Chapter 48
Sitting upon Limestone’s back, Sumac Apple almost felt alone in the crowd, adrift in a hairy sea of equinity. Murmurs—like waves—rippled through the assembled herd, with the volume gaining and fading as they traveled from mouth to mouth. Behind him, Pebble clung tight to him, her excited, hot breath tickled the back of his neck, which did something marvellous to the whole of his body that he could scarce comprehend. Even Boomer was excited, enough so that she stayed awake, though she clearly struggled.
“We’re going to have to take this show on the road,” Gosling said to the crowd, his smooth voice pouring through the public address system like liquid joy. “I bet Manehattan would be a kickin’ place to raise the moon… or maybe even Ponyville—”
The cheer that rose up from the crowd like a leviathan from the deep was enough to drown out Gosling’s words and make Sumac’s ears ring. Introvert though he was, and as unsettled as he was in a crowd, he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else right now. Gosling had a most wonderful voice, a fatherly voice that was appealing, desireable. At least, it was for Sumac. What the colt was unaware of was that those who listened all heard something different. Some heard the appealing voice of a fatherly figure, while others still heard the ideal voice of a husband or a mate, for such was the nature of Gosling’s subtle talent to make others happy.
When the crowd settled down a bit, Gosling continued: “So tell me, you fine, fine ponies… how would you like for me to marry you?”
Again, the crowd erupted into hooting and cheering, and Sumac was almost deafened by it. Grinning, Gosling leaned close to the microphone, his ears splayed out in a submissive pose, and not far from him, Princess Luna—eyes closed, body shaking—was coming undone with whooping, barking laughter. The prince had certainly stepped in it and Sumac, young as he was, understood the social blunder that had just happened.
“Words are hard, okay?” Gosling said, his smooth, sweet voice pouring out of the public announcement system like maple syrup. “Did I ever mess that up. Bed’s gonna be crowded later. Standing room only—”
“LEWD!” a mare standing near the dais shouted.
“I know, right?” Gosling inhaled and the sound caused a chaotic ripple to flow through the crowd as something that Sumac could not understand seemed to take over the adults.
Princess Luna was laughing so hard that she was crying, and she wiped her eyes with her foreleg. Meanwhile, her sister, Princess Celestia, she had a strange look upon her face that Sumac couldn’t read, but the big white mare was laughing—though not as hard as her sister. Even Limestone was laughing, and Sumac was jostled against Pebble because of Limestone’s boisterous outbursts.
“Well, now that I’ve made a colossal fool out of myself, we should talk about marriage. See, I’m here tonight as a student, and a part of my royal duties are the marriage of others. So this got sprung on me at the last moment. I’ve had no time to practice, nor rehearse, and I have no idea what I’m doing, as is clearly evidenced by my previous socially-inept solecism. At least, I think that counts as a solecism, because I’m pretty sure that it was my grammar that got me engaged to all of you fine ponies.”
Laughter—much of it of the drunken variety—poured like a flood from the crowd.
“There’s a lot of lovers here tonight. Don’t hide it, I can see the moon in your eyes. For that, I apologise, and I promise that I’ll make Luna behave herself.” He paused while the crowd roared and stomped, and Gosling seemed to be basking in their riotous affection. “Luna needs to learn to keep that to herself.”
The ponies in the crowd were treated to witnessing the rare sight of Princess Celestia ditching her composure. Throwing back her head, she howled with laughter, the sound of which was enough to scare the gathered crowd into utter silence. But the silence did not last long, and after a few nervous, hesitant starts, the little ponies of the crowd joined the largest pony for a good laugh. As for Luna, she was gulping, gasping for air while prancing about in place, her eyes wide.
“I understand that marriages should be a serious, solemn occasion, so I am probably blowing this.” There was a long, dramatic pause, and when Gosling continued, it was with a fevered, mischievous gleam in his eyes. “Just like how some of you are going to blow your first night of marital bliss. Probably going to be a lot of blowing in the days to follow. Am I right? Watch the teeth, ladies… and lords, I suppose.”
Though he had no idea of what was being said, Sumac could tell that the adults were having a grand time. This wasn’t the boring snorefest that he thought it would be. In fact, all things considered, Sumac found that he was having a mighty fine time, what, with Pebble’s forelegs wrapped around him and her hot breath against his neck.
