The Bonds of Love

by Summer Script

First published 1st of May, 2020

Heartache is not so easily overcome. Indeed, many can quickly heal and move on. But for many others, healing is a long, arduous journey that never seems to end. Luckily, the path to healing is easiest when those you love stand by your side.

Friends and Family Day has come and gone, leaving behind both many happy families with a plethora of newly-forged, long-lasting, happy memories, and one exhausted griffon with a multitude of hauntingly bad memories that he would rather forget.
Of course, he also made quite a lot of good memories as well. Funnily enough, almost all of them focus on a certain pink hypogriff. These are memories he wouldn't trade for the world.

Unfortunately, it's never really that easy even if Gallus wishes it would be. So while he may be in a far better place than he was before, he's still far from being as well as he could or wants to be.

Luckily, he has a great number of others, willing to stand by his side to help him heal. His teachers... His friends... Silverstream... All of the ones that he loves are standing with him as he makes his journey toward serenity. And while that long, arduous journey is still his to walk...

He doesn't have to walk it alone.

Cover art founds through the confusing, yet still almighty power of Google Images! No theft intended. Here's the link : https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deviantart.com%2Fejlightning007arts%2Fart%2FGallus-and-Silverstream-773813568&psig=AOvVaw2N5BZyZv4BaUKq7d7IZT4i&ust=1588409504221000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCPCsmqCokukCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAK

Chapter One: Transition

Dear, Gallus…

First, I want to clarify beyond any doubt, that you are perfectly allowed to send me and Spike letters! I always wanted my students to feel that they could ask me for help and advice whenever they needed it, and this remains true even now that I am no longer Headmare.

Second, I am so sorry for the heartache that you had to endure this past week. Friends and Family Day was something I devised as a way to commemorate my school’s opening by celebrating the bonds between a creature and those they loved. I had never considered that it could be a source of pain for those with your particular circumstances.

On a happier note, it seems that you managed to overcome those ordeals and have fun in spite of them. And I’m so very happy for you! You deserve to be happy with your life, yourself, and your friends, and I hope that, moving forward, you’ll find it easier to manage these wounds.

It can’t be easy having to live with the thoughts and worries you spoke of. Tragedy is something that no one should ever suffer, but I have faith in you. You have a kind heart and a strong mind, and I know you can persevere through anything, even this.

But please, Gallus. Please never think that your fears are something you have to deal with alone. Your pain is not something you need to hide away, and your loneliness is not something you must tolerate alone. You have friends, Gallus. I’ve seen the bond you share with them, and it’s as strong as the bond I have with my own.

Silverstream, Yona, Ocellus, Sandbar; Smolder.

They all care about you, and they will be there for you if ever you wish them to be. As will my friends also.

And never, ever think for even a moment that you are burdening me by sending us a letter. If you need advice, or help, or just someone to talk to… I am a letter away. No matter where I am. No matter what I am doing. I will always make time to help you, my student.

So stay strong, Gallus. Your friends, your teachers; your Princesses…

We will always be here for you.

P.S. No, I don’t hold any judgment for your not agreeing with the ‘Friends are your family’ moral. Friendship is undoubtedly a wondrous thing, but it will always mean something different to every creature. I’m happy that to you, friendship is a bond of love.

P.P.S. I trust Cadence’s replies to your question were helpful? I certainly hope so, because if there’s anything I fully admit to not knowing, it’s relationship advice. Luckily, I think she knows enough about the subject that her advice will prove beneficial.

I really need to talk to Shining about getting her a better hobby.

P.P.P.S. Hey, Gallus? Spike here! If you, Silver, and Edith wanted to join our next O&O campaign, you’re more than welcome too! I’ll let you guys know when I’ve got it ready! It’s gonna be a while though, I only just started planning out a new one.

Also, could you do me a favor and remind Sugar Belle that she still needs to let me know if she’s joining the party too? I asked a while back, but she never sent me a response.

I swear if Discord is messing with her mail again…

But anyway, I hope you’re doing alright. And remember, if you ever need anything just let us know! Until then, see you later!

Farewell, my student.

Sincerely, Twilight and Spike Sparkle.

Gallus put the letter down and sighed contently.

“Well, at least I didn’t waste their time…”

“No, but you did put a target on your back,” a sinister voice giggled behind him.

“You’re still here!?” he nearly shouted; heart racing.

“Golly! You sound as if you don’t want me to be here!”

“You…” Gallus sighed. “It’s just a figment of your imagination, Gallus.”

“Or a sign of your madness.”

“You can talk all you want, but I’m done listening to you. So go away.”

…

…

…

“Did you really think that I’d go away if you just said that to me?”

“I was hoping.”

“Sorry, but you’ll be stuck with little ole’ me for the rest. Of. Your—”

Gallus groaned and turned away from the imagined ghost, focusing his gaze on the sea of parchment that now occupied half of his room, all of which bearing the insignia of the Crystal Empire.

Like a light-switch, the memory of the prior night played in his mind, speeding through his perfectly normal interactions with his other friends until it came to the very end where it abruptly halted, replaying Silver’s final words over and over again.

“Gallus? Was today supposed to be… Well… A date?”

Gallus gulped, rose from his bed, and trotted to the countless responses he had received from one Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Anxiously, he swept his gaze over the entire pile before slowly reaching for the nearest letter with a shaking talon.

“Still as cowardly as ever.”

“Oh, shut up!”

“No. Making you feel terrible is way too much fun to stop!”

“Why do you take so much joy out of my misery?”

“You should ask yourself that question. After all, I am nothing more than a figment of your imagination, right? So if I enjoy seeing you be whiny and mopey, then you enjoy being that way too.”

Gallus rolled his eyes, returning his attention Cadence’s replies.

“You must feel like you’re in a fairy tale.”

“Oh, yeah?” Gallus said, yanking his talon away from the terrifying mound of paper. “How so?”

“You managed to trick a princess into pitying you, a worthless little orphan.”

“Ughhh. It’s just a voice in your head. Just ignore it.”

“Still your voice though. And as your voice, I have to congratulate you on a job well done.”

“What job?”

“Manipulating Silverstream of course!”

“How did I manipulate her?”

“Well, she has a bleeding heart, and you’re desperate for love. All it took was a bit of moping and question dodging to get her worried. Friends and Family Day was a perfect date opportunity, and of course! Having a ‘heart-to-heart’ with her to make her feel like you’re worth repairing.”

“What. In King Grover’s Lost Treasure. Are you talking about?”

“Ugh! This is why you’re the stupid one; you don’t listen! I’m talking about your plan to get the ‘family’ you wanted! And hey. Not gonna lie. Manipulating someone is a lot less likely to immediately land you in prison than stealing a unicorn’s horn and engaging in mass-brainwashing.”

“Are… Are you saying I manipulated my friend into caring about me!?”

“Well, yeah. Don’t pretend you haven’t done it before. Bumping into Sandbar the day you all met… Sabotaging everyone else’s Hearth’s Warming…”

“You’re completely wrong about bumping into Sandbar!”

“Though not the latter one. You tried to manipulate them all into spending time with you once before; are you telling me you couldn’t do it again or that you didn’t do it this time?”

“You’re crazy!”

“You keep saying that. But I’m still technically a part of you, so crazy or not, I know what I’m talking about. My words are just your thoughts after all.”

“No! No, no, no! There’s no way that I would— I don’t think those— Okay! That’s it! I’m talking to Ocellus! You have to be some kind of curse, because you can’t possibly be a part of me!”

“And once again, you leap back into that sea of delusional denial. Ever as desperate to pretend you don’t need help, eh?”

“I don’t need help!” Gallus glared at the imagined monstrosity in silence. “Anymore. I’m fine!”

“If you’re so fine then why are you so nervous about touching those replies from the Princess? You’ve had all morning to go through them, yet there they sit. Untouched and unread.”

Gallus blinked and looked at his own talon. It was still shaking.

“You know what I think it is? Deep down even you know that there’s no other reason for why Silverstream—a literal princess—would ever fall for a demented, abandoned orphan like yourself.”

“She’s my friend!”

“Just because she cares about you, doesn’t mean she likes you. If you’re being honest, and you really didn’t trick her, then I guess that means she’s only humoring you. You’re just that pathetic.”

“I’m not… I’m not pathetic!”

“Awww, you actually think you believe that!”

“Shut up and leave me alone!”

“I can only leave you alone if you stop thinking, but uh… That’s not happening anytime soon.”

“Silver is my friend! She cares about me, enough that she went out of her way to try to make me feel better! And I do feel better, and you can’t undo that! So stop trying!”

“You talk like you actually believe stealing her time with her family away was a noble thing. Of course you’d believe that though; you were the one who benefited from the theft after all.”

“Don’t even try that! Silver said—”

“Yeah, yeah. She’d help you no matter what; she never needed a reason to care about you; blah, blah, blah! You wanna know what I heard when she said that?”

“No.”

“Too bad. All I could hear was someone acknowledging it.”

“Acknowledging what?” he demanded, fighting to keep his heart from exploding.

“That your parents tossed you away because they did need a reason to love you. And you didn’t give them one. I wonder how long it will be before Silverstream needs a reason to care about you?”

In a burst of blue feathers, Gallus fled through the door and slammed it behind himself, leaning against it to regain his breath.

Don’t listen to that… he told himself. That… Thing! It’s just a stupid voice in your head, or some crazy curse! Nothing it said was true, and you’re not… She isn’t… She wasn’t lying! She cares about me, and I care about her! We’re friends!

But… She did hint that she maybe wanted something more?

W-well… I—

Or suspected that you did. But you don’t. Right? Or do you?

I… I don’t know!

She asked you though, so she’s looking for an answer. You’re going to need to give her one.

But— But— I don’t know!

Don’t you? Didn’t you ask Princess Cadence for advice about this scenario? Or was that just a lie, and you really couldn’t care less?

I don’t know how to deal with any of this! I don’t even understand what any of this—

Excuses, excuses. Was it a date. Yes. Or no. There are no other answers. No complications. No issues. Just yes. Or. No. What’s your answer?

I… I’m scared!

That your answer ultimately is or will be no? If so, you’ll just have been leading her on and giving her a false hope. And you of all creatures should know that is the cruelest thing anyone can do.

Or are you afraid that your answer is ultimately yes? If so, then what next? You and Silverstream. What will you do for her? What can you offer her? What are you to her? A friend? … A love? What are you to her?

I… I don’t know!

“An orphan? A mess?” whispered the ghost again. “Or how about broken and crazy? Because that’s what you are.”

Shut up! Stay— Stay out of my head!

“You’re still broken. You know it, and she knows it. Your parents knew it too. And now, even the Princess and her friends all know it as well… Oopsie!”

And they still care about me! Th-they care!

“Maybe the Princess; it’s her job after all. But why would Silver ever care about you? Or rather… Does she? Does she really think of you that way? Possibly. Probably not. The only reason she would ever do so is the same reason that she sought to distract you from your problems just yesterday.”

“She pities you.”

“Because you’re just that pathe—”

I! Am not! Pathetic!

“Two griffons elsewhere would care to disagree.”

Shut up!

“Fool yourself all you want, but she’s the only one who doesn’t think you’re pathetic. And unfortunately, you don’t know if it’s because she genuinely cares about you, or if she only pities you.”

I’m her friend!

“But is that bond forged out of genuine love or cheap pity?”

Genuine love!

“You’re not a mind-reader.”

I don’t need to be!

“You’ll never know for sure!”

I already know for sure!

“No, you don’t.”

Yes, I do!

“You won’t unless you ask her.”

W-What?

“Get over your own cowardice and go ask her. Confess your love for her, or deny it. Perhaps she’ll embrace you, or perhaps she’ll reject you. Either way, only then will you know for certain.”

Gallus turned to behold one of the neighboring doors.

If you want to know what she meant, and that she really, truly cares… She’s right there. You don’t have to feel afraid. You’re not alone, Gallus. And she’d be honest if you asked. So do it. Ask her. Just ask her. Do not hide away your heart… urged a voice that was very much not his curse’s.

Gallus rose from the floor and stared at the door, feeling a demon’s glare crawl up his spine.

And she’s right there. Mere steps away. A single knock is all it would take.

A single knock.

…

Gallus turned away from the door and quickly walked away.

“Coward.”

His journey through the halls of the School of Friendship was ultimately uneventful. While the previous week had been an endless cycle of growing anticipation and eagerness with yesterday serving as it’s culmination, today was the epilogue of the accursed holiday. And with it followed an ambiance of tranquility and relaxation.

The halls were almost entirely devoid of roaming bodies; most having secluded themselves away to rest for the following day’s return to the scholastic grind.

The kitchens remained a hurricane of pink; although, it’s instigator’s motions were now performed in order to recover the area for tomorrow’s luncheon.

The classrooms were still covered from ceiling to floor in decorations, but they now served as little more than an epitaph to what had come and gone and a reminder that it would return once more.

Gallus made his way to the library, seeking a better location to reside within and perhaps a different(More preferable) activity than organizing an ocean of relationship advice. He peaked his head around the corridor to find it devoid of chaos spirits. Sighing in relief, he slowly entered the domain.

“Now what?” he asked himself.

“Golly, you didn’t think this through, did you? Shame. Because I’m still—”

The voice abruptly silenced as Gallus practically teleported to the Magic section. His claw slowly ran over book after book; his eyes rapidly glossing over the titles in search of something that could potentially explain the brat being in his—

“Accursed Curses: An Encyclopedia on Heinous Hexes, Malicious Malformations, and Atrocious Actualizations. … Perfect!”

He grabbed the item, sat in a nearby chair, and propped the book open on the table. He quickly turned to the table of contents and did a double-take. A note had been scribbled into the page.

“‘If you’re reading this book because you think that something bad has happened or is happening to you or someone you know, then you shouldn’t be here; you should be finding a teacher and telling them about the problem before it gets worse!’” he read.

“‘And if you’re reading this because you wanted to use the spells inside, make sure to ask a teacher for permission first before you perform them. We’re looking at you, Ocell—Pfft! Hahahahah! Oh, I would pay to have seen her reaction to reading that; please tell me she did!”

According the card, yes. In fact, she was the only one to have even touched the book, assuming that anyone else who had admitted to having done so. Gallus found that unlikely.

Then again… He might just be paranoid, and no one else had used the book. Even Cozy Glow.

“But that would mean I really am just a voice in you head, and you don’t want to admit that.”

He shook his head, turning back to the table of contents in search for a chapter on mind curses. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a chance to peruse the pages before a pair of hooves began clinking against the stone floor bringing with it the smell of smoke and fireworks.

Gallus jumped out of his chair before the newcomer had a chance to notice him and quickly stuffed the tome back into the shelf he had taken it from.

“Oh! Hello, Gallus!” greeted Ocellus after coming into view. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I’m like a ninja that way,” he hastily responded, desperately trying to appear normal.

Ocellus smirked and rolled her eyes. “So, what are you up to?”

“Bored. Came to library to alleviate. Still bored. You?”

“I’m doing some research for my science fair presentation. I figured I wouldn’t be disturbing anyone since everyone’s resting after last week. I’m not disturbing you, right?” she timidly inquired.

Help me! “You’re fine,” he assuaged.

“Okay. Thanks.”

She then joined in him in looking around the Magic section.

…

Her horn lit up and carefully relieved the shelves of over forty books. She then levitated them all over to a table and began organizing them alphabetically by their authors’ names.

Gallus shifted his gaze to her, to his book, to her, to his book, and finally back to her.

“Soooo,” he began, taking a seat next to his friend. “What’cha doin’?”

“Science fair presentation,” she repeated.

“Isn’t that like three months from now?”

“Seventy-six days.”

“Oh. What are you doing that needs seventy-six days to prepare?”

“Teleportation research.”

“Oooh, Ocellus! Looking to warp space-time, are we?”

“That’s a glorious oversimplification, but I suppose it is a fair summation.”

“Mm. Wait, didn’t you already know how to teleport?”

She shook her head.

“Oh. Need help?”

Some time later…

“Okay, are you ready?”

“I was ready the last dozen times we did this; I’m still ready now.”

“Alright. Beginning teleportation in three! Two! One!”

A spark of aquamarine fire ignites and spreads forth around the blue griffon pulling him into an ethereal void. A moment later, Gallus rises back to the surface as the fire dissipates.

“That! Was weird,” he noted, after regaining his bearings.

“Could you elaborate?”

“I don’t know?” She waited for him to elaborate anyway. “Like I was being drowned, I guess?”

“‘Drowned’?” she asked, confused by the word choice. “Drowned how?”

“How else can I describe being pulled down into—” An unending vortex of nightmarish calamity. “—a giant pool of liquid fire?”

“It’s not technically liquid fire. In fact, fire isn’t even a state of matter; it’s… Not the point?”

“You’re learning,” he congratulated, giving her a wink.

“Okay, but please continue. Were there any other significant feelings?”

The fire felt like a bottomless whirlpool of horror, closing in around the helpless, lifeless puppet held by an unmerciful deity, reaping joy from the marionette's slow, torturous, inescapable drowning.

“Uncomfortable.” Do not hide away your heart, Gallus. “Very uncomfortable.” That’s…better?

“Hmm. Which part was the most uncomfortable?”

The entire thing. “Probably just the suddenness? Could have done without being dragged into—” The bowels of a demonic maelstrom. “—the ground without any warning.”

“I did forewarn you about the vertical displacement, but was the potential vertigo that severe?”

“No, it just could have been gentler.”

“Hmm. ‘Gentler’? Perhaps I could integrate a medical spell into the fire to lessen the roughness? Or perhaps include a matter distortion charm to remove any tangible sensations entirely? Ooh, but that would put the portal’s stability at risk, and I’m finally getting that part down…”

“Hey, at least I’m not reappearing on the other side of Ponyville. Anymore.”

“Eh-heh-heh, sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it.”

“In any case, I think we’re done for today. I need to spend some time analyzing the data I’ve collected and adjusting the spell’s casting and formatting accordingly. While I’m doing that, maybe I can figure out why I’m still struggling with it.”

“You say you’re ‘struggling’ with the spell, yet you’re still opening wormholes in space-time.”

“That’s still an oversimplification.”

“Still a fair summation though, right?”

“Indeed. To answer your question: I’ve practiced enough that I’m no longer having difficulties with casting the spell proper, but I’m not even close to doing it efficiently.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

“Yep. A more advanced mage could create dozens of active portals at once! Of course, I’m stuck not being able to make more than one at a time on a good day.”

“Hey, don’t stress out about it, Ocellus. How many other creatures in this joint can say they know how to bend reality?”

“Oh, please! ‘Bend reality’!?” she repeated, holding back a laugh. “I’m definitely nowhere close to being able to do that! Maybe one day one though.”

Gallus didn’t know how to respond to that, so he just remained silent.

“And I’m not stressed out. I’m just a little disappointed in my progress.”

“I’d like to remind you that I got stuck in Discord’s Chaos Realm the first time.”

“Please don’t remind me of that! I still don’t know how that happened.”

“That’s okay; I don’t think Discord knew either.”

“It would have helped if he had; I could have solved that glitch in the spell formula, and you wouldn’t have gotten stuck there the second time.”

“Or the third?”

“Ughhh. Or the third time.”

He softly chuckles at his friend’s embarrassed blush.

“Why do you need to learn this portal spell first anyway?” he asked after a minute. “Can’t you just learn normal teleportation like Princess Twilight or Headmare Starlight?”

“I’ve got my eyes set on that spell family next. But it’s partly due to some differences between my magic and standard unicorn magic that I’m going to need to account for before I attempt those.”

“There are differences between changeling and unicorn magic?”

Ocellus deadpanned.

“You know what I mean.”

“The two magics are mostly similar regarding functionality, but they differ greatly regarding inherent natural properties and energy source.”

“So the spell we’ve been testing this whole time was a changeling spell?”

“Correct!”

“Oh. I just thought it was a different type of unicorn spell or something.”

“I understand your confusion. Funnily enough, the Portal spell family—a derivative of the classic Teleport family—actually operates near identically to the spell I have been using.”

Again, Gallus remained silent.

“And I needed to practice and master the changeling spell first before I can isolate the differing properties between standard teleportation and changeling teleportation, but once I do that I can figure out a conversion formula to let me use both styles.”

“…Okay. Want any help with that too?”

“That depends. Have you recently studied up on the fundamentals of Advanced Manaphysics.”

“Is there a book I can read on the subject?”

“There are over a thousand books you can read on the subject.”

“Which one is the best.”

“I don’t understand the question.”

“Which of those thousands of books would be best for me to read?”

“All of them, of course.”

I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting that answer. “Okay, so why should I read all of them?”

“Because all of them are equally fantastic and important; there is no single superior book on the matter.There are some with outdated fallacies that you should avoid, but I can give you a list of those.”

“In that case, what would you recommend I start with?”

“Well, I suppose you could start with The Starswirlian’s Guide to the Arcane.”

“Sounds like a fun way to spend a weekend.”

She snorted.

“What?”

“There is no way you can read all forty-two volumes of that series in a single weekend.”

“How many volumes!?”

“Forty-two,” she answered smugly.

“Huh. Well, if you can read all of that in a weekend, I guess I can too!” he boasted.

“Hee-hee! It’s so cute that you think it still takes me a weekend to read that.”

“It still takes you an hour at least though, right?”

Ocellus just smiled. “Moving on, I want to thank you again for all of your help, Gallus! I’ve made a lot more progress than I would have if I had practiced on inorganic materials only.”

“Good thing I’m an organic material then. But I’m happy to help, Ocellus. It definitely beats the soul-crushing boredom of being in my room all day with nothing to do.”

“Can’t argue there. Luckily, I’ve got a whole new batch of calculations, formulae, and theorems to solve, so we won’t have to worry about that.”

“You mean you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Huh? I thought you were going to help me out with this?”

“But you said— Wait, you really wanted my help? I thought you didn’t since I’m not caught up on Advanced Manaphysics or whatever.”

“Doesn’t mean you couldn’t help at all. Unless… Are you already planning something for the science fair? I wouldn’t want to keep you from doing your own project.”

“I was just planning on bringing in a cup of dirt and hiding from the teachers in the bathroom, so they couldn’t get on my case for it.”

“A cup of dirt? Seriously?”

“Better or worse than a jar of dirt?”

“Gallus, you… Oh! Ohhh, I get it! Sarcasm! I need to work on recognizing it more. For a moment, I actually thought that was what you were really intending to do.”

If I didn’t think of anything better to do between then and now, it would have been.

“Anyway, yes. I would like your help. I think I’d really appreciate having a helping hoof with all of this research. Or talon, rather.”

“Research buddies then?” he asked, offering a claw.

“Research buddies,” she replied, bumping said offered claw. “Let’s meet up again later though. I’ve got a lot of spell properties I need to analyze, and a whole species-magic conversion equation to draft. Don’t worry. I’ll let you know when I’m done with that part, and then we can start working together on perfecting it. Sound good?”

“Sounds good.”

“Right. Just let me sort this out really quickly,” she said, lighting her horn and returning half of the books back to their original places. The other half swiftly found purchase within her saddlebags.

“‘Quickly’ is right! Must be really nice having magic.”

“It is certainly versatile,” she agreed.

“I kinda got that. But I guess I’ll have to stick to having digits.”

“Hey, at least you don’t have to worry about getting headaches from horn overuse.”

“That can happen? I’ve heard of magic exhaustion, but headaches?”

“Yes. And you’ll never know how lucky you are not to have to deal with them.”

“Aren’t there any spells to help with that?”

“You realize the irony of that statement?”

“Well, if anyone would have an answer to that question, it’s you.”

Ocellus remained quiet for a moment before blurting out, “Soothe Alpha and Beta are helpful in the early stages, but if it’s a full-blown migraine, the best spell to use for it is Healing Alpha. Or maybe Recovery Gamma if you don’t mind knocking yourself out for a few hours. Then again, you could also use any of the Medic or Tranquility spell families. Those are always good secondary options.”

His silence prompted her to meekly ask, “W-what?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just waiting for you to keep going.”

“Oh. Do you want me to?”

“If you want.”

“R-really!? Wow! Usually, nopony likes hearing me talk about the practical uses of magic in everyday life!”

“Maybe they’re just jealous of your awesome magic skills?”

“Uh, I don’t think it’s that. It’s generally more akin to exasperation.”

“Whelp. It takes a lot for me to get exasperated, and I’ve got literally nothing better to do, so…”

“Oh. Well, I suppose I still have some time, so… Let me tell you all about the new Daydream Beta modification that came out in Wizard Weekly over the break!” she began excitedly.

A loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time later…

“…And that is how Shadow Pyre ended up becoming known as the Father of Necromancy.”

“Wow. Just. Wow.”

“I know, right!? So many different spells, techniques, and runes were created by him; it’s such a shame his work got so eclipsed by others like Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever.”

“Well, he did make a name for himself by resurrecting the dead. I somehow doubt that Princess Celestia would have wanted him romanticized.”

“True. But for as amoral as he was, his works are still incredibly fascinating to read!”

“I bet.”

They shared a small laugh.

After a moment, Ocellus continued, “It’s been really nice talking to you, Gallus. You and I never seem to get a chance to spend time together.”

“Yeah, why is that?”

“Probably due to a lack of shared hobbies.”

“I’m shocked, Ocellus. I thought you’d know me better than to think I have hobbies.”

“Oh, don’t be like that! You have plenty of hobbies.”

“Like?”

“Uh… Hmm.”

Thoughtful silence.

More thoughtful silence.

Yet more thoughtful silence.

“What do you do when you’re not hanging out with the rest of us? Or doing school work.”

“Wandering about. Aimlessly!” he answered dramatically.

“Funny. But I am serious. I know I spend all my free time in the library, but I still try out a few of the school’s extracurricular activities from time-to-time.”

“Chess Club, right?”

“Mhmm. Hey! Speaking of that, November Rain quit a few weeks ago, and we’ve been looking for a new member! If you really didn’t have anything better to do, did you want to join up?”

“Me? Chess? I don’t know, Ocellus. I don’t play all that often, so…”

“Oh, c’mon! I’d be more than happy to teach you, and it is a lot of fun! Please!?”

“…Sure, why not?” he conceded.

“Yay! I love Chess Club, and I just know you’ll love it too! We meet up in Classroom 12B every Thursday and Friday; I’ll let the others know you’re coming!”

“You do that, Ocellus.”

A new set of steps sounded off, announcing the arrival of a familiar orange and orchid dragon.

“So how long have you nerds been in the library?”

“Huh? Oh, hey, Smolder! How are you doing today?”

“Bored out of my mind and still regretting trying out Sugar Belle’s game yesterday.”

“Uh-oh. Are you and your brother alright?”

“I’m fine, and Garble’s stomach is stronger than Pinkie’s; trust me. He’s doing swell. … I think,” she added uncertainly. “So anyway, what were you two doing?”

“We were just talking,” Gallus answered.

“I was originally talking to Gallus all about this new spell modification I read about, but then he asked a question about what PSI spells were, and that led to tangent after tangent after tangent…”

“Uh-huh. Hey, by the way, I bumped into Headmare Starlight on the way here, and she said she wanted to see you, Gallus.”

Ohhh noooo. She wanted to start that today!? “What did she want?”

“Didn’t say; just asked me to tell you next time I saw you.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Why would she want to see you?” Ocellus asked.

Because I was stupid enough to tell her that I was going crazy all week, and landed myself with a month of guidance counseling torture sessions.

“I don’t know,” he answered, shrugging. “So what are you up to, Smolder?”

“Science fair project. It’s less than three months away, you know.”

“I do know. Which is why I came here to practice for my own presentation,” Ocellus elaborated.

“And I was already in the library and bored out of my skull, so I offered to help.”

“Oh. So were you guys messing with explosives or something? Because the library reeks of—”

“Oh! Come! On!” Ocellus lamented, face-hoofing.

Gallus smirked and added, “I didn’t want to say anything, but…”

“I have taken three showers, emptied an entire bottle of cherry blossom shampoo, and sprayed myself down with perfume! How do I still smell like gunpowder!?”

“Well, you spent yesterday hanging out with Trixie, didn’t you?”

“Yes. And as fun as it was to learn a few things about stage magic and pyrotechnics, I could have absolutely lived without smelling like a barrel of used fireworks.”

“Aw, cheer up, Ocellus. You were always a real firecracker; now you just smell like one.”

“Oh, hush up.”

“Gotta agree with Smolder, Ocellus. After all, you were on fire today with your magic.”

“Oh, don’t you start either!”

“Should we keep it going?”

“Nah. Let’s just randomly sneak one in every now and then, so she doesn’t forget.”

“Oh, this going to be an absolute blast; don’t you agree, Ocellus?”

“Guys!”

The dragon and griffon snickered while the changeling huffed.

“Hey! Since you’re here, Ocellus, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about my project?”

“I don’t know, Smolder; I’m feeling a little burnt out.”

“Okay, okay. I deserved that. But c’mon, Ocellus, please!? It’s just some science babble I need help understanding.”

“Science babble…” Ocellus sighed despairingly. “‘Science babble’ she calls it.”

“Well, what else am I supposed to call it?”

“You call it what it is, Smolder.”

“But I don’t know what it is! But you can change that, you know…” Smolder sang, smirking.

“Fine. But I hope you don’t mind keeping it short. I’ve still got some stuff I need to do and not much time to do it since I got so distracted talking. No offense, Gallus.”

“None taken. I’ve uh… Gotta go too.”

Now would be a good opportunity to ask her a certain question.

“Before I go though? Do you mind if I ask you something too?”

“Sure. What did you need?”

Did Cozy Glow curse her room to mentally screw with anyone who entered it? No, no, no! That’s way to obvious and indicative.

Let’s try: Is there a spell that can permanently mess with your mind? Nooo! Definitely not that!

Hmm… Is there a curse that can strengthen the worst parts of your mind?

“So I really am a part of your mind, am I? Took you long enough to admit—”

Could you tell if I’m being negatively influenced by some crazy dark magic stuff?

“You truly are so desperate to ignore your problems that you’ll pretend that they’re caused by some unnatural, outside force? How pathetic. It’s so entertaining! Do it more! MORE!”

Am I going insane!?

“You sure you want to ask that? You can, but if you really want to make two of your other friends go crazy worrying about you…”

Oh, nuts! I can’t tell her about this! The book! I can still get the book! I can just come back later when Smolder and Ocellus aren’t here and get it!

“And then what? Waste a week of your life lying to yourself that I’m a curse and not just a rotten little speck of you’re broken mind!?”

You’re not part of my mind! You can’t be! I refuse to believe it!

“Deny it all you want, but in the end—”

Two quick snaps echoed in front of his face.

“Hellooo! Equestria to Gallus? Are you still in there?”

“H-Huh?”

“You asked if you could ask Ocellus a question and then spaced out,” Smolder said worriedly.

“G-Gallus?” Ocellus asked tentatively as her horn dimmed. “A-Are you… Are you okay?”

“Yeah! I’m perfectly fine! Just got lost in thought.”

“You got lost in thinking of how to ask a question?” Smolder asked, skeptically.

“Yep!”

“Okaaay then… So, you gonna ask it or what?”

“S-Smolder? Don’t rush him; I don’t think—”

“Yeah, I was, uh, going to ask when did you wanted to meet up again to, uh, continue the teleportation research stuff.”

“O-Oh. Umm… Well, I mean I-I, uh… How— How about after Chess Club! That’s my last extracurricular activity on Friday, and by then I should have most of the conversion formula solved.”

“Great! See ya Friday!” he said, making a dash for the door.

“G-Gallus, wait!” Ocellus called out worriedly.

He was already gone.

“What was that about?”

Ocellus bit her lip, still staring after Gallus.

“Ocellus?” Smolder whispered. “You look a little scared… Seriously, is something going on?”

Their eyes met as she whispered, “I don’t know.”

Silence filled the library.

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” he chanted, lightly smacking his head against a wall in the empty hall.

“Were you thinking something different?”

“Shut up!”

“No! You’re suffering! And I looooove it!”

“Get out of my head, you stupid curse… Hex… Thing!”

“And plague someone else!? Okay! How about Silverstream!?”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Well, I have to haunt someone, don’t I? Being a ‘ghost’ and all.”

“You’re not a ghost; you’re just a stupid curse!”

“You mean voice. Remember: everything I say is—”

“My words, right? Well, you’re in my head, so of course you’d be speaking my thoughts!”

“So you finally admit it, huh? That my words are your own, just unspoken?”

“That’s not what I—”

“So everything I’ve ever said is something you’ve thought, right!? That’s what you said!”

“Not like that! You’re—”

“So the idea to steal a unicorn’s horn and brainwash others into giving you adoration was something you’ve entertained before? The pleasure in your self-loathing is something you feel constantly? The fear that you manipulated—”

Gallus rushed down the hall, blindly fleeing from the ghost.

“You can’t run.”

Gallus didn’t bother responding.

“You keep wanting me to be some stupid curse in your head, but the truth is that I am a voice in your head! Your voice! No one else’s! You’re just hiding from that fact! Coward.”

That word reverberated in the slowly darkening world. Coward. It crawled along his spine, paralyzing his wings. It bled down the walls, filling his head with repeated screams. The world fell silent. Cold. Dark. There was nothing that Gallus could see or hear, but the same word over and over.

Coward. Why aren’t you okay?

Coward. Why can’t you be happy?

Coward. Why are you so cruel?

Coward. She thought you were better; why did you lie to her?

Coward. She wasted her time with you instead of them; why did you steal from her?

Coward. She cares about you, so why did you betray her?

Pathetic.

You’ve always been pathetic.

You’ll never be anything but pathetic.

“S-stop… Please! Please stop…”

Nothing answered his whimpers.

Silence continued, so he opened a teary eye.

A closet. He had hid himself in a supply closet. Probably for the best; he didn’t exactly want anyone to see him shivering in a cold sweat with his wings stubbornly clasped around himself.

His breaths came in short, harsh pants as he desperately tried to regain his stolen breath, but he never once stopped moving his gaze all across the cupboard, terrified the demons would return again.

Eventually, he finally gained control of his breath once again and slowly uncurled himself; a talon reflexively combed through his headcrest and batted away dampness from his eyes.

“What is wrong with me!?”

He flinched, anticipating some nightmare to answer. It didn’t. An angel did though.

There is nothing wrong with you.

Gallus blinked and sighed.

“I wish.”

…

“Ugh! C’mon, Gallus. Stop being stupid and just… Go do something! Get your mind off of whatever is going on. Let’s go!”

“And that why hot cocoa now illegal in Yakyakistan.”

“No way. You have to be making all that up because there’s no way that really happened.”

“Yona not lie!”

“Are you sure? Because I swear I’ve heard this story before. Now that I think about it? I think that’s beat-for-beat the exact same plot in this story I once—Ow! Careful with the needle!”

“Yona be more careful with needle if Gallus be more believing of Yona.”

“Yeah, yeah. … So how much longer do I need to stand here?”

Yona just smiles cheekily.

A moment later the shop door opened to Sandbar’s touch.

“Hey, Yona! I got us some lunch, so I hope you’re… Uh? Gallus?”

“Hey, Sandbar, look! I’m snazzy! Dapper! And ten levels of suave!”

“I can see that. Hey! Isn’t that the suit I was helping you with, Yona?”

“Sandbar had sister to watch, and Gallus offered to help in Sandbar’s place.”

“Oh. But I thought I was your modeler!”

“Jealous, Sandy?”

“No. … Maybe.”

“Don’t worry; Sandbar still Yona’s favorite. Plus, suit still Sandbar’s when done; Yona needed only little more time to perfect.”

“Aww. Love you too,” he said, sneaking her a quick hug and missing a certain somgriff’s eye twitch. “Of course, if you’re almost done with the suit, I guess that means that next up is your dress?”

“Oh, pfft! Yona not need some new fancy dress,” she said unconvincingly.

“If I can get a cool suit that’s snazzy, dapper, and ten levels of suave, then it’s only fair you get a beautiful dress that’s all those things and more.”

“Oh, fine! Yona needed more practice with hemming anyway.”

“Can I pick out the colors?”

“Yona not know. Sandbar have any ideas in mind?”

“Nope. Don’t need to when every color would look amazing on you.”

“Aww! Sandbar so sweet.”

“I try.”

The blushing couple shared a cute giggle.

“Bleghhh! Get a room!” Gallus jokingly exclaimed.

“We are in a room,” the pony shot back.

“Get a different one.”

“Should Yona remind friend that Yona still holding needle?”

“Go easy on him, Yona. He’s just jealous that he doesn’t have his own special somegriff yet.”

“Gallus? Was today supposed to be—”

“Heh-heh,” he chuckled, shutting down the replayed memory. “Yeah! I’m jealous! Awkwardly cute hugs, shared giggles, and repeated ‘I love yous’! That is something I’m absolutely jealous of!”

He had the feeling that someone somewhere in the world was raising an eyebrow.

“Glad to see you admit it, Gallus. It’s nice to see you finally be honest with yourself.”

Every instinct in the griffon’s body lit ablaze with overwhelming terror, but Gallus remained rooted to the spot, forcing himself to acknowledge that Sandbar had no clue about his current issue.

“Oh, please! I’m never honest with myself!” he squeaked out, unable to stop himself.

“I know; which is why I got that jab at ya.”

“Yep! And I met it with a cut of my own,” Gallus added, forcing himself to stay calm.

“No talk about cutting when Yona concentrating! Cutting make Yona think of ripping, and ripping make Yona nervous. Very nervous,” she murmured darkly.

“How exactly am I gonna rip something when I’m standing still?”

“Gallus certainly not standing still earlier.”

“I guess I’m just terrified to move now that anything I do could trigger another cutesy-romance session. Eughh. Of all the things in this world, that scares me the most.” Why can’t I stop talking!?

“I’ll make sure to remember that this coming Nightmare Night. Hey! Speaking of which, that is coming up soon… Yona? Did you want to maybe go for a couple’s costume this year?”

“‘Couple’s costume’?”

“Yeah, we dress up as a well-known duo instead of each of us having our own unique costume. I figured that since we’re a couple now, you’d might want to try it.”

“Sure! Sounds fun! Does Sandbar have costumes, or can Yona make them too!?”

“If you want to make the costumes, you go right ahead. As long as I can still help.”

“YES! Even more practice for Yona!”

“And even more time to spend with you,” Sandbar said, giving her a loving nuzzle.

Couple’s costumes!? Nightmare Night!? Spend time with!? he panicked.

Yeah! Maybe you could do something like that with Silverstream! cheered an alicorn’s voice.

“Oh, please!” scoffed a demon’s voice. “He doesn’t want to do that; he just wants her pity, so he can pretend that he doesn’t have an empty, hollowed-out husk of a heart. Or is bat-guano nuts.”

Oh, quit it! Sure, maybe he’s a little scared, but who wouldn’t be?

“The yak and pony currently nuzzling?”

They’re a special case!

“Are they really? What does Gallus even have to be scared of? It’s not like he even knows what love is; he just thinks he does because of the friendship rhetoric you shoved down his throat, Princess.”

Hey! It is not rhetoric, thank you very much! I’m sorry you didn’t want to learn it because you’re crazy, but friendship is the most important—

“Hold that thought! Gallus, why do you now have Twilight Sparkle’s voice in your head?”

Hey! I’m glad I’m a voice in his head! At least it means he has someone reminding him of the values and strengths of friendship and—

“Hold that thought! Gallus, why do you have a platitude vending machine in your head?”

Hey! Listen—

“Help me.”

“Hmm? What Gallus say?”

“Huh!? Oh, nothing. Sorry to ruin the mood, but the suit’s getting a little… Overheated.”

“Is it maybe yourfeathers, dude?”

“Y-yeah! Just uh… Just my feathers.”

“Hmm. Well, when Yona make proper suit for friend, Yona will remember issue.”

“You… You don’t have to make me a—”

“Gallus wasting breath; Yona will make Gallus suit, and it will be BEST!”

“Right. So, uh… Mind getting me out of this in the meantime? It is getting really hot.”

“Oh, right. Here, Yona got it.”

An uncomfortably overheated minute later…

“Whew! Glad to be out of that.”

Yona frowned.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Gallus better not have,” she warned.

“You really better not have,” Sandbar wisely warned as well.

“Okaaay, I’m gonna vamoose before I get gored and trampled.”

Yona and Sandbar chuckled at the “joke” while Gallus forced a smile.

“Don’t worry, Gallus. Yona in creative mood today, not smashing.”

“Way too late for that, Yona! I’ve been worried all day, nothing new.”

Gallus had intended that to be a joke. Something in-character for him to say to stave off whatever suspicions he might have raised with his earlier losses of composure. Naturally, it backfired.

“Why Gallus worried all day? Something wrong?” Yona asked, picking up on his weary tone.

So many words flooded to the edge of his beak, desperate to spill forth, and it was by sheer ingrained habit that he was able to keep the dam holding against the deluge.

Do not hide away your heart, Gallus.

For a sweet second, Gallus thought about finally following that advice. Unfortunately…

“You got detention, didn’t you?”

“‘Detention’!? Why Sandbar think that?”

“I bumped into Headmare Starlight at the sandwich shop, and she asked that if I saw Gallus to tell him she wanted to see—”

SMASH!

Only the rattling door disturbed the following silence.

“Huh. I guess he forgot the Headmare was looking for him; good thing I reminded him then!”

“…”

“You think he did get a detention? Would explain his, er, abrupt departure.”

“…”

“Ah, well. At least he didn’t break the door; that wouldn’t have been… Yona? Something up?”

“…Sandbar? Yona not think Gallus was worried about detention.”

The sounds of another lazy afternoon filled the air of Ponyville.

Ponies trotted about with neither aim nor care; birds sang out into the sky, dancing in delight; and the Everfree Forest swayed passively in the autumn breeze, allowing the town to enjoy the peace.

Above it all, a single fluffy cloud stood against a canvas of cerulean. And on that cloud, a lone griffon lied on his back, staring into the firmament.

The ghosts had long-since vanished into whatever rusted cesspool they had come from, leaving him trapped with only the muffled exchanges below to disrupt his solitude.

…

“What is wrong with me?” he whispered.

…

“Didn’t I… Didn’t I get over all of this? Silver and I had so much fun together, and yet… I said I was feeling better! I told her I was! So why am I…”

…

“What did Cozy do to me!?”

…

He turned to face the Everfree Forest.

…

“No. No, I’ll just get the same speech as last time…”

…

“Is this why Griffonstone is the way it is? Because nogriff has any idea how to solve their problems, so they just hide it? Is that maybe why I’m like this? That it’s just… A griffon thing?”

…

“Tch. No, Gallus, you’re the only who has this problem. You. No one else. You’re all alone.”

…

“Why am I so alone?”

…

He turned to stare at the Friendship School.

…

His gaze returned upwards and met with the soft golden yellow eyes of the pegasus above him.

“GAAAHHH!” he yelled, leaping into the air and dispersing his makeshift cloud in the process.

“Whoopsie! Sorry for scaring you, Mr. Gallus.”

“It— It’s alright, Mrs. D. You didn’t scare me that badly.

“Phew! That’s a relief. So what’cha doing up here?”

“Just relaxing. We go back to school tomorrow, so I’m just trying to rest up.”

“Oh! That sounds fun!”

“I guess. So what are you up to?”

“Delivering letters of course! I just finished delivering another batch of yours actually!”

“Huh? But Gabby only writes to me on… Oh no,” he ended in fearful realization.

“Ms. Glimmer said it would be okay to leave it in your room, so that’s where I left it! Sorry about not bringing it to you personally, but it was really heavy! By the way, could you sign this?”

“Oh, uh, sure!” he agreed, signing the clipboard with a shaking talon.

“Annnnnd! Thank you! That’s one giant one-day express delivery from the Crystal Empire delivered! And on time! Yay!” she cheered. “You know? I’m not used to delivering packages from the Crystal Empire, or ones so big. But that just made it more fun! Did you make a friend there?”

“Something like that,” he whimpered, terrified of just what awaited him back in his room.

“Wow! That must be really nice having a pen-pal all the way across Equestria!”

“Yeaaahhh. Nice.”

The ambient noise of the marketplace below echoed in the silent sky.

“Whelp! I have more mail to deliver. See you later, Mr. Gallus!”

“Oh, hey! Mrs. D?”

“Hmm?”

“Uh… Thanks again for helping Silver and me with laser tag yesterday.”

“Oh, you’re welcome; it was a lot of fun!”

“It was. You were pretty good.”

“Hee-hee. Thanks, you were too.”

“Mrs. D?”

“You know you could just call me Ditsy if you want.”

“O-Oh. Sorry. So, Mrs. Ditsy?”

“Yup?”

“…”

“…”

“Nevermind.”

“Okay,” she replied instead of prying further. “Oh, almost forgot! After I dropped off your mail, Ms. Glimmer asked that when I saw you to—”

“Uggggggghhhhhhh!”

“Is something wrong? That ‘ugh’ went on for a while.”

“No, nothing is wrong. Nothing is wrong at all…”

She tilted her head.

“I got landed with some stupid counseling stuff. That’s all.”

“Oh!” she chirped in understanding. “Well, that sounds fun!”

“Not really,” he groaned, giving the School a wary glance.

“How come?”

I’m going to be told I’m going crazy. “I’m just going to be told a bunch of stuff I already know.”

“So you think it’s going to be boring?” she asked innocently.

“More just a waste of my time.”

“I doubt that. Talking to your friends is never a waste of time!”

“Ms. Glimmer is my teacher, not my friend.”

“But you go to the Friendship School! Aren’t your teachers supposed to be your friends too?”

Gallus paused before shrugging and saying, “I guess. But only because she has to be.”

“No one ever really ‘has’ to be friends; friends just choose to be!”

“Then why would she choose to be my friend?” he asked, thinking more about Silverstream than Starlight and more about her question than their friendship. “Why would anyone?”

“Hmm, that’s a tough question to answer,” Mrs. Ditsy answered simply.

What the… She didn’t say the usual… What? “Because there is no reason to care?” he guessed.

“Nope! Because the answer would be different for everyone, so you can never really have one single answer. But I think that’s actually really, really cool! After all, if everyone has different reasons to be your friend, then that means there’s that many different ways you’re special!”

“But how would someone know that though?”

“I don’t know,” she answered, shrugging. “I guess you just have to ask.”

“What if you’re scared to ask?”

“Why would you be scared to ask a question?”

“Because you’re scared of the answer.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re worried about what the answer means for you.”

“Hmm. I’m not sure I know what kind of answer could mean something bad for you. But I bet even if it does, you’ll still have friends to help make it better!”

He gave that statement some thought before asking, “What if they don’t know about it?”

“Well, then I’d just tell them.”

“What if you’re scared that they won’t help?”

“A real friend would always help! That’s what makes them friends,” she declared, smiling.

Gallus looked down at the untroubled ponies below him as he contemplated that idea.

“Well, it’s been nice talking to you, but I do need to get back to my route.”

“Okay. Have a nice day, Mrs. Ditsy,” he said, waving goodbye.

“Mhmm! You too, Mr. Gallus! See you later!”

After she departed, he turned to the School of Friendship. … “Peck it! Let’s get this over with!” he told himself as he hurriedly flew to the school before he had a chance to change his mind.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Come in!”

Gallus took a deep breath. “Headmare Starlight?” he asked, poking his head into the room.

“Oh, hello, Gallus!” Starlight greeted, closing her book. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Yeah. I got your message…er…messages, I guess.”

“Heh-heh. Yeah, I hope I didn’t make your friends worry.”

“Eh, most of them think you’re probably giving me a detention or something.”

She raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

“Sooooo, what exactly am I supposed to do?”

“There’s nothing you’re ‘supposed’ to do, but please, take a seat! The sofa’s really comfy!”

Gallus slowly obliged, reclining into the lime green couch. He couldn’t quite meet his Headmare’s eyes just yet, so he shifted his own around the room.

An assortment of kites hung from the ceiling above her desk; twin bookcases stood to the side, one filled with books, and the others with dozens of scrolls whose contents Gallus wasn’t privy too.

She was still staring at him.

In one corner, rested a metal filing cabinet with a picture frame atop that he couldn’t quite see properly,and in the other corner rested a glass hutch filled to the brim with multi-colored jars and vials.

Her periwinkle eyes wouldn’t stop staring into his soul.

A calendar rested behind the mare, marked with stickers, notes, and sticky notes; and scattered around the wall, several other pictures hung, depicting a few ponies and a dragon he didn’t recognize.

She was STILL staring at him!?

“Seriously, what am I supposed to do?”

“What do you want to do?”

Run away. But I know you don’t want me to say that, so… “I don’t know.”

“Do you maybe want to talk?”

Yeah, I had a feeling that’s what you really wanted me to do. “Sure?”

“Okay, what did you want to talk about?”

“Uh… What do you want to talk about!?”

“Hmm. Well, my day has gone pretty well now that we have the last of the Friends and Family Day Festival cleaned up and the school ready for tomorrow. What about you; how was your day?”

I’ve had some psychopathic filly’s curse screwing with my head all day. “Meh; my day wasn’t really interesting.”

“Oh? That’s odd; I thought you’d be spending the day going over Princess Cadence’s advice.”

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! “Y-You know about that?”

“Well, Twilight did mention it in her letter.”

Gallus groaned into his talons.

“I’m guessing you weren’t ready for anyone else to know about you and Silver?”

“Please! PLEASE! Tell me you didn’t tell anyone else!”

“No one around to tell. Everyone else is busy catching up on some much-needed rest.”

Starlight noticed that didn’t seem to help relieve Gallus much since he kept his face down.

“You look kinda down; want some Empathy Cocoa?”

He looked up to find a steaming mug of liquid chocolate hovering before him. He took it and gently sipped at the hot beverage, ignoring what Yona had told him about the stuff earlier. The warm froth seared his mouth and throat, but the sweet taste of marshmallow and chocolate overrode the pain.

“Thanks.”

“Of course.”

There was yet another brief stretch of silence where the two did nothing but sip at their cocoa.

Gallus cracked and asked “You’re a unicorn, so you know all kinds of spells and stuff, right?”

“Oh, you have no idea,” she says, trying(Badly) to hide her cocky smirk behind her mug.

“So, in that case… What do you know about… About mind magic?”

“I’m competent,” she answered neutrally.

“Okay. So, this is going to sound a liiiiitle bit crazy, but… If, say, something was up. Like— Like if I thought that maybe I was—I mean! Someone I know was being effected by mind magic… Would you be able to—you know—tell?”

“Depends on the spell. Some have pretty obvious signs, but others are a fair bit more subtle.”

“O-Oh. Nevermind then.”

Starlight waited a minute before asking, “So who is it?”

“Huh! Oh, sorry. It’s— It’s nothing; I’m probably just being stupid—I mean paranoid!” he quickly corrected. “I’m just being paranoid. Nothing to worry about.”

Awkward silence returned with a vengeance.

“Gallus?”

“Look, I know what you’re going to say, and no! I promise there’s nothing to worry about! Everything is fine! Nothing is wrong; I’m just worried over nothing is all. That’s it.”

“I was going to say that I double-checked Cozy Glow’s room.”

“W-What?”

“Mhmm.”

“Wh— But that— What did you— I mean—”

“Take your time, Gallus; I’m not going anywhere.”

Gallus too the offered moment then said hesitantly, “So Twilight told you that too, huh?”

“That everything yesterday snowballed when Silver found you in the kid’s room? Yep. She also asked that I go over it, just in case. Good thing too since you’re asking about it.”

“I’m guessing that she also told you that I’ve been seeing that nutbar in my head ever since?”

…

“Oh, peck.”

“Language.”

“I’m not— I promise I’m— Nothing is— Did you just say ‘language’?”

“Yep. You think I don’t know about other nations’ cuss words? Please. I know ‘em all.”

The absurdity of Starlight criticizing his expletive rather than commenting on his admission of insanity floored him. And then he remembered that he just admitted to being insane.

“I think I should just leave; sorry for wasting your time!”

“Gallus.”

For as much as the griffon wanted and intended to move, he hadn’t so much as twitched.

“Yes?”

“You say you’re seeing Cozy Glow in your mind?”

And there it is. “N-No! I’m not— I’m not crazy!”

“I didn’t say you were.”

“But you were thinking it!”

“Why would I do that?”

“Well, duh! Only crazy creatures hear voices in their head!”

“Unless it’s your own voice of course.”

“But… What if it’s not my voice? I’d be crazy then, right?”

“Why don’t you start from the beginning,” she suggested, placing her cocoa aside.

“Do I have to?”

“You can just give me the cliff-notes if you want; I’m sure I can keep up.”

“Fine. I was miserable for the past week, so I tried avoiding everyone. The day before yesterday, I wound up in Cozy’s room and killed time talking to myse… To her. Not even a minute after stepping paw in that room and there she is! Like some kind of ghost. And she talked to me, telling me every possible thing she could to make me even more miserable…”

He spared a quick glance at Starlight, but she remained unreadable.

“She… She sort of went away, but now she’s back. Kinda. I can’t even last more than a day before my mind just breaks down, and…” He sighed morosely. “Now I just feel…”

“Miserable?”

“Paranoid.”

“Of?”

“HER! Duh!”

“What about her makes you paranoid?”

“Are you seriously asking me that!?”

“I have my own thoughts, but I’d rather hear yours first.”

…

“I’m… I’m scared that everything that she says… That she might be right.”

“What kind of things has said to you?”

“That I’m a coward. A useless, superfluous…monster.”

“Well, those are certainly lies. You are no coward, and by no means are you a monster. And only a true monster would think of you as useless or superfluous.”

But what if I think that about myself? “I know she’s lying! I know I’m— I’m not— It’s— It’s just that she kept spinning everything to make it seem like whatever she said was something that I actually thought! And that— That can’t be real! She has to be wrong, right!? I’ve never thought the— The— The things she said I have! I would never— I-I could never!”

“What kind of things has she said you think?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Humor me,” Starlight challenged.

“There’s nothing humorous about the thoughts she keeps putting in my head.”

“I don’t doubt that. But still. Go on.”

“She told me that… That if I… I don’t want to say it! You may want me to be locked up in an insane asylum, but I prefer open air, thank you very much!”

“That’s not what I want, Gallus.”

“Oh, really!? Then what do you really want!?”

“To listen. And to help.”

Gallus panted for a moment before slumping and finally allowing the earlier dam to break.

“Before Silverstream and I had fun at the Festival, I was… Really down in the dumps. I just wanted to know why… Why they left me. I just wanted so much to know why I couldn’t have a family like everyone else! I wanted that too. I wanted it so badly! And Cozy—or her curse, or whatever—said that I… She said that if I wanted to have that love then I could always just force others to love me.”

“Hmm. How would you go about that?”

The gears in the griffon’s mind ground to a halt. “W-What?” was all he could mutter.

“How would you force others to give you love?”

“She suggested stealing a… A unicorn’s horn and using it to mind-control others.”

“Oh?”

“‘Oh’? ‘Oh’!? That’s all you can say!?”

“No, I’m just thinking still.”

THIS IS MY HEADMARE!? “What’s there to think about!?” he demanded. “I literally have some demon child in my brain telling me to hurt and brainwash ponies! And all you can say is ‘Oh’!?”

Starlight’s unflinching silence sparked a fuse in his brain, urging him to continue.

“I have some…thing! Haunting me! Telling me that I— That I’m a monster! That I may have murdered my parents! That I don’t care about others! That the bonds I have with my friends aren’t real! That I manipulated them! That I made them pity me! That I— That I don’t know what real love is…”

…

“I don’t understand! How is she still in my head!? I’m better, aren’t I!? I discovered something about friendship, didn’t I!? I told you! Princess Twilight! Silver! Grover’s Treasure! I told Silver I was doing better, but no! No, I’m not better! I still have that psycho in my head, and I can’t get her out!”

…

“And you! You said you searched her room, right! Please! Please tell me that whatever curse she placed on her room, you lifted! I’m begging you! Please! Please tell me she’s gone!”

…

“No… No-no-no. Don’t you dare say it. Don’t you dare say you found nothing!”

“I’m sorry, Gallus, but there was nothing to—”

“Check me then! All these crazy thoughts are in my head! It has to be some kind of curse, spell, or something! Come on! Light up your horn and get it out of me!”

“I don’t need to, Gallus. I know exactly what’s—”

“NO! SOMETHING! IS! WRONG WITH ME! You can’t pretend otherwise; look at me! Look at me,” he whimpered. “I’m supposed to be getting better, but I’m not! It’s still in my head! Just waiting for me to stop drowning it out, so it can remind me of how pathetic I am!”

His panting was the only sound in the room.

“Here,” Starlight gently said, hovering a box of tissues in front of him.

“Thanks, but I don’t exactly feel like sneezing!” he snapped.

“You’re crying, Gallus.”

He put a talon up to his eyes, feeling the droplets. “…Oh. Might’ve missed that. Thanks.”

Outside, the sun slowly began it’s journey downwards as the two sat in silence. Several minutes passed before Gallus sniffled, and wiped away his dried eyes one last time.

“What’s wrong with me, Ms. Glimmer? Just… What’s wrong with me?” he practically begged.

“Something I know all too well.”

He blinked. She didn’t say ‘no’? She didn’t say ‘no’! “S-So there is something wrong with me?”

“Wrong only in the sense that it’s hurting you.”

“So what is it? What’s wrong with me; what do I do!?”

…

“Gallus? May I ask you something?” she asked after a moment of thought.

“Sure…?”

“It’s something personal. Are you sure you’re okay if I do?”

Personal? What does she mean by that!? What does she mean by— “Just get it over with!”

“Alright. … Gallus, what was the happiest thought you’ve ever had about yourself?”

“Huh?”

“What was the happiest—”

“No, I heard; I just… What do you mean?”

“What is the nicest or happiest thought that you’ve ever had about yourself. Maybe an accomplishment you took pride in, or perhaps something fun you treated yourself too? Simply put: Have you ever looked into a mirror and smiled? Not boasted. Not bragged. Just… Smiled?”

“I… I… I still don’t understand.”

“You said you keep being told you’re pathetic. Or cowardly. Or useless. Have you ever had a day, or even a moment when you told yourself you were great, or brave, or smart? A single moment when you genuinely congratulated yourself for just being yourself?”

What does she actually want me to say to that!? What does she really—“…I don’t know.”

She closed her eyes, falling silent.

Gallus gulped. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She didn’t want honesty! She wanted—

“This truly is surreal,” Starlight said, opening her eyes and cutting off his internal rebuking.

“What is?”

“You.”

Gallus didn’t know how to respond to that. Okay, so she’s not treating me like a maniac; that’s good! I guess she actually did want genuine honesty? Huh. But what does she mean by ‘surreal’?

“Gallus…? How long have you been alone?”

“I… I’m not alone! I’ve never been alone!” he reflexively deflected. “I— I had Grandpa Gruff! And I have my friends now! Silver, Smolder, Sandbar, Yona, and Ocellus! See!? I’m— I’m not alone!”

“That’s not what I meant, Gallus,” she countered knowingly.

…

“I think I’ve always been alone,” he quietly admitted.

“Never knowing why?”

He nodded.

“Did you ever blame yourself?” she asked, noticeably uncomfortable with doing so.

“I never wanted to believe it. I never wanted it to be the truth! But…” He gulped and said, “But what else could I have blamed!? What reason could they have had!? It had to have been me. Right?”

“No, Gallus. It was never your fault.”

“But how do you know!? How would I know!? How would anyone!?”

“Does it matter how?”

“YES!”

“Why?”

“Because— Because— It just does! I don’t care what anyone says! It! Matters!”

She calmly nodded. “Alright then. … You didn’t answer my question though. Did you ever truly blame yourself? Not just this week, not just today, but… Have you always blamed yourself?”

Don’t answer honestly! She’s wants you to say— “I don’t want to. And I guess I’m not supposed to, but… But I’m scared that I…”

“That you should?” she gently guessed.

He finally locked eyes with her, blurting out, “Maybe? I don’t know. Should I blame myself!?”

“No,” she said simply, decisively, and gently. How she did so all at once, Gallus didn’t know.

“But I don’t know why they left! And I never will! So how will I ever know if I really am to blame!? What if I’m alone because I deserve to be!? How will I know that!? I can’t— I can’t know.”

“No one deserves to be alone, Gallus. Even the cruelest, most despicable monster in the world deserves at least one soul willing to reach out to them in the end.”

“But I… I am alone. Was! I mean… Am I still alone? Or am I not? I don’t know! If no one deserves to be alone, then what did I do to be alone in the first place!? What’s wrong with me!?”

“Nothing is wrong with you, Gallus.”

“But—”

“Everyone has a reason for why they do things, but choices are still choices, regardless of what led to them. Many will make terrible choices, and just as many others will suffer as a result. That doesn’t mean that bad choices can’t be made up for or forgiven, but that doesn’t matter now. You’re not the one who made the choices; you’re the one who suffered because of them.”

“But what if I made them make that choice!? Look at me! I’m a pathetic coward, and all I do is just whine and make everyone else waste their time. First the Tree, then Silver, and now you!”

“First, you are neither pathetic, nor a coward. Second, sitting here and talking to me is not whining by any means. And third, don’t ever believe that you are a waste of time. You are worth so much, Gallus. Never think otherwise.”

“But what if—”

“And finally… I said that it didn’t matter what led to a choice being made—Yes, I know you said it did matter. But the only creatures it ever mattered to…? They made the choice, and in the end, you paid the price. Knowing why they made that choice will never change that.”

Gallus winced.

“You don’t understand… What if I was the reason they left? How many times do I have to say that for you or anyone else to get it!?”

“I won’t pretend to know why they are gone. Perhaps they had a reason, perhaps not. Maybe it was a justifiable reason, maybe not. But regardless, what matters is—”

“YOU STILL DON’T GET IT! I need to know why they are gone! I need to know why they left me alone! I need to know why they made that choice! I need to know if it was me! I need to know if I was the reason they’re gone! I don’t ‘want’ to! I don’t ‘think’ I need to! I! Need! To! Know!”

…

“I’m sorry! I— I shouldn’t be yelling. It’s just— It’s just so frustrating! Wanting so badly to know but having everyone tell me that it doesn’t matter, or that it shouldn’t…”

“It’s okay, Gallus. I understand.”

“Tch. Really? Or are you just saying that?” he snapped, recoiling immediately after.

“Hmm? Well, I suppose there is one thing I don’t understand. You say it’s frustrating… Is that because no one else seems to think it matters even though you know it does? Or is it because you think it matters despite everyone telling you it doesn’t?”

Gallus gulped, mulling over both her words and his next ones. “Silver wanted so badly to help me feel better. But here I am… Having some stupid meltdown like a pecking toddler!”

“So it was that one…” she mused. “Well, a creature can’t get over their pain in a day, Gallus.”

“Why not!? Friends helping friends get over their issues… Isn’t that how friendship works?”

“That’s exactly how friendship works. Friends help their friends. But that doesn’t mean your friends can just instantly wipe away all the bad days you’ve had.”

“Isn’t that the point of all of your friendship missions?”

“They were about helping repair bonds that had been broken or were strained. Just that: Helping as best as they could. Not clapping a hoof and solving every problem in a snap.”

“Still instantly solved all the problems from what I know.”

“Go ask the Princesses if I solved all of their sibling issues in a weekend. Go on, I dare you.”

“…”

“Gallus?”

“Yeah?”

“May I ask you another question?”

“It’s not like I could stop you.”

“I understand you want to know why they left, and I know that you’re scared that you might be in some part responsible for their absence. But—”

“It matters,” he interjected.

“I know. And I think I know why too.”

“Do you? Do you really?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, oh, Grand Headmare! Pray tell, what’s wrong with me?”

“You’re not just afraid that you might have been the reason why you’re parents are gone… You’re afraid that somehow, someway you might again drive those around you away. Aren’t you?”

Silence. All around him was silence. Everything else had pulled back, fleeing from his twisted, nightmarish visage. Even the darkness had fled away in terror, leaving only the silence to—

“Gallus, you’re crying a—”

“I’ve never wanted to think that!” he yelled, panic returning. “I don’t want to even consider that! They’re my friends! They’re my FRIENDS! Right? Friendship requires loyalty, so they— They wouldn’t leave me, right!? They care! I know they do! B-But… What if— What if they stop!?”

“They wouldn’t.”

“But they could! I already made one family run away, so what’s s-stopping me from driving them away too!? Silver tried to help me, but it didn’t matter! I’m still m-messed up in the head! I’m still alone! I’m still scared and sad and p-pathetic! And I still have that psycho in my head!”

His voice hitched, allowing for only a harsh sob. The sobbing continued, and his eyes blurred and stung with warm tears that began falling despite his frantic swiping.

On a different day, Gallus would have kept his beak closed and face expressionless, ignoring the uncontrolled rapids and maintaining his practiced cool. Today was not that day.

“Stupid tears! I’m not supposed to— I don’t— I don’t want to cry!” he rebuked.

A hoof gently gripped his shoulder, igniting a different fire in the griffon.

“Why am I not better!? What’s w-wrong with me!? Why c-couldn’t I j-just be happy!? Why am I still feeling these s-stupid things!? What am I doing wrong!?”

The hoof slowly moved up and down along his back.

“I want to be happy, so why can’t I be!? Am I just cursed!? Scratch that! I am! And I don’t know why! Why can’t I be h-happy!? Why can’t I move on!? I just want to move on!”

Another box of tissues hovered in front of him to which he went after with reckless abandon.

