship to that of 'soldier to the crown' it could have broken both Luna and Celestia so much that it left them open to losing to Grogar and his minions. The fact that Cadance felt that this risk was acceptable by not telling Gosling is mind blowing to me. So more power to Gosling for the choice he did make (even if I still don't completely understand how/why he made it).
At this point, though, it's hard for me to see Cadance as caring for Gosling the way I thought she cared for him before now. If I was Gosling (yes, I'm playing this game) right now I would seriously be wondering how much she cares for others as well. Working toward the "good of Equestria" is a very noble goal, but how exactly does she define "good of Equestria"? Because of this Cadance, as well as Celestia and Luna, (but not Twilight, at least not yet) have moved in my mind from "benevolent caring god-beings" to simply "benevolent god-beings" and as such makes them a lot more dangerous on their own.
But, for her and Celestia to be this callous with him makes me terrified exactly what "long game" they are playing with the rest of Equestria.
Ya got me there, I am most definitely one of those people who do not do well to not being let in on the plan. So it's very hard me for me to move past the whole "you're here for the good of Equestria before anything else and we could have easily found somepony else to do the job but we're not going to tell you that" thing Gosling just went through.
(BTW, AD, for what it's worth - I've been working on this reply for a very long while and have probably re-written it at least a dozen times. So, while I think we're probably not in agreement on what how certain ponies should be treated, I will say that I've had a good long think about all of this and I do feel I at least understand my own thoughts on this better than I did when I wrote my previous comment - so thanks for the mental exercise.)
There was a lot to digest in this chapter, but it was a very good chapter as always Kudzu!
So Gosling, whose Mark is for brightening others' lives, had his faith shattered, the thing in which he grounded his morality. Coming out the other side, as it where, he finds himself still a moral person. A "the power was in you all along" moment of sorts. And then he immediately acts on it, telling Luna that he won't do to her what they just did to him.
Close?
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Hmm almost all the sources I've found define a yearling as an horse between 1 and 2 years of age [with a little fudging by the use of 1st January as the birthdate of all thoroughbred...] Seven/eight year old is somewhat younger than the CMC... She didn't look like that...
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https://comments.deviantart.com/4/1603670/1919104364
My inspiration comes from the source. What was wanted and what we got were two different things. Luna was meant to be a filly. Weak, mostly powerless, and rather helpless.
Honestly, I don't understand what the big deal is. And I'm too tired and worn out to do much else about it. Faust's original ideas and intentions have always intrigued me. Inspired me? Not sure what word I want here.
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Well that means that fundamentally just saved Luna here did not look like what we have seen in the show. Just that.
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The ponies on the show also don't have visible genitalia, unusual body characteristics, (in general) or change in any meaningful way because they are flash models and the show runs on a tight budget.
Luna's whole design fell prey to toy sales. Rather than make a new mold and keep Luna as originally intended, she was made to conform to an existing toy mold for the sake of maximum value. What Luna should have been, or might have been, is now little more than fun speculation.
That, was very deep.
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And yet the show is the common base for all the people here, and to what everyone necessarily default to unless otherwise stated. There is a general consensus on various things due to the limits of the original media like the homogeneity of looks and the absence of details like the genitals as you mentioned [and various way the various authors put out to "explain" the issues, from the simple "the show is just glossing over the genitals" like it seems to be the case here , to full on "Equestria is magic and there are actually no genitals" to other more creative cases as "Hiding magic to keep everything out of view until needed"]. When there is things that go against the running consensus it is important to have it clear, otherwise there is problem of communication as the parties involved lacks a common definition ground.
On the god thing... I would be quite curious on HOW the first tribes faith evolved to have the Sisters as immaculate ever right beings... What with HAVING said beings actually walking the earth and interacting with the populace. The "idealized" form of a god as a paragon of virtue is not really common... It's something that's come out here on earth with Christianity for the most part. Even the other two monotheistic faiths do not really portrait their god as someone you want to imitate... Yes it is the source of the rules but is not really bound by them and can do whatever it wants including bulshitting people go in fit of rages and plainly be a di*k...
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Taken from the Discord conversation:
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Hm that would mean keeping an absolute poker face all the time without fail... and that with the subjects with which you have the most contact as you are shaping them... then why it is failing only now after millennia of relatively flawless operation? Or is this something relatively rehearsed?
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It is a thought exercise, with a hint of truth to it.
Dear Gosling,
An insight is not always an act of learning some new truth. Sometimes, it's unlearning a falsehood - even if it leaves only void and questions behind.
You're now less wrong than before.
Thanks for addressing this. I was actually wondering about this latest revelation and good on you for elaborating.
Say something like that in a modern college, you might get expelled for harassment.
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So, like... he's just achieved super saiyan 2?