“All jokes aside, marriage is a serious subject.” Gosling’s muzzle lingered near the microphone, his nostrils flaring wide as train tunnels. “If things go wrong, get help. That’s what Princess Cadance is for.” He gestured at the pink alicorn that stood in a cordoned off area. “Vows are pretty darn important and I think that you should keep them, even if it hurts sometimes. Yeah, I understand the complication in this, and I know things like abuse happens, and come morning, the papers are going to twist my words into pretzels… but you need to fight to keep those vows. Vows are what makes our great society strong. Everything begins and ends with the vows we keep. Vows to love one another, to have and to hold… especially that holding part. Vows to serve and protect. The vows that every guard takes. Just imagine what our society would be if we all disregarded our vows.”
A lull settled over the crowd, and every eye was focused on Gosling.
“Princess Cadance took a vow to help you keep your vows, just remember that.” Gosling lifted his head away from the microphone and his broad smile returned. “Now, back to that ‘me marrying all of you at once’ part. Shall we get started?”
Three mares stood, pressed together at the withers, their heads bowed in solemn reverence. Something about seeing the three of them in this pose did something to Sumac, though he could not say what. Trixie stood in the middle, with Lemon Hearts on her right, and Twinkleshine on her left. Together, they stood, sides pressed together, cheek to cheek, a beast with three heads and twelve legs. What a sight they made together.
It was a relationship that he barely understood, though he knew it was important. Adults in general did a lot of things that were mystifying to Sumac, as most of what they did made no sense. Adults did a lot of perplexing things that weren’t very sensible, which was why, the little colt supposed, they had foals; adults needed somepony to look after them, to remind them of the important things in life.
“I want each of you to think about what you mean to one another,” Gosling said, his smooth, silken voice slipping into every ear. “While you're thinking about that, I want you to think of your vows. Because I wasn’t prepared for this, I have no idea what to tell you what to say. I’m really at a loss here, if I can be honest with you. No father. My mother never married. Perhaps that’s why I take my own vows so seriously. Fills that little ache in my heart.”
On the dais, Princess Celestia moved alongside Gosling, slipped a wing over him, and pulled him close to her side. Even from where Sumac was sitting on Limestone’s back, he could see the solemnity upon the white alicorn’s face. Princess Luna too, came over, and she also leaned against Gosling’s side, standing neck and neck with him. Something about the sight of the three ponies together filled Sumac with a kind of sad joy, or maybe it was a serious happiness, he couldn’t tell. With a turn of his head, he looked at his mothers, their heads still bowed, and he could see their lips were moving, though he could not hear what was being said over the overpowering murmuring of the crowd around him.
Again, without realising the how and the why of it, Sumac, like so many others, was influenced by Gosling’s subtle magic. For Gosling’s magic of bringing joy to others, to give them happiness, greatly affected his position as a ruler, because he could make his subjects happy. In fact, Gosling’s influence over the crowd was such that, in the years to follow, everypony present this night would remember this as one of the happiest nights of their lives.
Sumac included.
Behind him, Pebble stirred and he could feel her forelegs rubbing against his ribs. “Sumac,” she said, clinging to tight to him, “make me a promise.”
“What, Pebble?” he whispered in response, trying to show reverence and respect for the moment.
“Promise me that you’ll always be my friend.”
“Pebble, that’s—”
“Just do it, okay? I need the reassurance. I don’t feel comfortable in my own skin. I’m plain, I’m fat, and I’m ugly. I can’t even figure out why you stick around. There are times when I’m terrible to you—to everypony really—and I’m not much of a friend but I’m trying to do better and I need to know that you’ll be there.”
Right now was just too serious to make a promise that he wouldn’t keep and Sumac could feel the weight of the moment bearing down upon his fragile neck. Many had told him that Pebble was deeply insecure and that most of her awful behaviour stemmed from the fact that her insecurities ate her alive from within. Even Twilight had sat down and had a long talk with him over cookies and tea about this very subject. Sometimes in life, a pony made a very special friend, and that friendship was more of a task, Twilight had said. It involved effort, resolve, and patience.