“I want— I want to spend time with m-my friends! I want to— I want to be with them! I love them! I l-love my friends, but what if I screw it up!? I almost screwed it all up once! I’ve a-almost lost them all twice! And it’s all my fault! It has to be, r-right!? I’m the one that can’t be happy! I need them; they don’t n-need me! So why would they keep caring about— About someone like me!? I want to be happy! I don’t want to be sad, but I can’t get over it! Why can’t I just be happy!?”

The world wouldn’t answer.

“Why!?”

The world still wouldn’t answer.

“WHY!?”

The world finally answered.

“It’s okay, Gallus.”

“No! It’ll never be okay! I d-don’t know why, but it can’t! It just— It just can’t!”

“It can. It takes a long time, but it will.”

“You say that! But here I am! And it isn’t okay now! So what reason do I have to think it w-will be okay later! And how much longer before it becomes okay!? It’s easy to say it will b-be okay now, when you’re not the one who can’t… Who isn’t… Who…”

“Shhhh. Just let it out. It’s okay.”

Only now did Gallus realize that he had been pulled into a comforting hug. A moment later, he softly wrapped his own talons against her, leaning into the hug.

…

His sobs slowly quieted.

…

His tears soon finished.

…

His grip eventually let go.

They remained sitting on the couch—griffon and unicorn. One was too exhausted to do anything but stare at the floor, and the other remained alert, awaiting the faintest of movements.

“Is this why I lost them in the first place…? Because I just couldn’t be happy? If it is then I’m doing it again… I’m g-gonna lose my friends. I’m gonna lose my f-family again! I don’t want them to go! I don’t want to be the r-reason why my family is gone! I don’t— I don’t want to be alone!”

He was beyond returning to the piercing sobs; instead, his tears flowed forth from the gentlest of whimpers. Wordlessly, he gratefully took the next batch of offered tissues.

“I’m so sorry! I— I shouldn’t be— I’m not supposed to— I just— I’m sorry!”

“Gallus, it’s okay.”

“But— But I’m not supposed to be like this! I’m not—”

“Never be afraid to show your feelings, Gallus. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be sad and upset. And it’s okay to be afraid. These aren’t things you need to hide away and bottle up.”

“I just don’t understand… What’s wrong with me, Ms. Glimmer? Why can’t I move on!?”

Starlight took a deep breath and answered, “You’re hurt, Gallus. You’ve been hurt for a long time, and you’ve been carrying that pain all by yourself for I’m guessing almost your entire life?”

A nod.

“But now you’re healing—”

“No! I’m not! I’m not heal— Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

Liar, he thought, keeping his mouth shut for once.

“And thanks to Silverstream, you’re beginning to heal. You’re trying to be happy now. Genuinely happy. What you weren’t prepared for was the transition.”

“The what?”

“The transition. The long, winding, annoying road of healing. The path to happiness is laid before you, but it goes on forever, is arduous as Tartarus, and just looking at it fills you with dread.”

“Language,” he reflexively joked.

“Ha! Sorry. … You didn’t know how hard healing would really be. The truth is that it’s difficult, confusing, and painful. Sometimes it feels like you’re going nowhere or worse: backtracking.And on top of that, it only gets longer and harder the bigger the burden you carry. So many can look at the path to healing and complete it in a hop, skip, and jump. Others have to hike the thing for months on end.”

Gallus gulped.

“But Gallus? That road does end. It will feel like an endless nightmare that you can’t wake up from; it will rip and tear at you and leave you with scars deeper than the oceans; and it will challenge you and make you wonder why you bothered trying at all. But it does end.”

“You say that like it’s easy…”

“‘Easy’? Gallus, teleporting is easy. Time travel is easy. Mistakes are easy. Giving up is easy. Having the determination to walk that road? The strength to look into the face of the world despite the pain it’s given you? The bravery to keep walking that road and never stop until you reach the end? Gallus, that’s the single hardest thing a creature can do in this world.”

“Then how do I do that then?”

“You walk the path. Bit-by-bit; step-by-step. And with every step it gets that much easier. The end gets that much closer. And soon the days that you had to force yourself to continue will become days where the challenge is taking one hundred steps instead of settling for ninety-nine. Yes, it is hard now. It will remain hard until the absolute end, but with every single step… It gets easier.”

“How do you know? H-How… How can you possibly know what it’s like t-to… To heal?”

“Because I’ve walked it myself.”

“You… You have?” he asked, trying to remember if he had heard anything that implied as such.

“Mhmm. I lost a lot. My best friend. My home. … Myself. I walked around in circles for the longest time, afraid of even thinking about moving on, let alone trying it.”

“But you did?”

“I like to think I did, but honestly? Even now, I think I’m still on the path, just right at the end of it. Still carrying my burden, but it’s so light now that I barely even remember it’s there.”

“So it was easy for you then, huh…?”

“Nope. It took me a long, long time. But this isn’t about me and my journey. I just want you to know that I do speak with experience. A lot of it. And I promise you, Gallus. It does get easier.”

“How? How did it get easier for you then? If you don’t… If you don’t mind me asking?”

“I met Twilight. I met her friends. I made new ones, and I kept old ones.” He looked away but said nothing, so she continued. “The hardest part is that for as easy as the path becomes, you have to carry that burden the entire away, loneliness and all. But you don’t have to carry it alone. And the more friends you have, the lighter your burden. And you already have a few friends willing to help.”

“What if they won’t care?”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

“Because they’d get tired of caring?”

“True friends never stop caring. Ever.”

“What if I drive them away?”

“Then you go after them and make amends.”

“What if I can’t?”

“Then you come to me and the others and you ask for help.”

“What if I drive you all away too?”

“Ha! Ha-ha… Kiddo, you’d have to do something truly awful to make us not want to help you.”

“It was pretty easy for Cozy Glow…”

“The choices that she made were ones that she made knowingly and willingly. And in the end, she reveled in the pain she brought. … Well, almost brought.”

“You still gave up on her. That means that you could give up. If you wanted to.”

Starlight looked away for a moment before sighing. “Fair enough. You wouldn’t be afraid if you didn’t have a reason to be. But even still, I know you’ll never do anything to make us give up on you.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because unlike Cozy Glow, you care.”

They quietly sat there for what could have been hours for all Gallus knew. But soon, he regained his breathing and finished drying his tears; his cocoa slowly hovered before him afterward.

“Thank you,” he said, gratefully taking the drink back.

“No problem,” Starlight nodded, levitating her own drink over to her.

…

“Why does it have to be so hard? Can’t I just… Can’t I just have a nice day with my friend and move on? Why do I have to deal with this? Why can’t it just be easy?”

“Your heart isn’t a light switch, Gallus. You can’t just snap your talons and stop feeling, even if that feeling is loneliness.”

“I wish it were that simple. I’m tired of feeling this way! I’m tired of always wondering why they left! And I’m tired of having all these stupid thoughts in my head! Why can’t it just be easy!?”

“The world is a difficult place to understand sometimes. But if getting over heartache were that easy… Would the pain have meant anything at all to you?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, dumbfounded.

“Our worst experiences should never define us nor control us, but they should always teach us. The days we’re sad should emphasize the days we’re happy. And our heartache? Well, if nothing else, it proves that we loved. If to no one else, to ourselves. At least, that’s how I’ve come to think of it.”

“Huh. That sounds like a nice way to look at things.”

Starlight shrugged.

“I wish I could look at it that way. But all of this just feels like pain to me.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like any of this is your problem.”

“No, but that’s because it’s not my ‘problem.’ It’s my duty: Helping you heal.”

“Is it even worth it?”

“Yes.”

“Am I even worth it?”

“You’ll always be worth it, Gallus.”

“It’s hard to remember that when… When…” He sighed. “When the ones who were supposed to teach me that never did,” he slowly let out.

“Then I guess it’s lucky you have all of your friends who’ll always help remind you.”

“…Yeah,” he agreed, perking up a tad. “Yeah, it is. It’d help if I actually told them about this.”

“That would certainly help,” she chuckled.

They shared a small smile, but his soon turned back into a frown.

“But why do I keep seeing Cozy Glow in my head?”

“You’ve only just begun healing, Gallus.”

“That doesn’t exactly answer my question.”

“You asked if it was a curse? The answer is no, Gallus. What you’re seeing isn’t some evil hex she placed on you.”

“Then what is it?”

“Hmm… You remember I said I had walked the same path as you are now? Well, the same thing happened to me. Words whispered in the back of your mind that you’re afraid are your own? Thoughts that haunt you like phantasms from day to night?”

“That’s exactly it! That’s exactly what she’s doing! How do I get rid of her!?”

“The thing is, Gallus, that’s not Cozy Glow. This has nothing to do with her.”

“Then what is it?”

“The transition.”

“You said that already, but I still don’t get what you mean.”

“You’ve been alone for a long time, Gallus, and you’ve spent that time viewing the world and everything within it from that perspective. Right?”

“…Maybe.”

“Well, now you’re not alone. And you know it, and you’re trying to accept it and look at the world from a completely different view. But all that time you’ve spent alone isn’t going to go away, and the thoughts and fears you accumulated from it are going to bleed through from time-to-time. Not because you still think those things, but because you’re so used to thinking from that perspective.”

“You mean I’m used to thinking of stealing unicorn horns and mind-controlling others!?”

“Everyone has bad thoughts, Gallus. Some are borne of anger. But most come from desperation and fear. They’re only dangerous when we’re willing to act on them, and I know you’re not.”

“But I’ve never thought those things before! Not once!”

“Maybe not that one specifically, but are you saying you’ve never once had even one like it?”

The memory of their first Hearth’s Warming flitted to the surface. “No.”

“Mhmm. And these thoughts seem more apparent now that you’re trying so hard to not think that way again. So whenever they do cross your mind, you’re more aware of them. And more afraid.”

“But then why do I keep seeing Cozy?”

“Eh-heh-heh,” she laughed hesitantly. “Now that I don’t have a concrete answer for, but if I were to hazard a guess? It’s because of how you view her.”

“As a nutbar?”

“As a sadist.”

“No! You’re suffering! And I looooove it!” echoed in his mind.

“I mean it could also be some subconscious psychological thing since all of this started when you went into her room, so you just connect these thoughts to her in some capacity, but…”

“Heh. But then why do I keep seeing anyone? Shouldn’t they just be—you know—thoughts?”

“Now that’s definitely because of some subconscious psychological stuff.”

“Really?”

“Well, the worst possible thoughts are always easiest to accept if they’re from someone else.”

“Oh. Yep, that definitely sounds like some subconscious psychological mumbo-jumbo.”

“Heh-heh-heh. Yeah.”

The two took a minute to just sit there and drink their cocoa.

“Headmare Starlight?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks. For… For listening.”

“Always.”

“Do you mind helping me tell the others?”

“Of course. Do you want to go tell them now?”

“Um, could we…wait? Just a little bit longer? I’m still not ready. Not yet.”

“I understand.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

A battle raged in the sky, between the sinking sun and the rising moon. To one horizon, a warm, hazy orange desperately clung to wakefulness, unwilling to fade away. And to the other, a sea of cool indigo served as the backdrop for the pale moon and it’s twinkling friends.

Along the streets of Ponyville, remnants of the populace were finally headed home, eager to rest in their homes with their families after a long day of work.

Within the walls of the Friendship School, many a flickering light burned onward still, but just as many were quelled by ponies seeking an early rest to prepare for tomorrow’s return to studies.

Down the hallway leading to the dormitories, one particular pair stalked forth.

“She told you that!?”

“Yep. So was there any truth to it?”

“I’ve no idea; never traveled there myself.”

“Huh. Maybe I’ll visit one day and ask?”

“Oh, definitely. Because if that actually happened, I’m going to need to tell Pinkie to stop putting chocolate in anything she gives to Yona.”

And with that, they had finally reached their destination. Through the door before them laid another hallway, and in that hallway laid another set of doors, and through those doors awaited…

Gallus gulped.

“Are you okay?”

He nervously nodded.

“It’ll be easier if you tell them sooner rather than later, but if you’re still not ready…?”

“No. No, I need to tell them; otherwise, I probably won’t. Let’s get this over with!”

He opened the door.

And was immediately face-to-face with an orange dragon. Said dragon immediately started scowling and said, “Well, well, well… If it isn’t Mr. Lost-in-Thought himself.”

Oh no. What did I do!? “Hello to you too, Smolder. Something—”

“Smolder, wait! You can’t just— Ohhh… Uh, h-hi, Gallus!” nervously greeted Ocellus.

Immediately, the other three quickly darted out from Silverstream’s room. The hypogriff in question being the last to exit; her head down and eyes averted.

She didn’t…

Gallus nervously looked to Starlight who awkwardly smiled and shrugged.

“Do I even want to guess?” he asked, putting a talon to his face.

“W-We were j-just—”

“No, no!” declared Smolder. “I want to hear it from him. So, Gallus, what have you been up to? You having a good day? Enjoying the day off? You didn’t actually get a detention, did you? Don’t lie now; honesty is a core foundation of friendship after all.”

She did.

“Okay, Silver, how much do they know?”

“Um—”

“Oh, we know everything, Gallus!”

He flinched at the anger in Smolder’s voice but still asked, “Everything everything?”

“Pretty much…” weakly admitted Silver.

“Aw, geez, Silver!?” Gallus exclaimed.

“I’m sorry, Gallus, but—”

“Hey! Don’t you be mad at her! We came to her when you had your freak-outs in the library and Carousel Boutique! And at least she was honest with the rest of us! Unlike a certain griffon…”

“Smolder!” admonished everyone, save Silver and Gallus.

“I ain’t taking it back.”

“M-Maybe, we s-should all c-calm down first?”

“‘Calm down!?’”

“Creatures are able to m-make better judgments when they a-are in a state of tranquility as opposed to frustration and anger,” Ocellus recited from some book or another.

“Yeah? Well, I don’t plan on making any judgment calls until after he looks me in the eye and tells me the truth! So, Gallus!? You look me in the eye, and you tell us if everything she said about you being on the brink of a meltdown all week was true!”

“‘Brink of a meltdown’ is kind of an over-exaggeration, dude.”

“I’m not talking to you, Sandbar!”

“Now, Smolder…”

“Headmare Starlight? Relax, I’ve got it.” No, I don’t, he thought before he took a breath and began anyway. “Yes, I wasn’t feeling well over the break. You guys may have had fun getting ready for the holiday, but to me the whole thing was just a reminder that I don’t have anyone but myself, and—”

“You have us! If you were feeling crummy why didn’t you just come and talk to any of us!?”

“And what? Friends and Family Day was supposed to be something to enjoy, and all of you were having fun! I wasn’t, and there was no way I was going to push all of my problems onto any of you and make you all worry about me.”

“So instead of talking to us about this, so that we could help you feel better; you decided you didn’t trust us enough to tell us the truth!?”

“S-Smolder, I don’t th-think it was a question of—”

“I’m not talking to you either, Ocellus!”

The changeling winced.

“Smolder, I did trust you. I trusted all of you; I just— I didn’t— I—” He paused, hesitant to add the next bit. C’mon, Gallus! You’ve come this far! No more cowardice, he decided, continuing on. “At the time, I didn’t even think I was worth all of your concerns anyway. All of this stupid… Loneliness, or whatever it is; it was something I should have been able to deal with myself.”

“But Yona and friends’ happiness not more important than friend’s feelings!” protested Yona. “If Gallus upset, then Yona and friends would have helped!”

“I knew that. It’s just…You were all supposed to enjoy the holiday, and I was too, but I just… I just couldn’t. You all know why… So, I did the best thing I could think of at the time, and that was pretend that I was happy and not tell any of you the truth.”

Smolder’s eye twitched.

“B-But it was Friends and Family Day! It w-was a time to have fun with our friends too! Why didn’t you want to spend time with us if you were s-so m-m-miserable?”

“Because I felt like I would drag you all down with me? The whole thing was my problem. Not yours. You didn’t deserve it; you guys deserved to be happy. Even if I wasn’t.”

A faint trail of smoke began billowing from Smolder’s nostrils.

“But, that was how I felt. Key word being ‘was’ since—spoilers—Silver basically forced me to spend the day with her and helped me… A lot.”

He tried to give Silver something of a smile, but she hadn’t yet looked up from the floor.

“Yeah, we know! We just should have known because you were the one who was supposed to tell us! We shouldn’t have had to hear it from someone else!”

“I know, Smolder, it’s just… I was too scared to be honest, alright! I have said that a lot in the past two days, but I don’t know how to say it any other way. I was just scared.”

No one talked, following his words.

“But you are feeling better now at least, right?” asked Sandbar after some time.

Everyone’s eyes locked onto him, and he reflexively leaned back from the intensity.

“I’m… I’m…”

While they all looked at him with equal worry, what else their gazes held was unique to each of them. Yona still looked worried; Ocellus was far paler than usual; Sandbar stared at him with uncertain hesitancy; Smolder’s scowl had deepened with every word he spoke; and Silverstream…

Her eyes held the same fear they had yesterday.

Don’t you dare lie to her, Gallus! To any of them!

“I’m doing well enough. Not as well as I should be, but well enough. And I am getting better! I promise. I’ve got like three weeks of mandatory guidance counseling for a reason, you know?”

A coin could have fallen into the sandy dunes of Saddle Arabia and still be heard in the hallway.

“Well, that’s great! I’m glad that you’re feeling better, Gallus.”

“Yeah, I am too, Sandbar.”

The others didn’t look quite as satisfied, especially Smolder. Yona, meanwhile, rushed to Gallus and trapped him in a bone-crushing hug.

“Yona promise that Gallus not alone! And Yona and friends will always be here for Gallus to help Gallus feel better! Yona promise!”

“Gah! Th-Thanks, Yona, but— I can’t! Breathe!”

Yona lessened the force of the hug, but didn’t relent. Soon, Ocellus and Sandbar joined in.

“Yona’s right! We promise we’ll be here for you, Gallus!”

“Yeah, dude! No way we’re not gonna be here to help you out. What are friends for, after all?”

Silver darted into the hug, and squealed, “We all promise!”

His eyes watered again, and a genuine smile tugged at his beak.

“Y-You guys…”

…

Smolder walked away, and while she may not have slammed the door, Gallus still flinched at the final piercing glare she gave him before she went into her room.

“Golly, looks like your biggest fear just came true…”

Everyone else stared after her as well.

“S-Sorry about her; she’s j-just… Um… Uh… Help?”

“Smolder happy Gallus okay. Yona think Smolder just mad Gallus not tell friends his feelings.”

“Yep, that’s probably it. Don’t worry, dude, she’ll come around.”

Silver was quiet.

“Heh. She’s not wrong; I should have told you all what was going on.”

“It’s okay, Gallus, we understand. We’re here for you now, and that’s the important thing.”

“And we’re not going anywhere.”

Warmth spread through his entire body, and the last of his tears finally broke free.

“Guys…thank you. Just… Thank you.”

Five minutes later…

“Alright, kids, as much as I don’t want to intrude on this, it’s getting pretty late. And you’ve all got school tomorrow.”

“But Headmare Starlight, Yona and friends still hugging Gallus!”

“And you can all hug him in the morning, assuming you’re not too tired to do so.”

“She’s not wrong,” Ocellus admitted, leaving the hug first. “And I still need to take another quick glance at my notes before I go to bed. Plus, I’m pretty sure we’re all exhausted after today.”

“Reading our emotions again, Ocellus?”

“Sandbar, I keep telling you it doesn’t work that way!”

“Hee-hee, I know."

“Uggghhh, why do I even bother? Goodnight, everyone.”

“Goodnight!”

“I need to go to bed too; somehow, I get the feeling we’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

“Is it because Headmare staring at Yona and friends with ominous-yet-knowing expression?”

“Yep, pretty much. G’night, everycreature.”

“Goodnight!”

“Yona need sleep too. … Gallus remember friends will always be there for him, right?”

“Considering how often I keep hearing it, I probably won’t be able to even if I tried.”

“Gallus not try though, right!?” Yona nearly screeched.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he quickly clarified.

“Phew!” she sighed. “Well then, goodnight!”

“Goodnight!”

“Well, um, goodnight, Gallus.”

“Night, Silv—”

She threw her talons around him and held him like a lifeline.

“Gallus…? You are feeling better, right?”

Her voice was quieter than a mouse’s whisper, but the worry rang louder than a siren.

“Yeah, I am.”

“Promise?”

…

“Promise.”

She squeezed him even harder then quickly broke apart and said, “Alrighty then! See you in the morning, Gallus! Sweet dreams!”

“Sweet dreams, Silver.”

“Whelp. That’s that. Now you better get to bed yourself too, Gallus.”

“Hey, Headmare Starlight? You called it a ‘burden,’ right?”

“Mhmm.”

“Is this what you meant when you said it got lighter?”

“Pretty much.”

“It’s just that it takes forever before that burden completely goes away, if it does at all?”

“I wouldn’t say it takes ‘forever,’ but it does take a lot of time, yes.”

…

“Well, at least I’ve still got my friends. For as much as I don’t want to worry any of them, having them with me will help the time go by faster…right?”

“That’s a pretty neat way of looking at things,” she said, smiling. “Now go on. School starts back up tomorrow, and you need some rest.”

“Oh, yeah. Sleeps sounds good right now. See you tomorrow.”

“See tomorrow. Goodnight, Gallus.”

“Goodnight, Headmare Starlight.”

She trotted back down the hallway, and he sighed. Everything was fine. Nothing had gone wrong. He still had his friends. Everything is fine, he thought as he absentmindedly opened his door.

An ocean of parchment crashed out of the door and dragged him into the undertow. After a solid minute of swimming through the flood, he broke through to the surface, gasping for air. Upon gaining said air, Gallus looked around and both winced in fear and gaped in awe at just what exactly it was.

“Oh, yeah! Princess Twilight, you definitely need to get your sister-in-law a better hobby!”

…

His eyes then slowly widened once the realization fully struck. Oh, crud. I forgot all about the date thing! he cried out internally.

He gulped and turned his eyes to Silver’s room, simply staring at it.

…

…

…

I’ll uh… I’ll just ask her later! Yeah, later! Sometime later…

He turned his gaze back to the paper around him and groaned. Without hesitation, he quickly shoved the disarrayed mass back into his room and closed the door behind him.

Author's Notes:

I'm baaaaack!

And with a sequel to the one and only story I have posted so far! Yeah. That was something I didn't think I would be doing. But well? I got massive flood of people asking for one(A whopping TWO! Can you believe it!? ) so who was I to refuse?

So here's some quick things:

1) I plan to put up a blog post in a few days concerning the details of when the next chapter will come out, but the long and short of it is that I'm "done" with Chapters 2-3. However, until I am done with Chapter 4, I don't plan on posting them, just in case I feel the need to go back and add/change something in the previous chapters.
Of course, I don't plan on leaving you all hanging, so if the next chapter is taking some time to finish, I'll inevitably post them(So probably around the middle of May? But that's the worst case scenario.)

2) I hope you all are doing okay with the crisis going on. I'm doing fine(Aside from my sleeping schedule), but I still want to make sure the rest of you are as well. Also, I wish you all good luck in finding toilet paper and Lysol.

3) I hope you all enjoyed the story so far! I legitimately had no plans to do a sequel to A Day for Family originally, but people asked for one, the ideas flowed forth, and so I delivered. I hope it's meeting expectations so far. I also hope I can keep meeting said expectations. As always, any and all thoughts, questions, and criticisms are welcomed!

Next time: It's back to school for Gallus and his friends! It doesn't go quite as well, as he would want.

Chapter Two: Reprieve

“Can you seeeee! The sun is shining—" Smack!

“Yes. I can, and it’s blinding,” Gallus sneered at his alarm clock as he rolled back over.

…

…

…

“Cause today is gonna be a brighter—” SMACK!

“Yeah, I know! I know!” he growled through gritted teeth. The bleary-eyed griffon then forced himself to sit up and yawned widely.

…

…

…

“Can you feel the sun—” SMACK!!!

“I get it; I get it; I get it! Since when did that song get licensed for the radio?” he grumbled, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes.

Gallus arose from his bed and stretched out his wings until they were awake too. After ditching a few preened feathers into his trash can, he turned to the massive heap of paper and sighed weakly.

It had grown bigger in the night.

“Ohhh, what am I gonna do with this?”

“Burn it?”

“You’re still…? Oh, come on!” Gallus muttered to himself. “Okay! Fine! Why would I do that?”

“Well, it’s not like there’s anything else you’re gonna do with it.”

“I could read it,” he countered simply.

“You’re too cowardly to do that though.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yep.”

To spite the stupid mental apparition, he thrust his talon into the mound and extracted one of the smaller letters, held it to his face, and read it aloud.

“‘Advice Number Two Hundred and Nineteen: When looking into future careers, you should make sure to consult with her as there are a multitude of different scenarios that could occur upon this time period in your/her life. I’ll be sending the full list in time. Current estimate is next weekend.’”

…

Gallus slowly placed the letter back into the pile, staring into the blank walls of his room with a confused-yet-haunted look etched upon his face.

…

“Maybe I should start from the beginning…” Gallus said to himself as he began fishing through the paper in search for the very first one he had received.

…

“Find it yet?”

He sighed and muttered, “No.”

“How about now?”

“No.”

“Now?”

“Either shut up or help me out.”

“I’m a mental apparition in your head; I can’t help you out with moving stuff!”

“So you can randomly show up whenever you want and yammer a bunch of insane nonsense into my ear until I have a breakdown, but you can’t help me sort through paper?”

“Yep.”

“Ughhh! Why am I even having this conversation first thing in the morning?”

“Because you’re mentally unstable?”

He rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Well, you did ask. And honesty is a ‘core foundation of friendship’ after all! Speaking of which! How fun was it to finally succeed in driving away one of your friends?”

Gallus didn’t bother dignifying that with a reaction and chose to return to searching.

“It must really hurt, knowing you did exactly what you were afraid that you would do! Drive away your friends… Make them not care about you… One down. Four to go.”

“Uh-huh.”

“…That’s it? That’s your response? Just an ‘uh-huh’?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Wow. You must really hate Smolder if that’s all the emotion you can express over her loss.”

“Oh?”

“Of course. A real friend would be feeling heartache and misery after having lost one of the only friends that was ever pitying enough to have given a pathetic coward like yourself the chance at being her friend. But you? No… Of course, you wouldn’t feel a thing. You never really cared!”

“I care about Smolder!” he shot back.

“You’re doing a wonderful job showing it.”

“I don’t know if I’ve actually ‘lost’ her yet. Forgive me for trying to be optimistic for a change.”

“‘Optimistic’? You? I don’t think so. How about: Denial. But then again, that’s your go-to response to practically anything even remotely emotionally draining, so…”

“Yeah? Well, not anymore. I’m tired of all of this, including you.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you made your friend stop caring about you. Nor does it change the fact that you don’t care that you did.”

“I care! What makes you think I don’t!?” he demanded hotly.

“‘If nothing else, heartache proves that we loved. If not to others, to ourselves.’ And you’re not feeling any heartache over Smolder’s loss, are you?”

Gallus looked down, unable to provide a response.

“See what I mean? Either you never really cared about Smolder, or you’re in denial.”

“Or! I could be simply focusing on everything else right now while remaining hopeful that this will all blow over, and Smolder and I are still friends.”

“Of course, by focusing on everything else, you’re just proving that your friendship with Smolder isn’t a priority. Golly, I wonder why?”

Gallus ignored that thought.

A few minutes later, Gallus finally located the first page of Cadence’s advice(At the bottom of the pile of course). Afterward, he remembered what the advice was for, panicked, stopped panicking, resumed panicking, and stopped again, stuffing the thing into the depths of his notebook for later.

From there, Gallus slipped into his normal morning routine of gathering up his school supplies for the day, taking a shower, and finishing his morning preening. Once that was done, he stopped to shoot one last gloomy glare at his barren room before he began his journey into the school’s halls.

Considering both how early it was and how exhausted everyone had been the previous day, it came as no surprise to Gallus that he made his journey alone. He took the opportunity to breathe a little easier and replace his current issues with thoughts of orange juice and pancakes.

Soon, he reached the doors into the wide cafeteria, noting that the pink hurricane that had been trapped within it for the past week was finally gone, replaced by a very sleepy Pinkie Pie. Surprisingly, he wasn’t the only the student.

After having acquired a juice box and a plate of pancakes from his sleepwalking teacher, Gallus quickly took a seat at her table, raising a brow when his friend didn’t react to his presence whatsoever.

“Ocellus?” he tried. “Didn’t expect to see you here this early in the morning. You okay?”

“Hmmm?” she blinked dazedly at him.

He took a closer look at his groaning friend, noting that shadows had formed under her eyes. How long has she been up for this time? Gallus wistfully thought.

“Are you okay?” he repeated, giving her a gentle tap.

“Huh?” Her eyes seemed to finally focus on him, and she practically jumped back. “Gallus! O-Oh, uh, hi! S-Sorry, didn’t see you there; how are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” he hesitantly answered. “Are you?”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, yeah! I’m perfectly fine too! Heh-heh-heh…”

“You sure about that? You look about as wiped out as you did after last year’s midterms.”

“Do I? Sorry, I guess I am a little tired. It’s mostly a migraine, though,” she elaborated, stifling a yawn. “And bit of a stomachache, but that’s doing better for the most part.”

“Uh-oh. Did our friendly bug get an unfriendly bug?” he joked, biting into his pancakes.

“Okay, first off! Just because changelings share certain anatomical similarities with insects does not mean that we are classed as such! And second, bugs are technically a type of insect as opposed to the entire classification!”

“Fair enough. But bad jokes aside, what’s up with you?”

“I… I had a bit of a busy night,” she said curtly.

“You don’t say. So what was it this time? Pull another all-nighter? Let me guess; it was the teleportation project, wasn’t it? Spend your eight hours wasting away over magic math?” he asked, smirking knowingly.

“’Magic math’ is another over-simplification,” she said, gently itching at her eyes.

“Still a fair summation though, right?”

“A partly fair summation. But anyway…” she stared only to immediately fall silent.

“But anyway…?” Gallus egged on after a minute.

She sucked in a breath, forcing out, “Full disclosure?”

“Is there any other kind? Rhetorical question, Ocellus,” he added before she answered.

“Okay. Okay… Honesty Lesson Eighty-five: Whenever uncomfortable situations occur between yourself and your friends or family, it is always best to express your thoughts and views truthfully and as early as possible in order to evade the situation possibly worsening.”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure that was Honesty Lesson Eighty-five, yes. So what about it?”

“Just trying to remind myself of that lesson because… Well, this is kinda hard to say, but I spent the whole night worrying about you.”

Gallus completely froze. “What?” was all he could get past his clenched beak.

“Oh, dear! I’m sorry; I didn’t mean for you to take that the wrong way, or, or, or… S-Sorry, what I meant w-was well… Um… Uh… Um…”

She was up all night worrying about me? But… Why!? There was nothing for her to worry about, so why did she waste her entire night worrying about me?

Because she cares about me, he realized uncomfortably. But… But…

“So you drove away Smolder, and now you’re harming Ocellus? You’re such a great friend.”

“Okay, you’re gonna have to explain this to me,” Gallus said, shutting down that train of thought before it grew more insidious. “Why exactly were you up all night worrying about me?”

“Um, well, um… I’m not entirely sure how to elaborate further on that.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, I’m just not sure why my worrying about you requires elaboration,” she stated simply.

We’re friends; I’m bonkers; you’re scared. Oh, no-no-no! She’s worried because of me! How badly did I screw this up!? What do I do!? What do I do!? he panicked behind a blank stare.

“Fix it,” answered his ghost.

“No! I mean… I totally get why you’d be worried, but I told you guys that I’m fine! There’s no need to worry; especially if you’re staying up all night doing exactly that!”

Ocellus tilted her head and bit her lip.

Does she not believe me? But I’m not lying! I am perfectly—Wait! Back up! I know what I did wrong.

“Look. Like I said, I’m doing…well enough. I’m not on top of the world just yet, but I will be fine soon. I just need to… Relax a little?” he offered hopefully. “Relax and put this whole week behind me. After that, I’ll be back to being my regular snarky self! Promise.”

Okay, did that work?

Ocellus sighed and smiled. “Okay, Gallus. I definitely believe you.”

Phew.

“But I am still worried about you.”

Oh, c’mon!

“Please, don’t be,” he stressed. “I have a pretty good hunch I’ve caused enough worry as it is. And I definitely don’t want to be accidentally messing with your sleep schedule…”

“No, it’s not that! I mean, it technically is, but it’s not… I don’t know how best to explain this,” she admitted, frustrated.

“Take your time. I’m not going anywhere,” he assured.

Please let me be able to fix this! Please let me be able to fix this! Please let me be able to fix this! he begged as she took the moment to think.

“Okay. So, I am worried about you, but I believe you and that you are doing better,” she started. “Like you said, relaxing and spending some quality time in a healthy environment is probably the best thing for you. And in this case, that means maintaining stable relationships with those closest to you.”

“That sounds suspiciously like psychology; I thought you didn’t like psychology?” he instinctively teased.

“I’m entirely neutral to the subject; any disdain originates from its inherent unreliability. But that’s not the point. Gallus, the truth is that I’m worried something like this might happen again!”

“But it won’t. Ocellus—”

“Oh, it ‘won’t’? It just ‘won’t’? So, you’ve suddenly gotten over all of your current emotional trauma in the span of a single night and two conversations?”

Gallus blinked as a horrified Ocellus slapped a hoof over her mouth.

“I-I-I-I— I’m s-so sorry! Gallus, I didn’t mean to—”

“No! No. You’re good; no need to apologize, Ocellus. Besides! I didn’t know you had that level of sarcasm in you. Nice.” She’s also not wrong. Stupid subconscious psychological mumbo-jumbo…

“Ughhh,” she groaned, rubbing at the base of her horn.

“Oh. Migraine-induced irritability, eh?”

“…Something like that…”

Gallus caught the hesitation in her voice, once again asking, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“That’s the problem! I’m supposed to be asking you that, not the other way around! … I should have been asking you that before all of this even began…” she quietly added.

“What do you mean?” he asked even though he already knew.

She took another breath and forlornly said, “Gallus, I believe you when you say you’re getting better. I believe you when you say you just need some time. And I believe you when you say you’re not going to have another… ‘Breakdown.’ I believe you.”

The sincerity in her voice practically slapped him in the face.

“You… You really do?”

“At first, I was a little worried you were going to start lying again, but not anymore. I’m your friend, and I trust you. So when you say you’re doing better, however little, I believe you.”

There was a tiny instinct in the recesses of his mind that whispered its paranoia of her just saying that to appease him, but that voice was quashed under the weight of a single thought.

She trusts me. Even after learning about the whole thing, second-talon, she still…

“That’s something I don’t hear every day. Thanks, Ocellus,” he said appreciatively.

“Of course. But what I am worried about is that if any of this ever does start happening again… That if you start feeling afraid, alone, or sad again… I’m worried that I won’t see it.”

Even though she trusts me, she’s still worried I’ll… Oh, Grover! What have I done!?

“I should have remembered! I-I sh-should have remembered your situation! But no, I didn’t, and you spent the entire week feeling miserable because… Because I didn’t remember!”

“Hey!” he countered. “Don’t worry about it, Ocellus. It was my fault for not telling you guys the truth. In fact, I was kind of trying to avoid you the most after Silver because of you’re uh…thing.”

“What do you mean by… Oh. I keep telling you guys that’s not how it works!” she exclaimed angrily.

“Care to explain it more thoroughly then?” he challenged, trying to deflect the conversation.

“Maybe later,” she sighed. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t remember your situation even though I should have! ... Okay, technically, we all should have, but that’s a completely different matter. What does matter is— Is that— I’m so sorry, Gallus,” she ended, hanging her head.

“Ocellus? Do me a favor and don’t blame yourself. These are my issues, and it was my stupid decision to not tell any of you about them. So, please! Don’t blame yourself.”

“I know I shouldn’t! Self-blame is not a healthy behavior one should engage in, but I just can’t stop thinking that I should have remembered!”

“If it helps, everyone else forgot too,” he offered.

“Everyone else forgetting too is what led to all of this!” she snapped, more at herself than him. “I…” Ocellus continued. “I know I shouldn’t make excuses, but it’s been so long since when we first found out! Then Cozy happened! And then Sombra happened. And then Cozy happened again… And then in all the excitement for Friends and Family Day, I just…forgot! I. Forgot. Some friend I am…”

“You’re a better friend than me!” he admitted. “At least you’re being honest from the get-go. I needed Silver to drag me out into the Festival, kicking and screaming, and make me talk to her.”

“Don’t do that to yourself, Gallus!” she protested. “You’re a great friend!”

“Some ‘great friend’ I am, making all of you worry and panic! And why!? Just because I—”

“Don’t!” Ocellus declared darkly. The glare she gave him silenced Gallus immediately, but it didn’t last long and was quickly replaced by a saddened frown. “Please don’t do that, Gallus.”

“Do what? Be honest about how stupid I was?”

“Find another reason to be angry at yourself,” she corrected.

“I’m not! I’m just trying to point out that everything that happened—”

“‘Was my fault’?” she guessed.

Gallus stopped himself just before he said exactly that. He then frowned and said, “Yes. Everything that happened was my fault! I was the one stupid enough to hide how I was feeling, and if I hadn’t done that then you wouldn’t be worried like crazy, I wouldn’t have had a breakdown, and—” Don’t bring up Smolder. “And everything would be fine right now!”

“Gallus, what you did wasn’t stupid! Let me finish!” she demanded, preemptively cutting his retort off. “Thank you! Gallus, yes, you hid how you were feeling from the rest of us. But you didn’t do it because you were stupid, you did it because you were afraid! Of telling us and spoiling our holiday,” she added morosely. “You said that was why you did it. So unless you were lying?”

“I wasn’t,” he affirmed, holding her gaze.

“I didn’t think so. But you see!? This is why I’m still worried! You’ve been in your situation for so long, and I don’t know what kind of…” She gulped. “For lack of a better word? What kind of ‘issues’ you’ve accrued as a result! I mean, look at yourself! I’m trying to apologize for not remembering your situation, and you’re trying to use it as an opportunity to just demean yourself further! What the hay!?” she asked, throwing her hooves into the air.

Gallus flinched. I’m such an idiot! Why couldn’t I just say it was okay and make her feel be—

“And you want to know what the worst part is!?” she started again as her horn sparked. “The worst part is that what I just said could easily give you another reason to demean yourself! Not to mention be seen as selfish of me to place emphasis on my apology in the first place.”

Gallus blinked in surprise. How did she know I… Gallus shook his head clear and said, “You’re not selfish for apologizing to me! I’m grateful for the apology! Really! If anything I should be—”

“That’s exactly the problem, Gallus!” she yelled.

Pinkie Pie suddenly snorted loudly, making them both turn to her. After a moment, her snoring returned, and Ocellus took the chance to regain her breath.

“Gallus, you’re trying to go out of your way to find fault in yourself when you don’t need to!” she clarified. “Discounting my forgetfulness, there is no fault to even be had!”

“But—” Gallus started to protest before he stopped. Part of yesterday’s counseling began to replay in his head. So too did the ever-popular “There’s nothing wrong with you” line.

He took his own moment to calm down and said, “Sorry, Ocellus. I…” Just say it; you know you have to. “I know I’m not at fault or whatever. Headmare Starlight said that… That I might have gotten used to some bad habits since…you know. Apparently, one of those is thinking I’m at fault when I’m really not. Heh-heh,” he chuckled awkwardly. “Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Gallus,” Ocellus said quietly. “I’m just worried about what else you’ve ‘gotten used to.’ What other ‘bad habits’ I didn’t notice just because I…”

The lunchroom grew quiet; the only sound disturbing the solemn silence being Pinkie’s snores.

“Ocellus?” he began after some time. “You know I don’t blame you. Right?”

“I do know. But that doesn’t make what I did—or rather, didn’t do—right!” she argued.

“It was our first Hearth’s Warming Eve together! Plus, I don’t exactly make a point to remind you all about it, and we’re now what? In our third year?”

“After the next one we’ll be able to graduate,” she said. “Unless, any of us decided to spend a few more years here for the added experience and knowledge. Something that I evidently need to do,” she muttered dejectedly.

“You’re smarter than literally everyone else on campus!” he confidently praised.

“Having the highest grade average doesn’t make me smarter than anyone!” she said, affronted.

“Everyone else would beg to differ.”

“But then they’d be wrong!”

“And you know better; thus, you’re smarter than everyone else.”

“That— That’s not— That’s not how that works!”

Gallus chuckled as Ocellus groaned again. It didn’t last for long.

“Ocellus, you’re a great friend," he assured. "You said I’m not at fault for what happened? Fine. But it wasn’t your fault either! I don’t blame you or any of the others, and I never would. So please don’t blame yourself, or be mad at yourself, or anything else! Please. Whatever it is I’m worth; I’m not worth that.”

“I’m just scared, Gallus,” Ocellus admitted with watery eyes. “Forgetting your situation aside, you were walking around all over campus as miserable as can be, and I didn’t notice at all! We watched the fireworks on the last night, and I didn’t notice! We worked together on my teleportation assignment, and I didn’t notice! I’m just worried that if you’re ever like this again I still won’t notice…”

“The reason that neither you, nor the others noticed was because I was hiding it. And I’ve gotten really good at hiding it. It’s because I slipped up that Silver and the rest of you even found out at all.”

“Exactly! A better friend would have known something was wrong right from the get-go! Unlike Silver, I was completely blind to it the whole time, and… That says a lot about me as a friend.”

“Don’t tell me you really think Silver’s a better friend than you?” he asked, confused.

“Wait.” She looked up from the table, meeting his gaze. “You don’t think that?”

“I think you’re both my friends. It doesn’t matter to me who’s ‘better’ or not. You’re all my friends, and I love all of you. That’s not changing, so long as I can help it.” She still looked wary, so he continued, “Look. I promise—I! Promise!—I’m not going to lie to any of you about these issues again. I just want to move on, and I definitely don’t want to lie to or worry any of my friends while doing it.”

She took a slow breath and replied, “And I trust that you won’t lie. I just wish I could trust myself to catch on if you ever were feeling as bad as you were again.”

“Well, knowing you, you’ve probably already checked three dozen books out of the library on the subject and plan to do another ‘self-improvement’ study session,” he half-joked.

“…Something like that…”

“See!? That’s our Ocellus! Never one to let an opportunity to read half the library go to waste!”

“…Sure…”

“Yeah, heh-heh,” he laughed. I really hope that I’m only imagining that hesitation in her voice. “You know what?” Gallus said after a brief silence. “It’s like we said earlier. All this ‘drama’ and whatnot? We need a break from it all. You know? Just a few days to kick back and relax and just…”

“Move on?” she completed.

“Yep,” he agreed softly, taking another bite of pancake.

“Yeah. That sounds like the best course of action from what I read of the psychology section. 'A stable environment and healthy relationships can go a long way toward healing psychological trauma,’” she quoted. “At least… That seemed to be the most common answer to dealing with the issue.”

“I figured that. Luckily for us, we actually have those things! Go Equestria! Go Friendship! Ra! Ra! Ra!” he cheered dryly, raising his talons into the air.

“Go Equestria! Go Friendship! Ra! Ra! Ra!” she cheered back, giggling.

“Heh-heh-heh. … I suppose the important part now is to take everything one day at a time?”

“One day at a time,” she repeated. “That sounds good. Still, Gallus? I promise that I’ll try to be a better, more aware friend from now on!”

“I see your promise and meet it with one of my one: I promise to be a better, more honest friend from now on as well. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Here’s to having a normal day,” he toasted, raising his juice box.

She giggled again, as she too lifted up her empty box. “To a normal day.”

Several minutes later, the rest of the student body began entering the lunch room, each on their own breakfast quest.

Yona, Sandbar, and Silver soon appeared as well, spotting Gallus and Ocellus immediately.

“There you are! We were wondering where you two were,” Silver greeted, sitting beside Gallus.

“Well, Yona and I were wondering where you were; Silver was kind of panic—”

“Sandbar, quiet! Eh-heh,” she nervously chuckled. “Don’t mind him. So! You two up doing that teleportation thingy Smolder mentioned or something?”

“Nope,” Gallus answered, fervently ignoring his paranoia concerning Silver’s deflection. “I’m just a firm believer in the early bird getting the pancakes.”

“And I just had a pretty lousy night,” Ocellus mumbled.

“Ocellus try working on project through night again?” Yona asked knowingly.

“A project, yes. My teleportation project, no,” she groaned, rubbing her horn yet again.

“Are you okay, Ocellus?” Silver asked, biting into her pancake. “You look a little sick.”

“I definitely feel a little sick. … Okay, maybe a tad more than ‘a little.’”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to our teachers or something?” Gallus asked one last time.

“It’s just a headache! I’ll feel better once I—Actually!” she interrupted herself. “I think I am going to need a minute! If I’m late, please apologize to Professor Fluttershy for me!”

And with that, the changeling sprinted out of the room faster than the blink of an eye.

“Yona know that Ocellus likely want privacy, but should friends check on Ocellus anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Silver said, perplexed. “You were with her, Gallus. Was she like this earlier?”

“Ah, dude, you didn’t get sick, did you?”

Yona and Silver stare rebukingly at the blissfully ignorant Sandbar.

“No, I’m not sick. And all she said was that she had a migraine and a stomachache. … You guys don’t think she messed with anything ‘dangerous’ when she was with Trixie the other day, do you?”

“I doubt it. She’d probably be dealing with some lung issues too,” Sandbar said casually.

“Lung…issues?” Silverstream inquired hesitantly, slowly putting her juice back down.

“Well, fireworks are just colorful explosions. And it isn’t the healthiest thing to inhale explosive stuff. But knowing Ocellus, she was probably wearing a mask while inside a hazmat suit at the time.”

“I didn’t know you were so knowledgeable about fireworks, Sandy,” Gallus said, raising a brow.

“I’m not. It’s just common sense,” he replied, taking a bite of his pancakes and not noticing the others’ stares. He soon swallowed and said, “But, if you wanted to learn more about firework safety, the Town Hall has been hosting a seminar on it twice a week since Trixie’s Equestrian Apology Tour.”

Three voices all suddenly said, “Ohhh. That’s how.”

“Huh?” he uttered, confused.

Before any of them could reply, a newcomer joined the table, bringing with her a blanket of uncomfortable silence and drawing forth all of their stares.

“Oh, hey, Smolder! How are you doing?”

Yona and Silver practically glare at the, once again, blissfully unaware Sandbar.

“I’m tired and grumpy.” she answered snappishly. “You?”

“Just dandy,” he said normally.

Smolder nodded, biting into her breakfast.

Gallus exchanged looks with Silver and Yona; the latter awkwardly shrugged while the former frowned. He looked back to Smolder, noticing just how dry and bloodshot her eyes were.

Gallus gulped. Okay, I need to fix all of this! So,let’s try not to leave the problem to bottle up and explode this time, he thought as he turned to her and politely asked, “Rough night?”

Smolder scowled and continued to aggressively eat her pancakes.

“Okay then…”

“Look,” she said, suddenly glaring at him. “I haven’t figured out exactly what I want to say to you yet, so until then… … … … Yeah.”

He flinched. He flinched again when he saw Yona and Silver both glare at Smolder.

“Why Smolder have hard time talking to friend?”

Smolder ignored Yona.

“What do you even need to say? Gallus has done nothing wrong, so what’s your problem?”

Smoke started spilling out of Smolder’s nostrils again.

“Uh, Smolder?”

A sharp crack was met with Smolder’s fork snapping in her claw.

“Yes. Sandbar?” she asked in a carefully measured tone.

“Smoke’s coming out of your nose again.”

She huffed a cloud of it out and said, “Yeah?”

“I just thought you’d like to know.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Bless you, Sandbar. You have no idea what’s going on, do you?

Smolder rolled her eyes, returning to her food.

“Did you want me to get you a new fork?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Okay.”

Yep. Not a clue. … I’m jealous. I probably shouldn’t be, but I am.

Yona just shook her head at her boyfriend’s pleasantries to which he tilted his head in confusion. Silver looked between everyone before proceeding to solemnly pick at her food.

“So,” Gallus began, not wanting the silence to go on. “Ocellus roped me into joining Chess Club.”

“Oh! So November did drop out?” Sandbar asked. “Dude’s been debating between Chess and Yearbook for a while, but we all thought he would quit Yearbook. Guess not.”

“Didn’t he also quit Drama?” asked Smolder. “I heard from Shimmy Shake that it caused a ruckus.”

Silver and Yona both looked at each other, wearing the exact same grimace.

“Yona forgot about that. Vellum not happy after learning November done with Club.”

“Now that’s an understatement,” Silver bemoaned wearily.

“Vellum?”

“Vellum Codex,” she answered. “He’s quite...passionate about Drama Club.”

“Yona know passion. And what Vellum have not passion. What Vellum have is stick up—”

“Okay, Yona!” Silver interrupted. “Ha-ha, but you know that’s not true.”

“Silverstream shouldn’t sugarcoat issue,” Yona acknowledged sagely.

“And you shouldn’t try to exaggerate it either,” Silver smartly shot back.

“Fair enough,” she conceded. “But still. If Silverstream plan to finally…” Yona shot Gallus a coy smirk and said suspiciously, “Ask. She should be upfront with everything, good and bad.”

“Yona!” Silver snapped; her wings flaring and face glowing red.

“What!?” Yona asked innocently. “Yona just trying to help!”

“Yeah! Well… It’s appreciated, but please! Don’t! I’ve got it!”

“Yona sure Silver has it. Yona just know Silver won’t actually ask without convincing.”

Silver scowled at Yona, but she ultimately relented, sighing and returning to her food. Yona did the same as Sandbar sipped at his juice, giving his girlfriend a curious look but nothing more.

Gallus and Smolder met each other’s eyes, asking the exact same question. A split second later, Smolder realized what she was doing and hurriedly looked back down at her plate, leaving Gallus to stare questioningly at the yak and hippogriff.

…

Gallus took a small breath and decided against asking further. Of course, he still didn’t want to let the noticeably more uncomfortable silence continue, so he instead asked, “So, Yona?”

“Yes?” Yona responded, perking up instantly in contrast to Silver’s immediate panic.

“You’re in Drama Club?”

Yona processed the question for a moment as her face quickly fell in disappointment. Silver, by comparison, looked about ready to break into a musical number.

“Oh... Yona mean— Oh, yes!" she said, perking back up. "Yona part of Drama Club. Did Gallus not know?”

“Mmm,” he hummed, double-checking his memory. “Nope. Can’t say I recall ever seeing you in any of the plays.” Please, please, please! Tell me I didn’t fall asleep during one of them!

“Ohhh!” Yona said, chuckling. “That because Yona not main performer! Yona work more on backstage stuff like props and dresses.”

“Oh. Well, that explains that then. Cool.”

Yona gave a quick glance to Silverstream and smirked. “Well, if Gallus wants… Gallus is always welcome to stop by Drama Club after school day done! Yona can show him what Yona does, and maybe Gallus watch others practice for—”

“So!” Silver desperately interjected. “Chess Club, huh!? That sounds like fun! I’ve certainly heard a lot of good things! So, Gallus? Did you need help learning the game!?”

“Hey!” Yona protested. “Yona was still—”

“I’m not exactly an expert, but I still know a few things at least!” she continued.

Something is definitely going on… he thought, giving Silver an uncertain look. But… What? Did I… Did I screw something else up? Does it involve Silver!? Or Yona!? What did I— No. No, Gallus. Calm down. You can figure out what you need to fix later! Let’s get this over with first.

“Nah. I have at least some idea about how the game works,” Gallus answered, earning a relieved sigh from Silver. “Thanks for the offer though.”

“Hee-hee,” she chuckled, blushing faintly. “Anytime! If you ever change your mind or need a practice partner, just make sure to let me know!”

“I’ll hold you to that,” he replied, smirking.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said, winking.

…

“You guys are so cute together,” Sandbar said happily.

“Sandbar!” Silverstream yelped, reddening again.

Gallus started screaming internally; whether in joy or terror, he didn’t know quite yet.

“What? You are,” Sandbar stated “I guess you really did find that special somegriff, huh, Gallus? You old charmer, you!” he joked, grinning widely.

“Sandbar? Buddy, pal, friend,” Silver said with a deliberate calmness. “Stop talking.”

“…Okay,” he said, shrugging and returning to his breakfast.

Everyone stared at him for a moment, but they all quickly rolled with it and followed Sandbar’s example; none of them wanting to prolong the awkwardness any further.

Okay… Gallus thought to himself, sipping at the last bit of his drink. Okay! Everything is…normal!? Yeah? Aside from…that…and a bit of lingering awkwardness, everything is still normal!

“Pardon? ‘Normal’!? Ha! You saw the tension they’re all filled with! You already chased off Smolder, and you saw what you did to Ocellus! And apparently, your little ‘girlfriend’ is next in line.”

No, he thought vehemently. I’m not going to do that.

“Admit to your own mess?”

Maybe I did screw things up a bit, and that is my fault, yes. But I am not going to focus on that! I refuse to do that after what Ocellus and I just talked about earlier!

“So instead of owning up to how—”

Look! They all know, and they’re all still here! With me. I didn’t chase them away; I didn’t make them hate me; and I didn’t screw our friendship up! And… And I’m tired of dwelling on all of this stupid stuff! I just want a break from it. So whether you like it or not, I’m going to ignore you now.

He waited for a response, but none came much to his surprise and gratitude. He let out another sigh of relief as he flipped open his notebook to review his recent notes.

Everything is fine, he assured himself.

“Oh, by the way!” Silver said. “What was our first class today?”

“Kindness," answered Smolder.

“Oh. … Thank you, Smolder.”

Smolder nodded, apparently not noticing the pause. Gallus looked between Yona and Sandbar, but they didn’t seem to notice it either, and Silver had already refocused on her food.

He shook his head and turned back down to his notes. Don’t be paranoid, Gallus. Everything is fine. … If not? I can fix it! But I don’t need to fix it because everything is fine! … I hope.

“Oh, no! What happened?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“We think she just caught something. But she’s been in the bathroom since this morning, so…”

“Oh, dear! Did any of you check on her to see how she was doing?”

“We thought that she’d like some privacy.”

“And she’s still in there!? That’s not good. I better go check to see if—”

“I’M HERE!” Ocellus shouted, skidding into the room. “I’m here…! I’m not late, am I?”

“Ocellus! Oh, thank goodness. Your friends were just telling me that you were ill!”

“Y-Yeah, a little, but I’m feeling much better now!”

“Are you sure? I think Starlight knows some healing spells, but if it’s really serious, I can take you to the hospital! I’m sure Nurse Redheart wouldn’t mind giving you a quick check-up.”

“No! I-I mean… No thank you, Professor,” Ocellus decided, shaking her head. “I’m fine; I cast a few healing spells on myself and they did wonders.”

“Are you sure? If you’re worried about being counted absent, I can make an exception.”

“No-no! I’m good! Promise.”

“…Alright. But please don’t strain yourself if you’re still feeling uneasy later, okay?”

“I won’t. Sorry about the interruption.”

“It’s perfectly fine, Ocellus. Now go on and take your seat; the bell will—”

RIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!

“—Do that. Okay, good morning, class!”

“Good morning, Professor Fluttershy!”

“Alright. If we’re all here now…” she began.

“Psst, Ocellus!” whispered Gallus, turning his attention away from Fluttershy.

“Yes, Gallus?” she whispered back, retrieving her books from her bags.

“You sure you’re okay? You were in the bathroom for a while.”

“Yes! I’m perfectly fine!”

“This wasn’t one of those athletic headaches that you told me about yesterday, was it?”

“Aetheric headaches, Gallus. And if I had one of those, I wouldn’t be able to levitate so much as a feather. Not to mention, I’d be—metaphorically speaking—dead to the world.”

“Then what’s up?”

“I’m just— It’s just— An unfriendly bug!” she proclaimed as if she had found the answer to the universe. “Yeah, an unfriendly bug! Like you said. Don’t worry! I’m totally fine. Promise.”

Yeah, like I promised? Gallus cynically thought, deadpanning.

“Seriously, please stop worrying; I’m fine. Just feeling under the weather,” she echoed.

What are you hiding, Ocellus?

“Can you feel the irony crawling along your back?”

It’s more crushing my back, thank you very much.

“Alright then,” he said slowly. “If you need anything though, just ask.”

“I will, don’t worry. Seriously! Don’t worry, Gallus. I’m woozy enough without that adding to it…” she whispered to herself.

“Sorry?”

“So was that ‘sorry’ preemptive to my pausing to listen in to your conversation, or was it a continuation of said conversation?”

Both Ocellus and Gallus jumped, much to everyone else’s giggles. “Sorry,” they said.

“It’s perfectly fine. Was there anything more that you two wish to share with the class?”

“You mean other than my fantastic wit and charm?” Gallus inquired.

“Yes,” Fluttershy said, unimpressed.

“Then nope. Ocellus?”

“Huh!? Uh… Um… No?”

“Good. Now that everyone is paying attention, I know that we’re hot off the hooves of an entire week of relaxation and fun, so we should resume class as normal…”

About half of the class slumped in their seats; the other half perked up eagerly.

“But, I also know that we’re hot off the hooves of an entire week of relaxation and fun, and that none of you likely want to return to the ordinary lessons just yet. That being said! We still have over half an hour of class time, sooo… I thought it would be a great idea if we all shared what we did over the Friends and Family Day break as well as any important lessons we learned!”

About half of the class perked up eagerly; the other half slumped in their seats.

In the latter category was Gallus, who kept his head firmly planted in the palm of his talon so as to refrain from slamming it into the desk.

Grover’s Treasure! It never pecking ends!

The path of healing is long and arduous, but—

I know that! he said to himself. That doesn’t mean I can’t be annoyed by stupid things like—

Gallus turned to meet the five pairs of eyes staring at him and gave what he hoped was a confident grin and a talons-up. Sandbar and Yona seemed consoled. Smolder held her stare a moment before following the path of the slumpers. Unfortunately, Silver and Ocellus didn’t look convinced.

“Are you going to be okay?” the latter asked as the former was on the other half of the room.

Not if I have to deal with this pecking junk all week! But I know I can’t say that, so…

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

She reeled back in shock. That shock quickly melted into worry.

“It really is that easy…” she whispered again.

“Huh?”

“Gallus, are you sure you’re going to be fine? Please, don’t lie,” she quietly begged.

Am I doing it again? “Yes, I’m a bit annoyed, but I’ll be fine. Promise.” Please stop worrying!

“…Genuine.”

“Ocellus, either speak up, or I’m going to start getting really cynical about whatever it is you’re muttering under your breath.”

“Eep! No, no! I wasn’t muttering anything! A-Anyway, if you’re sure you’ll be okay, then I believe you. But if you need me to, I can cast a silencing spell, so you don’t have to deal with… This.”

Now that’s appealing!

You do remember all those stories about how using magic just made everything worse, right?

That was the Princess! I like to think Ocellus is a tad bit more responsible than her.

Elsewhere, a lavender alicorn looked up and shot an annoyed glance in the direction of Ponyville. It quickly abated, so she returned to her notes, mildly miffed for an unknown reason.

After brushing off the sudden feeling of being stared at, Gallus admitted, But, I guess I still shouldn’t risk it. “Nah, I’ll be fine,” he said to Ocellus. “If I get bored, I’ll just read or something.”

“Alright then. Let me know if you change your mind.”

“My-my, Ocellus! For feeling queasy all morning, you sure are chatty today.”

“Eep! S-Sorry, Professor Fl-Fluttershy!”

“Hee-hee. Don’t worry about it. It’s actually nice to see you be so talkative for a change.”

“That’s teacher talk for ‘You’re one of the only students I won’t punish for being disruptive,’” November Rain not-so-subtly muttered to Ocellus.

“That’s assuming I do have students I’m selectively lenient on, which I’m not supposed to have. But if I did—and I’m not saying that I do—what makes you think you’re one of them, November?”

“Uhhh…”

“In fact, since you’re feeling so chatty yourself, why don’t you come up here and talk about your Friends and Family Day first?” Fluttershy asked coyly.

“Ah, geez! Uh… Anyone else want to go first instead?”

“If you can’t talk in class, maybe you shouldn’t talk during class,” Peppermint Goldylinks shot.

“…You know, I quit to get away from Vellum…” the stallion grumbled, trotting up to the front. “Well, um, I uh…” November weakly stuttered. “Well, the first thing I d-did on Friends and F-Family Day was…”

Gallus shut the stammering out and pulled out his other notebook, opening it to the place where he had stuffed Cadence’s first letter of advice.

Gallus gulped, and turned back to the blue unicorn who had quickly gained some confidence.

“—So after Mom and Dad finished hugging me, we decided that we’d probably have the most fun just wandering about the Festival with no actual set destinations in mind. That way every activity would be a surprise that we could experience together. And of course, our first stop happened to be—”

Gallus opened the letter and began.

Dear Gallus…

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Sorry, I couldn’t help writing out my reaction to finding out about you and your friend! I’m so happy for you and Silver—I totally called it when I visited the school last Hearts and Hooves Day; ask Twilight and she’ll tell you! Then again, I also thought your other friends, Sandbar and Ocellus, would get together too, but it turned out the colt had a soft spot for the yak all this time! WHO KNEW!?

Sweet Hearth’s Warming, I love Love! It’s so unpredictable, erratic, and explosive, and yet is equally beautiful, majestic, and harmonious! Not to mention—

Whoops! Sorry, I shouldn’t be letting slip all of the amazing feelings a creature experiences when their heart has been entwined with another’s! You’re about to learn that for yourself soon enough, and far be it for me to spoil any of it!

Gallus looked up so quickly his neck cracked.

“—After that, the puppet started break-dancing and singing about wrecking balls. I had no idea what it was about, but my mom was in tears over how beautiful it was. On the other hoof, my dad thought it had something to do with normalizing radicalized thinking…? I don’t know. Anyway—”

Rubbing his neck, Gallus forced himself to look down once more.

And of course, I found out when Twily mailed to me about your situation, and I am just so! So! SO! Happy for you! You totally deserve some love in your life!

Of course, it’s not just you that deserves anything out of a relationship. Silverstream does too. Luckily, you already seem to know this, considering you asked Twilight for advice on the matter(I would have mailed you anyway, but you asking for help definitely made me sigh in relief).

Sooo… You are about to enter into a relationship with another creature with their own thoughts, dreams, and emotions! And! You wish to be more knowledgeable on the subject to ensure that said relationship is as fulfilling and rewarding as you can possibly make it!

You my fine, feathery friend have come to the right pony!

Gallus practically slammed the notebook shut, trying to keep the growing panic in his chest from exploding outward into an alien abomination.

“—So anyway, we all just floated into the air, weightless as could be. She started yelling at the Crusaders to fix the situation while also apologizing profusely for the whole thing. Luckily, Mom was having too much fun swimming through zero gravity to be paying the slightest attention to Ms. Cheerilee, and Dad was too busy vomiting into his popcorn bag—”

Taking a deep breath, Gallus once again forced himself to resume reading Cadence’s letter.

Now, something to remember is that every creature in this world is unique; therefore, every relationship is unique as well. Different creatures have different expectations, and those differences can and will effect how the relationships between creatures operate.

However, you shouldn’t be intimidated by that fact. There are a lot of intricate nuances I fully intend to write to you about, but for now—since you’re only just beginning—it’s best to give you some quick, general information(Most of which is obvious enough that you probably already know):

First off: Respect Silverstream. See? I told you most of this stuff would be obvious; you should already respect her since she’s your friend.

Don’t be paranoid that you need to respect her ‘more’ just because she’s now also something ‘more’ to you. Just be as kind and considerate to her as you normally are and you’ll be fine. Don’t take that as a discouragement to being more considerate if you see an opportunity to be so, however.

Second: Trust her. Again, obvious, but you’d be shocked at how often this issue crops up.

A relationship requires trust because everything else is built upon that trust. Without it, you can’t depend on one another or be emotionally open or vulnerable with each other.

Acts of Kindness and Generosity mean nothing if your bond is lacking Loyalty or Honesty, and moments of joy and Laughter become empty and lifeless.

Simply put: The Spark of Magic that fuels a bond of love is gone if there’s no trust to maintain.

See, Twilight!? I did the thing you wanted me to; now get off my back about it, would ya!

Finally: Be aware. Nothing more to it than that. Be aware of her thoughts and feelings. Be aware of your own. Too many times I’ve seen couples fail to work just because one or both of them just weren’t aware of each other’s feelings. Ignorance is innocent most of the time, but it’s never desired.

Luckily, I feel certain you don’t struggle in this aspect. Wanna know why? Because you asked for my advice. It bears repeating: You asked for help, so you could know more about how this whole thing works, and do better as a result. You were aware of your shortcomings and cared enough about both Silverstream and your new relationship to ask for help concerning them.

That means a lot Gallus.

Anyway! Now that we’ve got the general stuff out of the way; it’s time to get into the hefty stuff! So! My first major piece of relationship advice is…

“—It sounds like you had a very interesting day, November! I hope everything is alright now.”

“It is! Mom’s new cactus pet is doing just fine, and Dad finally managed to get the polka dots out of his coat. All’s well that ends well, right?” he concluded, shrugging nonchalantly.

“I suppose. Now! Who’d like to go next? Gallus?” she suddenly called. “You look pretty bored, sitting there and reading all through November’s turn. Why don’t you come up here and talk about what you did for Friends and Family Day? I bet that’ll cheer you right up.”

Gallus froze.

“Wait! He was— Oh, come on, dude! You were reading when I was talking?”

“Uhhh, sorry?” Gallus reflexively apologized.

November averted his eyes, genuinely hurt.

“Hey! Professor! Yona’d like to come up and talk about holiday!”

“Aww! That’s very nice of you Yona; you can go after Gallus.”

“B-But—” she stammered, obviously panicking.

“After Gallus,” she repeated, still smirking at Gallus.

She doesn’t know! She doesn’t know! She doesn’t know! It makes no sense why she’d be singling me out like this otherwise! I’m just a student not paying attention, nothing more!

“Well, uh, I had a day!” he tried. “There you go! That was my day. It was a day.”

“Funny. But I know you had a better day than that, so come up here and tell us all about it!”

What does she—Ah, peck! Silver and I stopped by and played her water pistol game! She probably just thinks I had a good time like everyone else did!

“No chance of getting out of it?” he nearly whimpered.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Gallus. Now come on! Let’s hear all about what you got up to the other day. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure no one reads during your time up here.”

Translation: Peck you! Get over here and be humiliated, you idiot!

Gallus blinked at the thought that just ran through his head.

True translation: Come on up here and talk about your holiday, so you know better than to read and ignore everyone else when they talk about theirs after you.

Gulping, Gallus casually trotted up to the front of the room and smiled awkwardly at Fluttershy who stepped aside, giving him the room. He then faced his classmates.

Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! No—Oh! For the love of Grover’s Treasure! STOP! PANICKING!

Then what do I do!?

Give them an abridged version of your stupid day!

Including the breakdown?

Peck, no!

What about Silverstream?

…Uh-oh.

‘Uh-oh’? What do you mean by ‘uh-oh’!?

You told the others you were feeling better, so if you stand up here and lie to the class…

Oh. But they’d understand, wouldn’t they?

Smolder probably wouldn’t.

Okay, but I can fix that! She’s already kind of mad at me anyway, so…

What about Ocellus? You just promised you wouldn’t lie to her either. You promised the same thing to Silver, and didn’t you read the advice Cadence gave you about trust?

That promise is a little hard to keep when you’ve got an innocently ignorant teacher breathing down your neck to tell two dozen others that you had a mental meltdown!

“Well, my day was actually pretty boring all things considered,” he finally began, trying to hide his unease. “I uh… Well, the first thing that happened was that I got out of bed!”

Half of the class slumped in their desks; the remaining half snickered.

“And the second thing that happened was finding out that Silver’s cockatrice, Edith, is apparently really fascinated with the idea of acting as an impromptu alarm clock.”

The slumpers slumped harder, and the snickerers snickered louder. Funnily enough, Fluttershy appeared to be taking the side of the latter.

“Anyway, after getting out of bed, I…”

Okay, do I be honest that I spent the day with Silverstream, or do I make something up?

What would you even say? ‘I took a train to Griffonstone and got roped into waxing all of Grandpa Gruff’s furniture while he sat in his throne of dead feathers and disappointment’?

Grover’s Treasure, why is it never easy!?

“Ooh! Professor!? This is the part where I come in! So can I help tell the story!?”

Hallelujah! For once it’s easy! … Wait a minute.

“Hmm, well, I don’t see why not.”

“Yay!” chirped Silver, bounding up to him as his heart beat a little faster. “So! Context: My family and I decided that since we spent the entire week leading up to Friends and Family Day hanging out, that for the Festival we’d all do our own thing and meet up later. Sadly, that meant whatever I was gonna do for the day, I had to do alone, buuuuut!” she ended, looking at him expectantly.

“Buuuuut,” he picked up more confidently. “I conveniently had no one to spend the day with either, so Silver took the chance to rope me into spending the day with her.”

“How come you were alone, Gallus?” asked Peppermint. “Where were your parents?”

He barely resisted the urge to slap a claw over his face.

“Eh, Gramps just couldn’t make it for some reason,” he deflected.

“Aww. Sorry, Gallus.”

“Don’t worry about it, Patty. Besides, I had Silver to hang out with, so it wasn’t all bad.”

Silver’s smile brightened. However that was possible, Gallus didn’t know.

“Yeah! So do you want to tell them about all the amazing stuff we did, or do you?”

“Turns?” he suggested.

“Turns! You first!”

“Okay! So first thing we did was Professor Fluttershy’s water pistol game!”

“I tried it out, but lost twice…” she lamented sadly.

“You didn’t lose; you managed to get those two Stripes!” Gallus defended comfortingly.

“Yeah, well you did better than I did!”

“Hey, you wanted Horton, so I got you Horton.”

“And I love him so much! He’s so fluffy…”

“Well, after that we did Sugar Belle’s Pie Toss—”

“We got a little messy, but those cherry pies were delicious!” Silver gleefully reminisced

“I was partial to the blueberry, but the cherry was good too,” he agreed, nodding.

“Certainly better than the apple from what I’ve been hearing…” uttered Fluttershy. The two stared at her. “Oops! Sorry, don’t mind me.”

“Anyway! After that we did the hammer-puck thing!”

“High striker.”

“High striker! That’s it! Anyway, I managed to get fourth!” she bragged.

“I’m still annoyed I didn’t even get tenth,” he playfully grumbled.

“Sorry, Gallus.”

“Not a problem. Just evidence I need to finally look into a gym membership or something.”

“Let me know if you’re serious about that; I know a few of the good ones.”

“Thanks, Sandbar.” I wasn’t serious, but thanks anyway. “Hey, Silver? What did we do next?”

“Was it Matilda’s game or Professor Applejack’s?”

“I think it was Matilda’s,” he remembered.

“Right. Well, I don’t think either of us were good at that one, but it was still fun!”

“Yep, and then we did Applejack’s game.”

“Oh, yeah! I almost forgot AJ had a game. What was it by the way? Nopony ever told me.”

Everyone looked at Fluttershy fearfully, Applejack’s warning echoing in all of their minds.

“Well, she did have a game. Not sure what it was called, but it—er—wasn’t all that interesting,” Gallus hurriedly covered.

“In any case,” Silver quickly followed. “After that was Lyra’s Laser Tag!”

“Oh, yeah! We were in that place for over an hour, but it was so awesome!” he shouted happily.

“We managed to win our way to the top and got these really cool figurines of the Princesses!”

“Well, we only won because you were fantastic at having my back in there.”

“You were the one getting all the targets!”

“Hey, so did Ms. Doo!”

“I know!” Silver gasped and said, “Oh my gosh! We still need to bake those muffins for her!”

“Uh… I still don’t know how to bake muffins. Remember?” he said, slightly embarrassed.

“And I told you I would show you, remember? Hey! You wanna do it during break?”

“You know what? Yeah! Why not?”

“Eee!” she squealed, hopping excitedly. “Get ready to see this muffin-baking master at work then!” Silverstream proclaimed eagerly.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Gallus affirmed, grinning.

The two chuckled.

“Oh, geez! They’re as bad as Sandbar and Yona.”

“Hey!” exclaimed said stallion and yak.

“Now, November, that wasn’t very nice.”

“We were all thinking it, Professor!”

“I wasn’t.”

“So what November should have said was, ‘We were all thinking it except you, Professor’?”

“Yes, Peppermint, that is what he… Wait. No!”

The class’s chuckling at Fluttershy’s expense gave both Gallus and Silver a chance to recover their composure and return their attention to the class.

“Okay, okay. Everycreature settle down. And please don’t do that, Ms. Goldylinks.”

“Yes, ma’am. Hee-hee-hee.”

“Anyway, sorry for that interruption. Do continue, you two.”

“Alright, Professor. So after having a blast at Laser Tag, we decided to stop and have some lunch, and then we— Ummm…” Silver trailed off, staring uncertainly at Gallus.

“…And then we just sat there for a while talking. We didn’t have a whole lot better to do since we were both exhausted from Laser Tag, so…” he finished with a shrug.

“Ooh! What did you two talk about?”

So was it the fourth talon, or the third? Dang it, where’s Gilda when you need her!?

“Well, we, uh… Talked about, uh… What did we talk about, Gallus?” she lied, deferring to him.

“We mostly just talked about random—” Don’t say ‘crap’! “—Stuff. The usual tangents that happen when you’re bored out of your mind.” Please relinquish us from this accursed torture!

Fluttershy smiled expectantly.

Oh, so it’s like that, is it? Well, Professor… You asked for this.

“But I can tell you’re looking for specifics!” Gallus declared, smirking deviously. “And in that case, hey, guys! Who here thought Sandbar would hook up with Ocellus!?”

“Good morning, everycreature, and—WHA-HAH-AHH! O-Oh, my stars! What happened to all of you!? No offense, darlings, but all of you look like you went through a warzone!”

“You could say that…” November groaned, rubbing his back.

“Oh! Goodness gracious, did Discord mess with the hallways again!?”

“While it was certainly chaotic, it wasn’t that kind of warzone, Professor. It was the ‘shipper’ kind,” Peppermint clarified ominously.

“Should I even bother asking for an elaboration?”

“Well, it started out as Sandbar and Yona versus Sandbar and Ocellus—”

“Nope, nope, nope! Sorry, darling, but I’ve seen—And, er, been in—enough of those debates to know what kind of hysteria it devolved into. Everyone survived the carnage unscathed, I hope?”

“Ocellus is in the bathroom, but she was sick earlier, so we’re not sure if she’s hiding out of embarrassment or queasiness.”

“My bet’s on both,” moaned Smolder, untangling tie-dyed toilet paper from her horn. “Where did this even come from?” she asked herself, throwing the wrappings in the trash can.

“Shall I check on her or is Fluttershy already doing so?” Rarity asked.

“She’ll be fine, Professor. Ocellus will probably dash into her seat at the last second before the bell rings,” November assuaged.

“Hmm. Alright then.” She then coughed into her hoof, announcing, “Good afternoon, class!”

Her response was a series of painful groans.

“Yes, that’s about what I expected. Now then…”

As Rarity went about inquiring the rest of the students as to their current state of mind and body, Gallus and Silver walked over to the farthest end of the classroom, sitting beside each other.

“Are you okay, Gallus?” she asked softly.

“Yep. Thanks for covering for me back there.”

“Of course! Sorry, you got called on. Yona tried to help out too, but it, well, didn’t work.”

“I know; I plan to thank her later. Geez, how did I get caught reading in class? I never get caught. Must be slipping, eh?” Gallus joked.

“Well, you tend to pretend that you’re reading in class even when you really are listening, so…”

“What!? N-No, I don’t!”

“Hee-hee. Yes, you dooooo,” she sang. “We all know it, even the teachers.”

“Fiddlesticks,” he pouted.

“I guess that means you really weren’t listening this time. What were you reading then?”

Are you going to finally ask her?

“Uh… Just some other notes that I was… ‘Prioritizing’ for lack of a better word.”

“Oh, okay then. … Are you really okay, Gallus?”

“Of course I’m…” Nope, can’t say that word. “Yeah. I was a little caught off-guard, but other than that? Doing well enough. I’m still up for baking if that’s what you’re really wondering?”

“What I was really wondering was if you were genuinely alright. Glad to see that’s the case…”

Glad or not, Gallus could still hear her lingering worry.

“Are you alright?” he slowly asked, remembering the breakfast debacle.

“Um… W-Well, you see, I, er…”

Before he could inquire further, a pale blue fire roared to life in the front row and just as quickly disappeared, revealing a panting Ocellus and her smoking horn. The bell rang the second after.

“Phew, made it!” she cheered, pumping a hoof.

“That was a magnificent display, Ocellus!” Rarity praised.

“O-Oh! Um, th-thank you, Professor.”

“You’re quite welcome, darling. Now then! Is everyone settled down and ready to begin class?”

“Yes, Professor Rarity!” the class declared.

“Excellent! So, moving beyond the apparent ‘war’ that occurred last period—”

“I still think Princess Celestia and Discord should have hooked up, and you can’t change my mind!”

“Oh, come on, Patty!” declared half the class.

“Ohp-up-up! We shall have no more of that! If you all wish to engage in this, er, ‘discussion,’ you may do so later in your own time. Right now, it is time for class, not shipping wars.”

“Yes, Professor…” Patty whined, defeated.

“Plus, we all know Discord has the hots for Professor Fluttershy,” whispered November.

“I said we will have none of that, please!” yelped Rarity, blushing.

“Yes, Professor…” November also whined, defeated.

“Good.” Now! I understand that we have just come off the cusp of Friends and Family Day—”

OH! COME! ON! Gallus thought as he turned to give Silver another forced smile. She didn’t see it since her face was currently hidden behind a claw.

He instantly dropped the facetious grin and asked, “Are you okay?”

“‘Exasperated’ is the word I’d use,” Silver answered, dropping her claw. “More importantly, are you okay?” she gently asked.

I wish I'd stop making her ask me that. “‘Exasperated’ is the word I’d use,” he echoed back, winking.

“Do you want me to say something?” she asked weakly. “I can if you want me to.”

“What? No! No, I’m good.” She stared at him, unflinching. “I promise, Silver. I’m—” Can’t say that word! “—doing okay. Don’t worry. Besides, I can always just fall asleep,” he suggested playfully.

She smiled, rolling her eyes. “You know you’re not supposed to do that!”

“I know. But it’s not like Rarity ever notices when I do.”

“Oh no, she does.”

“Wait. She does?” he asked, dumbfounded.

“Yep. She never says anything, but she always gives you the stink eye when you do it.”

Gallus gulped nervously. “I’d better start paying more attention then!”

They both chuckled, turning back to Rarity who hadn’t paid their conversation any mind.

“—And, of course, during that time I’m sure you all saw all of the amazing art and creations that many of your fellow students made to celebrate the holiday?”

“If by ‘amazing art’ you mean Sandbar just buying a mirror and gluing macaroni to it.”

“Yona pretty sure that Professor talking about November’s bottle fort.”

“Hey! That’s for my science fair project not Friends and Family Day!”

“That’s enough, you two. Now, where was I? Oh, yes! Well, I saw all of these projects myself, and—First of all, I’d like to say to those of you who did these projects: Fantastic jobs, all of you; your projects were absolutely marvelous! And secondly, I was INSPIRRRED!” she sang.

Here we go again, thought the entire class. Except Ocellus, of course.

“Inspired to do what, Professor?” she asked excitedly.

“Well, after seeing so many students try their hoof—or claw—at crafting something to visually encapsulate their love for their friends and families, it occurred to me that an important lesson all creatures should learn is how to do just that!”

“Buy mirrors and glue macaroni to them?”

“Build water bottle play-castle?”

“Of course!”

“Huh?” said Yona and November.

“Well, not those two things specifically, but rather, embracing the mentality behind those actions! That being: Expressing yourself creatively!”

Phew! It’s not one of ‘those’ inspired lessons, thought the entire class. Except Ocellus, of course.

“What exactly do you mean by that, Professor?”

“I mean exactly what I said! You see, there are many different ways we communicate to each other. Words, actions; thoughts… However, our ability to express ourselves is not limited to just these.”

“We can express ourselves in countless ways; our meanings and emotions limited only by our imagination and creation! Sure, what may look like to you is a mirror with macaroni glued to it, to another is a representation of how much an individual loves that particular food! They love it so much that they create something to symbolically represent themselves being surrounded by it!”

November looked away, looking ashamed of himself.

Yona smugly smiled, proud to have her boyfriend’s honor defended.

“Also, a large fort of bottles might seem wasteful to some, but others might see it as a way to stress the importance of recycling by suggesting that even houses are possible creations of the act!”

Yona winced apologetically, rubbing the back of her head.

November blinked and fell into a thoughtful daze.

“My point is this: Creative expression is one of the best ways that we can interact with both others and the world around us. It allows us to transform our hopes and dreams into works of creation! And through those works, touch the hearts of the world around us, speaking our words and thoughts to them without ever speaking at all! And in turn, urging others to do the same.”

“So, the best way to talk to each other is to draw something and give it to them?”

“Not quite, Patty darling. You see, art is more than simply drawing or painting. Art is about creation! It is about taking what you feel in your heart and giving it physical form! As such it can be anything! Any act of creation, be it a song, a novel; a play… Art is merely an expression.”

“Uh, Professor?” began Smolder. “If that’s the case, I think I’ll stick to just telling my friends whatever I’m thinking. It’s easier.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Gallus noticed Silver shoot Smolder a glare.

“That’s fine, darling, just because you can express yourself that way doesn’t mean you have to.”

“But you just said it was the best way to communicate to others!”

“I said it was ‘one’ of the best ways, not ‘the’ best. But… Personally, I’ve always found it easiest to express myself in such a manner, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same for you.”

Smolder deadpanned.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean that you should disregard the option entirely just because it seems daunting at first. You never know if you’ll find yourself lost in the act of creation until you attempt it!”

For a split second, Smolder glanced at Gallus before ducking her gaze back towards her desk.

“Professor? You said that we could channel our emotions into our creations. What do you mean by that? Like… How can we put our hopes and dreams into something without using magic?”

“Excellent question, Sandbar! But I should clarify, I don’t necessarily mean that literally. What I mean is that when performing an act of creation we can draw upon our thoughts and feelings and use them to help guide our hooves—or claws—during the process!”

“How does that work?”

“Well, there is no specific way it ‘works.’ Our creations are a medium through which we display the feelings in our hearts. As I said, the many acts of art that I saw so many of you create for the recent holiday inspired me to dedicate this lesson to the concept! But what was it about all of them that inspired me? Well, it was the love, affection, joy, and celebration that all of them were crafted with!”

“Everything from November’s pile of bottles to Sandbar’s macaroni mirror were crafted with the desire—your desire—to create something for those that you loved. To celebrate the bonds you had with your friends and family. This permeated each and every work of art created in the recent week.”

“That’s the whole point of creative expressions,” she continued. “It’s about putting forth all of your feelings, and all of your passions, and using them to weave together something to share those feelings and passions with those who can and will eventually behold it.”

Assuming it’s the things they want you to express, Gallus thought sourly, waiting for someone to say as such. Surprisingly, no one did. Likely because they were too busy writing notes down to do so.

“Professor?”

“Yes, Smolder darling?”

“What… Well, what about… What about ‘negative’ feelings? Like… Anger, or… Or fear?”

“Ah, yes. Those,” she said neutrally. “Well, just as love and joy can be woven into a creation of beauty and elegance, so too can sadness and heartache be forged into an artifice of melancholy and despair. However, that’s not a bad thing per se,” she quickly said.

“Many songs, paintings, and stories were created to communicate a feeling of sorrow, or tragedy—I highly recommend checking out the Shadow Spade series, for those who haven’t already!” Rarity promoted gleefully. “And that is perfectly fine. Happiness isn’t something that everyone feels all the time, nor is it something that can be or should be expressed all the time.”

Gallus had to bite back his retort.

“Sometimes, sorrow is something that someone needs to show. Somberness is a perfectly acceptable expression, as is loneliness.”

Silver glanced at him, only to turn away the moment he glanced back.

“And fear?” Rarity continued. “Well, that’s certainly something that everyone feels more often than we care to admit. But it too is something that deserves expression.”

“Well, duh! If it weren’t we wouldn’t have the Horror genre!”

“Only you would rejoice at the idea of Horror existing, Sandbar,” Peppermint accused.

“Oh, c’mon, Patty! Some of the best movies ever are Horror!”

“Yeah, and some of the best movies ever are Rom-Coms! And personally, I could do without sitting in a room for two hours watching crazy ponies hack each other to death, thank you very much!”

“‘Hack each other to death’? What do you—Oh! I think you might have watched a Horror-Thriller! Yeah, those can get a little redundant.”

“‘Redundant’!? That’s the word you go with!?” she squealed disbelievingly.

“Well, yeah. That’s because a lot of them rely on gore and shock value way too much. Depends on the director and writing team. But if you’re looking for good ones, I can give you a list!”

“…Yona? Could you…”

“Yona know. Sandbar?”

“What?” She whispered something into his ear to which he responded with, “Ohhh. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. … Did you have a list of Rom-Coms though? I’ve been looking for something new.”

“I’ve got you covered,” Sandbar answered confidently.

“If I may get back to what I was saying?” Both ponies quietly apologized. “Thank you! And it is not just sadness and fear that can be expressed this way, but anger and irritation as well!" Rarity continued. "In fact, I find myself alleviating frustration in this manner quite often!”

“You do?”

“But of course! I may be your teacher, but I still occasionally face difficult or frustrating problems. And when that happens, I turn to my craft!” she declared energetically. “My anger weaves into the stitching as my grievance flows into the fabric. What blossoms forth is an object that shines with said vented feelings. In fact, the dress I wear now is one such example!”

“So whenever Yona upset Yona should try sewing?” she asked eagerly.

“If you wish, darling. But remember that art is not limited to one specific activity. I express my emotions this way because that is how I best express my passions! But it might not be the same for you. The key is finding what is the best way that you can express your passions.”

“Seems kind of strange to only do that when you’re angry?”

“Well, I don’t, darling! You remember the dress that Twilight wore during her coronation?”

The class nodded.

“That was a work fueled by happiness, gratitude, a bit of apprehension, but above all else: Love. Whereas, this dress is one I crafted in frustration and doubt, but both are expressions nonetheless.”

“So, to make sure I have everything correct—”

“What are you talking about, Ocellus? Of course you have everything correct!” November said.

“Well, I don’t know that for sure!”

“Says the one who understands this lesson the best out of all of us.”

“Let me guess. Because I’m a changeling?” Ocellus asked tiredly.

“No…?” the stallion winced. “It’s because you’re ten times smarter than the rest of us. Sorry for accidentally making you think otherwise,” he apologized.

“O-Oh! Oh… Sorry,” she said meekly.

“Meh! Don’t worry about it.”

“Alright. Sorry,” she apologized again. “So, Professor? To ensure I have this right: Creative expression is a means of connecting with others by communicating the feelings that we put into our creations? And that all emotions can be expressed this way regardless if they’re positive or negative?”

“Exactly, Ocellus! Joy, love, gratitude, hope, sorrow, anger, uncertainty, fear, and all manner of other emotions are best shown through creativity, integrity, passion, and inspiration!”

The class stared scribbling down some more notes.

“Well! Having said all of that, this is today’s class assignment: I want each of you to create something that accurately portrays your present thoughts and feelings. It matters not what you do or if you finish. You have the remainder of class, and if you need any aid simply ask me. You may begin.”

And thus, the class entered into a flurry of movements, withdrawing various materials and items from the nearby closet.

Some stole away papers and pens, aiming to etch into the papyrus the stories that remained untold in all places save their minds.

Others had taken those same papers, pencils, and brushes and sought to bring images into the world that were once privy only to them.

A select few discovered an assortment of Professor Rarity’s leftover materials and had begun the beautifully painstaking process of creating an artifact of elegance.

However, while his classmates and friends had all sprang at the chance to embrace the activity, Gallus remained where he sat; his neutral face gazing downward at the notebook before him.

Aren’t you gonna finish? You didn’t even get to the actual advice!

That’s enough for today!

No, it isn’t! You asked for her help; she was even proud that you did! Are you seriously that terrified of knowing how to be a better griffon?

N-No!

Didn’t think so. After all, aren’t you trying to heal and be a better griffon in the process?

That’s a completely different issue than this!

Oh, like they aren’t intrinsically linked?

Exactly! One’s my current predicament with, uh, with Silver being, um, potentially romantically interested in me, w-while the other is my, er, issues.

“If you want to talk about issues, there’s the remaining one of whether or not Silver is actually interested in you or is just humoring you, so you won’t go crazy again.”

Nope, nope, nope! Not gonna think about that! Instead, I’m going to focus on—

“Ahem!”

Gallus jerked at the polite cough and awkwardly locked eyes with his teacher.

“I would be remiss to discourage reading, but unless you intend to provide a theatrical performance, you still have an assignment that needs doing, Gallus,” she said, smiling comfortingly.

“Sorry, Professor. I’ll uh… Find something to do.”

“Indeed. What were you reading anyway? Out of curiosity.”

“N-Nothing. At least, not yet. I was thinking about it, but… I’ll do it later! I have an assignment after all!” he said, happy to have a proper excuse to postpone reading Cadence’s letter. “Again, sorry.”

“Not to worry, dear; reading is a wonderful pastime, and we all find ourselves tempted to engage in the activity as opposed to performing our duties, mundane or not.”

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry, again.”

“You already said that, darling.”

“Sorry.”

“That’s three times.”

“Sor—ughhh.”

She giggled, saying, “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Gallus. Happens to the best of us.”

“I know, I know.” Gallus turned to fully take in the plethora of activities before him and was immediately hit with an unfortunate realization. “So, Professor? What should I do?”

“Whatever you feel like, darling! This is an exercise in learning how you best channel your feelings into your passions and your thoughts into your creations.”

Gallus just looked at her blankly.

“You still don’t know what you want to do, do you?” she asked.

He once again looked at all the activities and thought his choices over again. On one talon, he could just kill class-time messing around with literally anything there. On the other, he wanted to take the assignment seriously and do something he relatively enjoyed. The only problem was…

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I don’t know what I want to do.”

“Hmm. Well, what among the activities are you most interested in?”

Not sewing and definitely not writing. I can’t even write a stupid letter without it taking me half an hour, and that was without thinking of interesting characters and conflicts. And Ocellus has the only instrument, so even if I wanted to try violin I can’t. And no chess boards to practice with. Great. I guess that leaves…

“Drawing?” he concluded, shrugging.

“Ooh! Alright then!” Rarity said; her eyes sparkling with fervor. “What exactly were you planning to draw? Did you want to just sketch, or did you want to color it too?”

Why does it even matter? Knowing me, I’ll just screw it up again. Gallus blinked and quietly sighed. And there I go again, being cynical and self-demeaning. Of course.

“Darling? Is something the matter? You seem a little perturbed.”

“Everything is—” Can’t say that word! “—Great! I’m just thinking!” he half-lied.

“Oh! My apologies! Take your time; I’m not going anywhere.”

Gallus wasn’t exactly certain what he would have said next, but he quickly found that he didn’t need to say anything since a certain hippogriff had taken it upon herself to bail him out.

“Professor Rarity?” asked the newly arrived Silverstream.

“Oh! Hello, Silver darling. Did you have a question?”

“Mhmm! May we work together on this assignment? Because I can help Gallus if he wants.”

“Hmm…” Rarity gave him a curious stare before saying, “I don’t see why not!”

“Yes! Thank you, Professor! C’mon, Gallus!”

Her talon wrapped around his before he could even blink, and he was quickly dragged toward the back of the class where Silver had set up an easel and several paints. She quickly found purchase on a bouncy, backless seat and patted the one beside her.

An annoying buzzing began blaring in the back of his mind as several panicked thoughts mixed together in an unintelligible haze of fearful anxiety.

Gallus then let out a small breath. Stop it, Gallus. She’s your friend, and everything is fine. Don’t worry; all that stuff can wait, he told himself as he took the offered seat.

“Hi!” she said kindly.

Just act normal! Just act normal. “Hi!” he responded normally.

“So! How are you doing?”

Oh, I don’t know? Terrified!? Worried!? Or at least, trying not to be… How about you!?

What are you even worried about? You acted perfectly fine around her just a few minutes ago!

Yeah, well, now I have THAT issue currently on my brain!

You’d best get over it quickly.

I’m trying!

“Oh, I’m fine—” Aw, peck. “—No more exasperation. How about you?”

“I’m doing fine myself; no more exasperation either!” she giggled.

“That’s good,” he said, relieved that his slip-up hadn’t triggered her panic.

“So! What did you really want to do for this assignment? I’m guessing it wasn’t drawing.”

“Heh-heh. I, uh… Honestly? I didn’t really have any ideas,” he admitted.

“Oh. Well, that’s okay! Can’t decide what to do with all the different possibilities?”

“Yeah…” he sighed, trying his hardest not to use that as a reason to demean himself.

“Well, what’s something you like to do that expresses yourself?” she asked innocently.

“Hang out with you and the others,” he answered.

“Awww!” she cooed, blushing. “Thanks, Gallus! You’re so sweet!”

That’s a compliment, Gallus; don’t panic over it. “Thanks, Silver,” he muttered, managing not to panic over it. “So, uh… What do you like to do that expresses yourself?” he asked in return.

“Well, I like to draw, read, bake, act, dance, fly, and all kinds of other things! But my personal favorite?” Silver asked conspiratorially. “Painting!” she sang happily.

“Okay,” he nodded, remembering her tribute to the Tree of Harmony. “So uh, what is it about painting that you like?”

“EVERYTHING! The various colors I weave into a beautiful representation of my feelings! The gentle brushes I flow across the canvas, carving an intricate design of wonder and life! The abstract rivers of beauty and splendor I raise forth with every stroke and flourish!” Her smile drooped when she noticed his blank stare. “I guess it’s a little hard to put into words…” she murmured self-consciously.

“I hear that,” he said, trying not to return to dwelling on his current fears. A light-bulb lit in his mind as he asked, “In that case, why don’t you show me?”

“Hmm?”

“Well, I don’t know the first thing about either drawing or painting, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you paint before. Except for that one time,” he preemptively said, reading her mind and earning another giggle. “So why not? Show me how it’s done, Madame Silverstream!”

“Well, alright then, Sir Gallus. Prepare to be amazed!” she said, reaching for her brushes.

She stared at the blank sheet for just barely half a second before setting into motion.

At first, she left only small strokes of green, some dark and some light. Then another brush was taken into talon and left behind a swirl of warm cream. Another streak quickly followed; this one a brighter white. Thin lines of gold soon traced through the snowy white, like sunlight through a window.

It was as mesmerizing as a trainwreck, only far more beautiful and graceful. Silverstream moved with a finesse that no other creature could hope to match; every stroke and touch were as gentle as an angel’s feather. Not a movement was wasted, and not a feeling was lost.

Gallus was almost lost in a trance, watching the image bloom forth into the empty blankness, but he quickly snapped out of it once Silver started talking again.

“So, what do you see when you look at this?” she asked, gesturing to her creation.

“Huh? Oh, uh… A flower?”

“Well, it is a flower, but what does it make you feel?”

Like I’m looking at a flower?

“I don’t know. What am I supposed to feel?”

“Whatever it is you do feel!” she stressed, watching him patiently.

That doesn’t answer my question, Silver.

“Uh, warmth?” he tried.

“Ooh, okay! And?”

Silver! I don’t know what you want me to tell you! Gallus wanted so much to lament but didn’t.

He looked closer at the flower, trying to see every single detail she had put into it. It wasn’t easy, considering just how meticulous she had been in crafting the single item, but he had to at least try.

Okay, Gallus. Gabby would get this in a heartbeat, so try to think like her. What would she see?

…

Oh, come on, Gallus! Silver put a lot of hard work into this thing! Try to see what it is she wants you to see! Or do you want to upset her!?

Would she even be mad?

She’d certainly be hurt.

Okay, yeah. Peck no! C’mon! I can figure this out!

…

I’ve still got nothing, he realized, ashamed.

“Gallus, you’re kinda quiet. Is everything okay?” she asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“Huh!” There I go worrying her again… I’m such a— “Yeah, I’m just trying to figure this out.”

“Do you want me to explain it?”

“Uh…” Be honest. “Yeah, could you? I’ve got nothing. Sorry,” he added, wincing.

“That’s fine,” she assured. “You see, the singleness of the flower is meant to represent an isolation of self, while it’s colors communicate a purity of purpose and existence. However, see how it leans as if it’s caught in a breeze? That’s to symbolize both the fragility and endurance of life!”

As glad as I am that I didn’t upset her, how the peck was I supposed to know that? Maybe I can read a book on art interpretation or something? … Oh, Grover’s Treasure, now I sound like Ocellus.

“Oh. Sweet!” he said. “So what’s the rest of the rest of blank canvass supposed to convey?”

“Nothing yet; I haven’t finished there. But see? Right now, the flower serves as a symbol of quiet tranquility and innocent fragility. However, if I take some black, and add a bit to the top…”

She returned to imprinting her imagination upon the canvass, replacing the barren snowiness with a layer of swirling shadows. Soon, a blurry fog began to fall from the blackened sky, reaching down to press against the flower, turning what once was a symbol of fragility, into the victim of a relentless downpour. The gentle leaning of the single stem changed and became a desperate struggle against the wild winds, and the grass it once rested upon was hidden beneath a rippling river.

How is she so good at this!?

In no time, Silver was finished and looked to Gallus with a smile.

“See? This why I really enjoy painting. You can say so much with so little! Before, the flower was simply an entity that existed in an otherworldly void, enduring in a realm of nothing. But with just a little rain and some clouds, it becomes a symbol of strength and determination! A marvel of nature in its ability to survive the most terrible of forces! Does that makes sense?” she asked hopefully.

“I don’t know, does it?” Gallus asked jovially.

“I don’t know! That’s why I was asking you!” she playfully retorted.

“Heh-heh. Well? I think it does,” Gallus answered honestly. Seriously! How have I never noticed how good she is at this!? “This is really cool, Silver,” he complimented.

“Thanks!” Silver said, smiling warmly. “Of course, I still need to add more details to make it truly work and name it when I’m done. So, did you want to try painting a flower?” she asked. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter if you paint a flower or not, but do you want to just try painting anything?”

“Sure?” he answered uncertainly.

“Okay, then! We can share brushes and paints. If you need anything, just ask!”

“Right.”

She continued to engrave even more details into her painting, leaving him to pick up a brush and stare at his own blank canvass.

Now what? … No, seriously! What do I do!?

Express yourself artistically, darling! he sarcastically chanted to himself.

Okay, so how do I do that? Seriously! What is it that they want me to actually express!?

You have both a teacher and a friend to ask these questions.

Gallus looked over his shoulder, seeing Professor Rarity help Sandbar and Yona with the dress they were making. He then turned his gaze to Silver, finding her lost in a haze of pure bliss as she wove her brush across a stormy night sky.

I don’t want to disturb her.

She said that if you had a question you could ask her!

Yeah, but I don’t want to look like an idiot! Look at how good she is!

Now, you know she doesn’t think of you as an idiot.

Then what does she think of me!? Because I have no clue!

You could ask her that too, you know.

AGGGHHH!

“Are you sure you’re okay, Gallus?” she said again, sensing his dismay. “You look a little frustrated over there.”

“Huh? No, I’m fine.” Peck, I said it again! “Just thinking.”

“About what?”

What did you really mean when you asked me if Friends and Family Day was supposed to be—

“About what I should paint.”

That’s not building a foundation of trust! he rebuked himself, remembering Cadence’s letter.

“Oh!” Silver breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “Did you want some ideas? I’ve got a lot of ‘em!”

“You know what? No,” he joked. “I’m going to give this thing to Rarity exactly as it is.”

“But it’s blank?” she stated, puzzled. “I’m pretty sure she’d want you to draw something on it.”

“Not so! For you see!” He cleared his throat and declared, “This! This is a ‘Blank Canvas’! And there is nothing in this world more expressive than this here ‘Blank Canvas’!”

“Is that so? Then tell me, Gallus. Why is that?” she asked, playing along.

“Excellent question, Madame Silverstream!” he said, slicking his headcrest back. “You see, a ‘Blank Canvas’ is not simply a piece of paper, it is a bed of endless possibility! It is a vessel that can carry within itself any number of thoughts, feelings, and passions! Do not mistake the snowy expanse of its visage as a mark of emptiness! For it is a symbol of infinity, of mystery, and of timelessness! For truly? What is more creative than that which can be anything!?”

Silver giggled.

“Ah! I see you enjoy my words, and agree with their message! Well, what if I told you that this glorious entity can also be yours! Yes, yours! Yours to carve an eternity upon; yours to unlock the secrets thereof; yours to embrace with loving soul! All yours! … For ten Bits.”

Silver tried and failed to stifle her laughter. “Oh, geez, Gallus! I never thought about it that way before!” she eventually said.

“What can I say? I have a way with words.” When I’m trying to sell something, anyway.

“You’re also quite the generous griffon too. For ten Bits, I’d take twenty.”

“Seriously!?” he asked, laughing.

“Yes, seriously! Do you know how much these things cost!?”

“Nope. But now that I have an idea… Did I say it was only ten Bits? Because I meant thirty.”

“Oh, you dirty scammer, you!”

“Agh! Mine heart! Mine heart hath been wounded by yon words of injury most heinous!” he cried out dramatically.

“No! Sir Gallus! Yon heart must endureth!” she protested, smiling.

“Nay, Fair Silverstream! Mine heart can’st endureth! Yon words doth be too vile!”

“Then forgiveth mine words, Sir Gallus! Mine words doth be spoken in jest, not villainy!”

“I doth be sorry, milady! But without reason, mine heart can’st continueth! And now! I feareth that I! Must! Pass! Bleghhh!”

“Sir Gallus! Thou can’st perish; I refuse the occurrence of such nonsensical drivel! For surely! If yon heart needeth reason to continueth, then thee needeth only recollect that thee and mineself hath yet to baketh thou village’s letter carrier’s basket of goods of great gratitude!”

“Dear me! Why, I almost forgot such pleasantries awaiteth mine day! For such! Mine heart shall endureth, and I! I shall yet live evermore! For muffins shall be baked! And yon village’s letter carrier shall be rewarded for her courage and valor in the battle against Queens Lyre and Bonneth!”

“Doth not forget King Caramel! For our trusted comrade doth saved thee from him as well.”

“That indeed, Fair Silverstream! That indeed.”

The two broke down into a fit of laughter.

“That is enough, darlings; there’s very little time left in the period,” Rarity informed them. “And no, Sir Gallus, I shall not accepteth yon ‘Canvas of Blank.’”

Everyone in the class chuckled except for Smolder. Though it was understandable as she was a little busy cleaning up the ink her broken pen had left on her desk, paper, and claw.

“C’mon, Gallus. I can help you figure out what to paint. So, what were you thinking?”

A few minutes later the bell rang, ending the class.

“Alright, everyone! There may be no homework tonight, but I still want you all to think about how best you can apply today’s lesson. And yes, we will be picking up where we left off today during our next class. Until then, you all have a good afternoon!”

“You too, Professor Rarity!”

“See ya Thursday!”

“Goodbye!”

As the other students made their way out of the room, Gallus and Silver remained where they sat; both still staring at the easel before them.

“Whelp! It’s…something. I guess?” Gallus mumbled, trying to hide his disgust.

“For your first attempt, this is really good. Trust me. No one’s first painting is a masterpiece.”

“Except yours, I bet.”

“What!?” she yelped, shocked by his suggestion. “Oh! Oh, please! When I first tried painting, I made a complete mess of myself. Literally. I had streaks of red in my mane for days.”

“Oh, c’mon! Look at how great your painting is! You’re telling me you can make something this beautiful, but that your first attempt wasn’t just as good?” he inquired, disbelievingly.

“…You really think this is beautiful?” she asked tentatively.

“Well, duh!”

Silver looked over her painting inquisitively and then turned to Gallus, saying, “Thank you.”

“For what? Pointing out the obvious?”

“For the compliment, Gallus,” she clarified serenely.

“Well, you deserve it, so…”

Gallus blushed once the words left his beak; luckily, they seemed to be the right words to say because Silver immediately hugged him afterward. After a moment, he hugged her back.

“Oh my! Smolder, wait, darling! Darling!” Rarity shouted, shocking the two apart.

Gallus felt something stirring in his heart, and it felt scarily like disappointment.

“Is something wrong, Professor?” asked Silverstream, drawing his attention back to Rarity.

Rarity looked at the crumpled paper she held then to them. “N-Not really, darlings. I was trying to give this back to Smolder. She wrote quite a…nice poem, and I thought it would be a shame to leave it behind. Ah, well, I’ll give it to her later. But as for you two, oh! I see you both decided to paint!” she observed, trotting over.

What is she… You know what? No. I’m having a good day so far, and I don’t need to screw it up by prying into something that’s not a big deal! he resolved. Besides. Smolder said she needed some time, and I doubt snooping into whatever she was ‘creatively expressing’ is going to win me any points.

“Yep! How do you like them!?” Silver asked happily, bringing him out of his thoughts.

“Now, let me see here… Ooh! What a lovely flower! I can feel the devastating strength of the storm, but the flower! Ooh, it holds fast despite the overwhelming odds, and yet still retains that beautiful golden and white coloring! Truly an image of fragility versus endurance! And determination versus omnipotence! Absolutely stellar, darling. Though I suspect you have yet to finish it?”

She spared a glance to Gallus and confidently nodded. “Yes, ma’am! I have way more to do.”

That thing looks as amazing as it does, and she’s not even done yet!? How the peck!?

“I’d expect nothing less, Silverstream. Now am I correct to assume this one is yours, Gallus?”

“Hot garbage, right?” he half-joked.

“Not so, darling!”

“Wait, what?” he let slip out.

“From your lack of confidence, I take it this is your first foray into the craft?” He nodded. “Well, for a first attempt it’s certainly one of the better ones I’ve seen. Good job, Gallus.”

“You mean, ‘Good job, Silverstream.’ She was the one doing most of the work!” he protested.

“Gallus!” she rebuked. “Don’t believe him, Professor Rarity, he did all of it on his own!”

“Excuse me!? You were the one who told me to do little strokes!”

“And you did little strokes. Key word being ‘you.’ Not me. You.”

“Yeah, well… I guess that makes you my teacher; thus, all my success is yours!”

“Oh, hush, Gallus!”

“Why? Don’t you want me to give you the credit and praise you deserve?”

Silver just mumbled incoherently while he chuckled. All the while, Rarity’s smile grew.

“Silver is quite right, darling,” Rarity said, nodding approvingly. “Yes, she taught you, but the work you did was still your own, guidance or not. Make no mistake, Gallus, this is your success. And thus, you deserve all the credit and praise for it,” she said, patting him on the shoulder.

But— But she— But I— Silver did all the— I didn’t— I don’t deserve the— What!? he thought in confusion, despite the neutral look he ensured he was wearing.

“Eh. It’s still hot garbage though,” Gallus attempted to reassert.

“Absolutely not, darling! It’s not quite a masterpiece, but if it’s truly your first try it may as well be! Nonetheless, both are certainly fine jobs! I’m proud of you two. Now both of you had better hurry on to class before you’re late,” she said, trotting back to her desk.

“On it, Professor! Come on, Gallus!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” he responded on instinct, still trying to wrap his head around Rarity’s words. He quickly gathered his things and started for the door before Rarity cleared her throat, drawing his attention. “Yes, Professor?” he asked.

“Darling, I hope you understand that what you did today truly is something to be proud of,” she stressed, approaching him. “Is it perfect? No. Neither is Silverstream’s for the record, but that doesn’t matter. You’re only just beginning, and trust me! Even I struggled at my craft when I started out. But here’s the thing: When you begin something, you can only get better as you continue. So, I hope you keep it up! After all, I did say we’d be returning to our projects next class,” she said, winking.

Gallus stared at her for a solid minute before giving a small laugh.

“Thanks, Professor Rarity,” he said, smiling.

“Anytime, darling! Now run along, dear; you know how Applejack gets.”

“Right! See ya later!” he said, racing down the hall and quickly catching up to Silverstream.

“Oh! There you are. What did Professor Rarity want?” she asked as they trotted together.

“Oh. She uh… Wanted to make sure I got the message.”

“‘Message’?”

“That I…” He took a deep breath and said, “That I should be proud of my painting.”

“Well, of course you should! It was really good!”

“Not as good as yours though,” he replied bitterly.

“So!?” she asked, making Gallus stop dead in his tracks.

‘So?’ That’s all she can say? That’s…it? No comparisons, no arguments, no corrections; not even a pecking defense!? Just… ‘So?’ Why is that all she can say!? When her art is so beautiful and mine is so terrible, why is ‘so’ the only word she can say about the issue?

Because it doesn’t matter to her; she cares about me regardless, he realized.

“Gallus?” Silver’s worried voice cracked through his stupor and brought back him to reality. “Are… Are you okay!?” she asked again, clearly panicked.

“Silver?” he began quietly.

“Y-Yes?”

“Have I ever told you that you are just… So, so awesome!” he asked, smiling gratefully.

“Huh?” she deadpanned, dumbfounded.

“Because you are!” he continued. “You. Are. Awesome!”

Silver snorted, trying and failing to sweep her mane over her cheeks to hide her blush.

“Oh, Gallus! Stop it!”

“No, I want to say it again. You’re awesome.”

“Awww,” she nervously murmured. “Thanks, Gallus. You’re awesome too, you know.”

“…Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

“Ack!” Gallus coughed. He carefully massaged his dry throat as he leaned back into the lime green sofa of Starlight’s office. A bottle of water entered reality in a turquoise flash and hovered over to him. He gratefully took it, and after a few quick sips he said, “Thanks. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry! There’s a reason I went out of my way to learn Oration Continuation Beta, and it’s not because I like punishing myself. If anything, I’m sorry for not offering you water earlier.”

“Eh, I would have probably—” He greedily took another sip of water. “—I would have probably downed this thing by now had that been the case,” he finished.

Starlight chuckled lightly. After a few minutes, she eventually said, “Sooo, sounds like you had a pretty good day, all things considered.”

He gave his throat another second to rest before he clarified, “Yeahhh, no. I actually haven’t gotten to the rest of it yet.”

“…Oh.”

“Sorry. I know you probably have more important things to do or whatever. It’s just…”

“No, no. That’s not it, Gallus. I’m just surprised. If there was a more immediate issue, I would’ve thought that you’d talk about it first.”

“Well…” he began, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s…weird,” he ended.

She leaned back in her hair, sipping at her cocoa in thought.

Gallus had arrived at her door about half an hour earlier, asking if he could talk to her. Starlight had been a little surprised that he hadn’t waited until the weekend to have another session, but she wasn’t going to turn him away, so she had agreed and had been listening ever since.

She had also been taking in his appearance and mannerisms during the recollection, and was happy to see a noticeable improvement.

The bags under his eyes were still there, but the eyes themselves were far less bloodshot. And the confidence he was well-known for was finally beginning to return to his voice.

Of course, there were still quite a few moments where he hesitated for a split second, clearly deciding not to tell her something. Particularly when she asked what he had been reading during Fluttershy’s class, and judging by how quick he had been to dodge the question, Starlight had no doubt that it had either been something inappropriate or something from Cadence. Then again, the two weren’t exactly mutually exclusive.

“So,” she started again. “How are you doing now?”

He put down the bottle, mulling the question over before saying, “I’m doing well enough.”

She smiled, saying, “That’s good to hear.”

He quietly nodded, taking another few sips of water, letting the cool fluid soothe his scratchy throat. “I think…” he began after some time. “I think it was a lot easier for me today.”

“I should hope so.”

“I mean… Yeah! Looking back? It was…surprisingly easier. I still had some times where I didn’t feel good. But those kinda seemed… Smaller, I guess?” he suggested. “At least, it was definitely easier to shut those thoughts down.”

“That’s also good to hear.”

“…It’s funny, isn’t it? Yesterday, I was barely keeping myself together, and then there’s the whole week before that… Yet, here I am today, and… Everything is easier.”

“That’s three-for-three for ‘good things to hear,’” Starlight quipped.

“So, it is a good thing?” Gallus asked.

“Well, you said today was easier for you and that you were feeling better. Maybe not perfect, but well enough, right? I’d say that’s a good thing.”

“I guess. You’re right; I’m probably just overthinking things again… It’s just,” he suddenly continued. “Am I supposed to be doing okay? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that I’m doing fine, but… Am I doing it right? You said that healing took a long time, so… I… I don’t know; like I said, I’m probably just overthinking things.”

“Well, there’s overthinking things. And there’s being self-aware of things,” Starlight said sagely.

“So I am doing something wrong then?”

“‘Something wrong’? No, you’re not doing anything wrong.”

“Yeah, but…” he started before falling silent again.

“It’s okay, Gallus,” Starlight said softly. “What’s on your mind?”

…

“Why can’t I say ‘I’m fine’?” Gallus asked warily.

“What do you mean?”

You idiot! Why did you ask that!? You know you’re not supposed to ask those kinds of things! he rebuked himself, trying to hide his wince. No use crying about it now, might as well go all-in.

“Today was easier,” Gallus hesitantly said. “I know that for sure! But all day today, my friends kept asking if I was okay! And I kept wanting to say that I was fine, but I kept having to say I was doing ‘well enough’ instead, otherwise… Like I told you. I told Ocellus was fine, but no. I told the others that I’m fine, but no! I kept telling Silver, but…”

“Are you doing fine?” Starlight inquired before adding, “Genuinely fine?”

“YES!” he shouted, recoiling afterward. “Sorry… That’s like the fortieth time I’ve been asked that today, and it’s…” He kept his beak shut for a moment, once again debating whether or not to tell her something. Eventually, he relented, “It’s annoying.”

“That your friends are worried about you?”

“That I keep making them worry,” he corrected grimly. “All day, I’ve been taking things in stride, trying to keep everything under control; not losing my cool. All-in-all, I’ve been trying to move on and heal. … Right? That is what I’m doing, right?”

“From what you told me, it certainly sounds like you’re doing better,” Starlight agreed.

“You say that, and yet… Yet, everyone else…”

“You’re worried that you’re not healing even though you think you are?”

After a moment of silence, Gallus nodded. “I feel fine! I may still not be at my best, but I feel way better now than I was. But… It’s a lot of little things, I guess. Ocellus not believing me when I said I was fine,” he said, counting them on his claw. “Silver asking me if I was okay like three dozen times, my near-panic attack in Kindness Class; Smolder… Drama Club…” he ended, wincing.

Starlight raised an eyebrow at the last point, but she remained quiet so he could continue.

“I know I was doing better today. At least… I think I know I was doing better today. But when I look back, and I remember that none of my friends seemed to believe that…? Or how I just kept worrying them…? It just makes me wonder if I really was doing better today, or if—like you said—I only think I was,” he finished, shooting a defeated look toward the saddlebags he had left in the corner.

Starlight hummed for a moment, saying, “I think I understand what you mean.”

“You do!? Oh, thank Gro—Oh. Sorry. Is it ‘Thank Celestia’? or is it ‘Thank Twilight’ now?”

She snorted, giggling into her hoof. “It’s still ‘Thank Celestia.’ As far as I’m aware anyway. Heh-heh-heh. ‘Thank Twilight’!? Oh, geez! Spike is gonna rip her a new one when I tell him.”

“In that case, thank Celestia! … What do I do?”

“Well… There’s not really a whole lot that you can do.”

“Say what?” Gallus whimpered.

“No-no-no!” she hurriedly clarified. “I didn’t mean it that way! Sorry. Let me try to think of how to properly explain this…” Gallus nodded, waiting with bated breath. “Okay. What you’re worried about? It’s sort of a continuation of the transition issue we talked about last time.”

“Okay? What am I doing wrong then?”

“Nothing. Gallus, you’re not doing anything wrong.”

“I’m…not?”

“Nope.”

“Okaaay…” he said, disbelievingly. “Then what is wrong with…” he stopped, took a small breath and corrected himself, “What is going on?”

“You’re healing,” she answered calmly.

“But…” he tried to begin only to pause and mutter, “Sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for, Gallus. I completely understand where you’re coming from. And to be honest, I probably should have expected this to be an issue when I talked to you yesterday.”

“So what does this have to do with the whole ‘transition’ thing?”

“Remember,” she started. “You’re only beginning to move on. But as a result, you’re caught between where you’re moving on to, and where you’re moving on from. Because of that you…well…”

“Have to deal with a bunch of stupid emotional problems?” he asked sardonically.

“I wouldn’t put it that way, but I suppose it’s a fair enough description of the issue. But here’s the thing: Healing is not a one-and-done scenario. It takes a lot of time, and there’s a lot of different parts to it. The ‘issue’ here is that you’re simply experiencing a different part of the process.”

“Wait. But you said… So this is part of the whole ‘moving on’ thing, but you said it was sort of like the ‘transition’ part, and now you’re saying it’s a different thing entirely? Isn’t that bad? Like, am I not supposed to be doing that ‘transition’ first?” he rattled off, slightly panicked.

“Hold on there, Gallus,” Starlight said, raising her hoof. He ceased, so she elaborated, “You are still doing the transition. What you’re worried about now is just a different part of it.”

“And that is?” he nervously asked as he finished his water.

“That would be the recovery period,” she answered, igniting her horn with a simple thought.

“What do you—oh! Thanks,” Gallus said in regards to his newly refilled bottle. “But uh… ‘Recovery period’? I’m going to assume that that doesn’t technically refer to me being better, does it?”

“In a sense, it does. Healing from trauma is an uphill battle, but that doesn’t mean it has to be one all the time,” she explained. “In fact, it shouldn’t be. Take yesterday for example. You had only just begun trying to move on, so yesterday was a lot harder. But today was far less challenging, correct?”

“I guess so? Even including the parts I haven’t talked about? … Yeah. Today was a lot better.”

“And that’s a good thing. You can’t be expected to have to deal with all of the, er, ‘troublesome’ parts of the transition every second of every day. And that’s where today comes into play.”

“Today was a reprieve from the troubles. Or at least the first half, as I’m still in the dark about the second half. Speaking of which, should I wait to finish this until after you tell me about it, or…”

“No! You’re good! Sorry. Everything else is more of a… Different problem.”

A glimmer of concern twinkled in her eye, but after a quick breath, Starlight resumed, “The fact of the matter is this: Today was easier. That’s a very good thing!”

“While it is true that healing requires time, and is by no means easy; one can’t be expected to face the struggles of it all the time without at least some time devoted to resting. Even if it’s just a day, a respite from the ordeals is necessary for one to get better. After all, how can you be expected to move on if you’re always dealing with whatever it is you’re trying to move on from?”

“I guess you’re right about that,” Gallus slowly admitted. “But it’s only been a day! Is that… Is that normal? Is it normal for me to spend a day fighting off panic attacks every other hour to being able to stop them before they drag on? In just a day!?”

“Everyone heals differently, Gallus," she comforted. "But I do feel I should point out that today wasn’t just the first day back after the break. It was also the first day after everything that happened before it. So now, rather than having it on your mind at all times, it’s all…behind you, in a way. Not quite in the sense that you’ve fully healed from it, but rather, you’re able to finally focus on other things instead.”

“I suppose so, but… My friends are still worried,” he stated. “I may be doing better, but they… They’re scared that I’m not. They’re scared that I’m…pretending to be better.” Gallus fell silent. After some time, he looked back up and anxiously asked, “Am I doing that? I don’t think I am, but… I’m so used to saying that I’m fine, and like I said to Ocellus, no one would know if I hadn’t slipped up! And with what you said about my ‘previous worldview’ bleeding into my current one… What if I think I’m healing, but I’m not? Am I really doing better, Ms. Glimmer? Am I healing? Genuinely healing?”

Starlight was quiet as she thought over everything that Gallus said. Soon, she sighed and said, “In my experience, Gallus? Genuine healing is making peace with your loss, accepting it, and moving on despite it. It’s about being able to see and appreciate all the things you have in this world now, rather than lose yourself to the longing of what could have been. Is that something you’re doing now?”

Gallus pondered that for a moment, shooting another furtive glance toward his bags before answering, “Yes. … But I don’t think I’m doing it as much as I should be.”

Starlight smiled at him and replied, “Then yes. You are healing.”

“But I just said—”

Starlight held her hoof up again, earning his silence. “You. Are. Healing, Gallus. But you still have a long way to go. That’s why I called it a ‘reprieve.’ Today was merely a break from everything, but tomorrow might not be. You might have been feeling perfectly fine today, but tomorrow, you might wake up and feel everything flowing back,” she admitted, earning a gulp.

“But don’t let that discourage you!” Starlight continued fervently. “Tomorrow is another day, and while it could be a bad day, it could just as easily be a better one! It’s like you said to Ocellus. It’s about taking it one day at a time. Even when there are days that it’s harder; even when there are days that it’s easier. Little-by-little. Step-by-step. With every day that passes, that burden lessens.”

“...Yeah,” Gallus sighed; a tinge of serenity back in his voice. “I hope so, Ms. Glimmer. I’m just really worried that I’m not doing it right! Or that I’m… That I’ll just screw up again, or something.”

“Everyone makes mistakes. It’s a fact of life. And yes, you most likely will make some mistakes along the way, but those mistakes don’t have to be enough to ruin everything if you don’t let them. You have your friends by your side, Gallus, and they’ll all be with you, regardless,” she said, sparing a quick glance down at the pile of papers littering her desk.

Gallus focused his gaze downward, trying very hard not to dwell on one particular friend.

“Thanks,” he eventually said quietly. “But…? How do I do that? My friends are still worried about me, and I… I don’t know how to make them stop. Got any advice for that?”

“You can’t stop them from worrying about you for one thing. They’re your friends, and after what you went through, they want to make sure that their friend is doing alright. That you are doing alright. And you are! The only problems is, well…”

“I lied?” he guessed, wincing.

“That’s… Yes. That is part of it,” she forced herself to admit. “They know you lied, so now they’re worried that you might be lying again. Ocellus is at the very least. However,” she cut him off yet again. “You talked to her and promised you wouldn’t lie to any of them again. Right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“And did she believe you?”

“…I think so. I’m just worried that she didn’t or that she’s still worried even if she did! I know I’m not supposed to worry, and I am trying not to worry, but I can’t help it!”he said, hanging his head.

“I don’t blame you for being worried, Gallus. It’s not easy having others be worried for you, when you don’t want them to be. But… Your friends did only just find out that you weren’t feeling well, so naturally they’re going to be worried for a while. And you can’t just wave your talons in the air and wish them all to not be. The best thing you can do is give them all some time just like they’re all doing for you, and whenever you can, reassure them that you are doing better.”

“And how do I do that? There has to be something specific that I can do, right!?” he added.

“By healing. By showing them that you are doing better. Even if you’re not feeling as great as you once were, you’re at least doing better now. Show them that. Show them that by spending time with them, by having fun with them; by just being with them.”

“How do I do that if I still have everything else going on? I may be doing better now, but like you said! Tomorrow I might be back to square one! What then?”

“I don’t know. But if I know anything, it’s that it is a lot easier to love the ones closest to you and celebrate your time with them when you have a break from everything else. And you have a lot of loved ones, and a lot of time to be happy with them,” she reminded him encouragingly.

Gallus tore his gaze from Starlight and shot it at his bags once again; the unfinished letter waiting within its depths practically beckoned for him to finally read it. He turned back to her; a more relaxed expression adorning his face as he said, “Yeah. I guess I do, huh?”

“Yep,” she agreed, meeting his small grin with a smile of her own.

…

“You kinda caught me off-guard, you know,” Starlight soon said.

“I did?”

“Yeah… I thought I would have to talk to you about this myself, but nope. Here you are! Being all self-aware and introspective, heh-heh,” she laughed.

“Uh… Still a little clueless here,” he said, sipping at his water again.

“Oh, sorry. You see… I had a similar issue to you when I had my own experience with moving on.” She looked out the window, quietly observing Twilight’s old castle. “There was a time where I was worried that I wasn’t improving nearly as much as I thought I was too. Gave myself a nightmare or two about it. There might be worse things than it, but… Being paranoid that you’re not doing nearly as well as you want to be or think you are is… Not a happy experience,” Starlight confided wistfully.

“How did you get over it?”

“I got some pretty good advice from Princess Luna. It went along the lines of—oh, I dunno—trusting in your friends?” she said smartly.

Gallus snorted, shaking his head. “I get it! I get it! Heh-heh-heh. So what happened after that?”

Memories of stalking through a shape-shifting labyrinth and getting thrown around like a rag-doll by Chrysalis replayed in the Headmare’s mind.

“…A lot happened after that, but that’s a completely different story,” she quickly brushed aside.

“Oh." So that’s what that feels like…

“Sooo…” Starlight began after taking another sip from her cocoa. “What else happened today?”

The memories of both his chaotic experience with Drama Club and Silverstream’s terrified face replayed in his mind. The latter in particular practically burned itself into his eyes.

“Gallus?” she said apprehensively. “Are you okay?”

“Uh… I uh… Um…” he uselessly mumbled as his pacified worries roared back to life.

“Gallus…? What else happened today?” Starlight asked gently.

He gulped and started, “I may have—”

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Gallus and Starlight stared at the door as it visibly shook with how hard the pony on the other end was knocking.

“Hey, Starlight!? It’s Trixie! Are you in there!?”

Starlight hung her head, letting out an irritated sigh. “I’m in the middle of something, Trix!”

“Oh, good, you are in there! Listen! We really need to talk to you!”

“Trixie, I’m serious!” Starlight warned. “Is it really that urgent?”

Trixie’s next few words were muffled, but it seemed that she was talking to someone else rather than Starlight. Before either the pony or griffon could ponder it, a calmer, more practiced knocking occurred followed by a different voice.

“Hello? Ms. Glimmer? This is Mayor Mare; something reached my attention today, and I was hoping to talk to you about it?” she said politely.

A trail of crimson smoke leaked out of Starlight’s horn as she placed her face into her hooves, sighing in frustration. After taking a deep breath, Starlight teleported to the door and opened it, huffing out, “Trixie! What did you do!?”

“Hello to you too, bestie,” Trixie deadpanned. “I did absolutely nothing wrong for the record.”

“Then would you kindly elaborate on why you’re knocking on my door with the Mayor standing behind you?”

“That would be due to my needing to ask you some questions concerning an incident that took place during your Friends and Family Day Festival the other day.”

Starlight turned to Trixie, raising an eyebrow while maintaining her grimace.

“What!? I wasn’t the one who decided to poison half of Sugar Belle’s pie rations! Do you really think I would be that petty? Besides! I have an alibi; just ask Ocellus!”

“Wait, someone poisoned Sugar Belle’s what now?” Starlight asked, completely taken aback.

“I’d be happy to go over everything that we know with you if you wish, Ms. Glimmer, as we are trying to determine the true culprit. If you’re not busy that is? Oh, hello, Mr. Gallus!” Mayor Mare said, waving at him from around Starlight.

“Uh… Hi?” he waved back.

“Wait just a moment! What happened!?” Starlight asked again, still a little too taken aback to have properly processed what Trixie said.

“Pie poisoning,” Mayor Mare repeated. “We’re currently investigating, and I asked Ms. Trixie as to you’re location.”

“Uh-huh. Pie poison—what?” she said more to herself than the others. She then looked back up and said, “Look, I’m sorry, but can this wait a little while? I am in the middle of something.”

“Yes, and I am in the middle of something too, Ms. Glimmer. It’s called finding out who poisoned over forty ponies and tie-dyed the Ponyville Hospital’s entire stock of toilet paper.”

Starlight didn’t know how to respond to that, so she turned back to Gallus, wincing a little. She then turned back to Trixie and the Mayor, and then turned back to Gallus once more.

“Um, Gallus…? I’m sorry, but could we resume this in a bit? I’m sure it won’t take too long!”

Gallus hid another gulp as his eyes darted back to his bags and then back to his Headmare before he confidently said, “I’ll be fine! Do you want me to just wait here?”

“If you could, yes. I’ll be back soon. Now,” she said, turning to the other mares. “Do either of you want to finish explaining what happened with Sugar Belle’s pies?”

The door closed behind them, and their voices quickly faded away into the background.

…

…

…

Gallus looked at his bags.

You’ve got yourself a chance… Go and finish it!

Not yet. At least… Not until I talk to her about what happened.

You make it sound so dramatic; all you did was—

I know what I did, thank you very much!

…

Gallus leaned into the couch and sighed, closing his eyes and steadying his breathing.

Everything is fine, Gallus. You are healing, and you haven’t screwed everything up too badly yet, and you can still fix this! You can still fix everything. Just relax. Everything is going to be alright.

Everything. Is going to be. Alright.

…

…

…

Gallus flung himself at his bags and quickly hunted down Cadence’s letter.

Author's Notes:

Hey, everyone! I'm back! Sooo, Chapter 2... Oof. This chapter was a trip. I had to overhaul a lot of what I originally intended for this chapter, and then! I had to split it up into Ch. 2 - 3 or else it would have reached over 40k words which...no.
That being said, think of this chapter as Part 1 and the next one as Part 2 of the same chapter. Sorta.

So, I don't know about the rest of you, but where I am, things are trying to return to normal a little. That's all well and good, but it might mean I'll have less writing time.

Luckily, as I said in the previous author's note, I want to be roughly two chapters ahead at all times, so if it takes too long to get Ch. 5 finished, Ch. 3 is ready to be released anyway.
I'll give myself around the 20th-23rd of June. Just in case.

Also, to those that were interested in that blog post about what writing A Day for Family was like(Maybe one?), I'll post that either later today or tomorrow!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next one! As always, any thoughts or criticisms you possess are appreciated!
Stay safe, everyone!

Next time: You must stare into the abyss! It may gaze back at you, but for the good of the fallen, you must stare!

Chapter Three: Expression

“Okay, so now we add the milk?”

“And the mixture,” Silverstream reminded him.

“And the mixture too!” Gallus agreed, passing it over. “Here ya go.”

“Thanks, Gallus. Okaaay! And that’s that whisked! Pass the melted butter.”

“How much butter does this thing need?”

“Just a little bit more; thank you! And now the blueberries.”

“Yep! Blueberries incoming! Big bowl of blueberries!” he exclaimed, passing it over as well.

“Thank you again!” she sang.

“You’re welcome, Head Chef Silver.”

“Hee-hee. ‘Head Chef Silver…’ Alright, almost done. … And we’re done!”

“Wow! And here I thought we were supposed to bake them before we were done.”

“Oh, hush and pass me the baking tray. Oh! And the ice cream scooper.”

“Why the ice cream scooper?”

“To scoop the batter into the tray, silly.”