“Nopony else tolerates me like you do and I need to know that it’s not going away.”
“Pebble,” Limestone said, her voice uncommonly low, “you shouldn’t pressure poor Sumac like that. It’s not fair to him.”
“And me getting my father’s insecurities isn’t fair to me, but I’m stuck living with it,” Pebble replied, her voice flat and lacking any sort of emotion.
Glancing around, Sumac tried to think, not just of what to do, but just to think, period. He looked at his mothers, he looked at Limestone’s ears, which had pivoted around to face in his direction. The ponies around him were deep in ceremony, doing whatever it was that adults did when they were getting married. Then, Sumac made the terrible mistake of looking at the two alicorns and the pegasus up on the dais.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were looking right at him. There could be no mistaking it, it wasn’t his runaway imagination. Those eyes were focused right on him, and he was certain that their burning stare had left his soul exposed. What dreadful sin had he committed to draw their ire? They weren’t looking away, nope. He squirmed a bit, but that didn’t help. Princess Celestia’s head was even angled downwards a bit, she wasn’t looking over the crowd, no, she was looking right at him and it was awful.
Feeling mighty uncomfortable, Sumac attempted to reason with himself, telling himself that the princesses were looking at his would-be parents. Princess Luna was proud of Trixie. Mouth dry, he made a valiant effort to convince himself that this was true, and his right foreleg clutched at Pebble’s forelegs still wrapped tight around him.
“I’ll always be your friend, Pebble,” he said, almost croaking out the words. “I can Pinkie Pie Swear if you need me to.”
“And I promise that I’ll never stop trying to be a better friend, the one you deserve,” Pebble replied whilst burying her face into Sumac’s mane. “I just need to know that the effort is worth it.”
“You’re a really weird filly, Pebble and—”
“I know,” she said, her deadpan gone, replaced with a voice made light and airy with relief. “Thank you, Sumac. You made a promise to me when I really needed to hear it. One day, I’m going to make it up to you.”
“How’s that, Pebble?”
“You’ll find out,” she replied, and this got a heaving snort from her aunt, Limestone.
Casting a furtive glance at the sisters, Sumac saw that their shared piercing gaze was now pointed elsewhere, and he tried to calm himself, telling himself that it was just a coinkydink. He was pretty certain that it was a coinkydink, at least. Still, there was something to be said about his vow of friendship, because he felt pretty good about it, and Pebble promised something in return, and wondered what it would be.
“Okay,” Gosling said in a voice that broadcasted warmth, “Now that all of you have had a chance to think about what you’re getting yourselves into, I want you to say your vows. I’ll give you a few minutes, so that you wordy types can spill out the contents of your heart, and then I’ll seal the deal. Once we’re done here, there will be dancing, both inside and out.”
At last, the long wait was over, and his parents were finally being bound together in some meaningful way that Sumac didn’t fully understand, but had waited for. He was going to have a family, and that meant something. Everything changed in some great, fundamental way with this one magical moment. Clutching at Boomer while leaning back against Pebble, Sumac closed his eyes and clung steadfastly to the moment, knowing that everything was only going to get better.
For Sumac, he had begun life as a hostage, though he remembered very little of that. Then he had lived as a vagabond on the road, but Trixie’s wagon had been a vast improvement, a stroke of good fortune. Not just for him, but for Trixie as well. Now, they had settled down in one spot, Trixie reaped the rewards of responsibility, and he was about to have something he had long wanted without knowing just how badly he needed it: home and family.
In silence, Sumac resolved to keep his eyes shut until Gosling sealed the deal.
Stats
Page generated in 0.016 seconds
Total duration
960 users online
306,039 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
If this isn't exactly 50 chapters, I'm gonna be so pissed. MY OCD MUST BE SATISFIED, DAMMIT.
9005345
Don't you mean CDO? With everything in alphabetic order, as it SHOULD be!
9005677
...I hate you. Now I can't unsee it.
9005708
You're welcome.
you're [may be Gosling slurring]
The way it is worded here, it almost sounds like a version of the grift.
I never really thought about Goslings talent as such, but it kind of makes sense, both are abilities that affect minds.
9005345
9005677
Did somepony say CDO ?
https://derpicdn.net/img/2013/1/9/207285/medium.jpg