“But it’s the ice cream scooper. It’s for scooping ice cream; that’s why it’s called the ‘ice cream scooper’ and not the ‘muffin mix scooper,’” he said as if it were obvious.

“It’s still a scooper, Gallus.”

“But it’s still the ice cream scooper! We have to use it for ice cream! If we don’t who knows what could happen! The sky could fall, dogs and cats could start living together; the gates of Tartarus could open! Complete and total chaos would ensue!” Gallus warned emphatically.

“Hey, Gallus?” Silver asked, catching on.

“Yeah?”

“You know that that’s basically every other Saturday, right?”

“…I can’t argue there,” he admitted, pouting.

“Then gimme.” He turned it over. “Thank you!” Silverstream scooped a glob of blueberry muffin mix and filled up one of the trays before she paused and humored him. “So did the sky fall?”

“Uh, let me check.” Gallus looked out the window. “Nope. Doesn’t look like it.”

“Cats and dogs living together?”

“No more than usual.”

“Gates of Tartarus still closed?”

“No bugbears or manticores, but if Tartarus did open up, we probably wouldn’t know it yet.”

“Well, we can’t wait until Saturday; this mix needs baking!”

“Give me a minute; I’m still looking.”

“Then you can keep looking, but I’m going to finish scooping these muffins. Let me know if the world does blow up though, so we can make it to the Town Hall’s bunker,” she requested, smirking.

“On it. … What the? Hey, Silver? Does a giant flood of… I think those are pies? Does a giant tsunami of pies count as the world blowing up?” he asked, squinting at the sight beyond the window.

“No. That’s either the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Discord, or a giant pie monster. Take your pick.”

“Hmm. My bet is on the pie monster.”

“Really?” Silverstream asked, filling the other tray. “I thought you’d go with Discord.”

“The pie flood isn’t covered in mustard or polka dots,” he elaborated plainly.

“Oh. Then yeah, probably a pie monster. Think they’ll have it sorted in twenty-one minutes like usual, or do you think it needs the full forty-two?”

“Depends on whether or not it can mind-control us.”

“Well, I don’t feel like I’m being mind-controlled. You?”

“No.”

“Great! Twenty-one minutes it is then! Now, we just gotta put these babies in there, close the door, and ta-da! We’re finished!” she cheerfully concluded.

“Woo-hoo! I baked my first batch of muffins! Hip-hip-hooray!” he cheered, genuinely smiling.

“Hip-hip-hooray! Hee-hee-hee,” she laughed, smiling back at him.

“Now what?”

“Now, we wait,” Silver said, hopping into a seat and watching the oven.

“Right,” he said, taking the seat beside her.

…

“How long do we wait for these things to bake?” Gallus eventually asked.

“Eighteen-to-twenty minutes. Just long enough that the pie monster should be taken care of by the time they’re done!”

“Ah.”

…

He looked at Silver out of the corner of his eye, noting that she seemed completely content to continue observing their efforts cook into blueberry-filled goodness, regardless of how glacially they did so. He then quickly averted his eyes when she turned to look back at him, earning a giggle.

C’mon, Gallus, just talk to her. It’s easy! All you have to do is talk! Just turn to her and talk. Just turn to her and—Grover, help me! What am I supposed to say!? What am I supposed to think!? What am I supposed to do!? I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t—

No! I’m not going to freak out! I’m going to breathe! In. And out. In. And out.

Gallus closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair, resting his head in his talons as he flicked his tail back and forth across the tiled floor.

Just relax, Gallus, he soothed. Okay, I’m not going to panic; I’m going to think! This is just a problem, and problems are just a type of puzzle! And puzzles always have solutions. Emotional issues or no, there’s always an answer.

So, what is the puzzle here? Gallus calmly asked himself.

Well, the problem is that I have no idea what Silverstream thinks of me. She asked if we went on a date, but I don’t know if she sincerely wants it to be that way, or if she was just joking.

So, now that I know the puzzle, how can I figure out the answer?

I could call in a favor with Sandbar or Yona and have them talk to Silver about her thoughts on romance, then bring me into the conversation. From there, they could ask if Silver had any genuine romantic interest in me; afterward, they can confirm that with me, and I can think and act accordingly!

…

Or talk to her. That’s the healthier course of action. That’s supposed to be my first course of action! he lightly admonished himself. And I want to talk to her anyway! I like talking to her.

Gallus looked at Silver again and was met with her warm smile. He tried his hardest to return it in kind, fighting off the sudden flash of heat that was absolutely, definitely, unquestionably from the oven in front of him. I just need to talk to her; it’s not that hard! … C’mon! Just say SOMETHING!

“Hey, Silver?” he managed.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. For teaching me how to bake muffins.”

“You’re welcome, Gallus!” she replied happily. “And thank you for helping me out with them! It was way more fun than if I had done it all by myself.”

“Yeah. … So, you bake a lot, huh?” he asked, unable to think of anything else to say.

“Not as much as I used to, but oh, boy! My first week here? I asked Professor Pie how to do it, and I practically never stopped afterward!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! I mean, cooking stuff above water!? With fire!? How amazing was that!? Of course, now I’m used to it, so the novelty’s worn off a bit, but I still sneak down here from time-to-time.”

“Huh. So you know all about baking more than just muffins?”

“I’d give you the full list, but I wouldn’t even be halfway done by the time the muffins finish.”

“Sweet,” he admired.

Silver giggled.

Okay. That was a good start. Key word being ‘start.’ C’mon, Gallus, try to keep talking.

“Sooo, how about today, huh?” he began again.

Though she kept up her smile, Silver’s chipper mood vanished instantly.

“Kindness class?” she guessed tentatively.

“I was thinking more about Generosity,” Gallus clarified, trying not to panic at her worried tone.

Silver blinked. “Oh! Yeah, I had a lot of fun!” she said, regaining at least some of her joy. “I was hoping to add a bit more to my painting tonight, but I doubt I will. I still have Drama Club, homework, and the muffin delivery. Oh, well.”

“I can do the delivery if you want. Or… Or did you want to do that together?”

“No, no! I’ve got it. I have Drama Club next, and I wouldn’t ask you to stay through it all.”

“What? Worried you might embarrass yourself in front of little ole me?” he teased. “Or are you worried that I might embarrass you?” he added, winking. She’s…not actually worried about that, right?

“What!? Oh, Gallus! No! Of course I’m not worried about something like that! For one thing, you could never embarrass me!” Silver reassured firmly. “And for another, there’s no way I’d mess up with all the practice I’ve had,” she proudly boasted. “Practice makes perfect after all!”

“So muscle memory really is that effective, huh?” Gallus joked.

“Muscle memory!?” she exclaimed, affronted by the claim. “You think after all the hard work we put into our performances, we would ever rely on something like muscle memory!? Gallus! How could you!?” Silver dramatically bemoaned.

“Sorry,” he meekly apologized.

“That’s okay!" she assuaged, cheering right back up. "We actually get that comment pretty often for some reason. Much to the fury of both Vellum and Scoop."

“I guess it’s not hard to see why. If you put a lot of hard work and effort into everything you do, and someone makes the assumption—joke or otherwise—that all your skill is borne of something other than all of that effort… Annoyance is pretty obviously going to be felt,” he ended smartly.

“That sounds suspiciously like psychology,” Silver said, grinning. “And here I thought you fell asleep during Professor Twilight’s lesson on psychology!”

“I probably did, but Princess Twilight’s lectures are like parasites. No matter what, they always dig their way into your brain!” he dramatically declared.

“Ugh! That reminds me… I really hope we go back to the play we were practicing for today, and not another Horror. I know Professor Rarity wanted us to broaden our acting ranges, but I really didn’t like playing the monster!” she admitted, shivering.

“Wait! Wh-What!?” he chortled. “You’ve got to be kidding me! You played a Horror monster!? No way! I don’t believe it.”

“Is it bad that I find it relieving that you don’t want to believe I could do the role?”

Would she feel better if I agreed with her, or disagreed with her? Gallus wondered, shrugging.

“Ehhh, I don’t know either. But you now what? I’m gonna feel relieved anyway!”

Phew. “Is that because I didn’t get to see you run around in a humongous alien costume?”

“Try a giant, zombie monster suit that weighed more than Yona with annoyingly unworkable tentacle appendages.”

“What kinda play were you guys doing!?” he asked, unable to properly envision that scenario.

“Scoop mentioned something about it technically being some rendition of a video game plot and not an actual play, but I don’t know. And to be perfectly honest? I don’t want to know.”

Gallus just stared blankly.

“O-Of course!” she nervously added. “It was still a lot of fun!”

She continued to grin awkwardly at him, expecting a reaction. Any reaction. He just continued to stare at her blankly, unsure of what reaction would be best.

“Sooo, yeah. That was a fun two weeks,” Silver said, returning her saddened gaze to the oven.

Okay, silence was probably not what she wanted from me! Gallus stressed. “It definitely sounds like fun. Did you get any of it on camera? Because I would have loved to see it all go down.”

“You… Would?” Silver asked, turning back to him.

“Well, seeing you run around in a giant monster suit sounds way too awesome to pass up for one thing,” he pointed out, gaining a bashful smirk. “And for another… Well?”

“Yes?” she urged; a tinge of hope in her voice.

Okay, Gallus… You may not have read all of that stupid letter, but Cadence did say that I needed to be more aware of Silver’s feelings and take any chances I could to be more considerate.

One way to be more considerate is to take a larger interest in things that are important to her, like with her painting! And Silver is part of Drama Club, so logically, Drama Club is important to her.

All that being said… he concluded, hiding another nervous gulp. “For another, you make Drama Club itself sound like a lot of fun. … … … So yeah.” ‘So yeah’? ‘SO YEAH’!? That’s all I got!?

If it weren’t for Silverstream being in the room, he’d have likely smacked his talon against his forehead. Thankfully, Silver didn’t seem to care one iota how stupid his words had been.

“You mean you really want to…” Silver started, perking up. Not even a second passed before said perkiness evaporated, replaced by something akin to weariness. “I mean, obviously if you don’t that’s fine, but… If you really… Oh, who am I kidding? Of course, you don’t,” she sighed in defeat.

Okay, I think this conversation might have gotten steered into a different direction because I don’t know what she’s trying to ask me. “Did I want to what?”

“N-Nevermind,” she said, looking away again.

Gallus opened his beak to ask but ultimately closed it, turning to stare out the window. The pie flood/monster looked to be halfway through being taken down by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.

C’mon, Gallus! She obviously wanted to ask you something, so ask her what it was!

But what if I’m just intruding, or I mess something up, or—

Just talk to her!

I can’t!

You just did!

Yeah, and I ended it with ‘so yeah’! Two stupid words that obviously—OBVIOUSLY!--show that I have no idea what I’m supposed to do, what I’m supposed to say, and what I’m supposed to think!

You got this far! Are you really going to just give up now!?

…No, Gallus decided, turning back to Silver and asking, “Okay, what is it?”

“Huh!?” she blurted, being taken out of her own daze. “Oh, it’s nothing! Don’t worry about it!”

“I’ll stop worrying once you tell me what it is that’s bugging you,” he said resolutely.

“N-Nothing’s bugging me. … Okay, fine! You win! Yona wins! Scoop, Shimmy, and Patty win! Everyone wins!” she declared mournfully. “Just promise you won’t say ‘no’ immediately! Please?”

Gallus swallowed. Oh, peck! Is she going to finally ask about that!? Okay! Stay calm, Gallus! You’ve got this! he encouraged himself. “Okay. I promise not to say ‘no’ immediately to whatever it is.”

“Do you want to come to Drama Club with me today!?” Silver rapidly spat out.

The panic in his mind ground to a screeching halt.

Okay, I was just asking to come and watch her and the others practice, but is she talking about me actually joining the club? If so, then… “Sure,” he answered, still a tad confused.

“Of course, it’s perfectly fine if you say ‘no’!” she continued.

“Uh, Silver? Did you hear the part where I said, ‘sure’?” Gallus asked uncertainly.

“It’s just I was only asking because you asked about today’s Generosity lesson, and I know you were having some trouble figuring out what you wanted to do for the assignment, so I thought that it would be a good idea since Drama Club is all about art and expression anyway!”

“Silver, you can stop now, I already said I wanted to—”

“Yeah! Besides, I figured that it might be fun for you or maybe the both of us, and you did say it sounded like fun! … … … So yeah!”

Gallus felt far less self-conscious about his own usage of those last two words; although, he now wanted to face-claw for having been self-conscious about it in the first place.

“B-But of course!” Silver added shakily. “I know that you might be busy with Ocellus and her project or something, so if you didn’t want to go then I would more than understand!”

“Uh, Silver?” he asked, trying not laugh. “I already said ‘sure.’”

“Of course! If you did, that’d be perfectly okay too! And if you do want to come with me—and I promise I’m not forcing you or any—” Silver finally stopped. “Did you say, ‘yes’?”

“Technically, I said ‘sure’ but, eh. Semantics.”

“And I’ve been just rambling on despite that…?”

“Were you!? Whaaat!? I didn’t even notice!” he answered with a playful smirk.

“Ohhh,” she groaned into her claws.

“Don’t worry about it, Silver. I’ve heard these things tend to happen to the best of us.”

“But… You do want to come to Drama Club with me today?” she asked, looking back up.

I’m still not sure if she’s actually asking me to just check the Club out or join it proper, but I’m good with either, I guess. “It’s not like I have anything better to do. Besides…” he trailed off.

“Besides…what?”

It will give me another chance to talk to you about that. … Okay, maybe a bit more cowardice, Gallus thought as he settled for saying, “Besides, why wouldn’t I want to spend more time with you?”

Silver grabbed him in a gentle hug, not even disturbing either of their chairs. He waited a second before wrapping his own talons around her back, embracing the hug.

“Thanks, Gallus,” she whispered. “That’s really sweet.”

“Yeah? Well, thou knoweth mineself, Fair Silverstream! For I doth be Lord of all things Sweet!”

Her only response was a happy giggle.

DING!

“Oh! Muffins are done!” Silver sang, jumping out of her chair and opening the oven.

Gallus took a second to recover from the hug and asked, “It’s been twenty-one minutes already?” How long was I just silently sitting there, debating with myself for!?

“Hee-hee! I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun with your friends!” she said cheerfully, carefully extracting the muffins.

“I guess it does.”

The ground violently shook as a loud, defeated roar echoed from outside the window.

“And that’d be the pie monster being beaten back by our Professors.”

He looked out the window again and suggested, “Or Pinkie Pie burping after having eaten it.”

Silver blinked and shook her head, saying, “Don’t question it. I shouldn’t question it. Everycreature else says not to question it, so I’m not going to question it.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s the wisest course of action,” Gallus agreed.

They snickered at the absurdity of the moment.

“Anyway, what do we do now that the muffins are done?”

“Make sure they’re good to go, let them cool, and then wrap ‘em up in a basket for Mrs. Doo.”

“Oh,” Gallus said, disappointed. “So, we’re done done. That didn’t really last long, did it?”

“It’s like I said! Time flies when you’re having fun with your friends!” she repeated, putting all of their utensils into the sink.

“Yeah. It really does, doesn’t it. … You want to do this again, sometime?” he blurted out.

Silver paused and gave him a neutral stare.

Abort! Abort! Abort! I went too far! I screwed up! I repeat! I screwed—

“Hey, Gallus?” she suddenly asked.

“Y-Yeah?” he replied anxiously.

“What other pastries do you know how to bake?”

“Uhhh,” he droned, taken aback. “Some, but not a whole lot. Why do you ask?”

She gave him a smug smirk and answered, “Just trying to think of ideas for next time.”

Gallus smiled back, feeling that earlier warmth return.

A gargantuan theater hall stood before the two of them. Sconces lit with an ethereal flame were carved into the walls, and velvet curtains hung from them all, accentuating the display.

A good three hundred cushioned seats were embedded into the well-polished floor, with many more likely hidden within the confines of the balconies above.

The stage itself was practically a sign of divinity; intricate patterns danced and swirled along its edge, and the whole thing gleamed with a golden light despite the ambient dimness of the auditorium.

“To this day, I still don’t know whether to be more impressed that this was somehow in Princess Twilight’s budget, or terrified that this is what Professor Rarity can do with too much free time and a bit of Bits,” Gallus whispered to Silver, afraid of disrupting the atmosphere of the room.

She quietly chuckled. “I’m pretty sure that was everycreature’s first reaction. But I’ll tell you one thing: It’s definitely better than the set-up we had for Celestia’s ‘Ones-versary’ thing.”

“Oh, yeah. Why didn’t we do that thing in here?”

“Beats me. Unless Princess Celestia raising the sun during the middle of it was the plan all along, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.”

“True. So, now that we’re here…”

“Yeeeees?” she hummed.

“What exactly do we do in Drama Club?”

“Depends. What do you think we do?” she asked as they started walking toward the stage.

For whatever reason, his mind defaulted to some high school musical movie that Sandbar had made him and the others sit through.

“Sing?” he sarcastically surmised.

“Ooh! We do do musicals sometimes, yes! But what else?”

“I don’t know. Wanna tell me?”

“Okay, okay, okay!” she said excitedly. “We pretty much do exactly what you think! Basically, Professor Rarity will have us come on stage and pick certain parts we want to try out, and then we try them out! Afterward, she usually tells how well we did and how we can improve to be even better! And that’s when we’re not practicing for any major performances! When those happen, we practice for weeks until we’ve got everything perfect for the big day!”

“Yep! Definitely sounds like fun,” Gallus said, nodding.

“Oh, it is! It’s so much fun! We do all kinds of plays too. Tragedies, Comedies, Romances, Thrillers…! That one Horror,” she ended, grimacing uncomfortably.

“I still want to hear about that by the way,” he reminded her. “Seriously, how did you get landed with the role? No offense, but I just can’t imagine you would ever want to play as a giant monster.”

“I didn’t want to be the bad guy!” she moaned. “But Professor Rarity said that I could benefit from taking up a different role. Although, even if the costume did chafe, it was still pretty fun chasing Scoop around while growling about stars! Heh-heh. … That makes more sense in context.”

“Most things do,” Gallus stated as he tried once again to to imagine Silver dressed in a monster costume and pretending to legitimately scare someone. Nope. I still can’t do it, he conceded.

“Well, anyway, most of that’s just an example of what we do here! At the end of the day, it’s about having fun with everyone else!” she ended; both of them finally reaching the stage.

“‘Everyone else’?” he echoed, grinning. “Pray tell, Fair Silverstream! Where be this fabled ‘everyone else’ thou speaketh of?” he inquired, earning another giggle.

“Oh, sure!” declared a sarcastic voice to his left. “Ignore me even though I’m right here.”

Gallus turned to see a violet-blue stallion with an auburn mane reclining in the front pew and staring at the two through golden amber eyes; a condescending frown marking his face.

“Vellum! Whoops, didn’t see you there,” greeted Silver. “How’re you doing?”

“Well enough,” he said, unknowingly making Gallus twitch. “You?”

“I’m great! Sooo, as you can see… I brought my friend, Gallus, to Drama Club with me! I asked him, and he said yes!” she announced happily.

“About time,” snided the exasperated stallion.

“Huh?” Gallus asked the suddenly very nervous Silver.

“Eh-heh-heh, Nothing,” she dodged. “Anyway, have you two ever been properly introduced?”

“Ummm…” Gallus hummed. Thinking about it, he did recognize the earth pony from around the school, but no name came to mind.

“Obviously not, Silver,” the pony droned as he rose to his hooves. “I’m in Class 1B, remember. If he knew my name, it’d be because you had told him beforehoof.”

“I suppose that’s true… Sorry. Anyway, Gallus, this is Vellum Codex! Vellum, this is Gallus!”

Oh, so this is the guy they mentioned at lunch? Gallus thought as he said, “Nice to meet you.”

“Charmed,” Vellum said, giving a curt nod. “I already knew your name though.”

“Because I’m a ‘Hero of Equestria’?” Gallus jokingly guessed.

“No, your friends’ constant talking about you was what seared your name into my brain.”

“Oh,” he replied, having no other response. Should I say sorry, or…

“Vellum!” Silver yelped. “We— We don’t talk about Gallus all the time!”

“Your embarrassment is palpable, Silver; you might want to try harder if you wish to cover it in the future,” he advised with a condescending smirk.

Don’t. Punch. The pony, Gallus told himself, trying to bury the outrage he felt on Silver’s behalf. Don’t be angry, that’s not something you’re supposed to feel. Especially in front of her. After succeeding at that task, he turned to Silver and teased, “So, you talked about me, huh?”

“M-Maybe once or twice; we’re friends after all! And friends talk about their friends with their other friends!” she offered weakly.

“You do know that Honesty is a core element of friendship, correct?” Vellum asked rebukingly.

“Of course I know that!” she fired back angrily.

“Mhmm. You’re doing a wonderful job showing it.”

Silver stammered for a moment, clearly hurt by the comment.

Peck it! I’m defending her! “You don’t need to be so rude to her,” Gallus remarked, scowling.

Vellum met his gaze and didn’t back down, saying, “Rudeness isn’t the same thing as crit—”

“I don’t care,” he interrupted. “I don’t appreciate you being mean to my friend.”

“Is that so?” he inquired with a quirked brow.

“What do you think?”

Vellum didn’t reply; instead, the two simply maintained their locked gaze. Eventually, he cracked a smile, saying, “Loyalty is certainly something I appreciate. It’s also something that our Club needs desperately,” he added, shooting an angry glance elsewhere. “So, if you truly intend to join…”

Vellum held out his hoof.

Okay, what is this guy’s deal!? Gallus asked himself as he stared at the offered hoof. Is he’s crazy? Reeeaaally bad at friendship? Or is this some in-joke among the Club?

Well, it’s not like I can just ask him if— He blinked, then gave Silver a questioning glance.

“Yeah, he does this kind of stuff a lot,” she answered with a tired shrug.

Okaaay, then. At least now I know exactly what they were talking about at breakfast. Gallus turned back to Vellum and shook his hoof, asking, “So this whole ‘spiel’ of yours is routine then?”

He smirked. “Welcome to Drama Club, Mr. Gallus. Try not to quit in the first week, please.”

Hidden beneath his drawling tone was a note of sincerity that Gallus almost missed. Still, he wasn’t quite sure if he heard right, so he simply said, “Thanks…? I’ll try not to disappoint.”

“You will,” Vellum said bluntly.

Before Gallus could retort, his now enraged friend yelled, “Vellum! Play nice!”

Sighing, Vellum rolled his eyes and practically recited, “Everyone fails in the first week. It’s not something to be ashamed of; it’s just a simple truth regarding the art of acting.”

Once again, Gallus didn’t know how to react, so he just said, “Oh. That makes sense.”

“See! Now was that so hard to do?” Silver asked hotly.

“Not really. But I’d prefer it if somecreature didn’t compromise the plan.”

Gallus had every intention of speaking up in Silver’s defense again, but she beat him to it.

“Oh, shut up, Vellum!” she shot back. “We all keep telling to stop doing that!”

“At least I try to make sure everyone’s committed,” he countered. “As opposed to prolonging the eventual traitors’ dalliances.”

“Do you always have to act so self-righteous?”

“'Self-righteousness' is a term created to belittle one for acting upon their personal convictions.”

“Ughhh!” she groaned in frustration. “Fine! You want to keep doing your ‘thing’ then fine! But please! Do me a favor and don’t do that to Gallus!”

“If an exception is made for one individual—”

“Vellum!” she snapped. After taking a deep breath, Silver quietly asked, “Please?”

He remained silent for a moment but soon, Vellum sighed and wearily replied, “Fine.”

“Thank you,” Silver said, giving him a quick hug.

“No need for gratitude,” he sighed, pushing out of the embrace. “I should have taken into consideration just how desperate you were for Gallus to join us.”

“VELLUM!” Silver shrieked; her blush returning as he snickered.

“Could I have an explanation please?” Gallus asked as his brain raced to keep up.

“Which part requires one?” Vellum inquired.

“Uh… The last part?”

“Vellum, don’t you dare!” Silver warned before he could even open his mouth.

“He asked for an elaboration; do you wish to deprive him of it?”

“I—”

“Didn’t think so,” he interrupted self-righteously. “Silver and Yona have been wanting to ask you to join Drama Club for the past month,” Vellum explained. “There, I kept it brief, happy?”

Silver took a huge sigh of relief, nodding.

“Good.” He then hummed and quickly added, “Silver technically has been wanting you to join for the past two-and-half months, but—”

A claw quickly slapped over his muzzle, and Silver finally turned to Gallus, awkwardly laughing. “Heh-heh, ignore him! So! Uh… How do you… Um… Er… Darn it,” she bluntly ended.

“Couldn’t think of something to distract him, could you?” Vellum asked, stepping out from behind her. She shook her head sadly, and he broke down laughing much to her annoyance.

“You… You’ve wanted me to join Drama Club? Before my— I mean! Before that?” Gallus asked.

Vellum quieted down considerably.

“W-Well, I mean— I, uh— Well, I— Uh, I— Yes?” Silver awkwardly stammered. “It always seemed like something I thought you’d enjoy, so…yeah. I have wanted to ask you to join up.”

Gallus tilted his head in confusion and asked, “Why didn’t you?”

“W-Well, um… Er, you see, uh…” She preemptively slapped a claw over Vellum’s muzzle, but she needn’t have bothered as he was suddenly too preoccupied with studying his hoof to pay any mind to the conversation. “I guess I was just a little scared you wouldn’t like it,” Silver hurriedly admitted.

“Really?” She… She actually cared about whether or not I would…? “You didn’t have to be worried, Silver. It’s not like our friendship would have ended or something if I hadn’t.”

“I know, I know! I was just worried that if you didn’t like it you would pretend otherwise on my behalf. Trust me. Vellum and Scoop don’t exactly make it easy to be in Drama Club, and I didn’t want you to feel like you had to suffer through it just… Well, just because of me,” she concluded softly.

“That’s…rather pessimistic of you, Silver,” Vellum observed neutrally. The glare she gave him quickly shut him up, so he returned to silently studying the condition of his hoof.

She was afraid of that!? Is that what she was worried about earlier in Generosity class? She was worried that I would… Hide my feelings again…?

His heart thundered in his chest as Gallus fretted, It’s all my fault! She shouldn’t have been worried, but she was anyway! I worried her! I— I need to fix this! I need to fix this!

“Silver, you didn’t have to be worried about that!” Gallus hurriedly protested. “If I didn’t want to join, I would have told you so!”

She winced a little, not looking him in the eye.

Oh, no… “Silver, look, I—”

“YONA HAS ARRIVED!” Yona joyfully shouted, chuckling as her greeting echoed through the empty theater and drew their gazes.

“Hi! Yona!” Silver swiftly shouted, turning away from Gallus as fast as she could.

I… I scared her! I scared Silver! he realized, revolted with himself. Oh, no! What do I do!? What do I do!? What do I do!? What do I—

Okay! Gallus snapped at himself. I need to stop panicking first! This… This is just another problem which means it can be fixed! So…! How do I fix Silver being worried about me!

Well, why is she worried about me?

Okay, dumb question. Better question: Why is she still worried about me!? I’m fine! Even if I can’t say that, she knows I am or, at least, I will be! I haven’t given her a reason to believe otherwise, right…? I am fine, right? At least, I’m better than I was… Right?

While Gallus was busy worrying, Yona took quickly scampered down to the front section.

I… I think I need to talk to Headmare Starlight, again, he determined. Maybe I’m not healing as much as I thought? At the very least, she’d know how to help me stop worrying my friends!

“Gallus!? Yona not expect you here!” she greeted brightly, breaking him from his thoughts.

Okay, Gallus. Look, we’ll worry about this later. For now… Let’s try to have fun with Silver and Yona, he ultimately decided. “I didn’t expect to be here either, but here I am!” Gallus announced.

“Let us hope you stay here,” drawled Vellum. “We are in desperate need of a new member.”

The others started at him.

“What?” he asked, genuinely ignorant to the reasoning behind their annoyance.

“Yeah. Yona sorry for Vellum,” she said. “Yona hope he not give Gallus too much grief.”

“Eh, he’s fine,” Gallus reflexively said.

“Hey, guys! We’re sorry we’re late!” called the other new arrivals.

They all turned to see a pair of mares trotting over. He recognized Peppermint Goldylinks from his class which wasn’t hard given that she was never without her signature purple bow. The other was a tan earth pony with a bubble-gum pink mane with pale highlights.

“Oh, hey, Gallus! What’s up?” the former called down to him as she and her friend approached.

“Hey, Patty!” he casually greeted. “I’m apparently part of the club now, or something.”

“You are!? YES! I totally called it! Ha! Berry so owes me ten Bits!” she muttered, smirking.

Meanwhile, the mare that he didn’t recognize had rushed up to Vellum and asked him in a threatening tone, “Are you scaring the newbie again!?”

“No. … Maybe,” he said, pretending to look ashamed of himself.

“Ugh!” the mare groaned. “When are you going to realize that! No one! Gets! What! You’re! Doing!” she snapped, punctuating each word with a stamp of her hoof.

Vellum made to retort but got cut off by said stamped hoof.

“You don’t get to talk!” she ordered angrily.

Gallus snorted but quickly hushed after the mare suddenly set her gaze upon him.

“Hi!” the mare said with a smile scarily similar to Pinkie Pie’s. “You must be Gallus, right!?”

“I—”

“Well, I mean, of course you are; you’re the only griffon in the school, so what am I even asking for,” she fumbled, chuckling awkwardly.

“Well, I—”

“Ah, whatever! My name is Strawberry Scoop!” she continued, picking his talon up and giving it a hearty shake. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you! We’ve heard tons of good things from Patty, Yona, and, of course, Silverstream!” she said with a wink.

Gallus gulped, both terrified and curious to know what that wink meant.

“Scwop? Pluf blith muh mlff blk.”

“What did you say, Vellum?” asked Scoop, removing her hoof from his mouth.

“I asked for you to do that,” he answered, wiping his muzzle off. “Oh, and before you coyly wink again, I feel obligated to inform you that I do not believe that Silver hasn’t told him that part yet.”

“SILVER!” the pony roared, rounding on the hippogriff. “Explain! Now!”

“N-Now, Scoop, I—”

“You’re telling me that after all this time, you finally asked him, but you didn’t even tell him about why you—” Scoop got a taste of her own medicine via Silver’s talon.

“Yes, I asked! But he hasn’t talked to me about it yet, so could you please not—”

Scoop pushed her claw away and zipped back to Gallus, angrily demanding, “What does she mean you haven’t talked to her about it yet!?”

“Uh…” he droned, slowly backing away.

“Don’t you ‘uh’ me, griffon-boy! Now you tell me what Silver asked you and what you’re—”

“Scoop! Stop it!” yelled Silver defensively.

“Give me a minute, Silver, I’m trying to get an answer for you!”

“You don’t need to! I trust that Gallus will—”

“Not even five minutes in and you two are already going after each other?”

“Shut up, Vellum!” both of them shouted.

“Why should I exactly? Of the three of us, I’m the only one who hasn’t raised their voice.”

“Says the idiot that scares half the student body away from Drama Club,” Scoop accused.

“Well, at least it helps prevent traitors like November from slipping in!”

“November isn’t a traitor; he just had other commitments!”

“Aiding one group of friends at the sacrifice of another is exactly what betrayal is, Scoop!”

“Do you even hear yourself!? November didn’t sacrifice us for anything; he had the Yearbook and Science Clubs to help out! Plus, he decided he was done dealing with your crazy flank!”

“To call one ‘crazy’ is to imply that they suffer from some modicum of mental or psycho—”

“You know what I mean!”

“Could friends please settle down! Yona not like friends fighting!”

“We wouldn’t be fighting if Scoop didn’t insist on intruding in Gallus and Silver’s love life.”

“VELLUM!” screamed a horrified Silverstream.

When did the room start spinning? Gallus wondered as he quickly took a step toward a nearby chair, using it for support. Is it my fault the room’s spinning? I think it is. I should probably fix that…

“Oh, that does it! Come here, you little blabbermouth!” Scoop shouted, lunging for him.

“Agh! Could we please hold off on physical violence until after Professor Rarity lets us know what we’ll be doing today? At least then you can—YIPE! Please stop trying to smack me!”

“Hah! Scared, are we!?”

“Very much so!”

“Uh, G-Gallus!” Silver called out fearfully. “I swear this isn’t how Drama Club usually goes! I even Pinkie Promise it! See! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a—OW! Scoop!? You hit me!”

“Sorry, Silver! Just trying! To get around you! So I can get! Him!” she growled furiously.

“I reiterate! Could you please wait until Professor Rarity shows up! At least then you could channel your anger into your acting!” Vellum squealed.

“I could, but I could also channel my anger into hitting you, and I bet that’ll feel way more satisfying! Now come here!”

“Scoop! Vellum! Stop it! You’re freaking Gallus out!”

“Friends freaking Yona out too!”

“Sure, just give me a moment to get at least one more slap in!”

“Or you could just stop before you get all of us into trouble!”

“Too late for you; you’re already in trouble!”

“That’s not what I meant!”

The two ponies continued dancing around trying to either hit or dodge the other with Yona and Silver trying to avoid the crossfire and keep the two from properly engaging.

Gallus took several more steps back away from the chaos, coming to a halt by Peppermint who stood idly by, casually munching on a sandwich and utterly unfazed by the sight before them.

“Does this happen often?” he asked, unsure whether to laugh at the absurdity, intervene before someone did get hurt, dwell on the “love life” comment, or run before he made everything worse.

She swallowed and said, “Normally, End Zone would have tried getting between them and keep ‘em from doing any real damage.”

“End Zone?” An image of a teal earth pony with a blonde mane flitted to the surface of his memory, and he asked, “That guy’s in Drama Club!?”

“I know! I couldn’t believe it at first either! You’d totally think he’s a sports-only guy, right? Nope! I mean, he totally loves sports—you should hear Shimmy Shake talk about him!—but he’s got a soft spot for acting too! Vellum said his Romeo was… Hey, Vellum!?”

“Yes!?” he replied shrilly.

“What did you say about End Zone’s Romeo performance again?”

“I said it was a valiant showcase of originality and passion! And that even though he botched over three of his lines, his personality and enthusiasm perfectly sold his portrayal of the character!”

“Thanks! Yeah, Vellum said that about End Zone’s acting.”

“Just a reminder: I also said his Carlos performance was phenomenally underwhelming due to the severe lack of charisma with which he acted!” Vellum quickly added, ducking under Scoop’s hoof.

“Yeah, I know!” She turned to Gallus and whispered, “Don’t listen to him; none of us ever do. Vellum knows his theater stuff, but when it comes to interacting with others, he’s—”

“And while it’s on my brain, Scoop! I feel the need to remind you that your version of Officer Valentine was atrocious! Seriously! Didn’t you read the character description! She was supposed to be confident-yet-unnerved, not cowardly-and-whimper—OW! My eye! You poked me in my eye!”

“—Dumb,” Patty finished. “So, yeah! Welcome to Drama Club!” she proclaimed happily.

“OW! My other eye!”

“If you didn’t move so much I would have gotten your cheeks not your eyes, and I’d have been done already, so stop moving and let me slap you properly!”

“Scoop! Vellum! Please stop!”

“Yona not want friends fighting, so stop before Yona get mad!”

He turned back to Patty and asked, “So this actually is normal?”

“Oh, this?” she asked, gesturing the chaotic tumbleweed of creatures. “This doesn’t even crack the top twenty. Vellum and Scoop practically live for getting into fights with each other.”

He sighed, relieved. I think I need to calm down. I’d probably be enjoying myself more if I did…

“Okay! That’s twice you got me in the eye! Happy!?” Vellum yelled, rubbing the indicated eye.

“Happy? No. Content? Yes,” Scoop answered coldly.

“Whatever,” Vellum groaned, shaking his head. “Now that you mentioned him, Patty, where is End Zone? And Shimmy Shake for that matter. They should have been here by now.”

“Zone’s trapped doing a gazillion drills with the rest of the sports teams. Something about everyone turning into wimps over the break, or something? Same thing with Shimmy.” She took stock of his scowl and added, “They said sorry, but you know how Professor Dash gets.”

“Yes. Yes, I know,” he sighed. “Hopefully, she’ll let them free by our next meeting."

“And if they aren’t?” Scoop asked spitefully. “What? You gonna make ‘em choose between—”

“Obviously not!” he retorted. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t be annoyed that they—”

“Excuse me for just a second,” Silver quickly interjected. “But could you two please… Maybe, just maybe…” Once Scoop and Vellum were both listening, she shouted, “STOP FIGHTING!”

Everyone stared at her.

Silverstream looked back meekly; her gaze briefly lingered on Gallus before she took a breath and said, “I’m sorry for raising my voice, but first impressions matter, and…” She gestured to him.

The two ponies followed her gesture and had the decency to look away.

“Sorry, Gallus. We’re not doing a good job at welcoming you, huh?” Scoop mumbled.

“Quite the opposite, I’m compelled to admit. My apologies for the behavior of both my companions, and especially myself,” Vellum declared, bowing his head regretfully.

“Thank you!” Silver gratefully sighed. “Sorry, Gallus. This was all such a big mistake; I shouldn’t have even bothered! I’m— I’d perfectly understand it if you wanted to leave, or…” she trailed off dejectedly, unable to meet his eye.

For a minute, everyone was silent. Then Gallus broke down, guffawing loudly.

“Is this standard behavior for him?” Vellum whispered to Scoop who just shrugged.

“Uh, is Gallus okay?” Yona asked.

“Are you two happy!?” Silver demanded, glaring at Scoop and Vellum. “He’s literally laughing at the idea of being in our club! I hope! You’re! Happy!” she screamed in a cracked voice.

“S-Silver,” he said, trying to regain his composure. “You’ve got it all wrong.”

Bewildered, Silver turned back to him and muttered, “Huh?”

“Sorry. It’s just… You think I want to leave?” She winced.“Leave and what? Ditch you in this madhouse?” he joked, earning a surprised stare. “Pfft. As if I would leave and let you have all the fun!”

“You thought our fighting was—mlph!”

“Shut up, Vellum,” Scoop urgently whispered, retracting her hoof from his mouth.

“Understood,” he replied, wiping his mouth off again.

“Besides,” Gallus continued despite the interruption. “You and I still need to deliver a certain someone her ‘Thank You’ muffins, and no way am I doing that without my friend.” He gave her a wink.

Scoop gasped excitedly and proceeded to tap Silver, whispering not-so-subtly, “He winked, girl! You know what that means!”

“Stop that, Scoop!” Silver said, gently pushing her away. “R-Really?” she asked him hopefully. “You’re not upset? You still really want to join? Even with the, er, terrible first impression?”

“Who cares about first impressions! You’re here! Yona’s here! It still seems like plenty of fun! Why wouldn’t I be on board?” he asked, smiling happily.

Gallus blinked and suddenly found himself being jostled up and down by Silver’s bouncy hug.

Phew, he sighed internally.

“EEEE!” she squealed. “Yes, yes, yes! Thank you so much, Gallus! Are you absolute, positively sure though!?” she suddenly asked, looking him in the eye.

“I just said—Glrk!” he exclaimed, as she redoubled the hug. He just shook his head and patted her back until she broke away, beaming brightly.

“Awww,” cooed Patty and Scoop.

Oh, peck! Gallus swore once he realized that he had witnesses beyond his two actual friends.

“Yes, yes. It’s all very sweet…I think,” Vellum said, reacquiring everyone’s attention. “But now that the chaos has died down, where is Professor Rarity? She definitely should have been here by now.”

“Did somepony say ‘chaos’!?”

The crimson curtain lifted to reveal Discord in a garish orange suit and purple bow tie. Quite coincidentally, a collective dread descended upon the creatures present.

“And so I appear! Like an unforeshadowed plot twist in a novice’s fan-fiction! Here to answer the call of all things chaotic! Hee-hee-hee,” he chuckled, leering at them through a fanged smile.

Yona immediately glared at the unwelcome visitor, and Scoop and Patty swiftly backed away. Silver completely froze, staring at Discord as if he were Doomsday incarnate, and Gallus cautiously frowned, suspecting that this wasn’t going to end well.Vellum, however,resolutely stood his ground despite his quivering hooves and calmly greeted, “Mr. Discord. How has your day been?”

“Oh! My day has been simply divine!” he laughed, tossing a package of tie-dyed toilet paper into Vellum’s grasp. “You can keep that; I don’t need it anymore.”

Is that the same stuff that Smolder got tangled in earlier!?W-Why did Discord have that!? Gallus pondered, hoping that the answer wasn't what he thought it was.

“Thank you?” Vellum said, gently setting the gift on the ground. “If you don’t mind my asking, what exactly are you doing here? I get the feeling it’s not because you wanted to join Drama Club.”

“Don’t give him any ideas!” Scoop angrily whispered.

“Now, Scoop, you know we’re supposed to welcome newcomers without prejudice or hostility.”

“Why! How kind of you, Mr. Whatever-Your-Name-Is!” Discord said as an outraged Scoop gaped at Vellum.

“However, Mr. Discord,” he continued. “If you were to join Drama Club, we would demand your absolute loyalty to the group. Is that something you’re willing to provide?”

“HA! No,” Discord answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Thought so,” Vellum replied; a bead of sweat falling down his neck.

“S-So… You’re not here to join Drama Club?” Patty asked optimistically.

“Oh, you needn’t worry about that, Little Miss Background Character,” he said, gently patting the shivering mare. “I already decided against joining your little ‘madhouse’ a long time ago!”

Though she remained silent, Gallus got the feeling she wanted to scream, “Thank Celestia!”

“Don’t get me wrong, I totally considered it! But my thing is chaos and disharmony, and you already have enough of that going on without my help.”

“If that’s the case, what exactly are you here for then, Mr. Discord?”

“Well, duh! I am your substitute teacher for the day!” he declared, throwing aside his orange suit for a rumpled shirt, khakis, and a pair of square-rim glasses. He did keep the bow tie though.

“…Okay, which of us should go get Headmare Starlight?” Vellum asked the others.

Patty immediately spread her wings and fled toward the entrance.

“Now hold on a moment,” Discord said, holding up a paw. “Just what do you mean by that!?”

“Which part requires an elaboration?” Vellum asked, quickly stepping in Discord’s way.

Sadly, Patty only made it halfway to the door before being teleported back. It took three more failed attempts before she gave up and joined Scoop in praying for their lives.

“About getting Glimmy-Glammy! What? Are you worried that I can’t teach you? No, no! That can’t possibly be the case. I know! You’re worried that you won’t be able to live up to my standards! Yes, that’s it! You’re intimidated by how great a teacher I am!” he lied to himself.

Vellum wordlessly stuttered as he struggled to both process Discord’s words and not explode in indignation. While he was caught up doing that, Yona took the opportunity to get her own words in.

“Yona rather not be taught by Discord because Yona nearly eaten by bugbear last time.”

“Well, excuuuuuse me, princess! My bad for wanting to help you lot exercise by way of providing a very good motivation to do so.”

“Discord not know safer, more creative motivation for Yona and friends?”

“If you’re asking why I didn’t give you all super-speed and make you run down an unrealistic, hyper-surreal highway full of loop-de-loops, obstacles, and epic cinematic moments and set pieces with amazing, adrenaline-pumping music blaring in the background…? I didn’t think of it at the time.”

Vellum’s face-hoof echoed throughout the hall. As did the “Ow!” that accompanied it.

“Now, now! You know you shouldn’t hit yourself, Mr. Whatever-Your-Name-Is.”

“I’m well-aware, Mr. Discord. I’m well-aware.”

“Ah-ha! So you admit that I am a great teacher and know exactly what I’m talking about! Thank you! I’m happy that you agree that it was absolutely the best decision ever to make me your—”

“Ahem,” coughed a kind voice. Everyone turned to see Fluttershy confidently stroll down to the group. Discord audibly gulped at the stare she shot his way. “Sorry for the wait, everycreature, but I’m finally here. Discord,” she acknowledged with a frown.

“W-Well, uh, I mean that I’m happy that you all agree that it was absolutely the best decision to make Fluttershy your substitute teacher for today!” he corrected, smiling awkwardly.

“Oh, thank Celestia, we’re saved!” Patty quietly sighed.

“Well, of course, you’re saved!” Discord responded smugly. “Not only do you get the best of all of your Professors—if I do say so myself—but you also get me! Fluttershy’s Great and Powerful Assistant!”

Elsewhere, a blue unicorn jolted awake and glared in the direction of the auditorium, irked for an unknown reason. She then yawned and went back to reading the book she had fallen asleep on.

Back in the aforementioned auditorium…

“Discord,” Fluttershy sighed, maintaining a polite smile. “I told you that while I appreciate the offer, Rarity’s instructions were very thorough. And well…”

“Yes, yes; I know! But please! C’mon, I want to help out!”

“Well…” she said hesitantly, noticing Patty and Scoop’s frantic protests. “I don’t know, Discord. You don’t exactly have the best reputation among the students.”

“Yona! Almost! Eaten!” Yona shouted, emphasizing each word with a stomp of her hooves.

“I apologized! C’mon, Fluttershy, pleeeeease!”

Vellum sighed and begrudgingly said, “You may as well, Professor. He sounds bored, and I don’t particularly want to know what he’ll do if he’s left alone that away…”

“I both resent you for saying that because of how offensive it was, but I also respect you for even having the gall to say that in the first place,” Discord said, nodding approvingly.

“Again! Yona! Almost! Eaten!” she repeated.

Vellum put his hoof around Yona and pulled her to the side, whispering, “And he’ll throw a hissy fit and release that pie monster from earlier in the auditorium! You want to deal with that!?”

Yona blanched and shook her head.

“Do you think by taking a step to the side, I somehow can’t hear what you’re whispering? Because I can! And I had absolute nothing to do with that pie monster from earlier!” Discord swore.

Everyone, including Fluttershy, stared at him in complete disbelief.

“What? Come now! You all know I would have covered it in mustard or polka dots if it had been me, but no! It's was purely just boring, old, ordinary apple! And I don't do ordinary!” he protested proudly. "Maybe Sugar Belle should start checking what ingredients she haphazardly throws into her pies!" Discord suggested, crossing his talon and paw indignantly.

Everyone rolled their eyes.

Fluttershy sighed and asked the Club, “Are you all sure you won’t mind?”

“I can tolerate his presence. What of the rest of you?” inquired Vellum. “Scoop?”

“As long as he promises not to do his poltergeist shtick again… I guess it’ll be okay. Patty?”

“Same,” she whimpered, clearly not wanting to have agreed.

“If Yona have to deal with bugbear, pie monster, or other monster, Yona not gonna be happy!”

Silver was still a little too frozen to answer, so Gallus gave a talons-up for both of them.

“Alright then,” Fluttershy began. “Discord? I suppose you can help, but! Like they asked, you can only help if you don’t add your, er, ‘usual flair’ today. Can you promise that?”

Discord sighed melodramatically, lamenting, “Oh, woe is me! I won’t be able to provide scene changes and prop alterations to assist with the mood of today’s acting like I intended!”

Vellum perked up; all traces of fear and apprehension gone as he asked, “Was that a genuine—”

Scoop practically teleported to his side in her quest to plant her hoof in his mouth.

“Ah, well! I suppose I can make such a sacrifice if it means helping my friend even just a little!”

Fluttershy tittered, rolling her eyes. “Thank you, Discord. I’ll hold you to that though.”

“And I’m happy to oblige!”

The duo shared a giggle, much to Scoop’s disgust, Vellum’s apathy, and Patty’s disappointment.

“Like I said,” Gallus whispered to Silverstream. “No way am I leaving you in this madhouse.”

The moment his words reached her, Silver snapped out of her petrified state and emphatically promised, “Gallus!? I! Swear! It is not usually like this!”

Is she still worried that I won’t join up!? I am literally standing in a room with this wannabe eldritch horror and saying I will stay with her regardless! … Okay, yeah! Definitely need to talk to Starlight. I can’t keep worrying Silverstream like this!

“Hey, even if it was usually like this, I still wouldn’t leave you behind,” he promised softly.

“Aww, Gallus!” she said, trying and failing not to blush. “You’re so sweet!”

Well, at least her panic’s gone, annnNNNDDD HOLY PECK! She said I’m sweet! What does that mean! Does she really think that, or is she just saying that! Does she really want us to be together, or not! I don’t know! And you know what!? I just remembered that this is, like, the third time she’s called me that today! I didn’t freak out then! I’m not going to freak out now!

“Aww, uh, thank you!” he said gratefully.

‘Thank you’? ‘Thank you’!? That’s all I got!? Really!? That’s worse than the ‘so yeah’!

“Hee-hee!” she tittered. “You’re welcome!”

Gallus smiled serenely. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

“Professor Fluttershy? Where is Professor Rarity?” Patty asked.

“Oh. Well, um, she had a very special commission come in at the Boutique yesterday, and she said it needed a lot of time to perfect. She did want to apologize for the inconvenience though.”

Silverstream suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

“Ohhh! Gotcha.”

“Yes, yes. Financial security is certainly the more important choice,” Vellum agreed after escaping Scoop’s grasp and wiping his muzzle off again. “In that case, do you require any assistance regarding today’s activities?”

“I think she’s got it, Vellum.”

“Can I not offer my assistance, Scoop?”

“You mean kiss up to Professor Fluttershy in order to get better parts, right?”

“Excuse me!? I would never do such a thing!”

“Suuuuure, riiiiight…”

“Are you suggesting that I would ever lower myself to engage in nepotism!?”

“It’s not like you haven’t done it before.”

“Why you—”

“Um, before you continue?” Fluttershy interrupted, pausing their argument. “Rarity mentioned you two and that when you inevitably argued I was supposed to…” She looked at the paper. “‘Threaten to switch their parts if they don’t stop arguing,’” she quoted, looking up to see the duo’s terrified faces. “I’m not entirely sure what she means by that, but… That’s your first warning.”

Vellum gulped and clarified, “The first one is the only one I require, Professor!”

“Y-Yeah! We’ll stop arguing now! Heh-heh,” Scoop nervously laughed.

“That’s great! Now, Rarity also mentioned that your rehearsals stopped because of Friends and Family Day. So, to compensate for this, she wanted all of you to spend the day warming up, instead of properly practicing for… The Epoch of Majesty Serendipity Daydream?” she read, bemused.

“Bah-hah-hah! What!?” demanded Discord, looking at the paper. “No way! That can’t be a real play! That sounds more like some basement-dweller’s fan-fiction than an actual, legitimate play!”

“I’ll have you know, Mr. Discord, that it is an actual, legitimate play!” Vellum said indignantly. “One that Professor Rarity intended us to perform for the rest of the school later this month!”

“Yeah, yeah! Whatever you say, Mr. Whatever-Your-Name-Is. I’ve got to read this!” he said, pulling out a pair of X-ray glasses. He sat down and opened an upside-down book that he suddenly had now. “Carry on,” he said with a wave. “I can read and help at the same time.”

“That’s the wrong book, Mr. Discord,” Vellum deadpanned.

Discord shut the book, threw it over his shoulder, reached under his seat, and pulled out a new book with the play’s title on the cover.

“That’s still the wrong… You know what? Nevermind.”

“Wise,” both Discord and Scoop said simultaneously.

He looked between the two but ultimately decided to ignore it and ask, “So, Professor? If we’re not to rehearse for the main play, I’m assuming we’re to be given individual parts to recite instead?”

Everyone looked to Fluttershy who held up the paper again, saying, “Oh! Um, yes, actually. Rarity left me several scripts for me to give you all, so if you’re ready?”

“I had a feeling this was the most we would be doing today,” Vellum lamented as he took some of the offered pages. “Ah, well. At least it will be time well-spent.”

“Yeah, because listening to you wax poetic is ‘time well-spent,’” Scoop said, rolling her eyes.

“Listening to your performances tend to be so,” Vellum responded. “So long as you capture the true essence of the character while providing your own individual style to the performance, of course.”

“You almost had it,” she sighed wistfully. “You were so close too.”

“So close to what?”

“So close to giving her a genuine compliment with no criticisms attached,” Patty answered, retrieving her own paper from Fluttershy.

Vellum nervously looked away, providing no further comment.

Gallus turned his attention from the ponies and stepped up to Fluttershy.

“Oh, hi, Gallus!” she greeted, passing a set of papers to Yona and Silverstream respectively. “Were you here to watch them perform?”

“Actually, I was kind of here to join up.”

Fluttershy blinked and then rifled through Rarity’s notes. She then looked back at him after going through them all and quietly said, “Uh-oh.”

“She didn’t expect me to be here, did she?” Gallus asked, drawing the others’ attention.

“Eh-heh-heh,” she awkwardly chuckled. “No. Sorry, Gallus. Luckily, she gave me a lot of extra papers, so I’m sure I can just split some between you and the others.”

“Don’t worry, Professor!” Silver said, wrapping a wing around him. “We know what to do.”

Gallus quickly found a lump forming in his throat. He tried to speak his thanks around it, but before he could, Vellum chimed in, saying, “You know? Perhaps Professor Rarity not having us continue with our rehearsals is far more fortuitous than I thought. Scoop?” he asked, grinning.

“Yep,” she replied, smiling too. “I almost forgot that we had a newbie today.”

“Yona think it might have something to do with somecreature showing up,” she suggested, leveling a glare at Discord.

“Don’t blame me for your own short attention spans!”

“Regardless, we have a new member. Time to break him in.”

“Please remember to go easy, guys!” Silver requested pleadingly.

“I shall refrain from my usual harshness,” Vellum assured calmly.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“…So, what am I supposed to be doing?” Gallus asked, unnerved by everyone’s behavior now that his “newbie-ness” was on their minds.

“That depends on you,” Vellum answered. “Would you prefer to go up and perform first, so we know what we’re working with? Or would you rather wait and watch us perform, so you’ll have a better idea as to what we expect of you on your turn?”

Unsure as to which Vellum actually wanted him to do, he looked at Silverstream. Unfortunately, she was also silently anticipating his answer.

“Which do you want me to do?” Gallus finally asked.

“I care not which you do, so long as your choice is the one you’re most comfortable with.”

“Since when did you care about newbies being comfortable?” Scoop asked sarcastically.

“I’ve always cared; I’m simply being more vocal about it at Silver’s behest.”

Silverstream gave Vellum a grateful smile.

“Huh. Well, in any case, Vellum’s right, Gallus. It doesn’t matter to any of us which you do.”

“Uh…” he mumbled, unsettled by the creatures crowding around him in their zeal to stare into his soul. Luckily, before his silence could go on for too long, Patty came to his rescue, saying, “If you want my advice? It’d probably be a lot easier if you watched these guys first, so you know what to do.”

Peppermint Goldylinks, I owe you so much right now, Gallus thought, relieved. “I guess I’ll go with that then,” he answered thankfully.

“Ah, well… I was hoping to at least see what your raw acting abilities were as of now, but I suppose I can make due without!”

If that was what you really wanted me to do, why didn’t you just say so!?

“Save the melodrama until after you’re on stage, Vellum,” Scoop said as she and Yona passed the stallion; each taking a seat in the front row.

“C’mon, Gallus!” Silver said as she sat down beside Scoop.

He followed suite, sitting to between Silver and Patty. “Thanks,” he whispered to the latter.

“No problem,” she replied. “They did the same thing when I joined up, and maybe this is just me? But I can’t stand it when I get choices sprung on me out of nowhere.”

“Same,” he agreed. He then turned back to Silverstream to see her staring at him through downcast eyes. “What?” he asked, feeling a note of worry creep back into him.

“It’s nothing,” she absolutely lied, turning her attention to Vellum onstage.

Gallus wanted to say something—anything! But he didn’t. He had already caused her enough worry and panic, and Gallus wasn’t going to drag it on any longer just because he didn’t know what he could say to make her feel better.

“Well, um… It seems like you all understand what you’re doing?” Fluttershy murmured.

“Indeed we do, Professor Fluttershy,” Vellum confirmed from the center of the stage.

“Then I guess I’ll leave you all to it,” she said, sitting by Discord and waiting eagerly.

“Happy to oblige. Before I get started, however, I want to reiterate something. Gallus?”

“Y-Yeah?” he asked, caught between his worry for Silver and surprise at being called on.

“I want you to watch carefully; even we in Class 1B know about how notorious you are for not paying attention. Don’t take that as a derision, take that as a request,” he added before Silver could defend him. “Observe how I and the others perform our roles, and take what you observe and apply it when it is your turn. We’ll criticize you accordingly afterward. Understand?”

Gallus see; Gallus do. How hard can it be? “Aye-aye, Captain Codex,” replied, saluting.

Vellum snorted. “Well then. Ahem!”

Before he could begin, the auditorium fell into darkness, save for a lone spotlight that shone down on Vellum, courtesy of the second Discord happily waving at the group below.

While everyone was distracted, no one noticed the fluff of Discord’s tail make a snapping motion.

“That’s the wrong light, Mr. Discord.”

“Well, at least it’s devoid of my ‘usual flair’!” the draconequus chided.

“I didn’t say I didn’t appreciate the sentiment, but if you want to know which is the right one—” “Oh, just get on with it! Not all of us enjoy putting off after-school tea with their best friend!”

“…Oh, yeah, Patty. You definitely lost the war.”

“Shut up, Vellum!”

“Heh-heh. Alright then.” Vellum cleared his throat and began.

“The abyss. The dark, eternal abyss. A place of nothingness. Of hopelessness. Of worthlessness. A spiraling vortex of oppressive darkness and decay where not a drop of love may bloom, nor a single ray of light may shine. Maddening. Everlasting. Beckoning,” he recited ominously.

“Is this what you really think of it!?” he asked fervently. “Do you truly believe the abyss is but a cold, empty void, devoid of life and light? That its purpose is to prolong the nightmares that we suffer from nightly? That its incomprehensible silence only serves to drive one mad? Is that truly what you believe?” he whimpered, shaking his head in pained denial. “If so… I feel only pity for you.”

“You ask me why I stare into the abyss, knowing its most terrible nature. You ask how could I not lose my already crumbling mind, staring into its despondent depths of despair. You ask what could possibly command me to stand upon these grounds and stare into the whirling void of quiet insanity?”

“To that I say… How could I not!?” he angrily screamed. “Why would I not!? Why would I choose to ignore that abyss!? Why would I ever choose to turn my eyes away from the limbo within which resides our nightmares! Our losses! Our fallen…!” he whispered, pausing for effect.

“You say that to stare into the abyss is to open yourself to madness, and yet here I stand, staring into it nonetheless! And for that you call me a fool!?” he roared at his imagined companion. “You call me a fool…?” he asked in a cracked voice. Shaking his head in disbelief, he softly said, “How dare you!? How dare you assume that it is I who have forgotten my sanity! That it is I who have lost all hold on this reality! That it is I who have been robbed of my mind and my soul!”

“…”

“Nay. I cannot indulge these flames of anger, for while they are borne of righteousness; they are also wreathed in impatience,” he rebuked himself. “Your words are spoken not in hostility and vitriol, but rather care, fear, and perhaps a dash of ignorance. And if the latter be the only truth among the three then I have no choice but to enlighten you.”

“Permit yourself a glance beyond these shattered windows,” he requested, gesturing to said imagined items. “What do you see? A broken world being slowly repaired? A smoldering ruin freed from fear? A somber city filled with countless souls thankful for its salvation? Good!” he rejoiced as tears formed in his eyes.

“That is what you—what all!— should see! For we fought for that world. We fought down to our very last breath! Our last drop of blood! Our last wink of life! We fought to create this world. To drive back the destruction that had befallen it. To bring about peace. To bring about hope,” he cheered, wearing a rapturous smile before it slowly faded away into a mournful frown.

“Yes, we fought… But we also lost,” he continued; fury returning to his voice.

“Countless brave stallions and mares fell to bring about this world! To bring about this so-called peace! The sounds of their dying shouts, their hardened battle cries; their anguished screams…!” he lamented, closing his eyes to blind himself to the dying ghosts. “The shouts of innocent foals, begging for the land to cease its quaking, screaming for their beloved parents to wake up; crying as the ruin soon reached for them…!” he wept, flicking his ears back to deafen himself to the echoing screams. “The wails of not just ponies, but griffons, buffalo, changelings, and all manner of other living creatures alike…!” he added, falling to his rump as shivers engulfed his body. “Silenced.”

“Thousands of courageous heroes, fighting against the plague of war for all that they loved…! Thousands of terrified innocents, losing everything they loved to that same plague…! Thousands of souls, deserving of memory—no! Not just deserving of memory! Deserving of a grave!” he screamed.

“And yet… When you look out into that world we fought so hard for…? When you look at the banners, and the decorations, and the creatures… What do you see!? You see a celebration! You see joy and peace!” He paused for a moment before adding, “You do not see a single grave.”

“You ask why I stare into the abyss? It is because that nightmare is the last place these souls reside,” he tearfully explained. “Their bodies have long-since passed on, yet their spirits linger still.”

“The voices of the fallen cry out. They beg for their memories to remain if only for another day, if only so someone—anyone!—may remember them and their loss!” he wailed. “They weep for the dreams that have been stolen from them by the pride and desperation of creatures they would never come to know!” he shouted, panting heavily afterward.

“Within the abyss, the fallen remain. Within the abyss, their voices cry out. Within the abyss, their memories linger. So what right have I to not stare into the abyss?” he demanded, sniffling.

“I need not even ask for I have no right to not stare into the abyss! No right to not remember the lives lost, enemy or ally! No right to not recall the horrors these souls have fallen victim to!”

“What does it matter if I am driven mad!?” he asked; his mane disheveling. “What does it matter if others wish me to move on!? What does it matter if the abyss might gaze back!? What matters is remembering! All that has been lost and all that has been sacrificed! And if I must stare into the abyss to do so… Then I shall gladly stare into that void,” he declared, stamping his hoof in determination.

“You still ask me why does it matter?” he asked wearily.

“Tell me why it does not. Tell me why I should allow all these souls, innocent and guilty alike, to be forgotten! Why!? WHY!?” he roared, gasping for breath. “Why must they be forgotten!? Though they are gone, their ghosts remain! All that they were, and all that they could have been has remained. Their hopes and dreams… Their friends and families… All linger still. And you dare—YOU! DARE!—ask why I wish not to forget!?” he bellowed before falling into a brief coughing fit. After regaining his breath, he whispered, “You dare ask why these things still matter? You dare ask why I do not simply… Move on?”

“If you dare to be so bold as to ask such things then permit me to be bold enough to ask this: If I were to cease my staring and forget all of the depravity that this world has burdened us with… Then who would remember?” he asked, shaking his head in shame. “Clearly not you if you must ask such things! Clearly not them if not a single grave has been crafted! Clearly not our leaders if not a single eulogy has been given among their rejoicing!” he yelled, gesturing back out the imagined windows.

“Perhaps I am not the only one to stare into the abyss, but what if I am? If I were to cease, then who would remember the tragedies, the nightmares, and the losses?”

“The answer is no one.”

“Allow me to ask one more question of you,” he practically begged. “All of this destruction, bloodshed, and heartache… If they had ever mattered, then surely they deserve to be remembered? You say they do not deserve to be remembered? Then what was the point to all of it!?” he shrieked in a cracked voice. “If these horrible tragedies befell us then surely there had to be a reason!? And if not, then surely they still deserve to matter and be remembered, for if they are not remembered… For if they do not matter… For if the devastation, the ruin, and especially the heartache never mattered…”

“Then tell me why must we have suffered them?”

“…Even if there is no reason for why we have suffered, we have suffered nonetheless. So they must matter! Trauma without reason must matter just as much as trauma with reason, or am I wrong!? Can you truly look me in the eye and tell me that the ruin of the world, the sacrifices of the fallen, and the heartache of the abandoned do not matter!? That they should not matter!? That I should move on and forget all of the pain, and all of the heartache!? That the very world should do the same!?”

He took a moment to catch his breath once more, waiting for an answer.

“I didn’t think so. The fallen may have died in body, but until they are lost to the sands of time, then they are never truly gone! So, no! I shall not stop staring into the abyss. I shall stare into that darkened void, and I shall remember the memories of the lost!” he resolutely decreed.

“I shall remember their voices, their wishes, and their pain! I shall remember all that were dragged into a nightmare that they should not have dreamed! Who were pulled into a conflict that they could never hope to understand! Who were sent into an inferno to perish for an empire!”

“I shall remember every ally, comrade, and friend! I shall remember every foe, enemy, and rival! I shall remember every brother and sister, son and daughter; and father and mother!”

“I shall remember the fallen! I shall remember their suffering! I shall remember their dreams! And I shall remember their families! Until my final breath! Until my body is nothing but dust among the rubble, and dirt beneath an empire! I shall remember! For if I do not…!” he paused, sighing sadly.

“Who will?”

His final words were spoken so softly that they didn’t even echo in the soundless room. That same spell of silence lingered even when the lights of the theater returned in full-force.

“Ahem,” Vellum soon coughed. “Thank you,” he said, giving a deep bow.

With the spell of immersion broken, Gallus finally realized just how truly, completely, and utterly pecked he really was. I just had to ask how hard it could be, didn’t I? he groaned to himself.

“Well, bravo! I must say, Captain Codex, that was quite the brain-scratching monologue you gave there,” Discord commented. “Even if I could have done better,” he whispered to Fluttershy.

“Oh, hush, Discord!” she playfully retorted. “That was quite moving, Vellum. Good job.”

“Thank you, Professor,” he said with nod. “What are your thoughts and criticisms?”

“Oh!” she yelped. “U-Um… Sorry, Vellum. I don’t really think I can offer any criticisms the way that Rarity could. It was a very good performance as far as I’m concerned, but…”

“That’s fine, Professor; I understand. The rest of you?” he asked, turning to them.

Wait, what? Gallus asked himself, snapping out of his own musings. Why’s he asking us!?

“Voice inflection and body movement were good, and you absolutely nailed the emotional part, Vellum,” Scoop admitted with a mix of pride and jealousy. “However, you are still doing the thing you do where you read and act off the paper without maintaining eye contact with us, your audience. I think you only did it like twice. Granted, it might have been a stylistic choice considering the nature of your character, but the audience still needs to know that they’re the ones being talked to.”

Vellum flinched angrily, muttering, “Darn it. I don’t mean to do that, I just… No, no. I have no excuse. My apologies, Scoop. I must ensure that I follow that advice in the future.”

“I look forward to congratulating you when you do. Whenever that is,” she snarked.

Vellum smirked, shaking his head before asking, “Any other thoughts? Patty? Yona?”

“Vellum still really good at conveying character’s emotions,” Yona tried to admit begrudgingly, despite failing at the “begrudgingly” part. “Though, Vellum should remember to breathe and take time!” she added worriedly. “That was long monologue, and Vellum barely stopped to catch breath!”

“Yeah, that’s definitely a bad habit of mine,” he admitted, rubbing at his chest. “I’ll work on that from now on as well. Thank you.”

Yona nodded and asked, “Does Silver, Patty, or Gallus have criticism to make?”

What the peck can I even say!? Gallus wanted to ask. Even if I knew half as much as Vellum and the others clearly do, would they even want my thoughts!? I’m the newbie here! Maybe that’s a tad too cynical, he suspected, remembering his conversation with Ocellus.

“Can’t say I have anything negative to say, Vellum!” Silverstream answered happily. “That was really good! It was so moving, yet so tragic! So wise, yet so sad! And you sold it perfectly!”

Vellum nodded and turned to Gallus, asking, “Gallus? Your thoughts?”

“Uh… Same as Silver?” he offered.

Okay, that worked, right? A good neutral answer that echoes the answer of someone more valued and important than—Annnnnd he’s still staring at me.

“No, seriously, I have nothing to add. Silver nailed it on the head,” he stressed, trying very hard to melt into the cushioned seat.

“Really? You truly have no other thoughts to add?” Vellum just had to ask.

Gallus definitely wanted to melt into his seat after that. Luckily, Silverstream noticed his discomfort and gave a slight shake of her head to Vellum, telling him to back off.

Even more luckily, Vellum caught Silver’s message and said, “Alright then. Thank you for your input, Gallus.” He then proceeded to step down from the stage.

“Sorry it was all I could say,” Gallus quietly apologized before he could stop himself.

“It’s perfectly understandable why you wouldn’t be able to say more,” Vellum responded, stepping over to the rest of them. “You’re new to this activity, correct?”

Not counting the Ones-versary stint? “Yeah…?”

“Then there you go. If you’re a novice, you’re not exactly going to be able to provide a more thorough critique. It’s nothing to apologize for, and it’s certainly not something I judge you for.”

“What? Did you think that you had to give a critique to stay in the club?” Scoop asked incredulously.

I was worried for nothing again, wasn’t I? “But… I thought…”

“Are you okay, Gallus?” Silver asked worriedly.

Why can’t I stop making her ask me that!? “Yeah. I just got a little caught off-guard.”

“I have been told that I elicit that reaction sometimes,” Vellum acknowledged bluntly.

“Sometimes!?” Scoop laughed. “Pardon me, who is it that always tries to scare off the newbies because he’s paranoid they won’t fully commit to his precious club?”

“Oh, hush up!” he countered in spite of Scoop’s chuckling.

After fighting off a shiver, Patty finally spoke up, “So is no one going to mention just how dark that monologue was? I know Professor Rarity wanted us to try out new genres, but war!? Trauma!? Death!? Yeesh…! I think that’s the darkest role we’ve ever played outside of our big performances.”

“Yona thought darker tone more interesting! Yak authors back home say that dark themes in story best used sparingly so impact not lost. Same with roles.”

“Very wise,” Vellum agreed, nodding approvingly.

“Yaks tend to be,” Yona agreed pridefully. “Though Yona wonder if Vellum’s monologue excerpt from book or if Professor Rarity thought it up herself?”

“Considering that Professor Rarity’s idea of ‘dark’ is the Shadow Spade series? It had to have been something that she got from another book,” Scoop confidently answered.

“…Unless of course, it was somecreature else that wrote these scenes,” Vellum suggested, shooting Discord a suspicious glance that all but Fluttershy caught.

“Well, whomever it was Rarity consulted with, I bet they were really clever,” Discord said devilishly, winking at Vellum. “Because that was genuinely good, if I do say so myself.”

Yep, he messed with the papers, the students realized with varying degrees of panic.

“I didn’t know you liked these kinds of stories, Discord,” Fluttershy said, not noticing the creatures around her frantically rifle through their papers for fear of just what Discord did to them.

“Oh, Fluttershy, I love all kinds of stories! The hard part is finding my favorites,” he clarified.

“Ah, I understand.”

Gallus was very tempted to follow everyone else’s example, but he ultimately decided against it. He was already nervous enough without Discord’s meddling adding to it.

How the peck am I going to do this thing!? he contemplated uncertainly. It’s bad enough I’m going to make a complete fool of myself, but Discord decided that he wanted to show up and make things even worse!? Other than to hang out with Fluttershy, why is he even here!?

Gallus blinked and thought, Okay, don’t panic, Gallus. And don’t demean yourself! Just because you won’t compare whatsoever to Vellum and the others’ performances, doesn’t mean that you can’t go up there and have fun. Besides… I promised Silverstream, he reminded himself determinedly.

“In any case,” the stallion said. “As Patty mentioned, Professor Rarity wished us to experiment with other genres and roles, so I suppose I welcome the opportunity to try out something new.”

“Hee-hee. Rarity will be happy to hear that,” Fluttershy giggled. “So who wants to go next?”

After giving her paper a once-over, Scoop raised her hoof and said, “Me! Definitely me!”

“Alright then, Strawberry. You go up there and wow us!”

“Don’t worry; I will!” she declared, bolting up the stage.

“What do you think Discord did to her part?” Patty asked Silver.

“I don’t know,” she answered anxiously. “But we’re about to find out."

As they quickly did find out, Discord—in a complete breach of the chaotically consistent inconsistency he was known for—ensured Scoop’s part matched up with Vellum’s rather well.

Emotionally charged monologue from inferred war veteran? Check. Overarching theme of loss, heartache, and remembrance? Check. Several implications of death, despair, and destruction? Check.

The only difference that Gallus picked up on was how radically different Scoop’s character was from Vellum’s. While Vellum’s character was overwhelmingly passionate about remembering the pain and loss, Scoop’s spoke more about moving on from the ordeals they had suffered from and finding solace in the reprieve that had fallen as of the war’s end.

Gallus couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about the whole thing, but he didn’t know what it was until Scoop’s equally remarkable performance drew to a close.

“—I understand, my friend! Truly, I do! I understand you care for me and seek only my peace. But please,” she whispered. “Allow me to remember. The battle is won, my friend. And here, within these sacred halls lies something that neither the war, nor my leaders could ever gift unto me…”

“Rest, my friend,” she softly elaborated. “I can rest here. I can grieve and weep over those that I’ve loved and lost. But I can do so peacefully. I can do so knowing that though they are gone, I can still hold onto their voices and remember them always. Within these walls, I have been given reprieve. From the war, the destruction; the madness! I’ve escaped it all!” she rejoiced loudly.

“But…” she sighed. “I know that you are right as well. Though I cannot bring myself to wish away this respite, I must not distract myself from the healing my spirit has yet to do. If I do not save myself, then my pain shall last forevermore… That is what you are afraid of, is it not?”

“My friend, please do not fear. I. Am. Healing,” she promised. “But I am doing so at my own pace. Yes, I know you worry still, and I cannot judge you for this. For how can you believe me when I have worn my mask of falsehood so often before… But please. Just this once… Please believe that I am okay. I beg you… Please believe me,” she concluded, tearfully.

Scoop then bowed as well, smiling at the applause that she immediately received.

Gallus clapped along with the others, but he paid very little attention to the motion as he was more focused on fighting the chill crawling along his spine.

No. No, no, no! No! I’m being paranoid! There’s— There’s no way Discord would— How would he even know about Ocellus and Silver being— Even if he did know, he wouldn’t—

As the others gave their thoughts and critiques about the performance, he gave Discord an expressionless stare that the draconequus met out of the corner of his eye.

For a split second, Gallus saw Discord smirk and give him a talons-up.

Oh, Grover’s Treasure! He is!

Gallus wanted nothing more than to hurl himself through the theater doors and run until he was halfway back to Griffonstone. He then glanced at Silverstream and took a calm breath.

No, Gallus. This is… This isn’t exactly 'fine' but neither is running away after I promised I would stay. So… So buck up! No more cowardice, right!? You’ve got this, Gallus!

I don’t think I do! What if Discord spills the beans to everyone else! I can handle my friends knowing about my problems, but the others!? Maybe… Maybe I could just ask him to stop?

…Pfft. Yeah, no.

Okay, I can stay calm. This isn’t a problem yet. I’m still okay, and I won’t freak out. I made a promise, and I am going to keep it. If not for myself… For her, he decided.

“Who knew Discord had a thing for war novels, eh?” Gallus whispered to her.

“I know I didn’t. Pretty interesting stuff so far though!” Silver replied thoughtfully. “Maybe I’ll ask Ocellus if she knows any good ones I might like later. You?”

“Eh, maybe. … You want ask her together? That way we both get the list?”

“That sounds nice,” she agreed.

“Ahem!” Vellum coughed, gaining their attention. “Scoop asked if either of you had any—”

“Vellum!” Scoop groaned, face-hoofing.

“What? They weren’t paying attention when you asked if they—”

“Not the point, Vel!” she elaborated, jumping off the stage and making a beeline for her seat beside him. He gave her an inquisitive look, but she just whispered, “I’ll explain later!”

“Does this have something to do with—mlph!”

“I said I’ll explain later,” she said, retracting her hoof from his mouth. “Patty! You’re up!”

“On it!” she replied, spreading her wings and hovering onto the stage.

“Ooh! I wonder what Patty’s part will be like!” Silver wondered enthusiastically.

“I don’t know,” Gallus answered, keeping his casual grin up.

Two down. Three to go. And then me.

He gave another look to his own altered papers, but once again, decided against viewing them.

Both Patty and Yona proceeded through their parts much in the same way Vellum and Scoop had before them: With fervent passion and trained skill.

Patty spoke with an earnest charm that suited her character perfectly as she bounded through the air, practically dancing as she rejoiced in the multitude of creations that she and her fellow survivors could bestow upon the broken world, reviving the beauty that had been lost in the wake of the war.Quite a number of her lines, in fact, struck Gallus as oddly reminiscent of his earlier Generosity lesson.

Unfortunately, that—along with the tie-dyed toilet paper from earlier—pretty much confirmed that Discord had indeed been spying on him all day, and that terrified Gallus down to his core.

Once Patty had finished, she too asked about her performance and what she could improve upon. The others all had their own inputs, but Gallus just defaulted to mirroring Silver’s again since he was a little busy trying not to panic as his performance drew closer.

Next was Yona who was absolutely the most energetic of all of them so far. Bouncing across the stage with every step, despite tripping more than once. And yet, Gallus found the clumsiness to only enrich the performance. For a character who spoke so optimistically and excitedly about the future of a battle-torn world, the awkward stumbling seemed natural.

Then again, it also might have been the result of Yona’s hair braid coming undone halfway through her performance which everyone suspected was Discord’s doing.

Eventually, Yona came to an end, breathing heavily from the routine. And yet, she still gleefully beamed down at them all, savoring the following applause.

“That was excellent, Yona!” Fluttershy cheered, clapping her hooves. “Wonderful job!”

“Thank you, Professor Fluttershy. So! What friends think of Yona!?”

“Energetic as always, Yona. I’m impressed by how quickly you adapted to your braid coming loose. Also? Excellent job, integrating the circumstances into your portrayal!” Vellum commended.

“And as usual, Vellum sums it up perfectly,” Scoop agreed. “I could practically feel just how enthusiastic you were, and that resonated perfectly with your character’s personality.”

Huh. Well, what do you know, Gallus thought after hearing his own thoughts being mirrored.

“Aww, thanks! Yona not want to brag, but Yona been working hard to be better at acting part! As much as Yona love doing backstage work, Yona want to perform more too!”

“You’ve always been welcome to perform, Yona. … So long as you don’t break the stage again anyway.” Ignoring Scoop and Yona’s scowls, Vellum sat up and looked at the area around Yona’s hooves, adding, “And it doesn’t look like you so much as scuffed it this time! Hooray!”

“Thank you, Vellum,” Yona deadpanned. “Yona hoped to be reminded of stage incident today.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Apology accepted!” Yona said happily as she stepped down from the stage.

“Well, then!” Fluttershy declared, clapping her hooves together. “Only two more to go! … Wait a minute. Discord? What time is it?”

“Time for you to get a watch,” he said, pulling out a pocket watch from nowhere.

Fluttershy snickered at the corny joke as she looked at the watch and whispered, “Uh-oh. Eh-heh-heh. Sorry, everycreature. We’re going to have to wrap this up soon,” she revealed sadly.

“What? How late is it?” asked Vellum, hurrying over and looking at the watch himself. “Oh.”

“I keep telling Professor Rarity that we need a clock in here,” Patty muttered, shaking her head.

“Ehhh,” Vellum groaned. “We do still have some time, but judging from how long all of our parts were, I don’t think we’ll be able to do both of yours, Silver and Gallus.”

Did the world just make it easy for me?!

“That being said…” Vellum continued. “Gallus? Sorry to make this abrupt, but if you could, please step up and give your part.”

Of course. “Um,” he hummed. “Are you sure? Newbie, remember? No way am I going to be as good as you guys if I go up there! You might as well not waste time and have Silver go instead!”

Silverstream and Yona both immediately noticed his distress; the others…?

“It’s because you’re a novice that I want you to go up there, Gallus.”

“Say again?”

“Well, if you do plan on being loyal to Drama Club, then we’re going to need to understand where you are in your performance ability and what improvements are needed.”

“As much as I dislike agreeing with Vellum, he’s got a point,” Scoop said firmly. “We need to know where your strengths and weaknesses are, and you need to start practicing. Otherwise, you’ll remain a novice forever, and there’s no way we’re going to let that happen! Right, guys?”

“Definitely!” Patty answered, nodding. “C’mon, Gallus! Show us what you got!”

Yona and Silver both shared an uneasy glance, but the peer pressure caused Yona to cave. “Well, if Gallus up for it, Yona would love to hear him perform!” she admitted optimistically.

That left Silverstream who looked at him warily, asking, “Are you up for it though? I’d understand if you’re not! I don’t want to force you or anything; I just…”

…

"Heh, darn. And here I thought I would get to hear you perform,” Gallus lamented. “Ah, well. Alright, let’s see just how badly I’ll do,” he said, rising up in spite of the terrified buzzing in his head.

“Everycreature does poorly on their first run, Gallus,” Vellum pointed out. “It’s the matter of improving afterward that you should be concerned with.”

“Cut the poor griffon some slack, Vellum,” Scoop reprimanded. “Everycreature is also nervous on their first try too, don’t forget.”

“I know!” he protested. “In any case, Gallus? Show us what you can do!”

“I can sit back down and watch Silver go instead! Would that be okay?” he asked snidely, climbing atop the stage.

“No.”

“Ugh. You’re no fun!” he jokingly grumbled, turning to meet his audience’s stares.

Gallus couldn’t help but look at the bringer of his doom who gave him yet another wink. He then looked back to his friends, comforted by the sight of their encouraging smiles.

“You’ve got this!” Silverstream whooped merrily.

You know what, Silver? Yeah! I totally got this! he realized, emboldened by her words. How hard it can it be to read some stupid lines on a paper anyway!?

He cleared his throat and began.

“I didn’t imagine that this is where my life would end up,” he read neutrally. “I would have thought I’d be elsewhere! I expected to be literally anywhere else in the world! Not here.”

He gave a quick glance to his audience and felt considerably relieved that no one had fallen asleep just yet. He turned back to his paper and confidently resumed.

“I expected that I would be in a home somewhere! Maybe I’d have bought it, or maybe I’d have built it, but a home nonetheless. I can almost see it now, you know. Comfy carpeted floors… Big beautiful kitchen… Maybe a nice garden in the back…”

“I expected so much out of my life. Out of this world, even! I didn’t expect to be rich, or powerful, or whatever others dream of. I just expected to be elsewhere. Living a normal life. A normal, comfortable life with friends and neighbors alike. But above all else, I expected to be—”

His voice hitched the moment he saw the rest of the line. His silence persisted until Vellum gave a slight cough, reminding him that he wasn’t alone in that moment.

Steeling his courage, Gallus nearly whispered the remaining part.

“But above all else… I expected that you’d be there with me.”

Gallus didn’t want to go on after that. He didn’t know why Discord was screwing with him, but he didn’t care. After saying that line, Gallus was almost ready to break his promise to Silver and bolt.

“…But above all else, I expected that you’d be there with me!” he repeated again; a note of anger slipping through. “I thought that you’d be there! I thought that after everything, you and I would be there together! That the home I’d be living in would be our home!” he nearly shouted.

“So why then!? Why do you leave me now!? Why do I have to be here!? Of all places… I never expected—I never wanted!—to be here! So why am I here!? Why couldn’t you and I just be here together! Well!? I’m waiting! Why couldn’t you stay with me!?” Gallus demanded furiously.

“How much have we been through together!? War!? Famine!? Destruction!? Despite all of that, we survived! Together! And yet, here I am! Alone! … I’m alone!” he shouted again. “And why am I alone!? Because you! Left! Me!” he snarled spitefully.

I need to calm down! I’m not supposed to be angry; I’ll only worry Silver and the others if I—

“Everyone else is gone! All we had was each other, but now I’m alone! Why!? Why did you leave me alone!? I never wanted to be standing here by myself, yet here I am! Because you couldn’t stay with me! Because you wanted to—” His voice cracked again. “Because you— Because—”

Gallus took the moment to reattempt to regain control of himself, determined to not have a breakdown again when he knew full-well he wasn’t supposed to. Especially in front of Silverstream.

Just hurry up and get this over with, Gallus! he told himself, skipping to the next page.

“Sorry. I know you wouldn’t want me saying these things. But can you really blame me? What else am I supposed to say? You and I promised each other to be together forever, but here you are. At the bottom of a tomb of your own making. Knowing that… Can you really blame me for being angry? Can’t I be angry? Can’t I be even a little mad? I want to be,” Gallus admitted. “I want to be mad! I want so much to wave my talon over this stupid mound and wake you up! Because I want to yell at you! I want scream at you! I want to scream until my throat bleeds!” he screeched hatefully.

“We were supposed to be together! We decided that how long ago!? Was it when we were just children!? Was it when they threw weapons into our talons and told us to go to war!? Was it when they blew the trumpets only after we carved a valley of blood!? It’s been so long, I can’t even remember. I can’t…” Gallus gulped and continued, “I can’t remember without you.”

“But I do remember the promise we made. I know that we promised each other that when we would be elsewhere, we’d be elsewhere together. That the house would be our house. That we weren’t friends anymore, we’re something more! We promised, didn’t we?” he whispered. “Am I remembering it wrong, or did you forget? At this point, I don’t even know. I’m not even sure if I want to know.”

“…But I do know that I want you here,” he continued weakly. “I want you back! I don’t want to see your face in only my dreams, I want to see your face with my eyes! I don’t want to hear your voice in only your letters, I want to hear your voice with my ears! I don’t want to feel your warmth in only my memories, I want to feel your warmth by my side! I want you here with me! I want you here… I just want you back!” Gallus lamented, barely succeeding in holding back the tears in his eyes.

“I just want you back,” he repeated shakily.

Gallus was only halfway through the paper, but he couldn’t care less. He was done. He was done. He would have burned the paper with a flamethrower if he had one, but since he didn’t, he settled for forcing himself to give the same short bow that the others had given.

Don’t you dare make me go on, Vellum Codex! Don’t you pecking dare! he thought vehemently.

…

Fluttershy leaped into the air, clapping with all her strength. “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! That was absolutely incredible, Gallus!” she cheered, shattering the spell of immersion one final time.

Following Fluttershy’s example, Patty happily clapped, saying, “That was definitely better than my first attempt at this gig; that’s for sure!”

“Wow!” Scoop gasped. “Gotta admit, Silver, you weren’t lying when you said he’d be really good at it,” she said, giving her a knowing wink.

Silver didn’t respond.

“That was certainly impressive for a first foray,” Vellum reluctantly admitted. “However, I do still have some criticisms.”

“Of course, you do,” Scoop sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Silver asked we go easy on him, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore his mistakes. And don’t pretend that his performance was flawless. You know just as well as I where he struggled.”

Scoop shifted uncomfortably, clearly torn between following Silver’s request and siding with Vellum. Gallus decided to make it easy for her by assuring, “Eh, I can handle a bit of criticism. Besides, I get the feeling Vellum will explode if I don’t let him criticize me.”

“Not necessarily ‘explode’ but…” the stallion mumbled as Scoop snickered. “Firstly, I want to congratulate you on a job well-done, Gallus. Most tend to struggle with the emotive part at first, but the sheer anger and sadness you spoke with were both raw and focused. You did struggle at first, but you soon hit your stride and were very convincing. Very convincing indeed,” he commended.

“Thanks,” he said curtly.

“That being said however! While you were able to nail the emotionally charged delivery, you didn’t quite nail the physical aspect of the performance.”

“Yeah, once you got in the groove you never looked up! I said it earlier to Vellum, but you need to maintain eye-contact with your audience to further the immersion, and you were just yelling at the paper by the end,” Scoop reluctantly said. “I know you needed to read it to know what to say, but…”

“‘Body language is just as important to giving a proper performance as emotion,’” Patty quipped wisely. “I had to be told that a lot too, so don’t worry too much, Gallus.”

“Good to see you still remember that advice.”

“How could I have forgotten, Vellum? You only told me it—oh, I don’t know—thirty times?”

“And I’m glad to see that it stuck.”

Patty and Scoop just rolled their eyes.

“I should also add that in a proper performance you need to finish your part, not just skip half of it in hopes of getting it over with quicker,” Vellum remarked. “I understand you were nervous, and I don’t judge your for being so, but you cannot allow your nerves to hinder your performance.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Like I said, I don’t judge you for doing it.”

“Especially since we all know why you really did it,” Scoop added with a pointed look at Silver.

“On that note, what of you two?” Vellum asked Yona and Silverstream. “Did either of you have any thoughts you’d like to share? I know you likely won’t have criticisms.”

“Vellum right because Yona have no criticisms! Gallus do just fine!”

He knew Yona enough to know when she was using her “Everything is fine” voice. Everyone had one, and Yona’s was as obvious as Applejack’s favorite food.

“Nothing from me either, Vellum,” Silver quietly answered, giving Gallus that same haunted expression that he had seen and caused far too many times.

I think I’m going to be sick.

“Yes, I thought as much. Now! Gallus? You still have a lot of work to do. Clearly. And we’ll certainly help you in that regard, but for now? I’d say you did well enough!” Vellum ended. “I hope to see you again Thursday for our next meeting. You are going to be here, right?” he asked grimly.

Even if Discord returns and messes with the scripts to screw with me again…?

“Same time this Thursday, you said? … Yeah, why not?” he said genuinely.

“YES!” Vellum exclaimed out of nowhere. After realizing that everyone but Silverstream was staring at him he cleared his throat and nodded. “Thank you,” he said simply.

“You’re welcome, I guess. Can I get off the stage now? I, uh, really need to go to the bathroom,” he lied, resolutely avoiding Silver’s gaze.

“And that’s the end of that,” he ended, sipping at his water. “I came straight here afterward.”

Starlight nodded wordlessly.

…

…

…

“Okay, should I talk first, or did you want to?” Gallus asked, unable to take any more silence.

“Well, what did you want to say?” she asked.

“Honestly?” Gallus opened and closed his beak before giving up and shrugging. “I don’t know.”

“Hmm. Well, I now understand why you mentioned being worried about Drama Club. I’m sorry you had to deal with Discord’s…” She inhaled, dispelling the red cloud around her horn. “Antics,” she finished. “I can’t imagine how hard it must have been enduring his ‘attempts’ to help you out.”

“Meh. … So he was trying to help me, huh?” he groaned, trying not to let his anger show again.

“For better or worse, Discord’s modus operandi is manipulation with a side of chaos… I don’t know why, but it sounds like he was trying to make you ‘confront’ your issues head-on.”

“I had a feeling that’s what it was about, but…”

“Yeah. At least, that had better been his intention! Otherwise…" She shook her head and reiterated, "I’m really sorry that he did what he did.”

“It’s fine. Besides, for as uncomfortable as it was dealing with all of that, at least it was easier.” And I didn’t have a complete breakdown. … Even if Silver is still—

“I’m very proud of you, Gallus. You absolutely should not have had to deal with that, but I’m still very proud of you for being so patient with Discord,” she said encouragingly.

“Thanks, Headmare Starlight. … So what do I do now?” he asked, gulping.

“About Discord? Nothing. I’ll take care of him…” Starlight promised ominously. “But if you’re referring to Drama Club? I’d say go for it!” she advised joyfully. “It sounds like you had a lot of fun in spite of Discord’s meddling, and the others were all very welcoming of you… I think you’d like it.”

“No! I meant… What about… About Silverstream?”

“What about Silverstream?” she asked obliviously.

“What do you mean ‘what about Silverstream’!?” Gallus snapped. “I ditched her! I promised I’d see Drama Club through with her, and right at the end—Right! At! The! End!—I ditched her and came here! And on top of that! She’s still worried about me! What do I do to fix this!?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Silver would understand that you needed some time after—”

“No!” he interrupted. “No, she won’t! And besides! I promised her that I’d go with her, and then I just… Ughhh,” he groaned, sinking lower into the sofa.

“You promised her that you’d go to Drama Club, and you did…?” she said uncertainly.

“Well, yeah! I may have gone to Drama Club, but did you not hear me about how worried she was the entire time!? What do you think she’s going to think when after I get done yelling at a stupid bundle of papers I just decide to vanish under the lame ‘bathroom break’ excuse!?”

“Even if she is worried, I’m sure she’ll understand. She knows how hard a time you’re having.”

So does Smolder; doesn’t stop her from being angry with me, Gallus barely stopped himself from saying. “Look!” he said instead. “I know that! I know that Silverstream will understand, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be worried! I promised everyone I was doing better, and… And she’s still worried about me! Just like Ocellus! So, what do I do about that!? How do I fix this!?”

“We talked about this earlier, Gallus,” she stated calmly. “You can’t just wave your talon and make your friends stop caring about you.”

“I know! I know! But you didn’t see Silverstream. She… She looked at me like I was dying or something! I scared her. … So please! Please just tell me what I’m supposed to do to fix that!”

For a moment, Starlight’s eyes wandered to the papers on her desk before looking back at him.

“The only thing you can do, Gallus. Talk to her,” Starlight answered resolutely. “I understand you don’t want them to be worried about you, but it’s okay! Like I said before we got interrupted; the best thing you can do is be there for her and your friends and let them know that you’re okay.”

“But you said I am okay! And I’m glad that I am doing okay, but… But it still wasn’t enough! They’re still worried, and it’s all my fault! So… Doesn’t that make it my responsibility to fix this?”

Starlight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Your responsibility? What do you mean?”

“I mean that I screwed up! I wasn’t supposed to have a meltdown! I should have been fine, but I wasn’t. My friends are worried about me, and it’s my fault!” he ended, hiding his face in his talons.

“Again, we’ve been over this. Your friends are going to worry because they’re scared you’re not well.”

He dropped his talons and declared, “And I was supposed to be fine! But I failed at that, so… So, that means I have to make them stop worrying! That’s what I was trying to do all day, but since they were still worried anyway, I thought that maybe I wasn’t healing as much as I thought, but… But you said I was, so that can only mean I’m doing it wrong, right?”

“‘Make them stop worrying’? What do you mean by…” She blinked and asked suspiciously, “Gallus? How much of what you said to Ocellus earlier was what you thought she wanted you to say?”

“U-Uh, w-well, I, uh… I, uh…” he stammered, blindsided by the accusation. He swallowed and admitted, “The… The part about how I knew it wasn’t my fault for everything screwing up.”

“And yet, you still believe that it is?”

“Yeah? My friends wouldn’t be scared now if it weren’t for me. So that makes it my fault,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“So what you’re saying is… You lied to Ocellus to make her feel better?” Starlight deduced.

“Well, what was I supposed to say!?” Gallus asked hotly. “‘Hey, Ocellus! I’m not really as fine as I thought I was, and I will never stop thinking that all of this mess is my fault no matter what, but whatever’? Was I supposed to have said that!?” he asked, scowling at the mere idea.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying you should have done. What I’m saying you should have done was be honest with her!” Starlight professed bluntly.

“But I was honest with her!”

“Fully honest, Gallus. Fully honest!”

“Yeah, but if I had been ‘fully honest’ she’d still be worried about me! Maybe she still is, but she’s a far-cry less so because I—”

“Because you said what you thought you were supposed to say?” she guessed, raising her voice.

“Well… Yeah?” he said, not comprehending the problem.

Starlight inhaled, bringing her hoof to her chest. She then exhaled slowly, pushing it away. She repeated did this twice more before giving him a stern glare that made his insides crawl in anticipation.

“Gallus?” she began through gritted teeth. “What I am about to say to you is something I feel very strongly about. So if I get a little preachy, I’m sorry. Alright?”

“Alright,” he said uncertainly. Oh, thank Grover! She’s going to tell me how to fix this!

“Gallus? Your feelings are just as important as everyone else’s! Every feeling. Your happiness and hope! Your anger and fear! All of it! Every single feeling you can or will feel and express is equally important. They are never—ever!—otherwise!”

“Look,” Starlight continued before he could retort. “I know that you don’t want your friends to be worried about you, and I also understand that you feel like it’s your fault that they’re worried, especially Silverstream,” she added, making him flinch.

“Gallus, I understand your frustration, but… You cannot—I repeat!—cannot! Accept responsibility for other creatures’ feelings. And what I mean is that you cannot blame yourself for others—including your friends—being worried about you.”

“But they wouldn’t be worried if I hadn’t—”

“Hadn’t what, Gallus?” Starlight interrupted. “Hadn’t cared? Hadn’t cared about everyone else being happy when you weren’t? Hadn’t cared about being alone when you knew you did nothing to deserve being so alone? Hadn’t cared when Silver wanted to help you feel better?” she asked, scowling.

“I… I…” Gallus looked down, defeated. He hadn’t intended to say any of that, but those weren’t exactly far from what he was going to say.

“Exactly. Your feelings are just as important as everyone else’s, not lesser than. If you want to feel angry then feel angry; it’s okay. If you want to feel sad then feel sad; it’s okay too.”

“But those aren’t things I’m supposed to express around others! Look at you now! I get just a little upset—just a little afraid—and suddenly you’re… You’re… Angry at me,” he ended, looking up.

“Angry at you?” she asked, stunned. “Gallus, I’m not angry at you. I’m…” Starlight stopped and followed his gaze, seeing another nimbus of scarlet magic. She then looked back at Gallus and found him staring at her in apprehension.

Starlight soon did her breathing exercise again, calming down far more significantly and withdrawing the rage cloud into her horn once again.

“I’m sorry for raising my voice, Gallus. I should know better, and I’m sorry,” she said gently.

“Look," Starlight continued. "I really am not angry at you. What I am angry at is that you’re taking responsibility for the feelings of your friends at the cost of your own,” she explained, frowning sadly. “That’s something you should never have had to deal with, Gallus, let alone at your age! And yet…you are.”

“…But this is my fault!” Gallus hesitantly argued. “The others are scared because of me! Silver is scared because of me!” he protested vehemently. “It’s all my fault, so I should fix it! I’m supposed to fix it! I don’t want my friends to be worried about me; they should never have had to worry about me in the first place because I am supposed to be fine! But I wasn’t… And… And…”

“You say that it’s your fault that everything is messed up, and I get that. But I don’t blame you. They don’t blame you. Silver doesn’t blame you. No one is holding anything against you, Gallus. No one except yourself," she said morosely.

“But what about Smolder!?” Gallus angrily blurted out.

“Smolder doesn’t blame you either, Gallus,” Starlight elaborated, wincing. “I won’t deny she’s angry, but it’s not because she thinks you’re at fault for something.”

Wait… She knows why Smolder’s angry? he realized, asking, “Then why is she mad at me?”

“That’s something we both need to talk to her about,” she mumbled. “But getting back on the subject,” she said, stepping out from behind her desk and sitting beside him. “Gallus? I understand that you blame yourself for all of your friends worrying about you, but… Please listen when I say this…”

“Don’t. Don’t hold yourself responsible for the feelings of your friends. Your emotions are your emotions, and theirs are theirs. That includes worry, fear, anger, and everything else.”

“But they’re worried about me!”

“And you’re worried about them being worried about you,” Starlight countered. “And you know what? You are perfectly allowed to worry about them as much as you wish, but by that same logic, they’re also allowed to worry about you as much as they wish. And yes. I know they wouldn’t be as worried as they are now if you weren’t upset during the holiday. But that doesn’t matter, Gallus.”

“But it does matter! It’s my fault that they’re worried! It was my mistake, and I need to fix my mistakes! Especially, when it pertains to my friends!”

“Gallus, the only creature this matters to is you,” she stated bluntly. “And that’s okay too! It’s okay that you’re worried, and it’s okay that you’re afraid that you made a mistake. But what’s not okay is hurting yourself trying to make your friends less worried.”

“But I’m not hurting myself!”

“Maybe not in the short term, but in the long term? How long will it be before everything that you say and do with your friends is just another ‘attempt’ to make them stop worrying about you?"

"What does that even mean!?"

Starlight gave him a hard stare before saying, "Silver said she was afraid that you’d endure Drama Club on her behalf, even if you didn’t like it."

"Geez, thanks for the reminder, Headmare," Gallus groaned sardonically. "But guess what!? I did enjoy Drama Club!"

"Yes. Yes, you did, yes. And if hadn't?"

"W-Well, I would have, er, told her?" he lied.

"Mhmm. Annnd, what if you don’t like Chess Club with Ocellus?" she asked, maintaining a steady tone. "Or what if Sandbar follows up on that gym membership question, and you don’t want to go but go anyway just because ‘you know you have to’? How long before you bottle up your feelings every chance you can because ensuring that they’re happy is ‘more important’ than being happy yourself?”

“I… I hadn’t really thought of it like that before,” Gallus weakly admitted.

“That’s because you care, Gallus,” she explained, smiling sadly. “You care about your friends so much. And I’m glad that you care. The problem is that you care so much about making them happy, that… That you’re stressing yourself out trying to keep making them happy. Or, at least, you will.”

“I just don’t want them to be worried…”

“And that’s not a bad thing, Gallus. It’s okay that you want to make things better with your friends and help ease their fear, but it must not come at the cost of your own feelings. You shouldn’t feel the need to force yourself to pick and choose what you can or can’t say or think because you want them to be happy before yourself. That’s not noble. That’s not healthy. That’s toxic.”

Gallus quietly contemplated her words, contrasting them against his own actions. After a while he said, “What am I supposed to do then!? How do I help my friends stop worrying! I know I’m healing, but is it enough? What can I do?” he asked pleadingly.

“You’re a clever griffon, Gallus,” she answered knowingly.

“Talk to them and let them know that I am doing okay?” Gallus guessed, sighing.

“And be honest,” she added.

“But what if I just scare them more? Clearly I’m not exactly… Great.”

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Healing takes time. So give it time. They’re worried now, but one day they won’t be. Because one day, they’ll know you’re doing better. One day you’ll be better. But it takes time, patience, and above all else…”

“Reassurance?”

“Honesty,” Starlight corrected. “Be honest with yourself, and be honest with them.”

“…Heh. Okay, Professor Applejack,” he snarked, earning a chuckle. After some time, Gallus asked, “Headmare Starlight?”

“Yes, Gallus?”

“Did you have this same problem when you were healing?”

“…Yes,” Starlight reluctantly admitted. “I don’t want to go into specifics, but… Let’s just say that I, uh, bottled up my feelings in more ways than one… And, yes. I did hurt myself doing it. I almost hurt my friend and a few others too. So yeah,” she concluded, grimacing uncomfortably.

Reeeaaally regretting having fallen asleep during Magic lesson one hundred and forty-five, Gallus bemoaned to himself as he continued to ponder over her words.

…

“Does this mean that it’s okay to… To admit that I’m scared?” Gallus finally asked.

“Of worrying your friends?”

“Of talking to Silverstream.”

It took Starlight a second to realize what he really meant. “The date question?”

“Yeah,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well, first off? Yes. It’s perfectly okay to be afraid. And second? If you’re about to ask for advice on what to do…”

“Go talk to her?” Gallus preemptively surmised.

“Well, I was going to recommend flying kites together in the park, but yeah! Talking to her works too!” she agreed, grinning awkwardly.

“…Flying kites?” he inquired, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Don’t knock it till you try it,” Starlight protested, blushing. “Flying kites can be just as romantic as it can be platonic! Just ask Maud Pie and Mudbriar!” she concluded sagely.

“Riiiiight,” he droned, rolling his eyes .Eventually, Gallus took a deep breath and said, “So, I probably need to talk to you about this whole thing more…a lot more,” he begrudgingly admitted. “But, uh, do you mind if I go? I need to go and, uh… Silverstream,” he ended abruptly.

“Of course, Gallus,” she answered. “But please make sure to remember what we talked about today, alright?”

“I actually am healing despite only just beginning to do so, and I shouldn’t try to reassure my friends at the cost of my own sanity?”

“Well, uh… That’s a fair enough summation, I suppose,” Starlight tentatively agreed.

Gallus snorted.

“What?”

“Just a joke between Ocellus and I. … Before I go? Am I really doing okay, Headmare?”

“Yes, Gallus,” she answered confidently. “I do believe you are.”

“…Thank you. Right! I’ll see you later!” he said, grabbing his bag and making for the door.

“Tomorrow, or…?”

“Uhhh,” Gallus droned, pausing at the door and thinking. “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “Yeah. Tomorrow is good, right?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks again. Oh! And did you ever figure out what happened with Sugar Belle’s pies?”

“Oh. Yeah,” she sighed in irritation. “Same culprit as the pie monster. Which is the same jealous brat throwing a temper tantrum over her game getting more attention than his at the festival…”

Discord, you’d better run, Gallus thought as he requested, “Do me a favor and make sure that same ‘jealous brat’ stops messing with Ms. Belle’s mail, would ya? Spike needs her for the party.”

“Noted,” she said, scowling scarily.

“Thanks. … Whelp! See you later, Headmare Starlight!”

“See you later, Gallus,” she said, waving goodbye as the door clicked shut behind him.

Starlight sighed in relief and sat back down in her desk chair, levitating a stained, crumpled-up paper to her face and reading the words inscribed upon it once again.

“Oh, Smolder… Now what am I going to do with you?”

Gallus leaned against his bed, sighing and trying really hard to calm down.

“Okay,” he said to himself. “Okay. We’re going to talk to Silver! We’re going to ask her about the date thing. No more cowardice, Gallus,” he ended confidently.

He opened Cadence’s letter.

…Anyway! Now that we’ve got the general stuff out of the way; it’s time to get into the hefty stuff! So! My first major piece of relationship advice is this:

Don’t be afraid to express your feelings.

Out of everything I’ve said so far, this is probably the most obvious. After all, how can you possibly be in a relationship with someone if you don’t ever express your emotions? Unfortunately, this particular rule is something way more creatures tend to take for granted than you’d think.

Relationships are relationships regardless of whether they’re friendships or romances. They’re all “Bonds of Love” as Twilight told me you were fond of calling them. However, every relationship has its ups and downs. And that applies to romances just as much as it does to friendships.

To put it simply: Relationships can get strained. A little frustration here, a bit of irritation there. Something said in the heat of the moment here, something thought in a moment of vexation there. It doesn’t take much for creatures to be upset with one another.

Why is this such a big deal? Because a lot of creatures will bottle up their anger, fear, or sadness instead of expressing it openly. Why is that such a problem? Because it goes against the one fundamental rule of any healthy relationship.

Communication. That’s my first major piece of advice for you: Communicate with Silverstream.

If you’re happy, let her know you’re happy. If you’re upset, let her know you’re upset. If you’re afraid, let her know you’re afraid. If something is wrong, let her know something is wrong.

Don’t try to hide away your feelings just because you think you need to for her sake.

To never let her know how you’re feeling is to sacrifice the foundation of trust your relationship is built upon, and to make matters worse, it will have adverse effects on the both of you personally.

For you, hiding your feelings will do nothing but worsen whatever it is you’re hiding in the first place, while harming your emotional health in the process. And that’s assuming you don’t get accustomed to doing it every time you’re upset, and if that happens…

Don’t. Don’t let that happen. Don’t ever let yourself get used to hiding your feelings.

As for her, if you’re never honest about your feelings with her, then she’ll never be able to fully trust you. That’s already the biggest mistake any couple can make, but what’s worse is that she won’t be able to know whenever you are upset or how to help you should that happen. The same goes for you.

That’s why I want you to express your feelings openly. I know that sounds a little scary at first. Frankly, I’d be shocked if you didn’t find the idea of being completely, openly honest about your feelings a little daunting, especially since everyone finds it daunting at first.

The simple fact of the matter is this: Relationships need healthy communication. And that means you need to—you guessed it—communicate with her whenever you need to. If you don’t do this, then you’re only making it harder for the two of you to properly converse with each other when problems do arise. And if you two can’t healthily communicate with each other…

Then why be in a relationship in the first place.

All that being said! I know just how terrifyingly difficult it is to be like this with someone when you’re only just starting to do so. So! I took the liberty of providing a list of different, simple ways to communicate with Silverstream for if and when you were unsure of how to do it verbally.

It should be attached to this letter, or else it’s somewhere mixed in with the rest of the advice pile I had express-shipped to you. Sorry about that.

I think I’ll leave what you do next up to you. If you want to read my other letters, then read them. If you want to take the advice I’ve given you so far and talk to Silverstream about the question, go talk to Silverstream.

And don’t worry, Gallus! You’ve got this. I believe in you.

P.S. Gallus? This is Shining Armor; I wrangled this out of her grasp before she could send it to you(Or more accurately, before she could teleport it directly into your face in your sleep). I wanted to add this here since I had a feeling she forgot to say this in her excitement:

We’re sorry about your whole situation, and if there’s anything that we can do to help you, we’re a letter away(As is my sis). At the very least, I hope you’re doing better by the time you read this.

Overcoming trauma and growing from it as an individual is a difficult thing to do, but you have tons of support from your friends(Or should I say: Family) and teachers. And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that having creatures you trust be there to support you makes the ordeal a lot easier.

In any case, I hope you’re doing well, staying out of trouble, keeping your grades up, and hopefully not suffocating at the bottom of a pile of my wife’s “advice.”

I really need to get her a better hobby

I’ll try to keep her limited to one scroll per day, but for some Celestia-knows-why reason, the Crystal Empire has scrolls that reach half a mile in length, so yeah. To this day, I still don’t know if that’s a traditional thing they’ve always done since the Empire’s founding, or a remnant of some whacked-out torture method from Sombra’s reign that these ponies couldn’t shake.

Either way, expect some very long letters in the future. May my Aunts-in-Law help you.

Oh! And Flurry Heart sends her love too!

See you later, Gallus.

P.P.S. Hi! Cadence here! Again. And about Shining limiting my replies to one a day…

No.

Sincerely, Cadence, Shining, and Flurry.

Gallus re-read the letter one last time as well as the extra document that was, of course, at the bottom of the giant pile of letters. After reconfirming that Cadence had indeed suggested it, he placed the two parchments aside in favor of re-re-re-re-reading the letter that he had written for Silverstream.

I guess this will have to do… he thought, swallowing nervously. “Okay, let’s do this thing,” Gallus said with renewed determination as he rose up and stepped out into the hallway.

…

He politely knocked at her door, despite his trembling talon.

“Just a minute!” called out the voice from within. A minute later, the door opened to reveal Silverstream standing there, happy as can be.

And then she saw Gallus, and out the door her happiness went in exchange for nervous panic.

“Gallus!” she cried. “Uh, um, uh… Hi! How are you doing!?” she asked with a shaky smile.

“I’m… A little worried," he managed to admit. “How about you?”

“Oh! Um, I’m, uh… Good,” she lied.

“That’s good! I need to talk to you,” Gallus quickly said. “Do you mind if I come in?”

“O-Oh! Uh, sure! Sure! Come on in!” she welcomed, stepping aside.

Gallus had never fully seen Silver’s room before, so he was rather wowed by how simple Silver had kept it. Aside from the Wonderbolt poster beside her bed, the only decorations that Gallus saw were a few drawings of various landscapes, some knick-knacks he suspected were from her home, and the flower painting from earlier that she had propped up on the easel, drying from her latest additions.

“Hey! That’s looking pretty good,” he bantered, nodding toward the painting.

“Oh! Thanks, Gallus!” she bantered back, failing to hide the worry she still had.

“I didn’t interrupt you painting, did I?”

“Huh? Oh! No, no! You’re good. I’ve been letting it dry for a while.”

“Ah. … Um, do you mind if I, uh…?” he began, pulling out his letter.

“Um, sure?” she answered, unsure of what he was doing.

Gallus nodded in thanks and began reading.

“‘Dear, Silverstream. First off, Sorry for reading a letter to you instead of just talking like a normal creature, but I was advised that it would be a good way to talk to you if I was terrified of doing so. Which, as you can probably tell, I am.’”

“You’re terrified of— Oh no! I’m sorry, Gallus!” she swiftly apologized. “You don’t need to be scared of talking to me! … Uh, why are you scared of talking to me?”

“I’ll, uh, get to that in a minute,” he answered nervously.

“O-Oh. Okay. Sorry for interrupting.”

“No, no! You’re good! Ahem!” he coughed. “‘You’re probably wondering why I am terrified of talking to you.’” Silver quietly snorted. “‘Well? I am terrified of talking to you normally because of that question you asked me. Specifically, the date question.’”

Silver gulped but remained silent so that he could continue.

“‘The truth is that I have have no idea what you want my answer to be, let alone whether you genuinely meant it, or were just saying that because I was—’”

“I meant it!” she immediately answered.

Gallus looked at her, opening his beak to say something. No words came out as he was too busy screaming internally, so he just nodded and looked back at his letter.

“‘—Or were saying that because I was having a breakdown. Which, now that I’ve brought that up, I wanted to apologize profusely for scaring you. Regardless of whether or not I shouldn’t have been upset in the first place, I scared you. And for that I am so, so sorry! I never wanted to hurt you or any of our friends, but I did. And, uh, please don’t say that I didn’t because I know I did.’”

“Gallus, I— I didn’t know you were— I’m sorry for being scared; it’s just—”

“No!” he exclaimed, startling her. “Sorry. It’s just that Starlight said that it wasn’t a good idea to try to hide or bottle up your feelings. So did Princess Cadence. So, i-if you want to be scared…? It’s okay to be. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.” Please don’t be, please don’t be, please don’t be!

Silver opened her beak but then slowly closed it, nodding again.

“Okay.” He gulped and began reading again. “‘I worried you and the others. And I know you don’t want me to say it, but it’s my fault.’ It is!” he added, cutting off his horrified friend. “‘However! I’m not going to blame myself. What I am going to do is heal and move on.’”

Gallus was thankful that Silver remained quiet even though she clearly didn’t want to.

“‘And that is what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to move on after everything that happened. And, yes! I am moving on. Headmare Starlight has told me a lot about how it works—apparently, she’s been through this thing before, who knew?—and one of the things that she told me was that it takes a long time. And since I’m only just starting, that means it’s…well…gonna take a long time. But! She also said that it’s easier to move on when I have my friends to help do so… So for that? Thank you.’”

A weak groan managed to escape Silver, but she placed a talon around her beak to keep it shut. She then gave him a talons-up, signaling him to keep going.

“‘Whelp! Now that we got that out of the way…’” He took a deep breath and hurriedly read, “‘I have no idea about that date question you asked! I said it before, and I’ll say it again! I don’t know whether you really meant it, or if you were joking, or if you were just trying to make me feel better! And because of that! I have no idea how to respond. If you were joking…’ Well, I guess I don’t need to say that part since you already said that you meant it. … You did mean it. Right?” he asked, terrified.

“Mhmm!” she answered through her clenched beak, nodding vehemently.

Well, at least I wasn’t worried over nothing. On that note—AAAAAHHHHH!

“Well, in that case, I can just skip ahead.” He flipped the letter over and read, “‘If you did mean it, then I want to be honest and say that… Until now? I had never thought of you—or anycreature else for that matter—in that way. Please don’t take offense to that because you are incredibly awesome, and I care about you a lot! I just never really thought about that before.’”

A note of sadness penetrated her worried stare, making Gallus wince.

“‘Again, I really don’t mean any offense by that! And to be honest? If you want to be in a relationship with me… If you genuinely, truly want you and I to date… Then yeah! Let’s call Friends and Family a date, and go on from there!’” he declared, smiling as confidently as he could.

Silverstream caught him in a warm hug, and quickly said, “Sorry for interrupting you again, but can I keep hugging you? I really want to hug you right now!”

“Uh,” he muttered, blushing. “Sure, I don’t mind.”

Her hug intensified, and Gallus suspected that she wanted to shout in joy. To be honest he did too.

Gallus held the letter up as best as he could around Silver’s hug and continued, “‘If, uh, that is what you genuinely, truly wanted to do—’”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” Silver rapidly confirmed.

“Right. ‘—then I want to warn you right now that I have no clue what I’m doing! Like I said, I’ve never really cared about my potential, er, relationships, so I’m completely clueless as to how it works, what I’m supposed to do, or…anything. I’ve asked for advice and got a lot of it, but I haven’t really read anything past the very first letter. So, yeah. I don’t know what I’m doing. So sorry for that.’”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Gallus! I understand!”

“Thanks. ‘But in spite of that, I want to promise you something, Silver. I promise that even though I don’t know what I’m doing, even if I screw up massively, even if—’” He gulped again. “‘—I scare you again… I promise to try to be as kind, considerate, and thoughtful as I can! I promise that I’ll try my absolute best to be the best special somegriff I can be, and hopefully, the special somegriff that you deserve. And I promise that I will try not to worry you ever again!’”

“‘I am still healing; I fully admit that. But I am doing better; I promise that too! With all that said, thank you for listening to me read this letter instead of talking. Sincerely, Gallus,’” he concluded.

Silver gave him one last squeeze before retracting from the hug, giving him a teary smile.

“Do you really mean all of that?” she asked hopefully.

“Silver? It took me two hours and twenty rough drafts to write this stupid thing!” he replied, holding the letter up. “I better have meant everything I wrote; otherwise, I wasted two hours of my time and twenty pages of paper for nothing!”

She snorted. That snort turned into giggles. And those giggles turned into full-blown laughter. Gallus couldn’t help but chuckle along with her as he put the paper in his bag.

“Heh-heh! I’m sorry! I know I shouldn’t laugh, but I can’t help it,” she apologized, snickering.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Gallus comforted. “Besides, if you’re laughing that means I’m getting my snark back! Yaaaaay!” he cheered.

“Yaaaaay!” she cheered back.

They smiled at each other for a moment, but Silverstream quickly frowned, saying, “I’m sorry, Gallus. I wouldn’t have said anything at all if I had known you’d be so worried about the ‘date’ thing! Or at least asked it after you were feeling better. I’m sorry for making it worse,” she whimpered sadly.

“Hey, hey! Don’t feel bad about it. That’s my… I’m not gonna make that joke since it’s in poor taste; so instead, I’ll just say this: Silver? I’m sorry for scaring you and making you worry about me,” he apologized, holding her talon. “I should have talked to you and the others. I’m sorry that I didn’t. But please don’t worry about me! I am doing better, and I am okay. I promise,” Gallus said firmly.

“Don’t worry, I believe you,” Silver replied. She looked away and asked, “Do you mind if I stay just a little worried though? I didn’t mean to make you feel like I was afraid or terrified! It’s just… I don’t want to see you huddled up in a bed talking to yourself again…”

“You won’t!” he assured. “Unless I’m talking in my sleep, or reading aloud. Do those count?”

She snorted again and said, “No, those don’t count, silly!”

“Hee-hee! That’s good. Because I don’t know if I talk in my sleep or not.”

“If you did, we wouldn’t hear you over Yona’s snores.”

“Ha! Yeah. Yeah…” He paused for a moment before apologizing, “Sorry about ditching you after Drama Club. I didn’t mean to worry you or the others, it’s just… You were scared, and Discord’s antics, and… It was just a bit too much at once.”

“Don’t worry,” she muttered balefully. “Discord won’t be bugging you again anytime soon.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the School of Friendship…

“Hello? Anyone? Hellooooo! Draconequus down! Fluttershy!? Starlight!? Tri—wait, I don’t actually want her to see this…” Discord mumbled quietly. “If you can hear this, Trixie, do not look in the chest! I repeat: Do not look in the chest; there is nothing of interest in here! No sirree! I am serious!”

The chest opened with a creak.

“…Bah-hahahahahah!” the Great and Powerful Trixie bellowed.

“Darn it! The only time reverse psychology works, and it has to be when I’m not using it!?” he snarled, crawling out of the box and stretching his cramped limbs.

“Hee-hee-hee! I’m definitely not going to forget that image any time soon! Ha-ha! What exactly were you doing in there anyway?” she asked, still smirking.

“Beats me! Why don’t you tell me how the Drama Club managed to get me in there at all!?”

Before Trixie could speak, a turquoise flash ignited at the doorway, followed swiftly by a crimson hurricane that thundered with the haunted screams of an unspeakable wrath.

“Discord!” Starlight greeted sweetly. “There you are, you… You… You annoying, meddling, pie-poisoning, little turd noodle with horns!” she screeched furiously. “Have I got words for you!”

Discord reeled back in terror. He then blinked, remembered he was the Lord of Chaos, and said, “And I have one for you too, Glimmy-Glammy! Toodles!” he said, snapping. Or he would have snapped, if his paw and claw hadn’t both been frozen in clouds of turquoise. “Uh-oh,” he whimpered.

“Not so fast, Dissy-Cordy!” she hummed venomously. “You and I are in need of chat! So unless you want me to tell Fluttershy about your recent screw-up, you’re going to sit in that chair and listen!”

“But—”

“NOW!”

“Uh… Um… Help?” he weakly pleaded to Trixie.

Trixie smiled and pulled a bag of popcorn out of her hat. “Does this count as helping?”

“No, that doesn’t count as—MEEP!” he cried out after Starlight teleported him into the chair.

“Now then!” Starlight said, trotting to the front of the room. “Let me explain to you the difference between ‘helping’ someone and ‘screwing’ with someone! Because Celestia knows! You’ve needed to learn this lesson for a long time, you mail-stealing, jealous brat!”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I am sooooo going to enjoy this,” Trixie squealed happily.

“I’m not!” Discord roared fearfully.

“No talking when the teacher is talking, Discord! Now then…!”

Meanwhile, back in Silverstream’s room…

“Yeah, well, I’m still sorry,” Gallus repeated morosely. “I’m also sorry for getting riled up when I was doing that speech, but… It kinda hit close to home.”

“I know,” Silver sighed. “I’m so sorry that you didn’t have a good time! I really should have thought better of it! I’m sorry for even asking you to come!” she lamented, flinching.

“Hey. Hey, Silver!” he said, giving her a gentle poke.

“Yeah?”

“We’re still on for Thursday, right? Or is Vellum ticked off that I ditched you guys?”

“Wait, what?” she uttered, taken aback. “You mean you… You want to come back!? After Vellum, and Scoop, and the fighting, and Discord, and… Everything?”

“I already told you that there’s no way I’m leaving you in that madhouse all by yourself. And you know what else? It gives me a chance to hang out with you more too,” he said, winking.

She hugged him again, wrapping even her wings around him too.

“First off! No, Vellum isn’t mad at you! He and the others figured it was Discord’s fault… And second!? Five minutes in, and you’re already the best special somegriff ever!” Silver rejoiced sweetly.

“Yeah, well! I try,” he said, hugging her back.

…

“Sorry about not coming with you to deliver Mrs. Ditsy’s muffins,” he eventually apologized.

“Oh, that’s okay! I put ‘em in the fridge to keep them fresh, so we could deliver them tomorrow! And besides, we can always just bake another batch if we need to.”

“Sounds like—” A date. “—Fun.”

…

“Gallus?” Silver began softly.

“Yeah?”

“Do you promise that you’re doing better?”

“I promise, Silverstream. I promise,” he swore without hesitation.

She hugged him tighter, whispering, “Yay!”

“Yay!” he echoed.

…

“Oh! And Gallus?”

“Yeah?”

“All that stuff you said about not knowing how relationships work and whatnot?”

“Yeah?”

“Same goes for me! My only experience is the few romance novels I’ve read, but well? Scoop and Patty suggested them, so I don’t think they’re very reliable,” she wisely concluded.

“Well, I asked Princess Cadence for advice, so I’m not sure if my knowledge is reliable either.”

“You asked— Wow! Uh, can I read some of that advice too then? I kinda want to be the best special somegriff I can be too, you know!” she sang enthusiastically.

“Of course, you can! … I’ll have to organize it first. It’s kinda flooding my room right now.”

“Oh. Oops.”

“Yeah. Oops. But, hey! At least I’m not alone in the ‘romantically-disinclined’ group.”

“Of course you’re not alone, silly! You have me.”

“Yeah. I guess I do.”

Elsewhere, deep in the Everfree Forest, within the walls of a magnificent crystalline tree, and standing along one of its many balconies…

A glimmering spirit stood, looking out toward Ponyville and smiling.

“Do not be afraid, my friend. You may not have the serenity you seek just yet, but it awaits you at the end of your journey. I promise.”

Author's Notes:

And once again, I am back! Ah, Chapter Three... Or more accurately, Chapter Two: Part Two! Judging from the word count, you can probably figure out why I split it up, and while I'm on that note?
I make no promises, but I'm going to try to not let any future chapters get this long. I expect that I'm going to flirt with that 20k word count again, but if it goes over that limit, I'm splitting the chapters apart.

I'm not sure if any of you dislike the chapters having word lengths like that, but I don't think it's fair to expect you guys to take like an hour or two of your time to just read about Gallus getting therapy in a random person's fanfiction.

Speaking of which, sorry to FanficReader920 if Starlight's still sounding a bit too wise for her character. I'm going to work to tone that down a bit, going forward, but for now...Eh.

Also, all the other friendship students that I've mentioned so far are technically background ponies in the show, but as far as I'm aware, none of them have had any "Canonical" personalities set for them. Because of that, I wanted to ask you guys if I should put the "OC" tag on this story. I don't plan to have any truly original characters in this story, but I wanted to ask anyway.

On that note, here are the background characters I've mentioned so far(Pictures acquired from the MLP Wiki):

November Rain : https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/4/43/November_Rain_ID_S8E1.png/revision/latest?cb=20180328181110

Peppermint(Patty) Goldylinks : https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/3/38/Patty_Peppermint_ID_S8E1.png/revision/latest?cb=20180328180743

Vellum Codex : https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/e/e8/Vellum_Codex_ID_S8E1.png/revision/latest?cb=20180328175951

Strawberry Scoop : https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/5/5f/Strawberry_Scoop_ID_S8E1.png/revision/latest?cb=20180328175553

End Zone : https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/9/94/End_Zone_ID_S8E1.png/revision/latest?cb=20180328175953

As an aside, screw power surges for making me have to rewrite this entire chapter right as soon as I had finished! Thank God for Copy/Paste!

As always, all thoughts and criticisms are welcomed and very much appreciated! Thank you for reading this chapter, and make sure to stay tuned around the 20th-23rd(Again) for Ch. 4.

NEXT TIME: Prepare yourselves! For a sudden perspective change is inbound! And the inner machinations of a certain hippogriff are soon to no longer be an enigma!

Chapter Four: Optimism

Outside the palace windows, the moon began to rise into the heavens, bathing the city of Canterlot in a pale, relaxing light as its sibling slowly sank beneath the horizon.

With the arrival of the night, the many golden armored ponies recognized by many shed their cloaks of metal and made their way home, and in their place stood the slit-eyed bat-ponies of the night, donned in their own indigo armor.

Despite the changing of the ponies, their duties remained the same: To stand guard throughout the halls of the Royal Palace, listening out for disturbances and watching for intruders.

And to give directions to hippogriffs, apparently.

“Her room is down the hall to your left. Third door on the right.”

“Thank you, sir!”

“You’re welcome, Miss Silverstream,” the fanged stallion replied, nodding solemnly.

“Goodnight!”

“Goodnight, Miss Silverstream.”

With that interaction done, Silverstream quickly followed the guard’s directions. Less than a minute later, she found her destination and proceeded to stand before the doorway.

“M-Maybe she’s asleep!” she nervously muttered to herself. “Yeah! She’s totally asleep, and I… I don’t want to disturb her or anything! So, I should just walk away and let her sleep! Yeah! I’m going to walk away and… And… I’m going to walk away…” she trailed off.

Silver stopped her panicked mumbling, staring at the wooden gateway as if it were an eldritch horror from the great beyond. She eventually sighed and said, “No, Silver. He said to just tell someone, and I need to fix this before it gets worse! So, let’s do this!” she exclaimed boldly.

She then knocked on the door as quickly as she could before her burst of courage died.

“Just a minute!” called out the voice from inside.

Silver tapped her talon against the floor anxiously as she waited.

The door soon opened to reveal Starlight Glimmer, still wide awake in spite of the lateness of the hour. “Oh! Hello, Silverstream,” she greeted kindly.

“Hi, Headmare Starlight!” Silver said, trying to ignore the pounding in her ears. “How are you doing, tonight?”

“I’m fine…?” she answered, perplexed by the question. “How are you?”

“I’m… I’m doing great!”

“Uh-huh. Well, that’s good to hear! But, uh, what exactly are you doing here? Shouldn’t you and the others be resting for tomorrow night?”

“Um, well, yeah!” Silver admitted warily. “But I, uh, well…”

Just tell her what happened, Silverstream! she told herself. It’s not that hard! You made it this far, so now you just need to talk to her! She’d know what to do, right!?

“Well, I wanted to say thank you again for taking us to Canterlot!” Silver lied. “I know that you were a little upset about, uh, not knowing about it before-claw, but thank you!” she ended, rebuking herself for her cowardice.

Starlight blinked and slowly said, “It wasn’t a big deal or anything…”

“Mhmm! I still wanted to thank you anyway!”

“Well, you’re certainly welcome! … Are you alright, Silver?” Starlight gently asked. “You seem a little troubled; is everything okay?”

Something inside Silverstream snapped. “What!? No! No-no-no-no-no-no! Absolutely nothing is wrong! Nothing is wrong! Everything is fine!” she vehemently protested, hurriedly backing away.

“Okay, so probably not stage fright," Starlight muttered to herself. "Silver, what's wrong?”

“N-Nothing is wrong!" she protested weakly. "Everything is fine; I just wanted to say goodnight to you and everyone else before I went to sleep! See!? Yeah, that’s it! Just saying thank you and goodnight! There’s no need to worry, so don’t worry! Don’t! Worry!” she said more to herself than to Starlight.

“Silverstream!” she called out, causing the hippogriff to pause. She then stepped closer and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder, saying, “It’s okay, Silverstream. Tell me what’s the matter?”

Silver finally cracked under her Headmare’s concerned gaze, admitting, “I’m worried about Gallus. Can I… I know it probably isn’t since it’s so late, but… Is it okay if I talk to you about it?”

“Of course!” she said, nodding warmly. “Why don’t you come in. I have plenty of cocoa, and you look like you need some.”

“That sounds good. Is… Is it really okay? I don’t want to be disturbing you!”

“You’re not disturbing me by any means, Silver,” Starlight assured before she could try to run away. “Now c’mon. Let me get that cocoa ready, and you can tell me everything from the beginning.”

“Thank you, Headmare Starlight,” Silver said, still fighting off her nerves.

“Are you sure that would work, Ocellus? Wouldn’t that compromise the alignment?”

“Not if we add an elemental sigil in the boundary between the second and third tiers!”

“Yeah, but then we’d have to completely readjust all the properties in the third one! And we just spent the past two hours figuring out their arrangement!” Gallus reminded her.

“Eughhh,” Ocellus moaned, shivering in disgust. “Fair point.”

The griffon and changeling fell silent. Silverstream looked between the two, understanding only half of what they were saying but enjoying watching them work nonetheless.

“Wait, maybe we— No, no. That wouldn’t fix the spell’s stability.”

“Well, what if we integrate a— No. That would just overload it faster.”

“We could— Actually? On second thought, that’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

“What about adding an— Agh! That would just mess up the matrix’s composition even more!”

Every instinct in Silver called for her to offer some kind of input despite having none to offer.

“Okay!” Gallus exclaimed, rubbing his tired eyes. “Let’s go back to the beginning! The problem is that the spell matrix is unstable and keeps overloading, correct?”

“Yes,” Ocellus sighed, straightening her back. “And because it keeps overloading, it keeps discharging raw magic back into the caster! We’ve been over this!” she complained grumpily.

“Hmm. Well, what if instead of focusing on stabilizing the matrix, we figure out how to deal with the discharge? Maybe we could redirect it somewhere else?”

“And where would we redirect it to?” she inquired bluntly. “The strength of the discharge is enough to send the caster into the hospital, and we can’t just dissipate that kind of power into the nearby environment! We’re trying to teleport, not blow things up!”

“I know that, Ocellus!” After another minute, he said, “This is a stupid question, but what if we found a way to keep the discharge trapped inside the matrix?” Ocellus just deadpanned, so he elaborated, “No, I mean… What if, before the discharge could blow back into the caster’s face, it was pulled back into the matrix as excess energy?”

“An energy recycling effect? Hmm. Sounds…plausible. On one hoof, the spell would be able to proceed normally, but on the other, it would be akin to putting a band-aid over an amputation,” she groaned darkly. “Constantly dragging the discharge back into the unstable matrix would not end well!”

“Oh,” Gallus sighed wearily.

“Hey! Don’t worry, Gallus! I’m sure you and Ocellus will get it eventually!” Silver encouraged.

“Yeah, I know. Thanks, Silver!” he said gratefully. “Say! Do you have any ideas?”

Silver gulped, suddenly imagining Gallus without a head. She then remembered that he didn’t have a horn, so he wasn’t likely to fall victim to the issue that they had been discussing. Nonetheless, she shook her head sadly, saying, “Sorry, but no.”

“Darn. It’s okay, Silver. Thanks anyway!” he said neutrally.

Please don’t be sad, Gallus! It’s okay! You and Ocellus will get it eventually! Just please don’t be upset! Silver fretted behind a perfectly blank smile.

“Are you okay, Silver?" Ocellus asked as she lit her horn up and pulled a book a nearby shelf. "You, er, seem a little…anxious?” she added, staring at her in a mixture of both confusion and worry.

Ocellus, shut up! You’re just going to make Gallus worried again! she panicked, quickly answering, “What!? No! I’m totally fine!”

As Silver predicted, Gallus looked back at her, raising an eyebrow at her tone.

No! No! No! “W-Well, I suppose I am a little anxious, but what with The Epoch of Majesty Serendipity Daydream coming up…?” she offered, hoping it would suffice.

“Ah. I suppose that’s it,” Ocellus conceded, looking back to the book she held in her magic.

Gallus maintained his gaze for only a second longer before looking down at his book too, allowing Silverstream to breathe easier once again.

After some time, Gallus spoke up again, asking, “Is there a way we can weaken the discharge?”

“Hmm? What were you thinking of, Gallus?”

“Well, I don’t know, but… Maybe a shield spell in the tertiary tier? That’s where the discharge is released from, so if we stop it there…?”

“A shield spell?” she echoed, considering the idea.

“Yeah, I know. Shield spell. Teleportation spell. Not exactly a combination you’d expect. But I figured if a shield spell can keep something out past it, it can keep something trapped behind it too.”

“That’s— Actually? Hold on!” she said, whipping out a blank sheet of paper and pen.

And she’s got it! Silver realized with a knowing grin. Phew! See!? No reason to be worried or upset! I knew they would get it! she thought happily.

“If we put it in the tertiary tier, when the discharge releases, it would slam into the shield property and be neutral—Hold on! Oh,” Ocellus sighed morosely. “Correction! Almost neutralized. The discharge would break anything short of Shield Delta, and anything stronger than Shield Alpha will compromise the matrix!” she explained. “Ugh! For a moment, I thought we had it!”

“But we can add Shield Alpha to the spell, right?” he inquired after a minute.

“Yes? We’d have to adjust a few things, but nothing too serious. Why?”

“Well, isn’t Shield Alpha super basic? I remember reading that it’s one of the easiest spells to mess with when a mage is magic crafting.”

“It and Telekinesis Alpha are the two most malleable spells in existence,” Ocellus answered simply. “Practically anything can be added to them to create something new. I should know; I’ve done it myself,” she admitted, smiling proudly.

“So if that’s the case, could we strengthen Shield Alpha to better endure the discharge?”

“If we did that, we’d need to figure out exactly how to improve—” She froze and quickly flipped to a different chapter in one of her other books. “Insulation Beta! That’s it!”

“Clue me in, Ocellus. I don’t know that one.”

“Insulation Beta! It’s a spell used to help protect electrical workers from accidents,” she quickly elaborated. “But it’s primary purpose is to resist any kind of uncontrolled energy emission!”

“Of the magical variety?” Gallus asked hopefully.

“Of the electrical variety. But I can still work with that!” she confirmed. “It should be a simple process to alter the spell to protect against magical energy as opposed to electromagnetic energy. See!?” Ocellus asked, holding up a freshly drawn web of lines, numbers, and symbols. “I finished altering the spell property before I even finished talking about altering the spell property!” she boasted.

“Woo-hoo!” Gallus cheered. “So, we can take that spell, add it to Shield Alpha, and then integrate it into the tertiary tier? And that would work?”

“Well,” she began, marking out and rewriting certain parts of her other papers. “The modified Shield Alpha would be able to withstand the energy, so that’s good. But what’s even better is if we combine it with—” She paused, looked at a page in her book, and then resumed. “—Storage Alpha as well, the discharge would be stored within the shield! And if we add another channel into the matrix, we could make it so that the energy would be safely distributed back into the spell as additional power! Making it more efficient!” Ocellus joyfully concluded, offering a hoof.

“Yes!” he yelled, bumping said offered hoof. “Hooray for shield spells and their ridiculously malleable compositions!”

“Hooray, indeed! …Although…” she began uncertainly.

“No…! No! Nooooo!”

“Well, the idea would work. I’ve no doubt about that!” she stated resolutely. “The problem is that while it’s a good makeshift solution, it’s not exactly the best solution.”

“Hmm, I suppose you’re right,” he agreed warily. “Solving the discharge issue doesn’t negate the overloading problem. And if somepony performs the spell without the shield aspect…?”

“The magic would backfire into them.”

"And if that happens, it's bye-bye, outside world, and hello, hospital room."

"Exactly."

An uncomfortable silence fell across them all.

“But,” Ocellus eventually started. “As a workaround to the issue, it’s not exactly the worst thing we could have come up with. And…? We’ve been at this for so long; I honestly am ready to just forget it and make the shield modification and go from there,” she mumbled, massaging her forehead.

“Well, we still got a while before everything is due… How about this?” he offered consolingly. “We add the shield and deal with it until we finish the practical part of the project. Then we’ll see if we can come up with a better, safer answer to the matrix and use that from then on. Afterward, we can write up a report on both versions of the spell! Sound good?”

“Sounds good,” Ocellus agreed, yawning. “Wake me in an hour!” she groggily asked, lying her head against the table.

“I will if I’m awake enough to remember,” Gallus said, slipping out of his chair and then playfully falling to the ground. “Ahhh! My legs! I can’t feel my legs!” he melodramatically cried.

“Ha-ha, Gallus, very funny,” Ocellus moaned into the desk.

“I thought so!” he replied, winking at Silver.

Said hippogriff giggled and trotted over to them. “Need help, Gallus?”

“That would be very appreciated,” he answered, reaching up with his talon. She grabbed hold and pulled him to his paws/talons. Gallus then arched his back and let loose a thundering crack. “Ohhh, yeah! That helps!” he exclaimed, flapping life back into his wings.

“I bet,” Silver said, smiling. “How about you, Ocellus? You need anything?”

“A nap.”

“Oh, yeah! A nap sounds good right about now,” Gallus agreed, covering up his own yawn.

“Heh-heh, I bet. You guys have been working pretty hard to get this teleport thingy done. Sorry, I can’t help,” she apologized weakly.

“Don’t sweat it, Silver! I spent a week speed-reading through half of The Starswirlian’s Guide to the Arcane, and I still barely understand half of this junk,” he admitted.

Is he upset at that!? I don’t know if he’s upset about that! Please don’t think less of yourself for not understanding how magic works, Gallus! Silver screamed in her head.

Rather than express that, she instead said, “Thanks, Gallus. I still wish I could help you two more, but hey! At least you’ve got it now! See? I told you guys you could get it!”

Gallus smirked playfully and said, “And I thanketh thee for yon words of encouragement, Fair Silverstream! They doth reinvigorate mine strength and determination to continue forthwith!”

“I am pleased to know that mine words doth reignite yon passion and strength, Sir Gallus!” she replied, smiling calmly. “Shall I continue to speaketh mine words unto thee?”

“Please do, Fair Silverstream! For thine words are most enjoyable.”

Silver tittered. “Then I suppose I shall do so, Sir Gallus.”

“Aww,” cooed a new voice.

The three of them turned to see a light yellow mare with a sunset orange mane standing at the library entrance. With everyone’s gazes locked onto her, she trotted up to them, chuckling awkwardly.

“Sorry to ruin the moment,” Shimmy Shake said, unknowingly making Silver flinch. “But like! You two are just so cute together, and I couldn’t help myself!”

“Hey, Shimmy,” Gallus greeted casually despite his faint blush. “And thanks for the compliment by the way,” he expressed gratefully.

Silver stared at him blankly, so did Shimmy Shake for that matter.

“Wow!” the mare eventually said, blinking. “I’m surprised, Gallus! Usually, you just brush it under the rug whenever somepony pokes fun at you two finally being a thing,” she half-joked.

Back off, Shimmy! Silver thought angrily, maintaining her polite smile.

“Yeah, well. I got some advice,” Gallus responded, pulling out a letter from his bag. “‘Never be ashamed or frightened of admitting to the existence of your relationship. Doing so can instill a sense of hesitancy and fear between you and her regarding your commitment to each other, and that is obviously not a good thing,’” he read. “As if I didn’t know that already,” he added, mildly affronted.

Did… Did he just read one of Cadence’s letters to someone else?

“Wow. That’s really good advice! … Wait,” Shimmy said, frowning in suspicion. “Have you been reading romance novels and writing down notes like Ocellus does?”

“I do not!” she protested, raising her face from her book-pillow to stare angrily at Shimmy.

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t!”

“Lighthoof has seen you do it!” Shimmy countered, smirking.

“N-No, she hasn’t…” Ocellus shyly argued, failing to hide her own embarrassed blush. “Oh, shut up, Gallus!” she commanded the snickering griffon.

Don’t yell at Ocellus, Silver. She’s just tired and grumpy, Silver soothed herself, asking, “Which letter was that one, Gallus?”

“Forty-six.”

“You’re on forty-six already!?” she asked, feeling a tad ashamed of her own current progress.

“Technically, I’m on one hundred and seventy-nine, but I wanted to re-read some of them.”

“Ohhh. Gotcha.” Yeah, I have some serious catching-up to do! she realized uncomfortably.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold on!” Shimmy interrupted as her eyes widened. “You really have been getting relationship advice!? When!? Why!? From whom!? And one hundred and seventy-nine!?”

“Yes. After Friends and Family Day. Because I asked for it. A ‘friend.’ And technically, I think I’ve received over five hundred letters at this point,” Gallus answered in rapid succession. “It’ll probably be six hundred by the end of the week,” he snided, completely desensitized to that possibility.

“May I!? Thanks!” she said, snatching the letter away before Gallus could speak. Her eyes quickly flowed over the parchment and shot right back at him after finishing it. “Princess Cadence!? You’ve been getting relationship advice from the Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!?”

“Uh, yeah?” he admitted, taken aback by her shock.

“Whelp! That’s another thing Vellum is completely wrong on. Nepotism for the win!” she sarcastically cheered, re-reading the letter.

“I’m sure Scoop will add it to the list,” Gallus joked, glancing at Silverstream.

Silver just shook her head, choosing to ask, “So, what are you up to, Shimmy?"

"Oh. Well, I had to come and find you guys, so we can finally get to practicing for the big night," she explained.

“Uh-oh,” Gallus muttered, face-clawing. “What time is it?”

“Half-past five.”

“What!?” the trio shouted.

“But it can’t be that late” Ocellus objected. “How long have we been sitting here!?”

“Long enough that a panicking Vellum sent me to look for you guys.”

“And how badly is he panicking?” Silver asked fearfully.

“Well, we did have to give him the bag again…” she answered, re-re-reading Cadence’s letter.

“Aaaaand! That’s our cue to vamoose!” Gallus said, hurriedly gathering his effects. “Silver?”

“Yep!” she squealed nervously, picking up her bag. Oh, Professor Rarity is going to kill us! And then Vellum will reanimate us, so he can get a chance to kill us too! “I’m good! Let’s go!”

“Sorry about having to rush out on you like this, Ocellus,” he apologized. “You gonna be okay with figuring out the shield integration without me?”

“I’ll be fine! But when we meet up again, we seriously need to fix the matrix proper. Otherwise, the judges for the Fair might not approve of our project! And if that happens—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…!” he interrupted dismissively. “We won’t be scientists, or whatever. I get it,” he proclaimed, frowning sourly.

Something tells me that’s not the first time he’s heard that from Ocellus, Silver suspected.

“Exactly,” Ocellus agreed bluntly. “Anyway, you two have fun in Drama Club!”

“Right. See ya later, partner! Make sure not to burn yourself out!” he parted with a grin, hurrying to the library entrance. “C’mon, Silver!”

“Bye, Ocellus!” she said, waving to her friend before catching up to her other friend.

“See you two later!” she called after them, trying not to groan at the pun Gallus had made. Ocellus then noticed she still had company and asked, “Um, Shimmy Shake? Shouldn’t you be going too?”

“Huh? Oh! Right!” Shimmy said, pulling her eyes away from the letter she still held. “See ya, Ocellus! Hey, guys! Wait for me!”

Five minutes later…

“Wow! Princess Cadence is so verbose in her writing! I LOVE IT!”

“I had no idea your favorite pastime was reading other creature’s mail, Shimmy,” Gallus teased.

“Ha-ha, Gallus,” she drawled, burying a snicker. “But seriously! This is some majorly good advice! … Do you mind if I borrow some more of these letters?” she asked timidly.

He hummed in thought before shrugging and saying, “Eh, sure! So long as neither Silver nor I still need to read them,” he added, pushing open the doors into the theater hall.

“YES!” Shimmy Shake shouted gleefully. Her exaltation echoed in the massive space, causing her to pause and mutter, “Oops,” in embarrassment.

“Happens to the best of us,” Gallus comforted as Peppermint quickly flew up to them.

He sounds so confident again. Maybe he is doing better after all? Silver pondered.

“‘I worried you and the others. And I know you don’t want me to say it, but it’s my fault.’” echoed in her mind, making her unconsciously shiver.

Or maybe he’s only pretending just to make me feel better! No! Don’t think like that, Silver! He’s doing better! He is doing better…for now, Silver sighed, trying to shove away her worries, so she could join in on the other’s conversation.

“No way! How come you didn’t tell any of us you were getting advice from Princess Cadence!?” Patty shouted, reading over one of the other letters Gallus had.

“Why would I?”

“…Fair point,” she conceded. “Still though! Advice from the literal Princess of Love… Or was it ‘Princess of Family’? Eh, whatever. Point still stands! Silver, you’re a lucky girl!”

“Patty!” Silver yelped, reddening.

“Wait. I’m not the lucky one?” Gallus wondered jokingly.

“Of course you’re… Wait! You are the lucky one, Gallus!” Patty playfully jeered. “And you better make sure you are the best special somegriff you can be for our friend, ya here!?”

“You’re a few weeks late to make that joke, Patty,” he pointed out, smirking.

“I am? Aw, nuts,” she cursed to herself.

“If it makes you feel any better—being the best special somegriff that I can be is the reason I asked for the advice in the first place. … Did that help to make you feel better?” he asked kindly.

“A little,” Patty murmured. “Hey, Shimmy?” she soon whispered not-so-subtly. “Am I supposed to say the same thing to Silverstream, or would Scoop be mad at me if I did?”

Shimmy shrugged silently.

“You know Silver and I can still hear you, right?” Gallus deadpanned.

Silver was actually a little too busy trying not to gawk at how open Gallus was being about their relationship to care about whatever Patty had said.

“Eh-heh-heh,” Patty weakly chortled. “Oops. Hey, Silver?”

“Huh! Yeah?” she asked, snapping out of her daze.

“You better make sure you’re the best special somegriff you can be for Gallus too, you know.”

“I know,” Silver stated bluntly. “You’re also a few weeks late to make that threat by the way.”

“Am I the only one that didn’t know they were a thing until this week!?”

“Oh, c’mon, Patty!” Shimmy sighed. “Silver’s wanted to hook up with Gallus for months!”

Silver froze, but warmed back up slightly when Gallus shot her a coy smirk.

“I know that! I just didn’t know they were legitimately involved yet! I know now, but still!”

“Eh, I suppose I can’t blame you. They haven’t even gone on an official second date yet. Hey! You two! Get on that, would ya!” Shimmy suddenly ordered.

Silver shot him her own coy smirk, but immediately recoiled when she noticed that Gallus had apparently decided it was his turn to freeze up in terror.

No, no, no! He’s panicking again! Why won’t he stop panicking! Is it my fault again!? I’m fine with postponing the second date until he’s ready! Please just be okay, Gallus! Silver wanted so much to express; unfortunately, Vellum and Scoop approached them before she could even open her beak.

“Where were you!?” Vellum immediately demanded.

“Hi, Captain Codex. How’s your day been going?” Gallus said; his confidence restored.

How long will it last this time? Silver despondently thought, trying not to wilt then and there.

“My day has been relatively enjoyable. … Except for the part where you are all over an hour late!” he shrieked indignantly. “Where were you!?”

“Helping Ocellus with her science fair project,” he answered calmly. “We lost track of time.”

Vellum stared at Gallus and Silver intensely for a moment before sighing in defeat.

“Good enough excuse, Vellum?” Scoop asked, giving him a friendly nudge.

“Better than what I was initially thinking. Nonetheless, you two are here now, so we can actually begin practicing for this week’s perform—Wait. Where’s Yona?” he said, noticing the yak’s absence. “Wasn’t she with you two?”

“Nope,” Gallus answered, shaking his head.

“Scoop?”

“Bag?”

“Please.”

She passed him a paper bag, and he immediately started hyperventilating into it.

“Okay, I’ve learned by now that Vellum is pretty prone to stress most of the time, but is he always this high-strung?” Gallus asked worriedly.

“I take offense to that!” Vellum claimed before going back to hyperventilating.

“Don’t mind him; he always gets antsy before a big performance. And we do only have a week until we finally do The Epoch of Majesty Serendipity Daydream. Frankly, I’m a little jittery myself,” Scoop confessed. “Speaking of which! How’s about it, Gallus!? First major performance with us! You excited, or are you crumbling into a ball of terror and nerves like the rest of us!?” she asked playfully.

Scoop, if you freak him out, I swear I’m going to—Silver! Don’t think those kinds of things! That’s not nice! Why would you even think that!? Silverstream silently admonished herself.

“If you’re asking whether or not I actually know my lines, don’t worry about it, Scoop. I know ‘em all. Except my first one. And my second one. And my third one…”

“Gallus! I swear to Celestia, you had better not mean that!” Vellum screamed hysterically.

“Relax, Vellum. I’m only messing with you. Trust me; I’ve got everything figured out. Promise.”

“Oh, Thank Celestia! Please don’t freak me out like that,” he nearly begged.

“Sorry,” Gallus meekly murmured.

“You have really got to learn how to chill, Vellum,” Scoop sorrowfully sighed.

“Don’t pretend that you weren’t terrified that Gallus was being serious, Scoop!”

“Yeah, but I was smart enough to figure out he was being sarcastic!”

“I did too, but I still suspected that he might have not been! I had to double-check!”

“You can’t let your fear and paranoia override your sensibilities and confidence,” she quoted.

“Kindness Lesson Seventy-nine?”

“Yep,” Scoop affirmed, nodding sagely. “Anyway! What were you cheering about, Shimmy?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah! Check it out, Scoop! Gallus got relationship advice from Princess Cadence!”

Scoop seemingly teleported to the griffon’s side and demanded, “Details! Now!”

“Uhhh…”

“If you’re worried about Professor Rarity overhearing, you don’t need to!” End Zone shouted from down on the stage where he was reading over his script. “She’s not here yet either.”

“She’s not!?”

“Nope!”

“Then why were you— You know what? Nevermind,” Gallus said, much to Vellum’s confusion.

“I still require details!” Scoop yelled, dancing in place.

“I asked for advice from Princess Cadence when I started dating Silverstream,” Gallus explained, annoyed. “Why do I keep having to answer that question…?” he muttered to himself.

“Because we just found out,” Scoop answered plainly. “Also, wrong details, griffon-boy! I want to know what advice you got! Must! Know! Please! Tell!” she chanted, hopping excitedly.

“Well, I don’t exactly have all the letters on me, right now, but here ya go?” he offered uncertainly, giving her a few more of the papers from his bag.

Scoop instantly took them and began reading greedily; Patty and Shimmy hurried to read over her shoulder while Gallus stepped to the side along with Silver.

“How many of those did you have on you?” Silverstream asked, smiling calmly.

“Eh. Fifteen? Sixteen?” he replied casually.

“Well, I’m glad you like reading them!”

“They are very informative. … And very nerve-wracking, considering they highlight just how many different ways I can screw up,” he added bluntly.

No, no, no! You’re not a screw-up, Gallus! Don’t think that! Don’t think that! Silver wanted to reiterate; however, she decided to only say, “Oh… Yeah?”

“Yeah. But luckily! I’m not going to screw up!” Gallus boldly claimed. “I promised after all,” he reminded her, winking again.

He is doing better! Hallelujah! Silver mentally celebrated. …Except he’s only doing better because I made him promise, so he’s not really doing better because he wants to be better, but rather, because he thinks he needs to be for my sake instead of his own! she concluded, horrified.

“Well, I’m glad you’re confident!” she praised, maintaining her tranquil smile despite her fear.

“Woo-hoo! I’m confident!” Gallus rejoiced sarcastically. “It’s a little thing, but it’s the little things in life that matter most, right?” he asked rhetorically, earning a giggle.

“‘Also, remember that if you watch any romance movies or read any romance novels to take any and all advice contained within said media with a grain of salt since quite a lot of it isn’t healthy in the slightest,’” Shimmy read quizzically.

“Excuse me!?” Patty yelled. “Romances are amazing! What the hay is she talking about!?”

“‘In fact, it’s scarily abusive most of time,’” Shimmy continued in spite of Patty’s outrage. “‘I’d give you a full breakdown of most of the advice—if you can even call it that—taught in some of the worst examples, but I figured it’d be best if I just gave you a list of which ones to avoid and why.’”

“Where is that list!?” Patty demanded spitefully. “I want to see that list! She better not have said that my favorites teach toxic advice, or I swear!”

Gallus rummaged through his bags again and hurriedly passed it over to the perturbed pegasus.

“Thank you!” she snapped, quickly glancing it over.

“‘Of course, not all movies and books suffer from this issue. A good number of them do portray genuinely healthy couples as well, so I’ll make sure to send you a list of those too. Might be a good idea for some bonding time with Silverstream,’” Shimmy ended.

All three mares looked at the couple with their own smug, little smirk.

“I haven’t read either list yet,” Gallus explained to Silverstream.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t either!” she admitted reassuringly.

“But that reminds me… It’s been a while since we and the others have had a good, proper movie night,” he commented. “Maybe we should get with Sandbar and ask him about it?”

“That sounds like a nice idea,” she replied, smiling warmly. So long as Sandbar isn’t oblivious enough to pick a movie that features child abandonment…

“Well, I’m reading the good list now,” Scoop interjected. “Don’t worry, Patty! Your favorites are all on it! … I think this is the good list anyway…?” she muttered uncertainly.

“Oh, I definitely have the bad list!” Patty replied with a disgusted scowl. “I’m pretty sure no good romance movie would be criticized for…” She cleared her throat and quoted, “‘Male protagonist forces female to enter relationship with him by threatening to commit suicide if she doesn’t. Female gives in to the outrageous demand, and the two are seen engaging in a healthy relationship despite the dangerous implications of such a threat.’”

Everyone was silent for a moment; each wearing looks of varying discomfort.

“Sweet Celestia!” Scoop exclaimed as Shimmy rushed over to read Patty’s list for herself. “All this one says is: Excellent Rom-Com, featuring two well-written ponies with meaningful heart-to-heart scenes.”

Finally breaking his silence, Vellum asked, “Is that not the chief goal for all romance stories?”

“For the most part, yeah. I think Cadence found a different way to say the exact same thing for every single movie on the list.” Scoop read a little further and snorted. “Listen to this one! ‘Includes a duo of unalloyed, emotive primary characters, engrossing in eloquent gatherings of compassionate tenderness and passionate intimacy.’ … Oh! That’s why she was being verbose,” she said, blushing.

“Because she was trying to mask her redundancy?”

“No. It’s because the movie she’s referring to is Mature-rated.”

“…I’m not going to comment on that,” Vellum whimpered bashfully.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty good one too! Lot of fun action,” she added, giving Vellum a shark-like grin.

“I’m not going to comment on that either!” he squealed.

While Scoop and Vellum continued to banter, Shimmy trotted up to Gallus and Silver. “Here you go,” she said, giving him back all the letters except for the lists the other mares were still reading.

“Thanks,” Gallus replied gratefully, placing them back into his bags. “I thought you wanted to borrow them though?”

“I’ll ask next week. I don’t exactly have time to study that stuff with the big night coming up. But, about the advice…” she began, suddenly looking very timid. “Does Smolder know about it?”

That’s a strange question, Silver pondered. From the look on his face, Gallus thought the same.

“I don’t think so. She and I haven’t, uh… I mean, I haven’t talked talked to her in a while; been a little busy with other things,” Gallus nervously droned.

Smolder still isn’t talking to him!? It’s been weeks! Silver thought, feeling a twinge of anger.

“If that’s the case, er, don’t let her read this one,” she advised. “Or the lists. Especially the bad one! Smolder and I watched some of the movies on that one, and she, er, freaked out during most of them.”

“I didn’t think Smolder hated romances that much,” he snarked, raising an eyebrow. “What’d she do? Scream at the characters on the screen?”

“Well, it was either that or throwing things at the television. But, well? The movie that Cadence made that remark about? We watched that one too, and Smolder, er…”

Before Shimmy could finish, the theater entrance opened, permitting both Yona and Professor Rarity’s presences. Everyone turned to the frazzled duo as End Zone quickly approached the group.

“Ah! Wonderful, you’re all here!” Rarity cheered excitedly. “I fervently apologize for being so terribly late, especially considering what awaits us at the end of this week.”

“No! Trouble! At all! Professor!” Vellum carefully enunciated, struggling to not retort angrily.

“Yona sorry too! Yona helping Professor Rarity finish really important commission, but luckily! Yona and Professor finally finish today!” she declared proudly, shooting Silver a gleeful wink.

Uh-oh, Silver panicked at Yona’s implication. I really hope Vellum doesn’t find out, or he really is going to strangle me! … I hope Gallus will like it at the very least, she thought, smiling to herself.

“In any case, now that I have that commission done, we can properly practice for this Friday! However, I have an important announcement to make concerning it!” she said suspiciously.

“Are we putting it off!?” End Zone asked nervously.

“Zone, if you didn’t finish memorizing your part…!” Vellum threatened.

“Hey! Don’t worry about it, Vellum. I’ve got everything but the last paragraph memorized!”

“YOU SHOULD HAVE ALL—” Vellum took a deep breath and let it out. “I will not shout; I will not shout; I will not shout…” he repeated to himself.

“Vellum’s learning, everyone!” Scoop sarcastically squealed.

The others chuckled in spite of Vellum’s angered frown. Eventually, Rarity said, “Settle down, everycreature. Now, End Zone darling? No. We are not postponing the play. But fear not, darling; you still have plenty of time to finish learning your part, and I have faith that you will,” she comforted.

“Thanks, Professor,” he said, still nervous but far less so.

“Of course. So! Onto the big announcement! We are not postponing the play or anything of that nature. However! We are not going to be performing inside the theater hall!”

She fell silent, looking over the students and just itching for one of them to ask for clarification.

“Then where are we performing it, Professor?” Patty finally asked.

“Why! We are performing at the one-and-only! Grand Canterlot Theater!” Rarity proclaimed.

…

Vellum passed out.

“Dang it, Vellum!” Scoop exclaimed, examining her friend. “Zone!”

“Smelling salts?”

“Smelling salts!”

He quickly retrieved his bags from the front and passed a bottle to Scoop. She held it under his nose for a good three seconds before Vellum gasped and bolted up, nearly smacking her in the muzzle.

“…Scoop?”

“Yes, Vellum?”

“Did I pass out?”

“Yes.”

“Was it because I got hit in the head again?”

“No.”

“So that means that what Professor Rarity said wasn’t a dream?”

“No, Vellum. It wasn’t.”

“And I heard her right? We’re going to be performing The Epoch of Majesty Serendipity Daydream at the Canterlot Grand Theater?”

“Apparently.”

“Scoop?”

“You’re going to faint again, aren’t you?”

“I’m feeling very light-headed, yes.”

“Okaaay! Take it easy there, buddy,” she soothed, teaming up with Zone to help Vellum wobble to a nearby seat and plop into it. “Just relax and breathe. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.”

Vellum did as she instructed, and Scoop turned to frown at Rarity.

“Professor, you know you need to let him know these things gently, right?”

“But that was gently!” she protested faintly. “I even decided not to ask Pinkie to throw a party!”

“Scoop? Let’s be honest… Vellum would have done exactly this even if she had been gentler,” he said on Rarity’s behalf.

“…Fair point,” she admitted. “Sorry, Professor. Okay, Vellum? Are you feeling better now?”

“M-Mildly. Scoop, pass me my water, please.”

“Sure! Here you go.”

“Thank you,” he said appreciatively, downing half of it in a gulp and reeling afterward. “Okay. Okay! I’m good! Now, Professor? Please forgive my loudness and my language, but… WHAT IN THE EVERLASTING BOWELS OF TARTARUS DO YOU MEAN WE ARE PERFORMING AT THE CANTERLOT GRAND THEATER!?” he roared loudly enough to make everyone flinch.

“Owww,” Rarity moaned. “Darling, be careful! You don’t want to hurt your throat!”

“Yes! Again, my apologies. I’m just a little stressed that we are to apparently be performing for the elite of Canterlot! In the Grand Theater of Canterlot! By the end of the week! In Canterlot! Scoop!”

“Bag?”

“Bag!”

She passed him that too, and he instantly took to heaving into it. Again.

We really do need to sit Vellum down and talk about his anxiety levels, Silver mused, glancing at Gallus and nearly vomiting when she saw that he looked like he wanted to heave into a paper bag too.

“Okay!” Patty suddenly said, drawing attention to her. “Before anyone yells, faints, or panics again… Professor? We are actually performing in Canterlot?” Rarity nodded excitedly, so Patty slowly asked, “And why are we performing in Canterlot and not here at the school?”

“Quite simple, darling! I’ve been helping all of you in the art of acting for quite some time, and—to be completely honest—I truly believe you are all capable of advancing far beyond in the craft! … Vellum, darling? Do I need to take you to Nurse Redheart? You are looking far too pale for comfort.”

“No! No! I’m still listening! Go on!” he said, waving at her to continue.

“Yes, well, as I was saying!” she said, keeping an eye on the stallion. “I believe all of you are capable of advancing your places in the craft. However… Though it pains me to admit it, you’re not going to be able to go very far if you only ever perform here at the school.”

“Makes sense,” Vellum concurred after regaining his breath. “‘Friendship School,’ not ‘Acting School.’ We don’t exactly make a lot of connections in the craft here.”

“Precisely,” Rarity agreed, wincing at the admission. “But! I know how much you all enjoy doing these performances, big or small! And I didn’t want to let all of your talent go to waste without also providing you an opportunity to show the world just how fabulously skilled you truly are!”

“That is why I’ve spent the past few months pulling a few favors with some friends in the business. Though it took a while, I finally managed to secure a chance for all of you to perform for more than just your fellow students. Now—as Vellum so rightly put it—you shall all be able to perform for the Canterlot elite! To go forth and show the world just how gifted you all truly are! And then! AAAND THEN!” she shouted eagerly. … “Aaand then!” she reiterated, waving at them encouragingly.

“Professor, Vellum is the only one who would know the end of that sentence, and he’s currently, er, catatonic,” Patty said, indicating the paralyzed stallion.

“Oh. Sorry, darlings. And then! You can all be noticed by talent scouts, reporters, and the like,” Rarity explained simply. “Resulting in the creation of various connections and whatnot that will allow you all to carve forth a future career in the field of acting!” she ended, beaming widely.

…

Scoop passed out.

“Scoop!?” Zone yelped, checking for her pulse. “Scoop, are you alright!?”

“Future… Future… Future…” she weakly whimpered, curling into a shaking ball.

“And there went the calm one,” Patty droned, sharing a panicked glance with Shimmy. “Scoop! Scoop!? C’mon, girl, say something! Are you okay, or do you need some water, or…?”

“Oh my…! Perhaps I really could have handled this revelation with a fair bit more grace?” Rarity acknowledged, nervously looking to Yona.

“Yona agree. Vellum! Scoop! Are friends okay!?” she yelled, approaching the others.

Future career…!? Silverstream wondered once Rarity’s words fully registered. What!? Me!? An actress!? No, no, no! Vellum and Scoop? Yes. Not me. Personally? I think I’d rather be…

She then turned to Gallus, wanting to ask of his thoughts, but she quickly froze at what she saw.

“C’mon, c’mon! Where is it!? Where are you, Two Hundred and Nineteen!?” he asked his bags.

“Uh, Gallus?” she said, trying to ignore the memories of the last time he talked to himself.

He stopped and turned to her, grinning nervously. “Yeah, Silver?”

“Are you okay?”

For a split second, he flinched as if she had slapped him. It quickly vanished as he said, “Aside from the current panic of just finding out we’re performing in Canterlot? Yep! I’m okay!”

Please stop lying, Gallus! It’s okay if you’re not okay, just please stop lying for my sake! Don’t hurt yourself for me!

“That’s good! Glad that I’m not the only one who’s nervous and panicky,” she said quietly.

“Are you okay?” Gallus asked softly, putting his bag aside.

You shouldn’t need to ask me that! I shouldn’t need to ask you that! Everything should be fine, but nothing is anymore! … Why is nothing okay anymore!? she wanted to scream in frustration.

“Of course!” Silver lied reassuringly. “I’m just a little shocked. I mean… Canterlot! Wow! Who would have thought we’d be doing a big performance in Canterlot!?”

“Definitely not Vellum and Scoop, apparently…”

“Apparently.”

“You think the nobles there are as stuck-up as everyone says they are?” he suddenly asked.

If they so much as scoff at Gallus for not being a noble, I’m going to—

“Meh. Doubt it. Some might be, but remember! Princess Twilight, Spike, and their family all came from Canterlot! So it can’t be that bad!”

“True. Then again, so did Neighsay…”

If they so much as gawk at Gallus for not being a pony, I’m going to—

“Yeah, but he reformed! Plus, he wasn’t really ‘evil,’” Silver defended kindly.

“That is also true,” Gallus conceded. “He wasn’t nice, but… He wasn’t evil evil.”

“Yeah. Plus, we taught him a lesson about friendship, and I like to think it stuck! I mean, he was the one opening portals all over Equestria when… They happened,” she pointed out, scowling.

“Once again, true. Hey! You’re three-for-three on true statements, Silver!” he celebrated.

“Hee-hee! Yay, me!” she said, smiling but not feeling better at all.

“…Silver?”

“Yeah, Gallus?”

“You think everything is going to be alright?”

Silver hesitated for all of a second before fervently nodding. “Everything is going to be absolutely fine!” she lied once again.

“Yeah… Yeah, you’re right!” he agreed weakly.

Neither Gallus nor Silverstream were up to continuing that conversation, so they turned their attention to the others; both trying very hard not to succumb to their own fears on behalf of the other.

The next day, the group met up with Rarity and Starlight and reassured them that they were fine(For the most part) with performing in Canterlot. After saying goodbye to their friends, they all boarded the Friendship Express, practicing twice more along the way.

The train ride, and one quick dash through the lustrous city later…

“Wow! Princess Twilight has a really nice home!” exclaimed Shimmy Shake.

“It certainly is spacious,” End Zone agreed, looking toward the ceiling.

“Yeah, but I think we’d all prefer it be spacious rather than the opposite,” Gallus uttered, shivering slightly at the thought.

“True.”

“Is it just me, or am I smelling lavender?” Patty asked, itching at her nose.

“Oh, yeah!” called Starlight from the front. “That’d be a leftover habit of the palace staff from when Celestia and Luna were in charge. Specifically Luna. I’m glad they kept it up.”

“Yona like it! Yaks always say lavender help Yaks sleep better at night!” Yona said joyfully.

“I still don’t feel comfortable with this!” Vellum suddenly groaned.

Starlight stopped and rounded on the stallion, asking, “About coming to Canterlot?”

“About sleeping here in the castle,” he clarified.

“Oh. Glad to know we didn’t waste those Bits on train tickets then. … Not the point,” she reprimanded herself. “What is it that makes you uncomfortable with sleeping in the castle, Vellum?”

“It just feels like nepotism,” he answered, frowning at the castle décor around him.

“Uh, well, uh…” Starlight stammered, rubbing at her neck. “Rarity, help!”

“Why do you think it feels like nepotism, Vellum darling?” she swiftly covered for Starlight.

“Well, we’re using your friendship with Princess Sparkle to establish better accommodations than what we have a right too.”

“Excuse me, what do you mean by that last part!?” Scoop inquired indignantly.

“We didn’t exactly earn our lodgings in the Royal Palace for our stay here, Scoop!”

“Darling, you’ve more than earned lodgings in the Palace! And besides, Twilight has already said that she’s perfectly fine with providing us rooms for the week!”

“First of all, Professor! We have not earned any lodgings with the Princess. You and Headmare Starlight might have, but we have not. Okay, technically, Silver, Yona, and Gallus have as well, but—”

“I’m going to stop you right there, Vellum!” Scoop said bluntly, shoving a hoof into his mouth. “Now are you listening?” He nodded. “Good. Now! You can either loosen your moral code and stay in the beautiful castle, or you can go out there into the city and squat at some filthy, bedbug-ridden motel on your own Bits with noisy neighbors!” she stressed darkly.

Vellum trembled as he contemplated that very terrifying possibility.

“Gonna loosen your moral code?” she asked, smirking knowingly.

“Just this one time,” he answered resolutely. “But only because we need to perform perfectly!”

“Of course, Vellum, of course. Don’t worry.”

“I’m going to be worried whether you like it or not, thank you!”

“But if you worry, you might botch a line out of stress,” she countered slyly.

“…Do you really think that’s possible?” After Scoop nodded, he quickly announced, “I’m going to stop trying to worrying now! See!? Not. Worrying.”

“How did you do that?” Gallus questioned, impressed by her skill.

“Vellum will do anything if you can convince him his acting or writing will suffer otherwise,” she answered, smiling in contrast to Vellum’s scowl.

“…Hey, Vellum?” Starlight beckoned suddenly.

“Yes, Headmare Starlight?”

“When this week is over, I want to see you in my office. We’ll have a nice cup of Empathy Cocoa, and we can talk about some things.”

“O-Okay?” he responded uncertainly. “Like what?”

“Your stress levels,” she answered bluntly.

Vellum blinked.

“Starlight darling? Isn’t Trixie supposed to be the Guidance Counselor now?”

“Not until she finishes those professional therapy and psychology books I got her. And last I checked, she was only halfway done with them.”

“Ah.”

“Alright, everycreature! Here we are!” announced their guide.

“Oh! Thank you, Ms. Inkwell!” Starlight said, nodding respectfully.

Raven nodded back, opening the throne room doors with her magic. … Or at least, she tried to.

“Ow!” yelped a familiar pony as the door collided with her.

“THAT’S HOW IT FEELS!” shouted another familiar voice from further into the room.

“Zip it, Spike!” Twilight Sparkle retorted, stepping back and opening the door fully while rubbing her muzzle. “Anyway, Rarity! Starlight! It’s so good to… Stop laughing, Starlight!”

“Hee-hee-hee! Sorry, Twi…” she apologized, ceasing her snickering.

“See!? Starlight gets it,” said the approaching Spike as he quickly rolled up a scroll.

“My apologies for whacking your nose, your Highness,” Raven said neutrally. “Perhaps next time your friends visit, you shouldn’t stand behind the door, listening in?”

“But can you blame me for being excited?” Twilight challenged light-heartedly.

“Of course not, your Highness!” she reassured, curtsying.

“Thank you. Now then! Hello, everycreature! How has everything been going?”

“Oh, I don’t know?” Starlight began cooly. “School maintenance? Financial stress? Unapproved Canterlot Grand Theater performances…” she ended, sneering at the pony at her side.

“I already apologized on the train, darling!” Rarity bit back.

“Well, I hope you are sorry,” she muttered back. “Thanks to you, Sunburst and I had to do a bunch of financial finagling in an hour to make sure everything would be good to go for this Friday.”

“You didn’t tell her about your plan!? Rarity!” Twilight said reproachfully.

“You didn’t tell me either!”

“That’s because I thought Rarity would!”

“I wanted it to be a surprise for the students, darling!” Rarity defended emphatically.

“And you thought I would ruin the surprise!?” Starlight asked, frowning angrily.

“Well, considering that you’re still doing counselor work, I was worried it would slip.”

“You're still doing counselor work!? Ugh! I guess that means I can’t have my books back yet?”

“Not until Trixie finishes them, Twilight! Not until Trixie finishes them!”

“And when will that be? When we’re all seventy!?” Twilight guessed, raising an eyebrow.

“Hey! That’s my best friend you’re talking about!” Starlight growled.

The three mares proceeded to glare at each other exaggeratedly.

“Should we say something?” Shimmy Shake asked Scoop.

“Uh, Spike?” she asked nervously.

The purple dragon held up his claw. “Three… Two… One…” he counted down wisely.

“I missed you so much!” the trio shouted simultaneously, quickly entering a three-way hug.

“…Scoop?”

“Yeah, Vellum?”

“Friendship is weird.”

“That it is, Vellum. That it is.”

“Still magical though, right?” Gallus asked casually.

“…Aughhh,” Vellum groaned painfully.

All but Silverstream laughed.

“That it is, Gallus! That it is,” Twilight answered, giving one last nuzzle to her friends. “So! Apparently, you’ve only just been informed of Rarity’s ‘surprise,’” she began, glancing at the mare.

“Heh-heh. Sorry again, darling.”

“No worries! I’ve had rooms prepped for all of you for the past month. Sorry about the abruptness of the whole thing, but I am very glad to see all of you again!” she sang, bouncing happily. “Scoop! Love what you’ve done with your mane,” she commented to her former student.

“Aw, thanks, Professor.”

“End Zone; Shimmy Shake! I see you’ve both been keeping up with Rainbow’s drills! Keep up the good work,” she said, making the pair both stand a tad taller. “Patty! Still rocking that bow, I see?”

“Of course!” she replied, giving it a gentle flick.

“Hee-hee. Vellum,” Twilight greeted, nodding. “How are you doing?”

“…Well enough,” he murmured, failing to see the rest of the group shake their heads in contradiction.

“That's good. Vellum? There's a book I personally really enjoy. Perfection: The Impossible Pursuit! You should give it a read some time, okay?” Twilight advised kindly.

“Uh, will do, Princess! Thank you,” Vellum said, bowing his head.

“Of course! Yona!” she expressed loudly. “How are you doing!?”

Yona gave Twilight a bone-crushing hug, shouting, “Yona happy to see old Headmare again!”

“I can… See! I can’t… Breathe! But I can… See!” she squeaked out.

“Might wanna ease up a little there, Yona,” Gallus advised. “We don’t want to see you in court being charged with ‘Damage to Private Princess Property.’”

“Heh-heh! Sorry,” she said, releasing Twilight who immediately locked gazes with the griffon.

“Gallus,” Twilight acknowledged gently. “How is everything going?”

“Eh, it’s going. Pretty good so far though!” he said confidently. “But you definitely need to get your sister-in-law a better hobby!”

“Oh, no!” she sighed, face-hoofing. “Has she reached three thousand, yet?”

“‘Three thousand’!?” he shouted in shock. “She’s not gonna stop at one!?”

“She hasn’t reached that yet? Oh, wow! Shiny really is holding her back! … Spike!?”

“I already added ‘Get Shining another medal for his heroism’ to the itinerary. Tuesday good?”

“Tuesday’s good! What would I do without you, Spike?”

“Forget to raise the sun and moon?”

“That was only funny the first time, Spike. Not the tenth!”

“Twilight’s, right, Spike,” Starlight agreed, earning a smug nod from the Princess. “She would totally remember to raise the sun and moon! … Eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner instead of reading, reading, and reading, on the other hoof? Nope! Eating is for the weak, right, Twi!?”

Twilight grumbled as everyone around her laughed.

“I miss you so much, Roomy,” Spike admitted sorrowfully.

“I miss you more,” Starlight replied, winking.

“I miss you the most!” Rarity whined, trapping Spike in a tight hug that he reciprocated.

“Regular ladies’ drake, isn’t he?” Vellum whispered to Scoop, earning a quiet laugh.

“I heard that!” After Rarity released him, Spike said, “By the way, Gallus? I’m still planning out the campaign, but I don’t think I’ll have it done until after Hearth’s Warming Eve. Sorry about that.”

“Eh, it’s fine,” Gallus assured. “Oh, by the way, Sugar Belle did want in on the game, and she said that she also sent you a letter saying so. But, well… Discord.”

“He won’t be messing with her mail anymore though,” Starlight guaranteed ominously.

“Uggghhh! Discord, I swear…” Spike softly growled, making another note on his checklist.

“Are you done?” Twilight asked, receiving a curt nod from her assistant. She then looked back at the group and blinked. “Oh! I forgot that November isn’t part of the Club anymore,” she admitted.

“He had… Other commitments,” Vellum elaborated, holding back a scowl.

“You really are learning,” Scoop whispered happily, earning an exasperated smirk.

“That leaves you, Silverstream!” Twilight stated brightly, trotting to the back of the group.

“Huh! Oh! Heh-heh, hey, Princess! Yep! I’m still here!” she greeted, snapping out of her daze.

“I noticed,” she responded far more gently.

Silver got the distinct impression that the Princess was looking her over in worry; immediately, she tried her hardest to appear as non-worrying as possible. It might have backfired.

“Are you okay, Silverstream? You seem a little quiet,” she said, quickly glancing to her friends.

“Oh, good! It’s not just me,” Patty sighed. Everyone stared at her. “What? She’s been quiet ever since we got off the train! Since we got on the train too now that I think about it,” she just had to add.

Gallus glanced at his friend worryingly.

NO! NO! NO! Silver screamed mentally. “Sorry! I’m still just a little nervous about performing in Canterlot. That’s all,” she fibbed, praying with every fiber of her being that it would work.

“I think we’re all a little nervous to be honest,” Vellum supported much to Silver’s relief.

“I don’t doubt it. But I am proud of you all for still having the courage to go through with it in spite of the ‘surprise.’ And I also know that you’re all going to do just fine when you get up onstage! But that’s for another day. Today! Raven!?” she called to the mare still standing behind the group. “If you could, please show our guests to their rooms so that they may rest for the days ahead.”

“Yes, your Highness!” Raven said, bowing.

“Thank you! Now, all of you off to your rooms for some rest. I doubt any of you want to still be tired after the train ride for when you do your rehearsals.”

“You are, once again, correct, Princess,” Vellum answered for them.

“Then off you go. Raven?”

“Right away, your Highness! Come along, children! This way.”

“I’ll meet with you later, darlings! Right now! I have a friend I need to catch up with.”

“Same,” Starlight agreed. “Don’t get into any trouble.”

“We won’t!” assured Scoop, waving as the group began following after Raven.

Silver then ducked her again; the act only noticed by Gallus and Yona. They shared a glance, and the former slowed down, falling into step beside Silver and whispered, “Hey, are you okay?”

“Huh!? Oh, yeah! Yeah, I’m fine!” she answered as happily as she could.

“Are you sure? You've been quiet all day. Is something wrong?”

“No! No, everything is fine!”

After a moment, he smiled slightly and said, “Alright. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. If you do ever need anything though, just ask. Okay?” he requested, giving her gentle nuzzle.

“Of course!” she promised, nuzzling him back despite not feeling better at all.

“I still think we should go back to the theater and practice again!”

“Vellum, we have rehearsed almost fifty times this week alone and nearly two hundred times this month!” Scoop fired back tiredly. “We know what we’re doing!”

“I know that, but…” he petered off, pawing at the ground uncomfortably.

Scoop sighed and put her hoof on Vellum’s shoulder, saying, “Look, Vellum. I get it. You’re still nervous about the play, and that’s okay. I’m nervous too; we all are!” she added, gesturing to the rest of the group. “But the play is tomorrow night, not this afternoon. Let’s try to relax until then, okay?”

“…Fine,” he grumbled.

“Thank you!” she said, hugging him tightly. After releasing him, she said, “Now! Professor Rarity gave us a ton of Bits to spend, and we’re in the capital of Equestria! What should we do first!?”

“Shopping!” Shimmy Shake sang.

“I kinda want to see the Library of Magic,” Patty said eagerly. “None of us may be unicorns, but Ocellus has always spoken wonders about it! Wouldn’t hurt to at least check it out.”

“We could visit the Cloud Stadium,” Zone proposed. “Maybe we can catch a team practicing?”

“I’ve heard the Tasty Treat is a good lunch spot,” Vellum murmured, gaining a grin from Scoop.

“Well, Yona not care what friends do as long as friends do it together!” Yona cheered happily.

“Hee-hee. Of course, we will, Yona!” Scoop reassured. She then turned to Gallus and Silver and asked, “What about you two? Got any ideas?”

Silver blinked and shyly admitted, “Um… I don’t really have any ideas. What about you, Gallus?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t putting pressure on him.

He thought for a moment then shrugged. “I’ve got nothing either. I mean… There is Silver Frames’ Art Gallery, but I can’t imagine any of you’d want to go to it…” he suggested aloofly.

“Oh, I’m sure one of us would,” Scoop said, smirking deviously at Silverstream.

Silver chuckled, trying to ignore all of their grins. I almost forgot about Silver Frames’ gallery! That does sound fun, but… I don’t want Gallus to want to go just because of me!

“In any case,” declared Vellum, regaining everyone’s attention. “It seems we have an idea for our destinations. Shall we proceed? We don’t want to be out too late tonight.”

“Of course, Vellum. Alright, gang! Let’s go!” Scoop decreed, leading the Drama Club forward along their march through the pearly streets of Canterlot.

There were a multitude of various stores to visit, from an ordinary mall loaded with ponies dressed as fancily as possible to dodgy antique shops watched over by shadowy, red-eyed strangers.

Shimmy Shake, Scoop, and Yona seemed determine to buy something every time; whereas, Zone and Vellum often found themselves waiting for the others to finish.

The Library of Magic was next, welcoming them with a comfortable tranquility in spite of its labyrinthine structure and the occasional muffled explosion from someone’s failed spell.

Patty, Vellum, and Gallus happily stalked the maze of books, eager to experience Twilight Sparkle’s old stomping grounds; sadly, neither Shimmy Shake nor End Zone enjoyed the ambiance as they were too busy struggling to remain awake.

The Cloud Stadium did indeed play host to a team of pegasi as well as the dragons, griffons, and hippogriffs that the team were currently initiating. And as to be expected, a large crowd were also currently watching the practice proceed.

Zone, Shimmy, and Patty were quick to join in the crowd’s excitement over the new trainees, but Vellum and Scoop both looked positively bored with the affair. Gallus seemed caught in the middle, enjoying the event like the others but clearly wanting to be elsewhere.

Silver, meanwhile, sat in the far back, watching her friend out of the corner of her eye and trying to figure out why he seemed so antsy. Unfortunately, every thought that crossed her mind was worse than the last, and by the time Yona approached her, the hippogriff looked ready to throw up.

“This seat taken?” Yona asked politely.

“H-Huh!” Silver exclaimed, taken out of her musings. Again. “Oh, n-no, Yona! Of course not!” She scooted over and patted at the seat to her left. “What are you up to?”

“Well, Yona just learned that stadium food cost three times more than normal food, so Yona not happy about that!” she grumbled. “But Yona did find this!” she celebrated, flourishing a beautiful scarf that bared the emblem of the flight team currently training.

“Wow! That looks really nice, Yona!” Silver instinctively praised.

“Thank you! Yona considering knitting scarves more often when Yona get back home. Scarves pretty simple, but simplicity just as important as complexity!”

“Hee-hee,” she laughed emptily, looking back at Gallus. “That’s very wise, Yona.”

After about a minute, Yona suddenly stated, “Gallus prefer watching game rather than practice.”

“What!?” Silver yelped, quickly turning back to her friend. “I— I mean— What makes you say that?” she asked with a forced grin.

“Yona asked Gallus why he not enjoy stadium as much as others. Gallus said it because he rather watch actual game than just team practicing.”

“O-Oh! Uh, okay. That’s nice to know,” Silver said. Oh, thank goodness! He’s not lonely, upset, or anything else! He’s okay, Silver! He’s okay… she told herself, calming down. For now.

After some time, Yona quietly asked, “Is Silverstream okay?”

“What!? Of— Of course, I’m okay!” she answered unconvincingly.

“Yona notice that friend really quiet all day. … All week too, now that Yona think about it. Is Silver certain she’s okay?”

“Yeah! I’m totally fine, Yona; there’s no need to worry!” she repeated, smiling widely.

“Silverstream sound like Gallus,” Yona acknowledged apprehensively.

After a moment, Silver finally admitted, “I’m still worried about him.”

“But why? Yona see Gallus doing much better now!”

“I know! I know! I’m just being silly,” she said, looking down.

“Silver worried about Gallus! Yona not think that silly; Yona think that kind.”

Silver laughed slightly, saying, “Thanks, Yona. … What do you think though? Do you think that Gallus is doing better? Genuinely better?”

“Yona not given reason to believe otherwise,” she answered simply.

“Yeah, but… Still.”

“Ohhh. Yona know what’s wrong with friend.”

“So there is something wrong!?” Silver squealed as her heart thundered in her ears.

“Yes. That,” Yona said, pointing at her. “What friend doing is wrong.”

“What— What do you mean?”

“Silver not just worried about Gallus. Silver paranoid about Gallus.”

“I’m not paranoid!” Silver argued, affronted.

Yona stared at her disbelievingly.

“W-Well… Yeah?” she said after some time. “But c’mon, Yona! With the play, and Canterlot, and everything…! You’re not the least bit worried about him too?”

“Yona worried about all friends!” she said, patting Silver’s back. “That’s why Yona asked Gallus if he was okay! Yona noticed Gallus look bored, so Yona ask why. But friend is doing fine. Yona also noticed Silver look afraid, so Yona ask too. But friend clearly not doing fine.”

“But I am doing fine! I’m just… I’m just worried that all the pressure of this performance might get to him. Can’t I just be a little worried?” she asked, wincing.

“Yaks have saying: Fear is necessary for courage, but too little invokes hubris, and too much reaps cowardice,” Yona quoted sagely. “Yona think worry is same! Worrying about friend is fine, but Yona knows it’s not good to worry too much. Silver clearly worrying too much.”

“But how can I not be worried!? I want Gallus to be okay! That’s… That’s all I want.”

“Yona know. But Yona also know that Gallus doing much better!” she repeated, smiling.

“But what if Gallus isn’t, and he’s just pretending again!?”

“Yona trust Gallus not pretend. Silver should do the same,” Yona advised serenely.

Silver turned her gaze back to Gallus, watching as he walked over to Zone and Shimmy and talked to them as casually as anyone else would. She then turned back to Yona.

“I… I guess you’re right!” she admitted, smiling properly. “Even if I am worried, I still need to trust that he is doing better! Thanks for reminding me of that,” Silver said, wiping her eyes.

“Yona happy to help friend!” Yona said, beaming. “…Yona still worried too. But Yona know that even if Gallus not okay, Yona and friends will be there for him!” she concluded.

“Hee-hee-hee. Right once again, Yona,” Silver agreed, wrapping a wing around her friend.

Maybe I am worried for nothing, she questioned. I’m sure everything is fine. And like Yona said. Even if it’s not; we’ll be there for him. I’ll be there for him. … I just hope that things stay fine.

After a quick lunch at the Tasty Treat, the group made their way to their final destination as the afternoon sun finally started its descent downward.

“Hello! And welcome to Silver Frames’ Art Gallery! Please enjoy the many beautiful and exquisite exhibits at your leisure! And do make sure not to touch any of them,” the guide warned.

“Don’t worry!” Scoop placated. “You’d have to be an idiot to touch one of these things! But out of curiosity? What would happen if we did?” she asked suspiciously.

“Move along, Scoop! You’re angering the pony,” Vellum said, pushing her forward.

“Alright! Alright! Stop shoving me!”

As the others quickly split up to browse at their own leisure, Silver quickly found herself happy that Gallus had suggested this place even if had been on her behalf rather than his.

“Hey, Silver?” Gallus suddenly called out.

“Yeah, Gallus?” she asked, staring back down at him.

“You might want to stop hovering; I think the security guards over there are getting jumpy.”

“Huh? Oh. Oops!” Silver said, softly landing on the checkered floor. “I, uh, didn’t even realize I was doing that,” she admitted, blushing.

“I’m not the one who’s upset. In fact? I thought it was cute,” he sneakily whispered.

Her blush intensified as she quietly exclaimed, “Gallus!”

“Whaaat?” he asked innocently.

“Nothing,” she sighed. “Thanks for the compliment though.”

“Heh-heh. You’re welcome,” he said, winking. “So then? Do you, uh… Like this place?”

“I love it, Gallus, but…” Be honest, Silver… “Do you? I don’t want you to like it just because you think I want you to,” she admitted gently. Please, please, please don’t be upset that I asked that!

He winced but quickly recovered to say, “I was being serious, Silver. Art may not be my ‘thing,’ but I know that you like it. And I like you! So regardless of whether or not I enjoy the gallery, I definitely will enjoy my time with you,” he ended softly.

“…Dang it! That’s just too sweet!” Silver said, unable to protest her worries any further.

“Yes! The Lord of All Things Sweet still has it!”

“Oh, hush up, milord!” she countered, tittering. “Now let’s go and enjoy our time together!”

“Lead the way, milady,” Gallus replied, gesturing for her to do so.

For as worried and anxious as Silverstream had been for the past few days, all of her woes faded into the distance the moment they ventured forth.

Hundreds of paintings lined the walls of the gallery; all of which were crafted meticulously by the most passionate of souls. From gorgeous landscapes overflowing with an abundance of life, to beautiful portraits capturing the very essence of their subjects’ existences! Even the occasional, expertly sculpted statue stood on display among the various works of art.

“I think I’m going to need to take back what I said earlier,” Gallus soon admitted. “Art might just be one of my ‘things’ after all!”

I could kiss him so much right now. “Hee-hee! I’m happy you like this place too, Gallus!” she said happily. “Thanks again for convincing the others to come here!”

“As opposed to the alternative of not coming here?” Gallus asked slyly. “I am kinda surprised that you didn’t even mention it though…? Don’t tell me… You’ve been here before, haven’t you?” he then hesitantly guessed.

“No, I… I haven’t,” she timidly replied. “I’ve always wanted to come here though!”

“Then how come you didn’t suggest this place?” he politely inquired.

C’mon, Silver! Be honest! “I didn’t know if you or the others would like it or not. And… I didn’t want to drag you guys here if you didn’t like it. Or make you feel like you needed to stay if you were bored,” she added, thinking back to the Cloud Stadium.

“You are too caring for your own good sometimes, you know that?” Gallus remarked joyfully.

Well, at least he didn’t get upset; that’s a plus, right? “Oh, hush!” she retorted, grinning. “C’mon! Next up is the photography exhibit!” Silver sang, bounding forward in a flash.

“I’m coming; I’m coming!” Gallus said, hurrying after her.

The trees of White Tail Woods swayed in a serene spring breeze, and the shores of Silver Shoals sparkled in the shimmering sunset. The valley of Hollow Shades hid beneath an everlasting shadowy sky, and the fiery crags of the Dragon Lands erupted to the pleasure of the surrounding inhabitants. And even these examples weren’t half of what the photography exhibit had to offer.

So many tiny, beautiful moments had been captured for eternity and laid to rest along the walls of the room, and in the center of it all hung the images of two graceful alicorns, each guiding their own heavenly treasure across the firmament.

“It’s nice to know that even if the Princesses are retired, they’re still remembered, don’t you think, Gallus?” she said, smiling warmly.

“…Yeah…”

Alarm bells blared in Silver’s mind at the unfocused tone of his reply, so she immediately turned around only to see that she had lost him.

“Gallus!?” she called out as calmly as she could. “Where’d you go?”

“Other side of the wall over here,” he answered, still sounding off.

She followed his voice and came to stand beside him, following his gaze and realizing with a fresh wave of horror just what was wrong.

The photo Gallus was staring at depicted three petrified monsters standing in a garden.

Every single paranoid thought flooded back into her mind, and yet, she made neither a sound nor a motion despite her terror. All she could do was stand there, staring at them alongside her friend.

After some time, Gallus broke the tension by saying, “Looks like Smolder lost the bet.”

“W-What?” she mumbled, desperately trying to keep her voice steady.

“They’re positions are changed,” he commented casually. “Chrysalis was mid-lunge when she was petrified, but now she’s crouching low as if she were getting ready to pounce.”

“Oh, right. I guess Princess Twilight really is holding out hope for them,” Silver whispered. I don’t know why she’s even bothering, she thought to herself.

“Yeah, guess so,” Gallus agreed. “…Cozy changed spots too. I’m pretty sure she made sure to be above the other two, but now she’s at the statue’s base. Right at the bottom,” he shot venomously.

He’s upset! I knew this would happen! Oh, no! How do I help him stop being upset!? What do I do; what do I do!? Silver panicked. Gulping, she opted to mutter, “Yep! Right at the bottom…”

Gallus took a deep breath and asked more calmly, “When do you think this was taken?”

“Um… Uh, a little over a month ago, according to the description,” she answered. “Looks like it was a week or two after Friends and… Family… Day…” Silver practically whimpered. Ohhh nooo…

A moment of silence passed between the two before Gallus inquired, “What do you think?”

“Um, about what?”

“Do you think that Twilight can reform them?”

“I don’t know,” Silver responded, blinking in surprise. “Why would she?”

“I don’t know…” he echoed uncertainly. “I mean, this is Twilight Sparkle we’re talking about; she will if she can, but… Do you think she even can in the first place?”

The image of her and her friends being trapped in a bubble of magic and slowly lowered into a cold, dark void replayed in her mind. “No,” she answered honestly, shivering at the memory.

Gallus only followed up with a quiet, “Hmm.”

…

“I know I probably shouldn’t but…” he started hesitantly. “I kinda feel bad for them.”

“You feel bad for them!?” she snapped, flinching at her own tone.

“Well, not bad for what happened to them,” Gallus elaborated quickly. “They deserved what they got; I won’t even try to pretend that they didn’t.”

“Then why do you feel bad for them?”

“Just…” Gallus paused to think for a moment. “I just wonder what would have happened if they had never met. I mean… They could have had everything they ever wanted if they had just… Found better friends,” he explained, sighing.

“How do you figure that?” she asked, trying not to let her cynicism leak into her voice again.

“Well, Tirek wouldn’t have even been locked in Tartarus to begin with if he had just gone back home with his brother,” Gallus began. “If Chrysalis had accepted Headmare Starlight’s offer, she would have had all the love she could hope for and would probably be able to rule over her subjects again. And if Cozy hadn’t seen either of them as parent… As role models,” he corrected himself. “She might not have thought of ‘friendship’ as ‘power’ or whatever it was she considered it to be.”

“They could have had everything. A home, love; family… It all could have been theirs, if they just had better friends,” he concluded, staring at her appreciatively.

…

“Maybe,” Silver eventually said. “But I… I don’t think that would be the case. All three of them were power-hungry psychos. They could have tried being better; they could have tried to learn friendship and compassion! But they didn’t,” she sneered. “They double-downed on their own hatred and cruelty. Maybe they could have been better, but I don’t think they wanted to be…”

“I guess that’s a ‘no’ to my question, huh?”

Silver winced, admitting, “Sorry, Gallus. But I don’t think Twilight can help them. Honestly, I’m not even sure they deserve the chance to be forgiven even if they could reform,” she added, surprised at her own anger.

“Eh, everyone deserves at least one creature willing to give them a chance. Even at the very end,” he stated nonchalantly. “Still, you’re probably right. Considering how much Ocellus avoids the topic, Chrysalis definitely wouldn’t be an easy fix.”

“Yeah, definitely not.”

“But you know what?” he began after some time. “I bet we could reform them if we tried!”

Silver snorted, asking, “Really? You think we could help make Cozy Glow realize murder is wrong?”

“Mmm? Yeah,” Gallus answered, nodding. “Think about it, Silver! We’re the next generation of the Elements of Harmony, and we’ve got the respect and support of the Tree of Harmony! At this point, we could probably do anything, and we’d succeed brilliantly!” he boasted.

“I wish I had your confidence. But when I look at them? All I can see is… All I can see is…” Silver sighed and concluded, “Nevermind.”

“Hey,” he said softly. “It’s okay. What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing!” she protested. Seeing that he clearly didn’t buy it, she quietly admitted, “I just can’t look at them without seeing…him.”

“…Oh.”

“Y-Yeah,” she mumbled, turning away from the painting.

A moment later, Gallus silently wrapped her in his wing, pulling her into a gentle embrace. She placed her own wings around him too, trying not to dwell on the rest of her memories.

For a long while, they stood in that position until Silver sighed and pulled away, whimpering, “Sorry, Gallus. I… Ughhh,” she groaned, looking down. “I just… Sorry.”

He gently raised her chin back up and said, “You don’t need to be sorry, Silver. It’s okay. Don’t forget that he’s gone too! You never have to be afraid of any of them ever again,” Gallus promised happily.

She smiled weakly and said, “I know. It’s just hard to remember that sometimes.”

“Yeah, I hear that. It does get easier with time though.”

Or worse. “Yeah. I guess so."

“…Although,” he began suspiciously. “If we did try to reform those guys, we would totally succeed!” Gallus promised, pulling out a pocket mirror and turning it toward her. “I mean! How can anyone resist this beautiful face?”

“What the— Gallus!” Silverstream yelped, blushing again. “Where did you even get that!?”

“I bought it when we went shopping,” he answered, smirking.

“W-Why?” she asked, grinning abashedly.

“Well, the original plan was to open it behind your back and then ask, ‘Hey, Silver! Check this work of beauty out!’ and then you would turn around. But, I figured doing it this way worked too.”

Silver laughed.

“Oh, Gallus!” she groaned after a while. “You didn’t need to go to all that trouble!”

“What trouble? The only hard part was buying the mirror, and that was just because I didn’t know where the beauty store was in the mall. After that, all I had to do was say a fact.”

“That I have a beautiful face?”

“What? Is that too specific? Should I have just said, ‘You’re beautiful’ and left it at that?” he asked, grinning. “I mean… Either one would work! You are beautiful. And you have a beautiful face!”

“How did you somehow turn the same compliment into two!?” she asked, giggling again.

“Because, Silverstream! No matter how many compliments you receive, you will always deserve twice as many,” he stated matter-of-factly.

If not for Silver’s paranoia that it would screw everything up, she would have definitely kissed him for that one. That didn’t stop her from grabbing him in another hug though.

“You are just the sweetest thing ever, you know that!?” she sang happily.

“Yeah, well. I am the Lord of All of Things Sweet for a reason,” he said, leaning into the hug.

…

“Hey, loverbirds!” called out the newly approached and completely unwelcome Vellum Codex. “We need to go! Scoop was an idiot and… What are you two doing?”

“Having a moment,” they both deadpanned simultaneously.

“What do you want, Vellum?” Gallus then asked as politely as he could.

To ruin everything…? Silver suspected.

“Well, um, sorry to interrupt the moment,” he apologized genuinely. “But, uh, Scoop decided it would be a fun idea to touch the paintings, and well? Long story short: We’re getting kicked out.”

It really was only a matter of time before something screwed everything up again, wasn’t it?

“Whelp!” Gallus said, sighing in exasperation. “Of course, she did. Sorry, Silver.”

“Eh, it’s okay!” she deflected. “We probably should get going anyway.”

“Yes. The guards certainly want us to do that, so let’s do that,” Vellum emphasized.

A few minutes later…

“Sorry, everycreature,” Scoop apologized, hanging her head.

Everyone just stared at her with various degrees of irritation.

“You’re sorry for…?” Vellum inquired.

“I’m sorry for touching the paintings and getting us all kicked out,” she continued, wincing.

“Are you!?” Shimmy demanded angrily.

“Yes!”

“Yona wonders if Yona should not believe friend,” she muttered sarcastically.

“I really mean it, guys! I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay, Scoop,” Patty comforted. “We know you didn’t mean to get us all kicked out. And banned. From one of the coolest places in Canterlot. For life,” she finished bitterly.

“Seriously, Scoop! What even possessed you to touch one of the paintings!?” Vellum shouted. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you would have been in had the guards not been lenient!?”

“Oh, like a criminal record matters that much in Equestria!”

“It certainly effects your career in the acting world!”

“Oh, really?” Scoop asked disbelievingly.

“It at least matters until after you’ve secured yourself as one of the ‘best-of-the-best’!” Vellum clarified. “Tell me, Scoop! Are you one of the ‘best-of-the-best’ yet?”

“…No.”

“Exactly!”

“Okay, guys,” Gallus began neutrally. “We can all agree that Scoop made a mistake.”

“I’m not sure that word is strong enough to describe the sheer stupidity of her action.”

“Shut up, Vellum!”

“Both of you, stop!” Gallus interrupted. “Look, Scoop? I don’t know what you were thinking—if you even were thinking—but it’s okay. I forgive you. I’m mad at you! But I forgive you.”

“Thanks,” she murmured.

“Don’t thank me. You shouldn’t be thanking me! You shouldn’t need to be thanking me because you shouldn’t have needed to be forgiven in the first place!” he scolded.

She flinched.

“But… It’s over with; we didn’t get arrested; and we didn’t get charged a mountain of Bits for messing with a near priceless painting. Can we all move on and agree to not tell Rarity about this!?”

Everyone nodded.

“Well, now that we’ve got all of that out of the way,” Vellum began. “It’s getting late. Do any of you want to do anything else, or can we finally go back to the Palace and rest for tomorrow night?”

“If it’s alright with you guys, I kinda want to go to bed. I’m tired,” End Zone said, yawning.

“Honestly? I am too,” Patty admitted. “Plus, Vellum’s probably going to get us all up at the crack of dawn to squeeze in twenty more rehearsals.”

“Well… Not quite that early, but…” Vellum mumbled.

“Yeah, yeah,” Shimmy grumbled. “The point is that we’ve got a long day ahead of us! But you know what!? We’ve totally got everything down!” she shouted enthusiastically. “We are all going to get on that stage, perform the hay out of The Epoch of Majesty Serendipity Daydream, and become world-famous actors! Whooo’s with me!?” she sang, holding out her hoof.

“Oh, Celestia!” Vellum whispered fearfully. “‘World-famous’? Oh, I can only hope to dream! But you know what, Shimmy? I’m with you,” he said, placing his hoof on hers.

“I doubt I could ever be an actor like you, Vellum, but I did not memorize over a thousand lines to flop the moment I get on that stage!” Zone declared, joining the hoof-stack.

“We are totally going to rock this play!” Patty shouted, following the others’ example.

“No way am I going to leave you guys hanging,” Scoop said meekly. “I can’t imagine what Vellum would do to you guys if I did” she added, smirking at the annoyed stallion.

“Yona do best Yona can too! All friends will!”

“Yeah,” Silver agreed quietly. “We’ve got this!” she said as confidently as she could.

For a moment, Gallus hesitated to join the hoof-pile; however, he soon smirked and declared, “Yeah, we’re awesome! And everycreature is going to know it too! Even him…” he whispered to himself.

“Alright, everycreature!” Shimmy said, channeling her cheer-leader voice. “‘Drama Club’! In three! Two! One!”

“Drama Club!” everyone shouted, raising their hooves/talons into the air. Afterward, they all laughed as they started their journey toward the Palace.

Silver was the first to stop laughing, and she quickly found herself at the back of the group, unable to share in the excitement of everyone else.

C’mon, Silver! You’ve got this! So do they! So does Gallus! Everything is going to be fine! Everything! Is going to be! Fine! she told herself.

…

But what if they suffer from stage fright!? What if I do!? What if Gallus does!? What if he sees that crowd and starts having an anxiety attack or something!? He has claustrophobia, so what if it triggers when he sees how big the audience will be!? What if it does happen, and he loses all of the progress he’s made!? What if he starts talking to himself again!? What if—

Said griffon slowed down to match her pace and gently asked, “Silverstream? Are you okay?”

“Huh!?” she replied, snapping out of her panic. “Uh, yeah! I’m totally fine, Gallus!”

He didn’t buy that—she didn’t even buy that!—but he at least pretended to for her sake, saying, “Okay. I just wanted to make sure since Scoop, uh, you know. Speaking of which, I’m sorry about the gallery trip ending as abruptly as it did.”

“Gallus, you don’t need to be sorry! I’m fine!” C’mon, Silver, be honest! “Are you going to be okay with the play!?” she blurted out.

“Yeah?” he answered, not understanding her intensity. “I’ve got my lines memorized and my character studied. I’ll be fine!”

A hundred more questions and worries swam through Silver’s mind, but she dared not utter a single one of them lest she bring them to fruition.

“Okay,” was all she allowed herself to utter.

Gallus stared at her for a moment before blinking, coming to a sudden realization. “Are you okay with the play, Silver?” he asked softly.

“Of course, I am!” she answered a little too loudly. “I’m perfectly fine, Gallus; you know me! Optimism and cheeriness for the win!” Silver ended jokingly.

Thank goodness that Terramar didn’t hear that; otherwise, he’d never let me live it down.

“Alright, I believe you. And I’m glad you’re doing fine.”

Thank goodness for that too! Silver rejoiced as she said, “Thanks! I’m happy to be fine!”

…

“Silver?” he soon said, freezing her in her place.

No, no, no, no, no! “Yes…?” she asked hesitantly.

“If something is troubling you, and for whatever reason you can’t tell me… Tell someone about it, please?” he calmly pleaded. “The others, our teachers… Just tell someone. Okay?”

“Of— Of course!” Silverstream responded weakly. “But I don’t need to do that because I am fine! I’m not troubled at all! Promise!”

“…And I still believe you. I just want you to be okay too, you know.”

And I want you to be okay, but that’s never going to happen, is it? Nothing will be okay, she thought hopelessly. “How are you so good at being so sweet?” she asked as normally as she could.

“Because you deserve the very sweetest!” Gallus answered playfully.

The two shared a small laugh.

“I really am okay, Silverstream,” he eventually whispered, reading her thoughts.

“…I know,” she replied weakly.

Wordlessly, the two quickly caught up with the rest of the group.

“Well, it certainly sounds like you had a fun day!” Starlight said after Silverstream had finished. “I’m sorry about the last part though; Scoop should have known better!” she ended, grimacing.

“You’re not gonna punish her are you!?” Silver asked fearfully.

“Oh, I’m going to talk to her about it, but I’ll wait until after we get back. And don’t worry, I won’t tell her you were the one who told me,” she comfortingly assured.

Silver winced, looking away.

“Sooo,” Starlight soon began again. “It really does seem like you had a pretty good day! So did Gallus from what you told me. … Did something else happen after the gallery?” she asked warily.

“N-No,” Silver admitted, shaking her head. “We just came back here, talked with Professor Rarity one more time, and went right to bed. I just couldn’t sleep, so…”

“Ah.”

“So, what do I do!?” she asked desperately.

Hiding an uncomfortable shiver, Starlight asked, “About what?”

“About Gallus! What do I do!? How do I help him!?”

“Help him with what?” Starlight inquired, hoping her first thought was wrong.

“What do you mean by that!?” Silver demanded. “You know what he needs help with! Unless… Oh, no! Has he been avoiding you!?” she asked hysterically. “No! No! No! I thought he actually was seeing you, but if he’s not…! Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh—”

“Silver!” Starlight shouted, regaining the panicking hippogriff’s attention. “Calm down…! He has been visiting me! Almost every day, in fact.”

“He has?”

“Yes!” she affirmed, shocked by her student’s outburst.

Silver looked down, sighing in relief. After a moment, she looked back up and asked, “Then what do I do? He’s still upset, so… How do I help him be better!?”

“Silverstream,” she said gently. “He is doing better.”

“No, he’s not!”

“Was he not doing better today? Because it certainly sounded like he was.”

“Yeah, well… What— What about the part where he was bored at the Cloud Stadium!?”

“Yona said that he was just bored,” she bluntly reminded. “Most creatures generally prefer watching a game rather than sitting through a practice, you know.”

“But— But— What about when he was yelling at his bag when Professor Rarity told us we’d be performing in Canterlot!?” she questioned, terrified.

“He said, ‘Two hundred and Nineteen,’ right? Well, Cadence numbered all of her letters, and he was carrying a lot of them at the time. He was likely looking for that one and just talking aloud,” she explained logically.

“Well, but— What— I— But what about in the photography exhibit!? What about when he looked at that photo of them and— And— And felt sorry for them!?” she snarled angrily. “Gallus would never feel sorry for them! What if… What if Cozy really is messing with him, and is trying to make him feel sorry enough to release her, so she can—”

“Silver!” Starlight yelled, freezing Silver in the middle of her terrified rambling. “It’s okay… Cozy is not messing with Gallus. I checked over her room, and Twilight checked with her personally.”

“And… She’s not?”

“Well, she certainly tried pretending that she was, but Twilight saw through it. And, no. The little brat isn’t messing with him. He’s okay.”

“I… S-Sorry,” Silver whimpered, ashamed of her paranoia.

“It’s okay, Silver; I’m not angry or anything,” she assured, double-checking the air above her horn. “I’m just… Surprised. Gallus said you were scared, but…”

“Of course, I’m scared!” she screamed. “Gallus may be fine now, but— But what if something happens, and he stops being fine! What if something happens at the play!? What if something happens when we get back home!? What if he goes back to lying again!? What if— What if—”

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Starlight rapidly called, hurrying over to her. “Silver, calm down!”

“But—”

“Calm… Down…” she soothed, placing a hoof on Silver’s shoulder. “It’s okay; just breathe! Just… Breathe…” Starlight commanded slowly.

Silver did as instructed, calming down slightly with every deep breath.

“I’m…” she said after some time. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I… I just…”

“It’s okay, Silver,” Starlight assuaged, sitting beside her. “It’s okay…”

“No! It’s not okay! Nothing is okay! Nothing is ever going to be okay!” Silver stated tearfully.

Starlight blinked in shock before softly asking, “Why do you think nothing is going to be okay?”

“I… I don’t know! I don’t know, but… I know it’s not!” Silver protested grimly. “Something is going to happen! Something is going to happen, and everything is going to be ruined, and— And—”

“Easy, Silver… Just breathe!” she repeated cautiously. “It’s okay to talk to me…”

“I know that, it’s just— I’m— He’s— I—” Silver sputtered wildly. She took a shaky breath and admitted, “I’m scared, Headmare! I’m so scared!”

“I understand… And it’s okay to be—”

“No, it’s not!” she interrupted. “It’s not okay that I’m scared because I shouldn’t have needed to be scared in the first place! Gallus should have been perfectly fine and happy! But he wasn’t! And he still isn’t! And if he’s okay now, how long is that going to last before he stops being fine again!?”

Silverstream suddenly flung herself around Starlight, clinging to her like a lifeline. Starlight didn’t hesitate to hug her back.

“Headmare Starlight! What— W-What do I do!? I don’t know what to do!? Please tell me what to do! How do I help him!? Please just tell me how to help him!”

“It’s okay, Silver,” Starlight repeated again. “Just let it all out,” she said, fearing just how long Silver had been keeping this bottled up.

“I— I just— I want him to be better, but I don’t know if he is! And— And if he is!? How long is it going to be before something ruins it!? How long is it going to be before— Before—”

“Shh,” Starlight whispered. “It’s okay, Silver; it’s okay. Just let it all out…”

“I— I don’t know what’s wrong with him!” she continued. “I don’t know how to help him; I mean…! I don’t know even what is wrong with him! I don’t know what to do to help! And I can’t figure it out either since some…” Silver struggled for a second to find the right words before blurting out, “Since some inconsiderate jerk rented out half of the library’s Psychology section!”

“Wait, what? That’s news to me,” Starlight slowly said, immediately planning to ask Discord about that the instant they got back home.

“Yeah, and they didn’t leave their name in the registry, so I can’t even ask to borrow them!” Silver groaned angrily. “It’s like the world doesn’t want me to know how to help Gallus!” she lamented tearfully. “It’s like the world wants him to suffer…! Is… is that why everything keeps getting worse?”

“Silverstream, the ‘world’ isn’t out to make Gallus suffer.”

“Well, it certainly seems like it!” Silver protested. “How else do you explain how every time I’ve tried to help him, he just slips back into his worries all over again!?” she asked, panting heavily.

Starlight blinked.

“I tried to help him on Friends and Family Day, but he just went back to running away from everyone! I told our friends what happened, and Smolder decided she wanted to be jerk to Gallus for no reason! I asked him to join Drama Club because I thought he’d like it, and Discord showed up to screw with him! I had fun with him at the gallery, and then that got ruined by a stupid photo of a bunch of monsters, and Scoop being an idiot!” she ended angrily.

A box of tissues slowly floated in front of her, and Silver went for the offering with gusto.

“I’m just… I’m so worried about him, Headmare Starlight,” she mumbled, sniffling. “Every time I close my eyes, or see him, or even look at my own bed…! I just… I just see him! Sitting on Cozy’s bed and talking to himself, or running away from me on the field, or trying so hard to say he didn’t deserve our friendship…” she said, shivering at the nightmarish memory.

Starlight was silent.

“And that…! That’s not Gallus,” Silver whimpered. “Gallus is cool, calm, and collected… He’s kind, sweet, and so, so caring!” she praised before frowning again. “But… I don’t know what’s wrong with him! I don’t know if he’s really okay! And I’m so scared that he’s not! I just want him to be okay, but I know—I know!—that something will happen, and… And he won’t be okay anymore…”

For several minutes, they sat in silence as Silver tried once more to regain control of her breathing, and Starlight comfortingly patted her student’s back, contemplating her next words.

Eventually, Starlight took a breath of her own and said, “I’m sorry, Silverstream. I didn’t expect that you would be suffering these same fears, like Gallus or Smo—”

“So Gallus is still afraid!?” Silverstream fearfully shouted.

“…He’s afraid of making you and the others worry,” she reluctantly admitted. “But! And this is the important part,” she emphasized before Silver resumed panicking. “Despite this, he is okay.”

“But—”

Starlight gave her a look that quickly silenced her. “Silver? Just how long have you been holding all of these fears in?” she asked, dreading the answer.

“…Since after Friends and Family Day.”

Starlight sat there for a moment, looking at her student in abject horror. She then took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry, Silverstream.”

“For what?”

“For not realizing how afraid you really were,” she answered. “Gallus said that you were worried about him, but I didn’t know you were this afraid. I should have known, and if I had, I would have already talked to you about this. So, I’m sorry for not realizing sooner.”

“But— But you don’t need to apologize!”

“Well, I’m going to do it anyway. I’m sorry, Silver. I’m sorry that you’ve been so afraid for so long without anyone—especially myself or the other girls—talking to you about it.”

“No, I’m sorry!” Silver said, flinching. “I know I shouldn’t be afraid; I know I’m always the optimistic one, but… I can’t be optimistic about this! I… I just can’t,” she sighed glumly.

“It’s okay that you’re afraid, Silverstream,” Starlight soothed. “You don’t need to feel ashamed to be worried about your friend.”

“But Yona said I shouldn’t be so afraid…”

“And she’s right. It’s perfectly okay to be afraid and worried, but… It’s not okay to be as such to the point of paranoia,” Starlight elaborated.

Silver looked away.

“Silver? Your fear, worry, anger, and sadness? It’s okay that you feel those things, and it’s okay that you’re worried about Gallus,” she repeated once again.

“The problem,” she continued. “Is that you can’t let these feelings blind you to your other ones. Your worry and fear for Gallus cannot and should not prevent you from being happy and hopeful that he’s getting better. Because he is getting better, Silverstream,” Starlight added, raising Silver’s chin up. “You know he’s getting better. So does Yona. So do I. And so does Gallus himself.”

“…I know. But… I’m just scared that something will happen again, and he’ll… He’ll stop being better, and go back to being…” Silver couldn’t finish her thought.

“I understand,” Starlight assured kindly. “And it’s okay that you’re worried about him; I’m not judging you for being so. But you have to remember that he is okay! If you spend all your time being afraid that he won’t be fine in the future, you won’t be able to appreciate the time you spend with him in the present. Trust me. I have some experience with that…”

“But what if I need to be worried about the future!? What if I don’t, and because I don’t, I fail to prevent whatever bad thing is going to happen to mess with Gallus again, and he—”

“Silver?” Starlight interrupted. “I’m going to stop you right there. Now take a second to think about what you were saying and then think about just how far you had to reach for that justification.”

“I… I…” Silver blinked, realizing the truth behind her Headmare’s words. “But— But can’t I be a little worried!? I don’t want to see Gallus hurting again!”

“It’s okay that you’re worried, Silver,” Starlight echoed. “But it’s not okay to be so worried about him that you hurt yourself in the process. It’s not okay to be so afraid that you can’t trust that he is doing better even if he tells you so himself. And it’s definitely not okay to be so pessimistic that everything will inevitably be ruined that you fail to appreciate everything when it’s fine.”

“But… But I’m not pessimistic!” Silver argued, not even convincing herself.

“Maybe ‘pessimistic’ is too strong a word,” Starlight conceded. “But you’re certainly paranoid.”

Silverstream didn’t even try to dissuade that notion.

After some time, she finally admitted, “I want to be scared. Maybe I shouldn’t be, but… If I’m not scared for Gallus then… What will happen if I’m not? What if I’m not there for him when he needs to be! The others weren’t there when it mattered, and look what happened!”

“Do you not trust your other friends to be there for him?” Starlight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“N-No! Maybe…? Do I?” she asked herself. “I think I trust them! I know Yona would be there for him at least! And Ocellus too! … Would Sandbar notice? I don’t know; he was barely even upset when he first found out. And then there’s Smolder,” she snarled furiously. “I’m not even sure she would help him even if he were having another breakdown! In fact! I bet she’d just yell at him and tell him that he shouldn’t be—” Silver threw a talon against her beak in revulsion. W-Where did that come from!?

…

“Silverstream?” Starlight began, drawing Silver out of her horrified thoughts. “I’ve said it a lot tonight, but I’ll say it one more time! It is perfectly okay to be worried about your friend. But you have to remain optimistic in spite of that worry. Because otherwise, you’re fear for his well-being, will overshadow your love, trust, and hope for him.”

“But I do feel those things for him!” Silver protested.

“Then why don’t you believe he’s okay?”

“No, I do! I mean— I think I do! I mean— I— I— I want to believe he’s okay, but…! What if he stops being okay!? How do I help him!? What do I do!?” she desperately asked.

“Be there for him,” Starlight answered simply.

“But what if that’s not enough!?”

“Then what would be enough?”

“I— I— I don’t know…” she answered, trying to dry her tears.

“Silver, Gallus is doing better. A lot better,” Starlight emphasized after some time. “Do you know why? … It’s because of you. You, Ocellus, Yona, Sandbar, and yes! Smolder too. He’s doing better because he knows you are all there for him…” she explained, smiling.

“But you said that he was still afraid!”

“Yes, I did. He still has a long way to go before he’s perfectly fine again, but… For now? He’s doing far better than he was.”

“‘I am still healing; I fully admit that. But I am doing better; I promise that too!’” Silverstream remembered Gallus saying to her.

Silver hugged Starlight again.

“Thank you!” she whispered. “Thank you so much…”

“I should be saying that to you,” Starlight joked, hugging her student back.

They eventually broke apart, leaving Silver to blow into her tissues and finally start breathing normally again.

“Headmare Starlight?” Silver started. “If he is doing better, how do I help him stay that way?”

“Be there for him,” she said again. “Trust him when he says that he’s okay, and be there for him when he’s not. He’s not perfect, but none of us are. So, all you can do is…well…you get the point.”

Silver snorted. “So basically, just be his friend?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Starlight admitted, grinning awkwardly. “There’s only so many ways to say it without being deliberately verbose,” she added, shrugging.

“Heh-heh-heh!”

…

“Silverstream?”

“Yes, Headmare Starlight?”

“I want you to promise me something, okay?”

“Um, okay?” she agreed uncertainly.

“Your feelings are just as important as his, Silver,” Starlight stated factually. “It’s okay that you’re worried and want to help him, but it’s just as important that you don’t do so at the cost of yourself. So, please. Promise that you’ll never think that your own thoughts and feelings matter less than even his? That’s not healthy. And he would not want you to do that.”

“Okay? Um, I don’t think I was doing that though, but—”

“Tell me again why you didn’t suggest the art gallery when you absolutely wanted to go?” Starlight requested, frowning.

“I didn’t want Gallus to go just because of me, and I… Ohhh,” she groaned quietly.

“Exactly. Please, Silver. Even if you don’t want him to be worried about you, please talk to him. He’ll understand if you’re worried about him just as much as you’ll understand if he’s worried about you being worried about him. … Well, that was a mouthful,” Starlight muttered to herself.

“Heh-heh. Magic lesson one hundred and forty-five. I really liked that class,” she said happily. Maaaybe I should review my notes on that lesson… she considered as Starlight chuckled.

Silver took a deep breath and sighed, smiling. “You’re right, Headmare Starlight.”

“About?”

“About me. I do need to be more optimistic!” Silver said more to herself than to Starlight. “Even… Even if something bad does happen, I’ll still be there for Gallus! The others will too!” she said, trying not to think of Smolder. “It’s like Yona said! If I weren’t afraid, I couldn’t be brave! So… As hard as it is, I just have to be brave in spite of that fear! Right?” she asked tentatively.

“That’s a pretty neat way to look at things, Silverstream.”

“Yeah! Yeah…! Yeah…” she sighed. “I just hope I can be brave…”

“I know you can, Silver,” Starlight said encouragingly.

Silver smiled weakly, muttering, “Thank you, Headmare Starlight.”

“No need to thank me, Silver. I’m just happy I could help. Even if just a little.”

“Sorry for dumping all of my problems on you,” Silver apologized, looking away. “I know you didn’t exactly, er, enjoy that the last time I talked to you…”

“Okay, first of all! That’s because you were asking me how to describe a shower to someone in a world where rain exists,” Starlight retorted indignantly.

Silverstream blinked.

“And secondly! These aren’t ‘problems.’ These are ‘fears.’ And it’s okay that you have them. So, don’t be sorry for having them, and don’t be sorry for talking to someone about them!” Starlight sternly ordered. “Least of all me. I am the Guidance Counselor after all!” she added, winking.

“Hee-hee. Then I thank you for letting me talk to you about them.”

“I would never do otherwise.”

Silver sighed in relief. After another minute, she groaned warily. “Ohhh, how am I going to talk to Gallus about this?”

“Honestly?”

“Ha! Thanks, Professor Applejack,” Silver joked.

Starlight doubled-over in laughter. “Oh, geez! You two really are made for each other…” she whispered, shaking her head in exasperation.

“Huh?” Silver asked in confusion.

“Just… I hope you and he have so much fun together,” Starlight encouraged teasingly.

“You don’t have to hope, Headmare! We are going to have fun together!” Silver sang happily.

“Hee-hee,” Starlight laughed again, happy to see Silver’s energy returning. “Yeah. … I can’t wait to see you two tomorrow night.”

Silver’s eyes bulged as she quietly muttered, “Oh, sea kelp!”

“Language.”

Silver froze for a second before muttering, “How did you…?”

“I know ‘em all,” she answered smugly.

“Okay, I get the feeling you’re referencing something, but… Eh, whatever. Is… Is it okay if I wait to talk to Gallus until after the play?” she asked hesitantly.

“Do you think it can wait?” Starlight inquired neutrally.

“…Maybe it shouldn’t, but I don’t want to worry him before the play. So, I think I will talk to him after everything is done. Is that okay?”

“When you talk to him is ultimately your decision, Silver. I’m not going to force you do it if you don’t want to. But I will say that you should tell him sooner rather than later,” she warned wisely.

“I understand,” Silver said, nodding. “Thank you again, Headmare Starlight.”

“And you’re welcome again, Silverstream.”

…

“Well, I… I feel a lot better, and at least now I have an idea as to what I should do,” Silver said, rising from the bed. “Um… Thank you again for the cocoa! And thank you again for talking to me, Headmare! But, uh, is it okay if I go? I need to get some sleep before, well… Before Vellum gets us up in about five hours and drags us down to the theater to practice. Again.”

“Yeahhh, do me a favor and remind him that I still want to see him when we get back, would ya?” Starlight requested, getting to her hooves and opening the door for Silver.

“I will!” she promised, moving to the door. She then paused before exiting the room and mumbled, “Headmare Starlight?”

“Yes, Silver?”

“…Why is Smolder angry at Gallus?”

Starlight hesitated for a moment before looking away and saying, “That’s something I don’t think she’s ready to tell you or him yet. And I… I don’t feel comfortable answering that without her permission,” she admitted, frowning sorrowfully. “I’m sorry, Silver.”

“Oh. … That’s okay! Thank you again, Headmare Starlight!” she said, bounding forward.

“Silver?”

“Yes?” she asked, stopping halfway down the hallway.

“Are you going to be okay?” Starlight asked worriedly.

“I will be,” Silverstream answered serenely. “Goodnight!”

“Goodnight!” she said, waving. Once her student departed out of sight, Starlight heaved in relief. “I swear…! I really hope I’m doing this right!”

Author's Notes:

So, this is a bit of a weird one. When I talked about what writing A Day for Family was like, I mentioned how I was disappointed in how little "screentime" Silver ended up getting. That being said, you can probably guess why this chapter is the way it is.

At first, I was a little nervous about this one focusing solely on Silverstream's perspective, but I wanted Silver to have her own chapter all to herself, and I stuck to that. Hopefully, I did it well enough that no one minds the temporary departure from our lovable blue griffon.

That being said however, Silverstream will have a few scenes focus on her perspective going forward. They'll be brief as Gallus is still technically the main character, but no way am I letting Silver be left in the dust this time. I'm not entirely sure if she'll have another chapter all to herself though.

Side note: I want to offer my thanks to Matthais Unidostres for inspiring that portrait scene by suggesting Cozy get reformed in this story. I'd also like to offer my apologies because that's not going to happen. This story is about Gallus not them.

Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter. Next one will arrive- you guessed it - on the 20th-23rd of August(At this point, I should just confirm that be the default date for all future chapters until I finish the story... )
As always, any thoughts and criticisms are welcome and appreciated!

NEXT TIME: We're back to Gallus as he goes upon a valiant quest across Ponyville in search of good places to take his beloved for their anticipated second date!
Also, Sandbar's there.

Chapter Five: Normality

The sun shone through the windows of the Friendship Express as the train shot across the countryside, transporting a certain group of creatures back to their home of Ponyville.

“I just want to once again congratulate all of you, darlings!” Rarity said blissfully. “Last night was an absolute success; you were all phenomenal!”

“Awww, thank you, Professor!” Scoop said, blushing. “I’m glad we did our best!”

“And I’m glad that the whole thing didn’t turn into a complete disaster!” Vellum moaned, fanning himself with his hoof. “I thought for sure something was going to happen…!”

“Like what?” Peppermint Goldylinks asked, looking up from her book.

“Well, we did lock Discord up in a chest…”

Starlight quickly turned to face him. “Oh-ho! Don’t worry, Vellum. Discord won’t be messing with any of you for a long time,” she said, grinning heinously.

Vellum blinked and protested, “Even if that were the case, there was still quite a lot that could have gone wrong! One of us could have suffered stage fright, the stage crew could have messed up the lighting; Zone could have botched a line…” he suggested worriedly.

“Hey!” yelped the affronted stallion.

“Let it go, Zone,” Shimmy Shake soothed, placing her hoof on his shoulder.

“Yeah, but… I shouldn’t!” he argued. “C’mon, Vellum! I worked hard to learn my lines!”

“And you performed them spectacularly, darling!” Rarity assured comfortingly. “All of you did. I am very, very proud of each and every one of you!”

“I am too!” Starlight weighed in. “Sorry again about the whole thing being thrown upon you so suddenly, but you all did fantastic regardless! I definitely know I wouldn’t have done half as good a job as you all did,” she ended bashfully.

“Oh, nonsense, darling! I’m sure you’d do just as well on a stage yourself!”

“Oh, please! Don’t be silly, Rarity, I wouldn’t… Actually… Hmm?” she hummed to herself.

“I think we’ve got another newbie, Vellum!” Scoop sang.

“Well, it would certainly be an interesting club meeting if we were to criticize our Headmare.”

“One thing’s for sure though,” Gallus spoke up from the back. “You would not be able to go through that ‘spiel’ of yours.”

Everyone but Starlight laughed.

“What? What ‘spiel’ is Gallus talking about?” she asked Rarity.

“Yeah! What ‘spiel’ is Gallus talking about, Vel?” Scoop repeated slyly.

Vellum tried to melt into the train seats.

“No need to worry, Headmare!” Yona declared on Vellum’s behalf. “Yona sure Vellum stopped doing ‘spiel’ long time ago. Right, Vellum?”

“You’ve all made your point; let’s move on!” the flushed stallion exclaimed.

“Okay, okay! Fine, we’ll stop,” Scoop assured, playfully nudging her friend. “C’mon, Vellum! Why don’t you tell us all your thoughts and criticisms! I’m sure you’ve been dying to do so.”

“Well… There are a few things I am compelled to address, but first! Scoop? Did I manage to maintain satisfactory eye contact with my audience?”

“Yep! Congratulations, Vellum, you finally did it!” she mock-rejoiced.

“Phew,” he sighed. “That is so relieving to know! … Anyway! Onto my actual criticisms…”

“Hey, Gallus?” Silverstream whispered.

“Hmm? Yeah, Silver?” he asked, turning to her.

“Um… C-Can I talk to you?” she asked urgently. “In private?”

Gallus nodded uncertainly, standing up and retreating into the next car. Silver followed suite, pausing only to glance back at Starlight and receive a slight nod.

They walked through three more cars before finally coming across an empty one at the back half of the train. It was then that Silver closed the door and turned her attention to Gallus.

And then proceeded to say nothing.

“Sooo!” Gallus began after a few seconds of silence. “Good thing we were at the back of the train car, eh? I doubt Vellum would have been too happy with us ditching his rant.”

Silverstream seemed to snap out of a daze and nodded, tittering. “Yeah. And I don’t think I want to know the kind of teasing we’d get from the others if they noticed.”

“Eh-heh-heh-heh,” he laughed.

…

“I’m sorry, Gallus,” Silver suddenly said, looking away. “Well,” she continued before he could inquire. “I guess I’m not sorry sorry since Headmare Starlight said it was okay, but… I’m still sorry anyway because you asked that I try not to be. So, I guess I’m half-sorry? No. Wait. That doesn’t make any sense. Or…does it? Does that make sense?” she asked bemusedly.

“…No,” he deadpanned. “Mostly because I don’t know what you’re talking about. … Is everything okay?” Gallus asked tentatively.

“I… Well, uh…” Silver inhaled sharply and admitted, “I don’t think so.” She then pulled out a small letter and asked, “Do you mind if I…?”

“Uh, no! No, I don’t mind. Go right ahead!” he stuttered nervously.

“Okay! ‘Dear, Gallus! As you can probably guess, I’m taking a leaf out of your—and by extension: Princess Cadence’s—book. Sorry about that,’” Silver read, wincing.

“Don’t be sorry!” Gallus hurriedly comforted. “I pulled the same thing on you, so there's no way I'm going to judge you!” he said, smiling encouragingly.

Silver snorted slightly before beginning to read again. “‘Well, the reason that I’m reading this to you is that I need to tell you something, but I wasn’t really ready to just ‘say’ it to you, you know?’”

“Again, I pulled the same thing. No problem,” he said, nodding for her to continue.

“Thank you!” she said, turning back to her letter. “‘So… The thing I wanted to say to you…? I wanted to say that I’m sorry!’”

Gallus remained quiet, so she proceeded.

“‘Gallus…? I’m still worried about you,’” Silver shakily admitted. “‘I have been for weeks. I’ve been scared that you weren’t doing as well as you said you were and were lying just to make me and our friends feel less worried,’” she forced herself to say. “‘I know that you… That you don’t want me or the others to worry about you, and I know that you said you were doing better, but I couldn’t get it out of my head that you weren’t! And worse… I’ve been paranoid that even if you were genuinely doing better that something would happen, and you’d be upset again!’”

She didn’t dare look at Gallus, not wanting to see just how destroyed she had made him.

“‘I know! I know!’” Silver added, beginning to tear up. “‘I know that you don’t want me to be worried. That’s why I tried acting as normal as I could to hide it! I was afraid that if you knew how worried I was that… That it’d hurt you. And I don’t want to hurt you, Gallus! I’m your friend, and I’m worried about you! I’m so worried about you, Gallus…’” she confessed weakly.

Gallus said nothing.

“‘But!’” she declared, wiping her tears away. “‘I talked to Headmare Starlight about this, and she said that it’s okay that I’m scared! B-But it’s not okay that I haven’t been telling you about this. Nor is it okay that I’ve been holding it all in…’”

“‘So!’” Silver continued. “‘I’m sorry, Gallus. I’m sorry that I’m still worried, and I’m sorry that I haven’t told you until now! But…! But please, Gallus! Please don’t blame yourself, or hurt yourself, or anything else! I’m scared, but it’s not your fault! Please believe that! Please… Because I really am sorry…’” she quietly ended, hanging her head.

Silverstream expected everything from Gallus angrily breaking up with her due to her lack of trust in him, to questioning why she, the optimistic one, could ever be so terrified and paranoid.

In hindsight, she should have known he would just hug her. She quickly reciprocated.

“It’s okay, Silver,” he promised, enveloping her in his soft wings. “It’s okay.”

“But— But— But—” she stammered, sniffling again.

“It’s okay, Silver,” Gallus repeated. “I understand. I understand…”

Silver slowly buried her face into his neck, falling into a round of light sobs.

“…We just sort of sat like that for a while,” Gallus explained. “Eventually, we broke apart, and just talked. She was still really worried, and it, uh, didn’t help when I apologized for scaring her.”

“Uh-oh,” Starlight muttered, gulping. “What happened when you did that?”

“She freaked out and thought I was trying to blame myself again,” he answered, haunted by the recollected image. “It took a minute, but she calmed down enough for me to clarify what I meant.”

“And just what did you mean?” she asked, trying not to let her own paranoia show through.

“That I was just sorry I scared her! That I… That even if I’ve made a lot of mistakes with how I handled everything, I’m done using my mistakes as a way to demean myself. That’s not what mistakes are for anyway! Mistakes are just…really sucky learning opportunities,” he sneered, sipping at his water.

“Huh. That’s a pretty good way of looking at the concept,” Starlight admitted, relieved by his answer. “Did she believe you?”

“I don’t know. I hope so!” he stressed fretfully. “I think so; I just don’t know for sure. … Is it bad that I kinda want to ask you how to stop making her worried again?” Gallus asked hesitantly.

“That depends on whether or not you want to hear the answer again,” she replied, smirking.

“Be with her, let her know I am doing fine, give it time, and blah-blah-blah?” he guessed.

“Take away the ‘blah-blah-blah’ part, and you’re golden!”

The two snickered at the bad joke.

“But seriously, Headmare? I’m not saying that I’m doing something wrong, but… I’m doing okay! I know that!” he preemptively clarified. “But am I just not ‘showing’ it enough or something?”

“It’s not about ‘showing’ anyone that you’re healing. It’s about—”

“It’s about healing in general; I know, I know…” Gallus muttered in irritation.

“Well, I’m glad that you know!”

“Yeah… Well, at least Yona and Ocellus seem to believe I’m better!” he said thankfully. “But Silverstream… Smolder…” he murmured, slumping into the sofa. “I just want everything to go back to normal. I don’t want Silver to be afraid for me, and I don’t want Smolder to be angry at me!”

“So, she still hasn’t talked to you, has she?” she asked, frowning worriedly.

“No.”

…

“Gallus, everything will go back to normal,” Starlight soon comforted. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know…” he confirmed, grinning hopefully. “I just wish it didn’t take so long! Like, come on!” Gallus sarcastically whined. “Princess Luna got purged of Nightmare Moon in under a day, and compared to that, my problems should have been fixed in an hour!”

“Heh-heh. Funny how a few weeks ago, you were sitting there asking if everything getting better in a day was okay. And yet here you are, asking that,” she pointed out with a proud smile.

“Yeah, well…” he trailed off, shrugging nonchalantly. “What can I say? I’m a quick healer.”

Starlight chuckled quietly. “And you’ll be an actor soon from what I’ve heard.”

“Thanks, but I don’t… I don’t want to be an actor,” he said, shrugging. “Besides, It’s not like I’d be great at it anyway…”

“Come on, Gallus, don’t say that! You were fantastic up there the other day. If you really wanted to, I’m positive you’d be an amazing actor!” she praised, giving him an encouraging smile.

Gallus blinked in surprise. “Really?”

“Absolutely!” Starlight answered with a firm nod.

That… No! No, I wouldn’t! I… Could I? Gallus wondered. Rarity did say we all were good enough to become actors, but… He gazed down at his talons for a moment before asking himself, But… But if I really were amazing up there then…? Then why didn’t he…?

Gallus sighed wistfully and said, “Thanks for the encouragement, Headmare Starlight, but I still don’t think I want to be an actor.”

“Fair enough. I suppose I can understand your trepidation. Rarity did dump the whole affair on you all at the last minute… Nonetheless, if you really don’t want to be an actor, that’s fine! There’s plenty of other things you can be, and plenty of time to decide on what it is you do want to be.”

“Y-Yeah, I know! It’s… It’s just…” Oh, just say it, Gallus! “Grandpa Gruff wasn’t there, and… And I kind of wanted him to be,” he admitted, looking away shamefully.

“O-Oh. Oh. Ummm,” Starlight hummed, nervously tapping her hooves together. “I, uh, I don’t think either Rarity or I sent him any notification about your performance in Canterlot, so maybe—”

“He knew; I wrote to him about it,” Gallus calmly revealed. “And, yes. I wrote to him about it taking place in Canterlot too. I asked Spike to send him a letter on the first day we were there.”

“Oh.” She stared down at her desk, trying to think of what would be best to say next. “Are you okay even though he didn’t attend your play?”

“Of course, I am!” he protested unconvincingly. “Like you said, I rocked that play! I just wish Gramps could have seen it, so I could, er, rub it in his face that I managed to do something that awesome!” Or at least, I wish I knew what I did wrong to make him not want to show up…

“Heh-heh-heh…heh,” Starlight awkwardly chortled, still scrambling to figure out exactly what she should say. “That’s the spirit…?”

“Woo-hoo!” he sardonically cheered, knowing full-well he hadn’t sold his lie.

…

…

…

Starlight face-hoofed and whispered to herself, “Figures the one piece of advice I don’t immediately know how to give would be about dads…”

“What? You got problems with yours?”

“My problems are in a whole different ballpark and more importantly, aren’t the issue. So, that being said…? What exactly did you feel when Grandpa Gruff didn’t show up?” she inquired bluntly.

“Wow, just asking all the questions today, eh, Headmare?”

“I’m aware, Gallus. I’m very much aware,” she replied, barely not face-hoofing again.

“Well, to answer your question…? I’m not sure. To be honest, I’m disappointed. Everycreature else’s families showed up, even End Zone's grandparents! Okay, Silver's mom didn't show up, but there’s a reason for that,” he added, rubbing his shoulder self-consciously. “And I know why the rest of my friends couldn’t show up…”

“I’m sorry about that, Gallus,” Starlight apologized, wincing in regret.

“No, I get it. Trust me; I know how screwy managing Bits can be. But I really do wish he were there. Or maybe Gabby or Gilda? Just… Someone. I put a lot of work into learning my lines, so I wanted at least someone to see how well I did. … You know, aside from the army of reporters that ambushed us the second we came out from backstage,” he concluded, grimacing at the memory.

“Sorry about that too. If Canterlot were as lenient as Ponyville when it came to, er, certain actions… You wouldn’t have had to deal with them for nearly as long as you did.”

“Yeah, well. Vellum got his fifteen minutes of fame, and Scoop didn’t get us banned from the entire city, so it wasn’t all bad.”

“…If it helps? I saw how well you did,” she said, beaming proudly. “And so did Rarity, Twilight, your clubmates, and half of Canterlot!”

“I know. I just wanted Gramps to see too.” He rested his chin in his talons and angrily added, “But it’s not like that’s ever going to happen.”

“Well, you never know; maybe Canterlot will ask for an encore?” she suggested brightly. “I’m sure Rarity would accept that offer in a heartbeat.”

“And then what? He won’t show up to that one either, so why bother?”

Starlight put a hoof to her chin and hummed thoughtfully.

“I… I just wish I knew what I did!” he vented angrily. “I sent over five letters to him, you’d think he’d get the hint and show up, but nooo! I just don’t know what I did wrong…”

“Gallus, you didn’t do anything wrong!” Starlight immediately protested.

“I know there’s nothing wrong with me, but c’mon, Headmare! Why didn’t he show up?”

“Maybe there was an incident, maybe he was sick; maybe he missed the train?” she suggested.

“Or maybe he just thought I didn’t really need him to show up and be proud of me…” he grumbled, crossing his talons indignantly.

…

“Gallus? It’s not your fault that he didn’t show up,” Starlight promised softly.

You don’t know that! he wanted to protest. However, he blinked and pondered, Wait. Am I doing that again!? B-But I’m not! I-I don’t think I am! Unless… Dang it! When am I ever going to be better!?

“Yeah, I know,” Gallus finally said, brushing aside his other thoughts for now. “I just wanted Gruff to be there, but… He wasn’t, and I don’t know…” He sighed and concluded, “You get it.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” Starlight replied, giving him sympathetic stare. “But don’t worry, Gallus. You’re okay. And everything else will be too.”

But why isn’t it okay yet!? I should be better by now, shouldn’t I!? “Yeah. Yeah, it will,” he said.

After another minute of silence, Gallus checked the time and said, “Whelp! Sandbar and I had something to do today. And, uh, as much as I don’t like cutting this short, can I…?”

“Oh! Yes, of course. Are you sure you want to leave it there though?” she inquired kindly. “If you want to talk about Gruff some more, I’m sure Sandbar won’t mind waiting a few extra minutes.”

He opened his beak, paused, and then sighed in defeat. Eventually, Gallus looked her in the eye and said, “No. I know I should keep talking to you about this, but honestly? I don’t know what I even wan to say; I only brought it up because I needed to get it off my chest.”

A part of Starlight knew that she should press onward, but the other part trusted that Gallus would eventually talk to her if and when he was ready. The latter half ultimately won out, so she nodded, saying, “I understand, Gallus. But don’t dwell on it for too long, okay?”

“I won’t,” he promised, shaking his head. “The moment I figure out exactly what I want to say, I’ll come running. … Let’s just hope you have advice to give me by then,” Gallus added coyly.

“Okay, I deserved that. And don’t worry, I will!” Starlight swore.

“Phew,” he sighed exaggeratedly. “Anyway, I really do need to go; otherwise, I’m going to be late! Again, sorry about cutting this short, Headmare Starlight!”

“Don’t apologize; you had another engagement!” she said cheerily, teleporting to the door. “It’s perfectly fine; I understand,” Starlight said, opening the door for Gallus.

A violet-blue stallion with an auburn mane stood in the doorway, dangling a hoof in the air an inch away from the door. A tan mare with a pink mane stood beside him.

“Vellum? Scoop?” Gallus asked.

“Hey, Gallus!” Scoop greeted. “How’re you doing!?”

“Uh, I’m good,” he answered, trotting out of Starlight’s office. “What’re you two doing here?”

“Headmare Starlight asked that I see her, remember?”

“That I did!” said unicorn confirmed. “I assume that’s why you’re here, Vellum?”

“Yep!” Scoop agreed for him. “And I’m just here to make sure he didn’t try to cut and run,” she elaborated, smirking.

“You finally getting that ego of yours sorted out, Vel?”

“Shut up, Gallus!”

“Whoooaaa! Careful, Captain Codex! You don’t want that temper of yours to mess up your chances at being a big shot in Canterlot!” he warned cheekily.

Vellum practically petrified.

“Ha! Good one!” Scoop praised, giving him a hoof/talon bump.

“Could that really happen…?” Vellum quietly muttered as his legs started quivering. “Could my own personal emotions utterly overrule my acting and writing capabilities?”

“Okaaay, Mr. Vellum. Come on in!” Starlight commanded, gently wrapping a hoof around Vellum and leading him into her office. “I’ll warm you up some hot chocolate, and then we can have a nice, comfortable chat about your ‘own personal emotions.’”

“Will I have to stop communicating my thoughts and criticisms lest I earn the ire of those with far greater influence in the craft than I…?” he fearfully mumbled, obeying Starlight’s order.

“Ohhh, this is going to be a doozy,” Starlight whispered to herself. She then looked back to the students. “Now, are you going to be alright, Gallus?”

“Do you even need to ask?” he inquired confidently.

“Never hurts to do so!” she answered. “Scoop, Gallus. I’ll see you both later. Stay out of trouble! … And that means not touching other creatures’ valuables, Scoop,” she bluntly rebuked.

Scoop laughed awkwardly, wincing away from her Headmare.

“Well, see you two later!” Starlight said, closing her door.

Gallus and Scoop both then turned and walked down the hall. Eventually, Scoop asked, “So, what were you seeing the Headmare for, Gallus? Get a detention or something?”

“Nope. Personal drama,” he answered casually. “And if anyone is going to be seeing her because they got a detention, it’s you, painting-toucher!” Gallus fired teasingly.

“I said I was sorry!” she yelped timidly.

“And I forgave you. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to remind you every so often that you—oh, I don’t know!—messed up my pseudo-date with Silverstream,” he concluded vehemently.

“So you admit it was date!” she accused, deflecting away from her own mistake.

“Pseudo-date!” Gallus corrected. “And after your little stunt—”

“Oh, Celestia! Don’t tell me that I screwed up your relationship!?” she squealed, panicking.

Gallus sighed and confirmed, “No, Scoop. You didn’t mess anything up.” You did make Silver’s paranoia worse, but you don’t need to have that burden.

Scoop breathed a heavy sigh of relief, saying, “Sorry.”

“The only thing you have to apologize for is nearly getting us arrested. Why did you touch the painting anyway?”

“Curiosity,” she admitted, shying away uncomfortably. “Anywho! What are you up to now!?”

“Meeting up with Sandbar. You?”

“Meeting up with Yona,” Scoop said, winking suspiciously. “What are you planning to do?”

“What do you think I’m going to do?”

“Plan out your proper second date with Silver?”

“Maybe?”

“Are you?”

“Am I?”

“I don’t know, maybe?”

“Maybe?”

“Maybe yes?”

“Maybe yes?”

“Maybe?”

“…Yes,” Gallus admitted, grinning.

“YES!” she roared, literally jumping for joy. “Okay, okay, okay! What. Are. You. Planning. Now?” she carefully inquired, vibrating with a barely contained fervor.

“Shh, spoilers!” he warned, smirking deviously.

“Spoil me! Spoil me! Spoil me!” she chanted, biting her hooves in anticipation.

Gallus looked up and down the halls, motioning for her to lean closer which she did, perking an ear. He then cupped his beak with his talon and whispered, “The first thing I’m planning to do…”

“Yeeeees!?” she asked, bouncing as energetically as Pinkie Pie on a sugar rush.

“…Is not tell you anything because I know you’re just going to spoil it for Silver!” he quickly stated, spreading his wings and bolting through the air.

“NOOO! You get back here, griffon-boy! You get back here!” she screamed, chasing after him.

“Tell Silver I said ‘hi’! See ya later, painting-toucher! Mwah-hah-hah-hah!” he laughed wickedly, zooming racing out of sight. Speaking of Silver, he thought as Scoop’s dejected groan echoed down the hall. I wonder what she’s doing right now…?

“So everything okay now? Silver not so paranoid, and Gallus doing much better?” Yona asked, biting her tongue as she fiddled with a particularly annoying stitch.

“I… I think so, Yona,” Silverstream answered happily. “I am still worried about him, but… You were right; he really is doing a lot better. I guess I was just too busy worrying that he wasn’t to actually see that,” she grumbled in shame.

“Silver not need to be upset. Yona understand Silverstream just worried about Gallus.”

“I know. But I should have just trusted that he was doing better,” Silver rebuked herself. “We’re a couple now, and Cadence said trust was something our relationship needed from the get-go, but…”

“Silverstream trust Gallus!” Yona retorted firmly. “Silver just not trust life to leave Gallus alone. Besides, Gallus not mad at Silver for being so afraid, right?”

“No!” she confirmed. “I was worried that he would be, but he wasn’t. He was okay, not upset or angry. He understood. Heh. Here I am being terrified and gloomy, and it turns out I didn’t need to be at all,” she summarized sorrowfully.

“‘It’s not the examination that freezes your blood and shivers your spine; it’s the anticipation leading up to it’!” Yona quoted sagely.

Silver snorted, feeling her spirits rise back up. “Is that yet another Yak saying?”

“Hee-hee! Nope! Yona learn that from Spike.”

The duo giggled until the door of the Carousel Boutique opened.

“Whelp!” Scoop groaned in frustration. “The mission was a complete and total bust! The guy up and—” She froze the moment she laid eyes on Silverstream.

“Oh! Hey, Scoop!” Silver warmly greeted. “Um… Do you like the dress?”

The mare continued to stand there, slack-jawed.

“Er, Scoop? You okay over there?”

“You… You… You look beautiful!” she screamed ecstatically, rushing up to where the two stood. “THIS!? Is the dress that you commissioned!?”

“Yeah…? I’m guessing you do like it then?”

“There aren’t enough words in the dictionary for me to express how amazing this is!” Scoop praised, staring at the garment as if it were a gift from the heavens. “You made this, Yona!?”

“Well, Professor Rarity did most of the work,” she confessed bashfully. “But Yona help a lot! Professor actually let Yona do finishing touches for first time!” she squealed excitedly.

“All that hard work under Professor Rarity is certainly paying off then, because holy butter-biscuits! This thing is gorgeous!”

“Awww, thanks, Scoop,” said both Yona and Silver simultaneously.

“No need to thank me! Just stating facts,” she replied airily.

“So, do you think Gallus will like it too?”

“Silver, if he doesn’t see you in this work of the fashion gods that are Rarity and Yona and pass out in sheer joy, he’ll be in a hospital room after Patty, Shimmy, and I knock some sense into him.”

“Scoop…!” Silver warned harshly.

“Don't worry! I’m kidding!” she hurriedly clarified. “Silver, Gallus is going to absolutely love this! He’s a lucky griffon. I know I’d love to have a dress like this,” she sighed dramatically, looking at Yona out of the corner of her eye.

“Why would Yona make Scoop dress when Scoop get Yona and friends banned from best art gallery Yona’s ever seen?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Oh, come on! I said that I was sorry!”

“And Yona forgive you; Yona just couldn’t resist making joke,” she said, tittering. “Scoop not need to worry! Yona will make dress for her and rest of Club too!”

Scoop immediately grabbed Yona in a tight hug, squealing in utter bliss.

“Can’t…! Breathe!” Yona struggled to say. “Is this what Yona’s hugs…! Feel like!?”

“Whoops! Sorry,” she apologized, backing away from the panting yak.

“No need for apology,” Yona appeased, catching her breath. “Yona happy to know that Yona’s work so beloved by friends!” she concluded, returning to the last bit of hemming she needed to do.

“Speaking of which…? Sorry, girls,” Scoop mumbled, rubbing her neck.

“Oh, no! Scoop, what did you do?”

“I didn’t mess with a painting if that’s what your asking,” she clarified hotly. “I tried to get info from Gallus about what he was planning for his second date with you. Unfortunately, griffon-boy just told me I’d spoil it and ran off, laughing like a hyena,” Scoop pouted.

“Well, you would have spoiled it, sooo…” Silverstream acknowledged, glad that Scoop’s efforts had failed. “Honestly? I kinda want it to be a surprise anyway!”

“Really? He could be planning to take you bowling for all you know!” she warned, grimacing. “You seriously want to go bowling for a second date!?”

“Bowling can be romantic!”

“Yeah, so can candlelit dinners, walks through the park, and pretty much everything else that’s not bowling or the aquarium!”

“Ooh! I hope he takes me to the aquarium!” Silver sang, bouncing excitedly.

“Silverstream, freeze!” Yona ordered, swiftly gaining the hippogriff’s stillness. “Thank you. Now, Yona confused; why Silver hope to go to aquarium?”

“Yeah, you were a seapony, Silver,” Scoop agreed, perplexed. “You lived in the ocean; wouldn’t you find a place talking about the ocean boring?”

“Of course not! Do you know how different Seaquestria’s knowledge of the ocean is compared to Equestria’s!? Hint: It’s more than you’d think! Finding out all of the cool, interesting details that Equestria knows but Seaquestria doesn’t, and vice versa sounds like a great way to spend an evening!”

“Huh. Never thought about it like that before,” Scoop murmured thoughtfully.

“Eh. Doesn’t matter anyway. Whether we have a candlelit dinner, or go bowling…? As long as we’re together, we’ll have a wonderful time regardless,” Silver concluded happily.

…

“Silverstream? When you two get married, can I be one of your bridesmaids?”

“SCOOP!” she screamed, flushing crimson.

“What!? What did I say!?”

“Scoop! I’m not— We’re not— I— Could we…? Is that a possibility!?” Silver shook the thought out of her mind and said, “Scoop, that’s not something either of us have considered yet!”

“Not according to Shimmy Shake,” Scoop said, smirking knowingly.

“…Tell me what you mean right now!”

“Remember how Shimmy asked to borrow some of the letters Princess Cadence sent Gallus?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you reached the sixty-eighth and sixty-ninth, yet?”

“Ohhh, sea kelp!” I’ve really got to get caught up on those letters once and for all! she told herself, asking, “What did it say, Scoop?”

The mare smirked, whispering, “Spoilers!”

Silver gulped.

“Well! Placing scary marriage thoughts aside… Yona finally done with dress!” Yona declared, motioning for Silverstream to look in the mirror.

She did so, calming down upon seeing herself cloaked in a veil of the purest beauty and grace. Silver smiled tearfully, saying, “Thank you so much, Yona! It’s wonderful!”

“Yona know!” she said smugly. “And Yona happy to help friend!”

“It bears repeating, Silverstream," Scoop acknowledged happily. "Gallus is going to love it!”

“Yeah… Yeah! He will!” she cheered optimistically. I really hope Gallus is planning our next date because I can’t wait for him to see me in this! “What do you think he’s doing right now, anyway?”

“…We have all made excellent progress; so I believe that we can end things here for today,” decided the teacher. “We shall resume next week; until then, I expect all of you to practice your waltz!”

“Yes, Ms. Hoofer Steps!” chanted her class.

“Good. You are all dismissed.”

The doors of the studio flew open, allowing a myriad of ponies to exit from its confines. Once the crowd had dispersed, a blue griffon bolted out into the afternoon sun, bee-lining for the nearest bench and collapsing upon it with an anguished groan.

“Goodbye, darlings! It was nice to see you two today.”

“Good to see you too, Professor Rarity,” Sandbar responded happily. “Out of curiosity, didn’t you already know how to dance though?”

“Indeed, I did, darling. I just needed somewhere to be for two hours that wasn’t the Boutique.”

“Why? Was something going on?”

“Yona and I worked together on a commission a while back, and she asked to make the final adjustments,” Rarity explained proudly. “And, of course, I wanted to see what she could do on her own without my guidance! She’s come a long way, and I can’t wait to see what she did!” she squealed excitedly.

“Ohhh! So that’s what she was doing,” he said to himself, chuckling. “Yeah! She is the best!”

“Hee-hee-hee. I’ll tell her you said that,” she whispered, winking sneakily. “Speaking of which? Tell Gallus not to worry; I won’t tell Silverstream that I saw either of you today!”

“Thanks, Professor, I’m sure he’ll appreciate that. On that note? I better go make sure he’s alright. See you tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow, darling!” she echoed back, making her way to the Carousel Boutique.

Sandbar then trotted toward his exhausted companion, greeting, “Hey, Gallus. You okay there, buddy? You look a little tired.”

No duh, Sandbar! Gallus wanted to remark. Sadly, he lacked the energy required to go through with that, so he settled for raising his talon in acknowledgment, wincing at the motion.

Thankfully, Sandbar made no further comments and chose to simply sit in the grass and wait for Gallus to feel better enough to move again.

…

…

…

“How’d you like Dance Class?” the pony finally cracked and asked.

“Would have been easier… If I didn’t have to look down all the time… Only to get reprimanded for it a microsecond later,” Gallus lamented in-between pants.

“Well, you’re not really supposed to look down when your dancing,” Sandbar stated bluntly. “You’re supposed to keep your eyes on your partner at all times.”

“Yes. I know, Sandbar,” he muttered miserably. “I heard Ms. Hoofer Steps when she yelled that exact same thing at me twenty-three times!”

“Because you kept looking down.”

“How else was I supposed to know where I was stepping!?”

“Practice and spacial awareness.”

“Okay, so how much practice and spacial awareness do I need before I don’t need to worry about stepping on my partner’s hooves with my razor-sharp talons?”

“As much practice and spacial awareness as you need to not step on your partner’s hooves with your razor-sharp talons.”

“…Sandbar?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

“Okay.”

…

“Sorry."

“For what?”

“Telling you to shut up.”

“Oh. I forgive you,” Sandbar said kindly.

“Er, thanks,” Gallus said, slightly put off by the suddenness of Sandbar’s forgiveness. Eventually, he added, “And thanks again for helping me out with Dance Class.”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I help out?”

“Well, you did say you needed to foalsit your sister…”

“And I also said that I got November to do it for me,” Sandbar reminded him.

“I know, I know… I just wanted to apologize for it again anyway.”

“You don’t need to.”

“…I know, Sandy.”

“If you know then why are you apologizing?” he asked jokingly.

Gallus blinked, shook his head, and deflected, “So, how did I do anyway?”

“I’m not exactly an expert, but I think you did pretty well! You do need to work on your posture and the ‘looking down’ thing, but those are things you can sort out with practice.”

“Yaaay!” he weakly cheered.

“Of course, it’d probably help if you practiced with Silverstream.”

“I don’t exactly want to do that just yet, Sandbar.”

“I’m just saying…”

“And I’m just saying!” he interjected. “Silver said dancing was one of her favorite things, and I want to be absolutely certain that I can do it perfectly before I try asking for a dance with her.”

“Don’t worry, dude; I understand! I just have this sneaking suspicion that Silver won’t exactly dance the way I did today,” Sandbar elaborated with a smirk. “All I’m suggesting is that you might want to practice with her too, so you know how she dances.”

Gallus sat up with a groan as he thought over Sandbar’s suggestion. Well, he’s not exactly wrong. Plus, dancing with Silverstream would totally be fun for the both of us! Hmm… “Hey, Sandbar? Could you pass me my bag?” he asked.

“Sure! Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Gallus then fished out a large scroll and pen. He quickly unrolled and jotted something down, quietly murmuring, “Idea thirty-nine… Dancing…”

“So!” Sandbar began once Gallus had finished. “Since my parents are gone for the day, and Yona’s working on that commission for Rarity, did you wanna come over and hang out?”

Subtle, Sandbar, Gallus thought, resting his head in his talons and closing his eyes. What? You want to spend more time with me to quadruple-check I’m not still a—No, Gallus! Sandbar just wants to hang out like we normally did—DO! he corrected himself. Like we normally do. Besides, out of all of my friends, he’s been the least paranoid, so I doubt the thought even crossed his mind.

Yikes; I really need to stop being so paranoid about my friends being paranoid. … Hey, Gallus! Note to self: Stop being paranoid about your friends being paranoid about you!

Oh, right! The question! he remembered. I do have more places I need to check out. Buuut, my paws are killing me, and I need a break. Plus, maybe it could be a good opportunity to show Sandbar that I really am back to normal! Gallus considered, closing his eyes.

…

“Uh, Gallus? Are you falling asleep again?”

“Huh!?” he blurted out, snapping out the daze he had begun falling into. “What!? Oh, yeah! Yeah, Sandbar! That sounds like fun!” he answered, trying to save face.

Note to self number two: Don’t almost fall asleep when your friends are talking to you.

“Totally! I’m sure you and my couch will have a wonderful time.”

“Hardee-har-har, Sandy,” Gallus grumbled as he stood up and followed after his friend.

A few minutes later…

“Okay! So, your choice: Movie or game?”

“Movie.”

“Popcorn or candy?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

“Both then. Okay, what genre?”

“Definitely not romance,” Gallus said, remembering Cadence’s letters.

“Not a fan?” Gallus shook his head, so Sandbar advised, “Uh, don’t tell my mother that.”

“Well, that’s now four creatures I can’t tell that I don’t like romances: Scoop, Patty, Rarity, and your mom. Anyone else I can’t divulge completely irrelevant information about my personal tastes to?”

“My dad. Never tell my dad that you don’t like war stories.”

“Not a problem since I actually kinda like war stories,” he clarified, silently thanking Yona for convincing Rockhoof to not petrify himself. “But was there a reason why I shouldn’t tell your dad otherwise?”

“He was in the Royal Guard before he retired and settled down in Ponyville.”

“Oh.” I don’t know what I was expecting, but I probably should have expected that.

“Yep!”

Silence fell between the two as Sandbar’s house finally came into view.

“So, what did he do in the Royal Guard?” Gallus asked, wishing to continue the conversation.

Sandbar stopped walking, smiled, and cleared his throat. “‘Sandbar, old colt! I did quite a number of things!’” he began trying and failing to sound elderly. “‘I stood guard over Her Majesty, Princess Celestia! I patrolled her sacred halls, protecting them from all who would dare invade!’”

“‘I stood side-by-side with pegasi, unicorn, earth pony, and batpony alike, and not a hint of judgment nor preconceptions were shared among us!’” Sandbar continued over his audience’s snickers. “‘For we all stood watch over Her Majesty’s ward with honor and dignity! Patience and perseverance! Kindness and integrity! And bravery and justice! We were not simply comrades! We were not simply allies! We were friends! All of us, regardless of whether we had wings, horns, or fangs!’”

“‘So, Sandbar? You had better make sure to remember that when you make friends of your own! Remember that appearances are irrelevant! So long as you and they share in the convictions of harmony, your friendship is always true!’” he concluded, clearing his throat after his performance.

“Heh-heh. Your dad sounds pretty wise,” Gallus said, grinning. “And you sound pretty talented. How come you didn’t join Drama Club? Vellum would have loved you.”

“Yearbook.”

“Oh. … So what happened afterward?”

“Mom called him out on the fact that all he did was stand in an empty hallway, bored out of his mind,” Sandbar answered nonchalantly.

Gallus burst out laughing. “Okay! Okay! Your dad may be wise, but your mom is awesome!”

“Thanks! I’ll tell her you said that, but be warned! She’ll hunt you down and force like ten gift baskets down your throat for the compliment,” Sandbar said as the two finally came to his door.

“Don’t worry, Sandy. If I can handle Princess Cadence’s ocean of letters, I think I can handle your mother’s flood of gifts. … Besides, I could use some junk to fill my room up,” he mumbled.

“Huh?” he asked, grabbing a spare key from his saddlebags.

“Oh, nothing. I finished cleaning up Princess Cadence’s letters a week before our performance, and I, uh, forgot how empty my bedroom is,” Gallus elaborated morosely.

Sandbar raised an eyebrow but ultimately shrugged, saying, “Whelp! You’ve been warned; don’t blame me when you can’t find your bed after she gets through with you.”

“I won’t.”

“You say that now…” he teased, opening his door.

“AND SO!” bellowed November Rain. “THE GREAT AND POWERFUL SEPTEMBER TEMPEST ROSE TO HIS HOOVES, DRAWING UPON THE VERY LAST OF HIS POWER!”

“And!? And!? And!?” squeaked out the giddy filly sitting at the edge of the couch.

November climbed atop the coffee table and loudly proclaimed, “HE LIFTED HIS MIGHTY HORN INTO THE AIR, FIRING HIS ANCIENT POWERS INTO THE SKY, TEARING IT ASUNDER IN A GODLIKE DISPLAY OF POWER!”

Sandbar’s sister gasped loudly.

“YES! WITH A SWISH AND A FLICK HE COMMANDED THE HEAVENS AND BROUGHT AN ALMIGHTY STORM! AND FROM THAT STORM HE DREW MORE POWER! AND WITH THAT POWER! HE! TROTTED! FORTH!” he exclaimed dramatically.

“Oooooh! That meanie is gonna get it!” she shouted, barely containing her energy.

“Heh-heh-heh… Funny that you say that,” November began quietly. “Because once The Great and Powerful September Tempest stepped forward, the Vile Codex backed away! In utter terror!”

“Yeah! Get him, Mr. Tempest, get him!”

“‘NOOO! NOOO! You cannot be this powerful! How!? How are you doing this!?’ the Vile Codex screamed in fear! And THAT! That is when the Great and Powerful September Tempest opened his gleaming eyes and looked down upon the monster in contempt and said…”

“What did he say!? What did he say!? What did he saaay!?”

“He said… ‘Do you see it, Codex!? The future! THE FUTURE IS BURNING BLUE! THIS HORN OF MINE BURNS WITH AN AWESOME POWER! IT’S BURNING MAGIC TELLS ME TO DEFEAT YOU!’ he declared angrily! The Great and Powerful September Tempest then charged at the Vile Codex, screaming in righteous fury! And the Vile Codex could do nothing more than back away in cowardice as the hero closed the distance between them!” November recounted, smiling excitedly.

“What happened then!?”

“The Great and Powerful September Tempest cascaded all of his power upon the Vile Codex! And just before he made the final blow, he said…!”

Sandbar’s sister just squealed in anticipation.

“‘Take this…’ September softly muttered. ‘MY LOVE! MY HOPE! AND ALL OF MY SORROW! SPIRIT! STORM!’ the Great and Powerful September Tempest shouted into the night, swinging his horn down, and letting loose the maelstrom of the divine onto the Vile Codex!” November explained, mirroring the described motions.

“And theeen?”

“And then, in one last scream of agony and hatred, the demon that had caused the Great and Powerful September Tempest so much pain and so much heartache was—at last—vanquished!”

Sandbar’s sister jumped up and danced around, singing, “Yaaay! He won! He won! He won!”

“Was there ever any doubt!?” November asked teasingly.

“No! Nopony could ever doubt the Great and Powerful September Tempest!”

Gallus reached for the door and silently closed it. He and Sandbar then looked at each other, processing what they had just witnessed.

…

As one, they both turned and trotted down the porch and back toward the town.

“I’m glad that November and my sister are having fun, but it looks like the movie’s out,” Sandbar acknowledged sadly. “Did you have any ideas of what to do instead?”

Okay, Gallus. What’s a good, normal activity that we can try out and kill two or three hours doing? His eyes slowly wandered to his saddlebags, and he hesitantly said, “Well, I’ve got some. But, I already asked for your help, so…”

“Wait. Is it more dating stuff?”

“Yeah…?”

“I’m in!” Sandbar immediately agreed.

“Are you sure, Sandbar?”

“If you’re afraid I’ll spoil anything for Silverstream, don’t worry. My lips are sealed!”

“Pinkie Promise?”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly; stick a cupcake in my eye!” he recited, performing the motions.

“…Okay,” Gallus conceded, pulling out another scroll from his bag. “I’ve got a lot of places to check out though, so if you really want to visit them all…?”

“I already did the Pinkie Promise, Gallus,” Sandbar deadpanned.

“Alrighty then! Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he droned as he unrolled his list and watched as it fell across the road and past at least three of the marketplace stalls. “Our first stop is…”

Sadly, Lyra wasn’t planning on starting up her Laser Tag game again for quite a while. But while Gallus may have found that disappointing, he was happy to know that Lyra did intend to host it again in another few months. Sandbar was too for that matter.

The bowling alley was loud and reeked of wood varnish, but it was still a comfortable hang-out, offered decent lunches, and had couples discounts. If the former two points weren’t enough for Gallus that last point certainly was, especially since Sandbar was generous enough to slip him some coupons.

The Ponyville Retirement Village was an…interesting stop to make. For one thing, Sandbar had immediately disappeared on him to go aid the nurses in helping some of the patients. For another, Gallus discovered that End Zone hadn’t been lying about the place being livelier than one would think.

Unfortunately, while Gallus did indeed have a blast at the paintball course, there was no way the place would be suitable for the second date. The third or fourth on the other talon…?

After leaving the Retirement Village, they stopped at the Hay Cafe for a quick lunch…

“Dang it!” Sandbar exclaimed sourly. “This is going to take forever to get out of my mane!”

“Heh-heh, sorry about that,” Gallus apologized, trying to keep his snickering to a minimum. “Your mane does look rather dapper in black and red though.”

“No, it doesn’t! I look like one of Lighthoof’s attempts at drawing an original character!”

“Oh, don’t be like that, Sandy!” he protested, munching on the last of his hay fries. “I’m sure Yona can fix it to make you look spectacular!”

“…Hmm. Well, you’re not wrong,” he agreed. “And far it be it for me to deny that I totally deserved it.”

“What did you expect would happen when you walked into the middle of a paintball warzone?”

“I honestly don’t know,” he admitted, sipping at his juice. “I was just trying to meet back up with you after helping the staff.”

“Well, at least they got most of it out with Cleanse Alpha,” Gallus offered.

“‘Cleanse Alpha’? Oh, is that the name of the spell they used? How did you know?”

“Ocellus, duh.”

“Wasn’t your project on teleportation?”

“It is. But she talks a lot when she and I play chess together,” he explained simply.

“About magic?”

“About a lot of stuff. Magic, math, history…” Gallus listed off casually. “Of course lately, it’s just been her fretting over the Fair, and becoming a scientist, and…” Not wanting to focus on those particular conversations, he abruptly concluded, “And whatever else she can talk about to hide the fact that she has a lousy poker face.”

“I don’t know, dude. You’ve never played poker with her, have you?”

“Not yet, why?”

“Don’t. Ever!” Sandbar stressed urgently.

“Oh, no…!” Gallus groaned in disgust. “She’s a card counter too, isn’t she?”

“It’s worse than that!”

“…Elaborate,” he asked, terrified of what could be a worse threat than a fellow card counter.

“She actually knows how to play!”

Gallus inhaled deeply, desperately burying both a frustrated sigh and a bout of elated laughter. He then exhaled and said, “Sandbar? Never change, okay?”

“Why?” he asked, confused. “‘A creature should always be able to look for ways to improve! Both in how they act within the world, and who they are as a creature,’” he quoted sagely. “At least, that’s what my dad always says.”

Heh! All mine ever said was: Get out there and make us some Bits! Gallus sarcastically thought. He swallowed nervously after thinking that and quickly spat out, “Great life advice, Sandy! I’ll make sure to internalize it.”

“Great! My dad’s advice is always awesome! … You know,” he began shyly. “I’m kinda glad you enjoy hearing some of it. I like talking about my parents even if I don’t do it that much.”

Gallus felt a pit form in his stomach as he struggled to not let his newfound unease show.

“Speaking of which! How about you? Did Grandpa Gruff ever give you some cool advice too?” Sandbar just had to ask.

“Well, he taught me what marketing was,” Gallus quipped briefly, hurriedly pulling his bag up to his side and searching for his other list. Stay calm, Gallus! This is a perfectly normal conversational topic; no need to be so jumpy!

“Cool! Wait. Is that where you got the idea to turn the Tree of Harmony’s old home into a tourist trap!?” he demanded, irked by the memory.

“Yes! No! Probably? I don’t know; maybe a few griffon characteristics got passed onto me by Mister Gruff,” Gallus rapidly said, hoping Sandbar would get the hint and shut up.

He didn’t. “Huh. Must’ve taught you pretty well then since you did a good job making ponies want to visit the place,” Sandbar begrudgingly admitted. “I’d bet he’d be proud.”

Gallus froze. Wh-What? Gruff…proud of me? Good job making ponies… WHAT!? He blinked rapidly and eventually asked, “Hold on! I thought you hated my ‘Roadside Attraction’ idea?”

“I did. Turning something as sacred and meaningful as the Tree’s resting grounds into a tourist trap? Not cool, dude!” he rebuked, making Gallus flinch. “But I can’t say it didn’t do some good,” he conceded with small smile. “Word got around, and a lot more ponies have visited the place ever since!”

“Wait, really?” Gallus asked, happy to be distracted from the other topic.

“Mhmm! Just last week I saw another memorial down in the cave where the Tree once was!” Sandbar said, smiling happily.

“‘Another memorial’? As in more than one? When did this happen!?”

“Off-screen.”

“Har-har, Sandy. But do both of us a favor and leave the fourth-wall jokes to Pinkie Pie.”

“Yeah, I know; I realized it the moment I said it. Anyway, yeah! The Tree’s old cave has been filled with everything from flowers and balloons, to candles and pictures. Silverstream even completed a painting of the old Tree and left it there too!”

“Huh. I didn’t know that. Didn’t you leave that sapling of yours down there too?”

“Yep! Or at least, I think it’s still there?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Well, it was pretty close to the spot where the Tree grew back, sooo…”

“Oh, please, Sandy! I’m pretty sure the Tree of Harmony wouldn’t have knocked over a baby tree. That’d just be rude,” Gallus snarked.

Sandbar chuckled lightly before saying, “Then again? Even if my old sapling is ‘knocked over’ I can just plant another one.”

“Do you even have another one?”

“Uh-huh! I’ve got a few extra from my science fair project. Speaking of which, do you think I could be a good botanist?” he suddenly asked.

“What?” Gallus responded, caught off-guard by the question.

“A botanist? Do you think I could be a good botanist?” Sandbar repeated.

“Maybe? Why would you want to become a botanist?”

“You mean other than to help the ecosystem?”

“Yes, Sandbar,” he groaned, rolling his eyes. “Other than to help the ecosystem.”

“Thought so! Well, truth is, I’ve been thinking about what I want to do after we graduate! And I’ve always liked taking care of plants and animals, so I was wondering if I should take up a career where I can do those things, you know?” he elaborated, smiling peacefully.

“Oh. That explains it,” he muttered, looking away from his friend’s serene gaze.

“Of course, I am still a little iffy about it since if I take up that career path, I’d have to leave Ponyville to study for a while. And considering that Yona plans to become Rarity’s apprentice, I don’t want to just leave her behind, you know?” he added, biting into the last of his daisy sandwich.

“Mhmm.”

“Now that I think about it…? What are you planning to do when we graduate, Gallus?”

I have no pecking idea, Gallus considered admitting. “Uh, Wonderbolt!” he ultimately decided to lie, while trying to stifle his guilt over doing so.

“Cool! I can totally see you as a Wonderbolt. Silver too for that matter.”

“Mhmm.”

Sandbar nodded then gathered up all of their trash, trotting it away to a nearby trash can. Gallus, meanwhile, took the opportunity to brings his talon to his chest and push it away, exhaling slowly.

“Don’t worry, Gallus,” he told himself. “We’ll figure that puzzle out later. Right now? Don’t bother worrying about that stuff or about Gruff,” he whispered as Sandbar returned. Sandbar and I are having a perfectly normal day, and we’re going to keep having a perfectly normal day! Nothing—absolutely nothing!—is going to disrupt that! Gallus finished internally as he finally extracted his list.

“Okay!” Sandbar declared. “Now that we’re done with lunch, where to next, Gallus?”

“Well, I was considering the aquarium, but it probably isn’t the best place to go, all things considered,” he murmured, debating whether to skip the place to not waste time.

“Gallus! Who doesn’t love the aquarium!?” Sandbar gasped, affronted by the mere idea.

“Well, Silver’s lived underwater for a while, so I’m not entirely sure if she’d like the place.”

“Well, I suppose that’s true,” he admitted despite not wanting to. “Then again, she might enjoy going anyway to see how Equestria’s knowledge of the ocean differs from her own!” he proposed slyly.

His mind rewound back to when Silver first discovered stairs and practically exploded in joy. “Maybe. I’ll make sure to ask her about it before I check it out,” Gallus concluded, writing down a reminder. “In any case, are you good to keep going?”

“Yep! You?”

“Yep.” And back to normal, mundane date stuff. Thank Grover. “Okay, our next stop is…”

The Ponyville Clock Tower was honestly kind of boring, but Gallus did find the history of the building to be more than worth the visit. Sandbar evidently didn’t, considering he fell asleep ten minutes into the tour. Gallus ultimately decided to file the location as a “Maybe.”

Ponyville Antiquities was the very first compete and total bust. It was ridiculously cramped; the air was tainted by mothballs and mold; it was agonizingly cramped; the prices were gargantuan by even Griffonstone standards; and it was horrifyingly cramped. And above all else, it was cramped.

Gallus made sure to cross it off the list multiple times. When he had finished, only an inky black splotch of scratches and holes remained in the item’s original spot.

The various restaurants that they visited were exactly what Gallus expected: Places to eat food.

Very, very expensive places to eat food.

No matter where he went, the prices never dropped below double his current savings, and every time he was reminded of that, he felt his heart drop just a little farther. And while Gallus resolutely kept his disappointment from marring his face, Sandbar eventually sensed something was up.

“So, what did you think?” the pony asked once they had checked out the last of the restaurants.

“Oh, yeah! Definitely nice! Top three for sure,” Gallus instinctively replied as he sat in a nearby bench to rest his sore paws once again. Oh, peck. He’s totally going to see through that, isn’t he?

“I think so,” Sandbar said slowly, sitting beside him. “…Are you okay, Gallus?”

And now even Sandbar is asking me that! What is wrong with me!? “I’m just disappointed.”

“About what?”

I really don’t want to admit this. “The prices,” he practically whispered.

“Oh,” he responded shortly. “Is that all?”

Gallus frowned indignantly and asked, “What do you mean by ‘Is that all’?”

“I’m just asking if that was the only problem you had with them.”

“Well, I…” Gallus paused and asked, “Why? Did you have problems with them?”

“Eh, my parents have been to some of them, and let me tell you this: The first and fourth are a sneeze away from being shut down by a health inspector. And the staff for the fifth is terrible! Like… ‘You’d get kicked out for being a griffon’ kind of terrible!” Sandbar explained uncomfortably.

Gallus stilled, unable to process that statement. He then shook his head clear and quickly crossed those off the list, saying, “Okay then! Definitely not those! What about the others?”

“Second and sixth? Yes. Third is more…ehhh? Only go there if you have to. And as for the rest? Good luck getting into them; if you place a reservation today, you won’t be get to actually eat there until two years from now. And that’s after they cancel your reservation without telling you, forcing you to make the reservation again and wait again!” Sandbar fumed quietly.

“That happen to your folks?”

“Both them and me and Yona!”

Gallus grimaced in sympathy, muttering, “Sorry.”

“You’re not the one who needs to be sorry, dude.”

“I can be sorry on your behalf, you know.”

“Fair point. Thanks, Gallus,” Sandbar said. He then perked up and exclaimed, “Oh! And by the way, if you’re worried about the prices; I have tons of coupons you can use!”

“You already gave me that ‘Three-rounds-for-one’ coupon for the bowling alley, Sandbar!” he protested. “Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate the gesture, but I can’t ask you to give me more of your coupons! What am I, a griffon!?”

“Uh, yes? You are a griffon,” Sandbar answered in confusion.

“That was the joke, Sandbar.” But thanks for the stark reminder.

“Oh. Well, nonetheless! If you need coupons, I’m going to give you coupons!”

“But—”

“No ‘buts’! You just let me know when you decide on a place!”

“I… Thanks, Sandy,” he said, feeling his good mood slowly begin to return.

“Of course!” Sandbar responded, nodding kindly.

…

“THERE YOU ARE!” screeched a vaguely familiar voice.

Sandbar and Gallus both jumped at the sudden shout, and the latter quickly found himself being suffocated by a large mass of feathers and enthusiasm.

“Gah!” Gallus grunted breathlessly. “Gabby!?”

“Hee-hee! Yep!” the gray griffon excitedly chirped, releasing him from her vise and jumping back to stare at him through her standard happy smile. Said smile drooped a little when she noticed his and Sandbar’s expressions. “Sorry. Did I scare ya?” she asked, wincing guiltily.

“A little bit,” Sandbar admitted unapologetically.

“Well, I wasn’t scared!” Gallus defended unconvincingly. “You just surprised us is all.”

“Oh,” Gabby said, trying very hard to pretend that she believed him. “Well, er, surprise then!”

“Yep. Surprise. So, what are you doing in Ponyville? You know Spike lives in Canterlot now, right?” he asked teasingly.

“Yes, I do know! And that place is amazing! So clean! So sophisticated! So glamorous!” she sang, channeling her inner-Rarity. “Maybe I should move there someday…?” she asked no one in particular.

How many optional girlfriends does Spike have!? Gallus wondered in a mixture of stunned disbelief and hesitant respect. And… Is he even old enough to have one,let alone Gabby!?

“So, why are you here again?” he repeated, snapping Gabby out of her daydreams.

“Oh! That’s because it’s Sunday!” she answered.

“I know it’s Sunday, but what do you mean by… Ohhh,” he groaned neutrally.

“Yep! It’s time for weekly Grandpa Gruff letter deliveries! Yaaayyy!” Gabby cheered weakly, flinching at his expression. “I stopped by your room earlier, but you weren’t there. Somepony named Strawberry Scoop—Nice pony, by the way!—said that you were off planning a date with your friend!”

Instantly, Gallus grinned cockily, declaring, “Of course! Why wouldn’t I be planning a wonderful day and night out with the girl of my dreams!?”

Gabby radiated with sheer joy in a way that was scarily reminiscent of Pinkie Pie. She then giggled and praised, “Ooh! She’s such a lucky girl to have you; I really need to be introduced to her properly!”

“Well, if you were in Canterlot the other day, I could have introduced you, but…” Gallus stopped himself, feeling his bravado drain away just as quickly as he had gained it.

“Yeah,” she sighed, looking away regretfully. “I’m so sorry about missing the play! Ever since you guys defeated, er, them… Griffonstone has been trying to get back on it’s paws, and all kinds of creatures have been looking into visiting the place and vice versa!”

Gallus remembered the flight team that had been training a group of griffons on the day before the performance. He then frowned and asked, “Why would anyone want to visit Griffonstone though?”

“You mean other than Gilda’s amazing scones?” she joked slyly.

“Gruff’s scones,” he compulsively defended. “Let’s not forget that they’re his recipe.”

“Fair enough. But, yeah! All kinds of creatures are visiting Griffonstone—Ponies, changelings, even hippogriffs! Some have even decided to help Gilda, Greta, and I try to fix everything up! Seriously! This one guy, Neighsay, donated like ten thousand Bits to the Restoration Fund! Can you believe it!?” she asked, joyfully dancing in place.

Ten thousand…!? Neighsay…!? “I don’t think I can,” he admitted, shaking his head in exasperation. “I’m guessing Gruff took complete control over the Bits?”

“He tried. Twice. Gilda managed to fight him off,” Gabby elaborated, scowling at the memory.

“Dang. I would have loved to see their slap fight.”

“‘Slap fight’? Yeah. We’ll go with that. ‘Slap fight,’” she said distantly.

“Oh.”

“Getting back on topic!” Gabby yelped. “Ever since creatures started coming to Griffonstone again, a lot of the other griffons have decided to help us too!”

So, griffons are finally getting off their flanks and repairing that broken-down dirt heap? Huh. How long will that last? he wondered apathetically. Probably a week.

“Anyway,” she continued. “That’s why neither I nor Gilda could make it to your play. Gilda’s been swamped with work and budget plans, and my delivery load has tripled in the past two months! It’s a bit chaotic, but I’m glad that we’re finally saving our home.”

Gallus bit down hard to keep himself from retorting. Unfortunately, while he manged to stifle his distaste for Griffonstone, he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Was Gruff also ‘too busy’?”

Gabby’s eyes darted away as a somber expression overrode her bubbly visage.

She knew I was going to ask that, didn’t she? he realized, feeling his heart break just little bit more behind his blank expression. Why did I even ask? I already know the answer…

As Gallus expected, Gabby soon spoke the usual line: “He, uh, couldn’t make it…” She then quickly placed her typical fake smile on, professing, “But he also wanted to apologize!”

“Oh, really?”

“Yep!” she chirped, pulling a bundle of envelopes out of her satchel and passing them over to him. “Here are his letters! And mine, Gilda’s, and Gavin’s too!”

Now that’s not usual! “Gavin wrote me!?” he exclaimed in shock, taking the letters and searching for the one in question. “What’s that fledgling writing to me for!?” he asked suspiciously.

“Gavin wanted to congratulate you and your friends! He really wanted to visit Canterlot and watch the play too, but we were all too busy to take him,” she ended morosely.

Gallus searched Gabby for any of her usual tells but found none of them. As far as he could tell, she was telling the truth, but it sadly didn’t do much to raise his spirits.

A random kid cares more about me and our play than my… Than Gruff. That’s nice, Gallus thought sourly. “Huh. Uh, I guess you can thank him for me? I’ll try to write him back later.”

“Mhmm!” Gabby hummed, nodding enthusiastically. “Don’t worry; I will! I think he’d like it if you did,” she added with a more genuine smile. “Sooo! How about you? How are you doing?”

He shrugged and said, “Eh. Things are settling down and going back to normal around here, so that’s good. Then I got my date with Silver planned, so that’s even better!” Minus the finance issue. “What about you? Anything going on in Griffonstone besides its ‘restoration’?”

“Not really. The next place we plan to fix up is the library, and we’re hoping to get it back up and running by this year’s Blue Moon Festival. Hey!” she exclaimed happily. “Did you have any ideas for what kind of books we should stock up on?”

“The Starswirlian’s Guide to the Arcane. All forty-two volumes!” Gallus answered immediately. “Also, if you can, get yourself a copy of both Stygian’s Me and My Shadow trilogy and Twilight and her friends’ Friendship Journal too.”

“Already have five copies of that last one,” Gabby elaborated, giggling. “The Starswirlian Guide to the Arcane and Me and My Shadow? Got it! Thanks, Gallus.”

“No problem,” he brushed aside. “Was there anything else?”

“Nope! That was it! Sorry again for scaring you.”

“I said I wasn’t scared!” Gallus mock-protested.

“Right. Sure. We’ll go with that,” she joked back, winking. “Anyway! I’ve got more deliveries to make while I’m here; speaking of which, where is Rainbow Dash? Gilda wrote her a letter too.”

“Check the spa. If she’s not there, find Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie always knows.”

“Got it! Thanks again,” she said, spreading her wings and readying for takeoff.

“Gabby, wait!” he blurted out before he could stop himself.

“Hmm? Yeah, Gallus?” she replied, folding her wings back in.

“I… Uh… Well…” he uselessly stammered, still warring with himself over whether to ask it or not. Gallus quickly caved and asked, “Do you remember that science project I mentioned a while back?”

“Uh-huh! How’s that going by the way?”

“Well, we finally figured out how stabilize the matrix properly.”

“Right, I remember you said that was giving you some trouble! But you and Ocellus got it working now? Yay! Congratulations, Gallus!” she praised warmly.

And now even Gabby is prouder of me than him! Gallus silently fumed, saying, “Thanks. I bring it up because the, uh, Fair is coming up soon and…” He hesitated one last time before finally relenting, “Could you ask Gruff to be there?”

“…Of course, Gallus,” Gabby promised warmly.

“Thanks,” he murmured. He’s not going to be there either, is he?

“Mhmm. Well, I’d better be off. Are you going to be okay?”

Everyone. Literally everyone has asked me that! Why do I keep making creatures ask me that!? “Of course! I’m always okay!” he lied spectacularly.

“Alright. See you later!”

“See you, Gabs.”

She gave him one last quick hug before trotting off, eventually spreading her wings and taking to the sky in search of the Ponyville Spa.

Gallus sighed, whispering, “Stupid…” to himself. He then trotted back to the bench he had been sitting in and plopped back down onto it, leaning back and closing his eyes against the burning sun.

Why!? Why did I ask that!? Why did I even think asking that was a good idea!? I’m so stupid; if Gruff wanted to be anywhere near me, he would’ve…! He would’ve…!

Then again, maybe he’ll actually show up this time? he tried to encourage himself. Maybe he’ll actually try to show up for once?

Ugh! Who am I kidding, and why am I trying to get my hopes up!? Of course he won’t come! And of course he won’t care! Why would he? Gallus questioned, leaning forward to stare at the ground.

A moment later, a bright green earth pony trotted up and sat next to him silently.

Oh, Grover… Here we go. “Hey,” Gallus greeted casually.

“Hey.”

…

“So, who’s Gavin?”

So, that’s where we’re starting, eh, Sandy? “He’s another kid that Gruff took in,” he explained calmly. Sandbar was silent, so he added, “He’s, uh… He’s a pretty good kid from what I know even if I don’t know him that well. Neither of our families are…around.”

“Ah.”

Gallus blinked and stared at Sandbar in confusion. “‘Ah’? That’s all you can say?”

“Well, yeah?” Sandbar answered, puzzled by the question.

“I… You… Okay,” he sighed, shaking his head and looking back at the ground.

Sandbar looked at him curiously before shrugging and reclining against the bench, basking in the warm sunlight and relaxing his own tired hooves.

Gallus looked back at Sandbar out of the corner of his eye, seeing only a tranquil smile upon the stallion’s muzzle. He then turned his sights over towards the school, remembering his confession to them about his breakdown and each of their reactions. A moment later, his gazed back at the ground, thinking.

Everything is fine, Gallus! he told himself. Sandbar clearly thinks you’re doing okay, and why wouldn’t he? You are okay! Today has been a perfectly normal day!

Exploring Ponyville? Normal!

Gabby showing up and delivering you mail from Gruff? Normal!

Disappointment that Gruff would rather hide away in Griffonstone than see me do something that I enjoy!? Normal! Even if it shouldn’t be, he admitted, scowling in furious sorrow.

Sandbar’s voice broke through his current thought train, asking, “Gallus? You in there, buddy?”

“Huh!” Gallus yelped, scrambling to regain his practiced smirk and erase all traces of his other feelings. “Sorry, Sandy. I was thinking about something else and zoned out. What were you saying?”

“Oh. Sorry for interrupting. I just remembered that I hadn’t apologized for not being able to attend your play either,” he said, frowning awkwardly.

“O-Oh. Nah! It’s nothing to worry about, Sandbar!” Gallus weakly assured. “I know you and everycreature else would have come if you could. But train tickets are expensive, and I’d rather you have Bits for the trees and ecosystem than one wasted night of watching me bomb.”

“Uh, you didn’t ‘bomb.’ At least, according to everycreature I heard talk about it.”

Gallus flinched, realizing that he had done it again. “Yeah. I know.”

“Well, if you know then why are you saying otherwise?” he inquired, perplexed. “Or did something happen that I don’t know about?”

“Nope! Nothing happened, I’m just being, er, self-deprecating,” Gallus explained, trying his best to not dwell on Sandbar’s specific choice of phrasing.

“Why?”

“I’d rather degrade my own abilities than risk overselling them!” he randomly suggested. The moment those words left his beak, he winced, knowing the paranoia he had surely just wrought.

“You don’t have to degrade your abilities to not oversell them. Just don’t oversell them,” Sandbar clarified nonchalantly.

“Of course!” Gallus said sarcastically, face-clawing. “It’s so simple; why didn’t I think of that!”

“Probably because you were too busy thinking of the other thing?”

Just confess how scared for me you are and get it over with! “…Yes. Yes, that must be it.”

“Knew it!”

“Congratulations, Sandy, you knew it!”

“Aw, thanks, Gallus! Glad to know my mom’s and Yona’s advice helped!” Sandbar said merrily, closing his eyes and reclining against the bench again.

Gallus stared at the pony for a solid minute until he turned his gaze into nothingness, trying desperately to comprehend what had just happened.

So, Sandbar clearly sees I’m upset, but… Doesn’t ask if I’m okay, doesn’t freak-out and blame himself for my being upset, and doesn’t have a panic attack that I won’t stop being upset.

…

HOW THE PECK!? Gallus screamed into the corners of his mind. How can Sandbar sit there and just accept that I’m fine!? No paranoia, no lingering worries… Nothing!? How!? Not even Silver is… He shook his head, banishing that thought. No better way to find out then to ask,I suppose.

“Okay, how do you do that!?”

“Hmm? How do I do what?” Sandbar asked, meeting his friend’s gaze.

“Act so… Is it ‘chill’? Is ‘chill’ the right word?”

Sandbar said nothing.

“Maybe it’s not that word. But, like… How are you so calm? Is that a better one?”

“Calm about what?”

“Everything!”

“…I think I’m going to need more context, Gallus.”

Well, peck! How am I supposed to answer that without screwing everything up and making him paranoid even though he currently isn’t!?

…You shouldn’t feel the need to force yourself to pick and choose what you can or can’t say or think because you want them to be happy before yourself, he remembered, gulping nervously.

Gallus closed his eyes and took another breath, telling himself, Calm down, Gallus. We’re talking to Sandbar; there’s no need to get so worked up. Nor try to micromanage his feelings.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized softly.

“Okay, now I’m even more confused. What are you asking, and why are apologizing?”

“I’m apologizing for lying just now, and I’m asking how you’re able to act like everything is back to normal even though it’s…not.”

Sandbar blinked. He blinked again. Suddenly, his eyes widened as what Gallus meant finally dawned on him. “Okay… Please continue elaborating?” he requested calmly.

And I made him paranoid. Good job, Gal—NOPE! I'm not going to think that! I shouldn’t think that! I should be better enough to not think that! “Look, I know I didn’t suck at the play, alright?” Gallus confessed warily. “I just said that because… Well? Honestly, I don’t know why I said that.”

“Oh. Well, that’s okay!” Sandbar gently comforted. “Everycreature has things they say without knowing why they say them!”

“Is that more of your parents’ advice?”

“Nope! That’s my uncle’s!”

Gallus snorted.

“But, uh, as to that second statement…?” he asked hesitantly.

And. Here. We. Go. “Right. Look, I don’t know how to explain this, so please bear with me?”

“Of course!”

“Thanks.” Deciding that it would be best to be fully honest from the start, Gallus admitted, “Sandbar, Silver is still worried about me. And while I know they’re not as afraid as they were anymore, I know Yona and Ocellus are still worried too. And then there’s Smolder who still isn’t talking to me,” he added, flinching at the memory of his most recent exposure to her silent treatment. “And I know it’s been a while since Friends and Family Day, but everything is still…” he trailed off, sighing.

“My friends are still worried,” Gallus eventually continued. “I’m still worried! And it doesn’t help when I either don’t know what to do for my second date with Silver, or can’t afford to do what I want! Not to mention I suck at dancing and got you coated in paint,” he mumbled, slumping.

“You’re not that bad at dancing; you just need a lot more practice! And everycreature needs to practice at something before they’re good at it,” Sandbar acknowledged wisely. “Plus, I already forgave you for the paint thing, and like you said! Yona can totally fix this up!”

“And if she can’t?”

“Assuming there exists a single, worst possible timeline in the whole of the multiverse where Yona would ever fail at anything, and we live in that world? Eh. I was due for a mane-cut anyway.”

Gallus couldn’t help but laugh.

“But just to make sure I’m getting it?” Sandbar began cautiously. “You’re saying that everything is not okay? Because dating is hard and the others are worried about you?”

“It’s a lot of little things,” Gallus tried to explain. “Just a bunch of tiny things all getting thrown out of whack at the same time, and…!”

“I just want everything to go back to the way it was, you know?” he stated, shrugging. “I want Silver to be happy and optimistic again, not panicky and worried! I want Smolder to talk to me again, not look away every time I wave hello! I want my second date with Silver to be absolutely perfect, not a complete disaster! Why do you think I asked you to help me out with Dance Class!?”

“So that you could have a partner you knew instead of some random pony from down the lane?”

“Okay, that too,” Gallus agreed, earning a bark of laughter. “But seriously, Sandy! I want everything to go back to normal! I want to be normal! And you know what else I want, er, wanted?”

Sandbar’s grin drooped a little as he guessed, “You wanted us to be there for your play?”

“I wanted Gruff to be there for my play,” he corrected. “But, no. Instead, he’d rather hide away in that stupid hovel than come to watch me and my friends perform in Canterlot and risk encouraging me. All because I apparently I don’t need to know he’s proud of me,” he angrily growled.

“Okay, hold on. I think I’m lacking some context here again,” Sandbar pointed out softly. “I thought you said that Gruff wasn’t your real grandpa?”

“He isn’t.”

“Then why does it matter if he’s proud of you?”

“…Because he’s the closest thing I have to one,” Gallus mumbled, rubbing at his eye.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. ‘Oh.’”

…

Gallus soon felt Sandbar place his hoof on his shoulder consolingly. He then said, “Sorry, dude. I didn’t know you felt that way about the guy.”

“It’s okay, Sandbar. To be honest, I’m not sure I know how I feel about Gruff! I don’t even know why I suddenly care so much anyway…” Gallus admitted sorrowfully. “I just wished he’d have been there for our play. I should really know better than to get my hopes up, huh?”

“No…? It’s totally fine to have hope, dude!”

“Even in something that clearly will never happen?”

Sandbar shrugged and answered, “Yeah.”

Gallus stared at him and stated, “See! This is why I wanted to ask you how you do it.”

“Do what exactly?”

“Act like everything is normal even when it’s not,” he repeated. “Or… Now that it’s not anymore. … Sandbar? You know you’ve been the least paranoid of all my friends, right?”

“I have?”

“Did you not hear a word I said about Ocellus and Yona still being worried, Smolder shutting me out, and Silverstream… And Silver… But then there’s you,” Gallus chose to say instead. “You talked about your awesome parents in front of me. You didn’t have a panic attack when I self-deprecated again! And you’ve been sitting here listening to me ramble for hours!”

“Uh, you haven’t been talking to me for hours. It’s only been like ten minutes.”

“Yeah, well it feels like it took hours to figure out what to say!”

“Huh. Relativity is weird,” Sandbar stated completely out of nowhere.

“Well, you’re not wrong,” Gallus agreed, remembering the time Ocellus had tried to explain it.

“Oh, so I did use the right word? Yes!” he cheered. “Sci-Fi movies for the win!”

Gallus rolled his eyes and concluded, “And that is what I’m talking about! I’m literally dumping all of my problems on you, and you’re not panicking at all! Like… How!? You know what? When you guys first found out about everything, and I said I was doing better? You believed me just like that!” he said, snapping his talons. “How, Sandbar?”

Sandbar put his hoof to his chin, humming in thought. “I don’t know,” he eventually answered.

“You don’t know?” he echoed back.

“Well, I’m just not sure how to really answer that. I mean… The reason I believed you when you said you were doing better was that you said were doing better,” Sandbar acknowledged simply.

“Sooo? What? You’re saying you trusted that I was telling the truth?”

“Yeah."

Gallus blinked, completely taken aback. “And you didn’t suspect I was lying to make you all feel better?” he inquired, thinking back on his conversations with Ocellus and Silverstream.

“Well, the thought did cross my mind once or twice,” he admitted hesitantly. “But, then I remembered that you’re you. You’d never lie about something as serious as mental health!”

“I had already lied once before!” he argued, still not accepting Sandbar’s apparent trust.

“True. But the Yaks have a pretty cool saying: An inclination toward falsehood is not equatable to an unpreparedness for veracity,” he recited wisely. “Basically, it means that some creatures lie not because they want to hurt somecreature else, but because they’re not ready to accept or tell the truth.”

“And that means what exactly?” Gallus asked, shrugging aggressively.

“Well, I guess in this instance, you didn’t lie because you wanted to mess our friendship up or something. You just didn’t tell us you were upset because you weren’t ready to,” he explained calmly.

“And— And you didn’t just expect that I was lying again anyway!?”

“Nope, I didn’t. But if you did, it’d probably be because you still weren’t ready to talk about your problems yet then either. Kind of like Smolder and that dress horde she has.” Sandbar blinked. “I probably shouldn’t have said that,” he whispered fearfully, quickly looking over his shoulder.

“And if I had done that, what then!? When would I have been ready to talk about my problems!?” he demanded, searching Sandbar for even a single hint of dishonesty.

“When you were ready?” he said, turning back to Gallus. “If you weren’t ready to talk about something, then you weren’t ready to talk about something. I don’t think there’s any shame in that.”

Gallus reeled back and gaped, trying to process that statement. “You mean that!? You genuinely mean that!?” he asked disbelievingly. “That’s why you’ve been acting like everything is fine!? Because this entire time, you’ve believed me when I said I was doing better?”

“Uh, yeah? Why wouldn’t I?”

“Even though I lied to all of you…! Even though I was miserable, had a meltdown, and hid it from you all…! Even though I’m a griffon…! In spite of all of that, you still trusted me?”

“I feel like we’ve been here before; have we been here before?”

“Answer the question, Sandbar!”

“Yes! Yes, again!” he quickly confirmed. “And also again, why wouldn’t I?’

Gallus wrapped his talons around Sandbar’s torso and proceeded to squeeze the life out of the pony.The hug lasted for all of five seconds before he pushed the stallion away and said, “Okay, that’s enough hugging; don’t tell any creature about this!”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Sandbar assured, glad to be able to breathe again. “So, uh, if you don’t mind me asking…? Why is me trusting in you such a surprise?”

Because even Silverstream doesn’t. “Like I said, Sandbar, everything is messed up right now, and… And I know I shouldn’t blame myself, but there’s still a part of me that knows all of this is technically my fault,” Gallus explained wistfully. “So, seeing that something—Anything!—remained normal after my breakdown? It’s… It’s relieving.”

Sandbar tilted his head in confusion, asking, “So, the others have been worried about you because they thought you were lying?”

“I’m not sure about Yona or Smolder, but Ocellus certainly was paranoid that I had been. And Silverstream is… She’s… She…” he struggled to elaborate before giving up and falling silent.

“Hey, don’t worry, dude. I get it,” he said, placing his hoof on the griffon’s shoulder again.

Gallus sighed. “I shouldn’t put all of this on you out of nowhere, Sandbar; I’m sorry! I just… I just needed somecreature to talk to about this. … Other than Headmare Starlight,” he added.

“Again, I get it. Don’t worry. … I’m sorry that I talked about my parents to you,” he quietly apologized. “I didn’t even think that you would be uncomfortable with—”

“Don’t, Sandy!” he commanded sternly. “Don’t be sorry. You don’t need to feel sorry for loving your parents on my account. I only brought it up as an example.”

Sandbar stared at him for a moment before saying, “Alright. But, uh, if I ever do start, er, talking too much again? Will you let me know, so I stop?”

“Don’t worry. I know not to hide my feelings; I’m just bad at it.”

“Everycreature is bad at everything when they begin. It’s only after they practice and learn do they get better,” he commented sagely.

“Another Yak saying? Or your parents’?”

“Nope! That’s one of mine.”

“Heh. It’s a pretty good one too.”

“Aw, thanks, Gallus!”

The two shared a quiet chuckle.

“…So, were we done with the date stuff then?” Sandbar suddenly asked.

“Uh. I guess so?” Gallus answered, thrown off by the question. “At least with the first and second lists. I can, uh, finish the third through the twenty-fifth on my own, I guess…”

“Oh-ho-ho, no! I’m helping you out with those too! I just wanted to make sure we were done with everything before we head back to my house.”

“…What?” he asked, trying to understand Sandbar’s current mental gymnastics.

Sandbar thought for another moment and then said, “Gallus, look. I’m not going to deny that I don’t understand half of the stuff you’re going through either. I don’t know what to tell you to make you feel better about Gruff not being there for you in Canterlot, or how to make you not feel like it’s your fault the others are worried about you… I don’t know how to help solve that!” he admitted sadly.

Before Gallus could reply, Sandbar continued enthusiastically, “However! I’m still your friend! So, while I may not be able to solve all of your problems; I can at least help you solve some of them!” He then stood up and faced Gallus, clearing his throat and reciting, “Cross my heart! Hope to fly! Stick a cupcake in my eye! I Pinkie Promise that I’m going to help you out as best I can!”

Gallus leaned back in awe of the usually calm stallion’s sudden determination. He then smiled gratefully and said, “Thanks, Sandbar. Just, thanks. … But, uh, what exactly are you talking about, because now I’m confused.”

“You know how earlier you were annoyed that your room was empty and bare now that you got the Princess’s letters all cleaned up?”

He remembered that? “Uh, yeah?”

“I’ve got an idea of what we can put in your room first,” Sandbar said, smirking deviously.

“Seriously, Sandbar! You don’t have to do this!”

“Nope! I Pinkie Promised! And you never break a Pinkie Promise!” Sandbar argued, grunting in exertion. “Not that I would want to anyway. Now come help me hang this thing up, would ya!”

“I don’t feel comfortable with this,” Gallus repeated, hurrying to his friend’s aid.

“It’s just a mirror, Gallus! What’s the problem!?”

“It’s your mirror!”

“And I’m giving it to you!”

“But it’s the mirror you made for Friends and Family Day!”

“And your my friend!”

“Yeah, but…! This is just too much, Sandy,” he said guiltily. “This is the thing you made for your family, and—”

“And you are as good as family to me,” Sandbar stated bluntly. After a brief silence, he nodded at the mirror, saying, “Now c’mon. I think we’ve almost got it on the hook.”

Gallus silently pushed the mirror up a tad more until it jerked. After another round of jostling, the mirror fell into place against the wall of his bedroom with a resounding clunk.

Reflected back at them from within a circlet of glass, mahogany, and macaroni were the smiles of both a sea green earth pony and a sky blue griffon.

“Okay, it is a pretty cool mirror,” the latter acknowledged quietly. “Even if macaroni isn’t exactly my favorite food.”

“What do you mean by…? Oh! Oh,” Sandbar groaned, remembering their first Generosity Class after the holiday. “You do know Professor Rarity was giving me too much credit, right?”

“Nonsense! This totally ‘visually encapsulates your love for your friends and family.’”

Sandbar blinked, then rubbed his mane awkwardly.

Besides, you’re practically forcing it upon me, so I certainly hope that’s what it’s meant to convey,” he concluded jokingly.

“…Gallus, are you okay with the mirror or not?” Sandbar asked gently. “Because if you really don’t like it, I’ll take it back; I don’t want to come across like I’m ‘forcing’ you to have it.”

“It’s fine, Sandbar,” he said, smiling more genuinely. “I am really grateful for the gift. It’s just… I just don’t feel like I deserve it. This was your ‘creative expression’ for your family! Not me.”

“No offense, Gallus? But you might need to go to the ear doctor.”

Gallus snorted.

“Don’t laugh; I’m serious!” he continued. “With how much I keep having to tell you that you’re family to me, I’m not sure if you either aren’t paying attention, or legitimately can’t hear me!”

“I can hear you, Sandy; I can hear you. Just a personal hang-up is all.” One I shouldn’t have.

“Well, that’s good to know.”

“My having a personal hang-up?”

“That you can hear me,” Sandbar corrected. “And if it helps? November was completely spot-on when he said I had just bought a mirror and glued macaroni to it. … Well, technically I just bought the mirror for my mom, but then my sister found where we kept our macaroni and decided to ‘help’ me out. With glue. My dad’s special, name-brand, industrial glue.”

“Your sister didn’t try to eat it, did she?” Gallus asked, chuckling slightly.

“No, she’s old enough to know better than to do that. Just not old enough to know better than to touch my stuff without permission,” he added, shaking his head exasperatedly.

“Heh-heh.” After a moment, Gallus went to his desk and opened a drawer, saying, “At least let me reimburse you so you can get your mom a new mirror. Here, I think I have enough Bits to—”

“No, Gallus!” Sandbar protested, leaving no room for objection. “Those are your Bits, and you’re going to spend them on something else! Like a poster, or a concert ticket, or—better yet!—for your date with Silverstream!” he suggested. “There’s only so far coupons can go, you know.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No ‘buts’! I’m not going to make you waste your Bits on a dumb mirror when you need them. This is a gift. From me. To you,” he stressed emphatically. “Generosity 101, dude.”

Gallus paused for a moment before sighing in defeat. “Thanks, Sandbar, I really appreciate it. But just so you know? I am going to pay you back for this.”

“Pay me back by giving Silver a good time on your second date,” he requested smugly.

“Heh. I was already planning on it.”

“Good. … Well! Now that that’s settled, there’s one more thing I wanted to do with the mirror.”

“And that was?”

“You know how Headmare Starlight has her own mirror, but it has pictures of her friends on it?” he said, holding up an envelope.

“…You don’t mean…?”

“Yep! I’ve got photos of everything from the school’s reopening after Tirek and his cronies attacked, to when we all saw you guys off for the play in Canterlot.”

Gallus stared at Sandbar in pure disbelief for a moment until he finally blurted out, “How!?”

“Yearbook,” Sandbar answered plainly.

“May I?”

“Sure! Here ya go. There’s like four dozen in there, so let me know which ones you want—”

A gentle knock at the door interrupted them.

Gallus and Sandbar exchanged glances before the former said, “Come in.”

The door creaked open, allowing Silverstream’s head to peek through. She then caught sight of Gallus and beamed, saying, “I thought I heard your voices! Hey, Gallus! Hey, Sandbar!”

“Hey, Silver,” Gallus greeted, trying to quash the uneasiness that had returned. “How are you doing?”

“I’m great!” she said, dashing over and giving him a quick hug. “You?”

“I’m good. So, what have you been up to today?”

“Oh, nothing. Just hanging out with Yona and Scoop,” she answered casually. She then looked at the newest addition to his room and asked, “Are you and Sandbar switching rooms or something?”

“Nah! I’m just giving him my mirror,” Sandbar clarified. “I don’t need it anymore, and he asked if he could have it,” he lied.

“Really? Gallus! I didn’t know you liked to be ‘symbolically surrounded by macaroni’!” Silver playfully proclaimed. “I guess I at least know what our next cooking lesson will be on.”

“Yeah, well…” Gallus couldn’t think of anything to say in his defense, so he opted to change the subject by asking, “So, you hung out with Scoop, huh?”

“Uh-huh!” she confirmed, giving him a knowing smirk.

“I’m betting she spoiled you on what else I was doing today?”

“Maaaybe! So, is it too much to ask what you’ve got planned so far?” Silver softly prodded.

Well, at least she didn’t end it with: If that’s okay with you. Or something similar, Gallus noted, finding a bit of relief in that. “Why, Silver! I thought you wanted it to be a surprise?” he joked.

“Oh, definitely! But according to, uh, what number was it again…?” she mumbled, pulling one of Cadence’s letters out of her bag. “Ah! According to Advice Thirty-three, knowing what the date entails is essential to determining the proper attire!”

That reminds me! I need to ask Yona for a suit. “Well, I’m still trying to figure out all the minute details, but I have at least some of them sorted out. I’ll run everything by you before I decide an actual schedule for the day.”

“I suppose that’s acceptable,” Silver said formally. “And by that I mean: Scoop will probably leave me alone now that I’ve confirmed that,” she deadpanned. “Speaking of which! Gallus, you think bowling can be romantic, right!?”

First stop confirmed! “Totally! On that note, how do you feel about the aquarium?”

“Well, I would certainly hope that you plan to take me there!” she answered excitedly. “I don’t know if you know this, but there are so many differences between Equestria and Seaquestria’s knowledge of the ocean! Seriously, it’s astounding! … Just try to save it for the third date since we’d be there all day if we did go,” Silverstream advised bashfully.

Don’t say it, Sandbar. Don’t say it, Sandbar. Don’t say it, Sandbar.

“Told you so,” the stallion said, giving him a friendly nudge.

Dang it, Sandbar!

“Huh? Wait a minute!” she began, looking at the two suspiciously. “Sandbar, were you helping figure out what to do for our next date?”

“Maaaybe.”

“Hmm. Well, I guess I’ll just have to tell Yona that then,” she said with a sly smile. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate her boyfriend being an awesome friend to mine.”

Translation: Sandbar, you’re in for a kiss, Gallus thought, giving the pony a smirk.

“Uh, thanks?” he said, not getting it just yet. “Speaking of Yona, where is she anyway?”

“She went to the post office to mail a tape of our play to her family. They might have come to the play, but Yona wanted the rest of Yakyakistan to see her performance too,” Silver explained. She then noticed Gallus and Sandbar had both gone still and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Hold on a moment! Our play was recorded!?” Gallus asked hopefully.

“Mhmm! Princess Twilight sent copies for all of us. Oh! Speaking of which, I almost forgot…” she said, extracting a video tape from her bag and passing to Gallus. “This one’s yours, Gallus. Headmare Starlight caught me when I came back to the dormitories and asked that I give it to you.”

Gallus gingerly took the item into his claws and looked it over, gaping. He then held it up and gave Sandbar the same shocked expression. The pony just calmly shrugged, so he turned back to Silver and joked, “Silverstream, how are you always the solution to all of my problems?”

“‘P-Problems’?” she repeated in a cracked voice.

Phrasing, Gallus! Phrasing! he rebuked himself, quickly clarifying, “I’m gonna pull a Yona and send this thing to Gruff since he was a no-show that night.”

“Oh!” she chirped, visibly relieved. “Wait, he wasn’t there? I thought you asked him to be?”

“And he was a no-show.”

“Oh. Sorry, Gallus,” she murmured.

“Eh, no big deal! At least not anymore. But on that note? Sandbar, Ocellus, and Smolder didn’t get a chance to see us either, you know…” he suggested coyly, holding up the tape.

Silverstream stared at him blankly before gasping in realization and asking, “Movie night!?”

“Movie night,” he agreed happily.

“YES!” Silver shouted, giving Gallus another hug. “It’s been a looooong time since we last did that! Okay, standard procedure?” she guessed, looking to Sandbar for confirmation.

“My place. I’ll make the food and drinks,” he said.

“And kick the Great and Powerful September Tempest out too,” Gallus reminded him.

“That too.”

“I’ll get Yona,” Silver volunteered, choosing not to ask about the “September Tempest” line.

“And I’ll get Ocellus and Smolder!” Gallus said, feeling a flare of anxiety flicker to life upon muttering the latter’s name. “Meet up in ten minutes?”

“Meet up in ten minutes,” they echoed back, quickly hurrying out the door to do their respective tasks. Gallus swiftly followed them, closing his door after one last grateful glance at Sandbar’s gift.

After waving back to Silverstream before she rounded the corner, Gallus trotted up to his friend’s bedroom. Before he finished approaching, the changeling poked her head through the open door, asking excitedly, “Movie night!?”

“And here I thought you were an emotion reader, Ocellus?” he quipped, coming to a stop in front of her door. “But, nope! You’re a mind reader too apparently.”

Her warm smile vanished instantly as she frantically stuttered, “T-That— I k-keep telling you guys that th-that’s not how it works!”

“And yet you never tell us how it actually works,” Gallus fired back.

Ocellus reeled back and proceeded to look away, biting her lip.

“…Okay, okay! Sorry,” he apologized, seeing her discomfort. “I didn’t mean any offense.”

“No, no! I know! Sorry. My door was open, s-so I heard you guys talking about the movie night!” she explained nervously. "Totally has absolutely nothing to do with mind-reading! Heh-heh-heh…" Ocellus laughed weakly.

“Okaaay… So, what’s your answer?” Gallus asked, ignoring her weird nervousness.

“Well, I am almost done with explaining the foundation of the third tier of our second teleportation matrix model,” she stated slowly. “But I am kind of tired, and you seem pretty excited, so yeah! I can finish it tomorrow. Standard procedure, I presume?”

“Sandbar’s place. Ten minutes.”

“Got it!” Ocellus then looked at Smolder’s door and frowned worriedly. “Uh, do you want me to talk to her, or…?” she offered timidly.

Gallus considered it for a moment before shaking his head, saying, “Nah. I’ve got it. You go on ahead; we’ll catch up.”

“Okay,” she slowly conceded. “Meet you at Sandbar’s.”

“Meet you at Sandbar’s,” he echoed, waiting for her to disappear down the corridor. He then cautiously approached Smolder’s door and stared at it.

…

Gallus looked out of the corner of his eye, expecting some half-formed, imaginary ghost to be standing there, smiling maliciously. Of course, like every other time he had done it in recent times, he found no such phantasm.

Encouraged by that fact, he took a deep breath and thought to himself, She’s your friend, Gallus, and your hers. Silent treatment or no… You’re friends.

No more cowardice, he concluded as he knocked on the door.

…

He knocked again, a little less gently this time.

“C-Coming!” she blurted out.

Gallus then heard the telltale sound of books falling and a dragon tripping. That was quickly followed by a rather loud swear that he hoped went unheard by both his teachers and fellow students.

Eventually, Smolder opened her door and froze upon seeing just who waited on the other side.

“Gallus! Uh, er, uh… Hi!” she yelped nervously.

“Hey, Smolder,” he greeted as confidently as he could. Please don’t shut me out; please don’t shut me out; please don’t shut me out! “How are you doing?”

“I’m doing fine,” she answered neutrally. Smolder then shot a panicked glance back at the sea of books currently hiding her bedroom floor.

Gallus had just enough time to recognize some of the titles were from the Psychology section before she slammed her door shut and leaned against it protectively, crossing her claws. “How about you?” she asked, deflecting away from her previous action.

“Good,” he answered, choosing not to ask further.

…

Ah, awkward silence! Truly the best way to interact with my friends, Gallus sarcastically lamented. “So, how’s your science fair project going?” he tried.

“Eh. Well eno—I mean! Fine! Just fine,” she course-corrected. “Yours?”

“Practical part is done. Now Ocellus and I just have to finish the written part.”

“Good… Good…”

Just get to the point, Gallus! “Okay, so you know about how Silver, Yona, and I went to Canterlot a few days ago to do a play?”

Smolder seemed to perk up a bit, saying, “Yeah! I heard you guys were great! … Sorry about not being there,” she murmured, scowling at the floor.

“You don’t need to apologize, Smolder,” he calmly assured. “I get it.”

If he didn’t know any better, Gallus would have thought he saw Smolder flinch.

“Yeah, well… I still feel like apologizing,” she countered. After a brief stretch of silence, she added, “I mean, we’re friends! The least I could have done is come and cheer you on, right?”

YES! Gallus mentally celebrated. She does still think of me as her friend! “Aw, thanks, Smolder. I really appreciate that,” he admitted.

She finally tore her gaze from the floor, staring at him in surprise. “Uh, you’re welcome?” she offered briskly.

“Mhmm. But, uh…? Do you still want to watch me and the others perform?”

Smolder blinked and asked, “Wait, are you guys performing The Epoch of Majesty Serendipity Daydream for the school too?”

“Try: Princess Twilight recorded our play and sent us all tapes,” he clarified.

Smolder stood there, blinking owlishly at him for almost a minute before she sighed. “Look, Gallus…? I… I can’t. I’ve got, er, studying to do. And, well…”

No, no, no! “Smolder,” he began carefully. “I know you and I are still… Whatever it is that’s going on between us…”

Smolder flinched.

“Look, I get it. I’m not asking you to figure out what it is you want to say to me or anything. I’m just asking you come and watch our play with us tonight. Like we used to,” he appealed softly.

She looked at him for all of a second before nervously averting her eyes again. After another moment of silence, she took a deep breath and said, “So… Basically, movie night, huh?”

Oh, thank Grover! “Movie night.”

“Heh. Been a long time since we had one of those.”

“Yeah, well. It’s about time we did something normal for a change, don’t ya think?” he asked, with a shrug. “You know, instead of stopping world-ending threats and resurrecting ancient god trees.”

Smolder snickered. “You’re not wrong. Standard procedure?” she asked, visibly relaxing.

“Standard procedure.”

“Sandbar’s place?”

“Sandbar’s place.”

…

“Well? What are we waiting here for!?” she inquired rhetorically. “Let’s go get some popcorn and watch you, Yona, and Silver rock a play!”

I guess things really are returning to normal, he thought, nearly exploding in relief. Bit-by-bit. Step-by-step. Everything is becoming okay again. “You know it!” he said, smiling happily.

Smolder chuckled quietly.

“You wanna race?” Gallus asked as his smile became decidedly more competitive. “Winner gets to watch the show in Sandy’s recliner?”

After a moment of silence, she grinned confidently, proclaiming, “Ha! You’re on, fluffy boy!”

“On three?”

“On three!”

“One…!”

“Two…!

“THREE!”

They both flared their wings and streaked through the halls of the Friendship School.

Author's Notes:

Ah, Chapter Five. I don't have much to comment on about this chapter at the moment, but I really enjoyed writing this one!

So, I have some good and bad news: The good news is that I'm now beginning work on Ch. 8! The first of the last three(Possibly four) chapters. Which means, that once I finish that last one, I can just post them all within about a week, rather than make you all wait a month between each of them!

As for the bad news? These last few chapters are ones I want to put a lot of extra work into! And I unfortunately fell behind a bit with writing Ch. 7. Mostly IRL stuff, but nothing too worrisome, and I do have that chapter finished just in case.
All that said? As annoying as it is to do this… The next chapter won't come until around the 25th - 27th of September. I'm sorry; I know some of you probably find that disappointing, but I really feel I need the extra time to perfect these last few chapters as best I can.

Anyway, for those wondering what character "Gavin" was. He was the kid griffon we saw back in Gallus' Blue Moon flashback:

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/8/85/Gavin_ID_S8E15.png/revision/latest?cb=20180808010539

Thank you all for reading the newest chapter; I hope you all liked it! And as always! All thoughts and criticisms are welcomed and appreciated!

NEXT TIME: I'm gonna be needlessly vague in a fruitless effort to seem smarter than I actually am! So, here are five random words to describe what's going to go down in Ch. 6: Tie, review, fight, ghost, moon.
Have fun!

Chapter Six: Stagnation

“Okay! Now turn around for Yona!”

Gallus turned to the right.

“Turn other way, please!”

Gallus turned to the left.

“Hmm…! Hold on! Ah-ha!” Yona proceeded to fiddle with a random seam in the side of the suit, declaring, “There! Now, please face forward!”

He did as instructed, desperately keeping his aching body as still as possible.

“Mhmm! Mhmm! Yona love it; Yona love it!” she chanted to herself, gazing over every inch of his body as if he were a random Bit. “Okay, Gallus! Spread wings for Yona, please!”

Gallus did as instructed, trying to ignore the tingling sensation of both appendages awakening from their frozen slumber. He then twitched nervously as she gently tapped them with her hooves.

“Yona, why are you doing that?” he asked, unable to stay quiet.

“Seeing which feathers Gallus need preened! Also how wings fit in suit sleeves,” she clarified, too busy observing the latter item to register his uneasy grimace.

“Oh.” For the love of Grover’s Treasure! Somepony save me from my crazy friend and her pecking sewing kit! Gallus silently begged the world.

The Carousel Boutique’s doors didn’t so much as twitch.

Figures.

Several more uncomfortable minutes passed by before Yona finally allowed him to fold his wings back down, much to his relief. She then pointed to the nearby mirrors and said, “Okay! Now, what does Gallus think of suit?”

It was a relatively simple affair: A deep ebony suit with a snowy white dress shirt worn beneath it. And yet, for as simple as it was, it was undeniably glorious.

All-in-all, Gallus found himself looking more formal than he ever had in his entire life before this moment, and considering that Yona hadn’t even finished yet…?

Oh, yeah… I really think Silver is going to like this, Gallus thought to himself, weakly smiling at his reflection. Eat it, Gruff; I look dapper as peck!

“Would you believe me if I said it were comparable to the creation of a deity?” he asked.

“Yona would be flattered but not convinced! Yona good, but Yona not that good. … Yet!” she declared, her eyes brimming in determination.

“Well, I beg to differ! This is amazing, Yona!” Gallus praised, looking over himself once more in appreciation. “Thank you so much! Seriously! How do I repay you? How much do you—”

“No!” Yona shouted, stamping her hoof down. “Yona already tell Gallus that Yona neither need, nor accept any repayment!”

“Yeah, but…” He turned his gaze back to her and gestured toward himself. “Look at this! Look at what you made! You can’t just do all that hard work and expect nothing in return!”

“Yona expect only one thing return, and that’s Gallus and Silverstream both having fun on second date!” she countered with a happy smile. “Repay Yona with that.”

Gallus snorted and shook his head, thinking, Yona and Sandbar really are meant for each other.

“So suit does feel well?” she asked again.

“It feels wonderful!” he answered, turning in place once more and savoring the unrestricted looseness of the ensemble. He gently flapped his wings again, feeling no resistance whatsoever. “It’s not uncomfortable or tight in the slightest!”

“Hee-hee! Professor Rarity know everything about making attire comfy for all creatures!” Yona proudly proclaimed. “Even griffons. Which reminds Yona… Gallus not overheated, right?”

Gallus blinked and remembered what she was referring to.

“Uh, no! Not at all, Yona,” he assured, shaking his head confidently. “How’d you do it?”

“Trade secret!” she answered unabashedly.

“I probably should’ve expected that answer, huh?”

Yona tittered as she looked over the suit once more, saying, “Alright! Yona think suit finally finished! A few last touches needed, but otherwise, Gallus ready for second date!”

“Well, clothes-wise, sure…”

“Are date plans not coming along okay? Yona can help Gallus if friends would like!”

“Hate to curb your enthusiasm, Yona, but I’m getting most of it figured it out. The problem is—” Yeah, no! Not admitting financial concerns to the yak that just gave me a suit like this for free! “—deciding which places to actually go for the second date,” he half-lied.

“Where Gallus currently planning to go…?” she asked with less subtlety than Discord.

“Nice try, Yona, but I’m not letting you spoil anything for Silver.”

“Curses! Foiled again!” Yona exclaimed with a pointedly pronounced pout. “Gallus can’t tell Yona even little bit of friend’s plans?”

“Sorry! It’s a secret,” Gallus claimed, giving her a smug grin.

“Oh, fine! Don’t tell Yona; Gallus can keep his secrets!”

“That’s the plan!”

Yona humphed playfully. “Well, either way, Yona think it finally time to decide on ties!” she decided, grabbing a nearby box full of said objects. “Now does Gallus prefer normal ties or bow-ties?”

“Uh, either or? You’re the expert here, so you decide.”

“Understood. Now! Does Gallus prefer standard or clip-on?”

Gallus frowned and admitted, “Clip-on. I don’t know how to tie a tie.”

“Really?” she asked, not a hint of judgment in her voice.

“Yeah, sorry,” he apologized, feeling a drop of shame anyway.

“Gallus not need to apologize! Yona not know how to tie ties once either, but Yona learn! Does Gallus want Yona to teach him how?” she inquired after a moment.

After a moment of thought, he turned his face away from her and said, “Yeah! Why not. It’s not like anygriff else is going to.”

“Yay!” Yona cheered, having not noticed the scowl he now had. “Hold on! Let Yona first find tie that would look great on Gallus!” she requested, plunging her face into the depths of the box.

A quarter of an hour had passed by the time that Gallus finally figured out how to weave the tie properly without choking himself. But Yona, of course, never did anything halfway, so yet another fifteen minutes was then spent teaching Gallus how to work bow-ties as well.

By the end of it, Gallus was almost ready to explode in sheer embarrassment over his multitude of tie-tying failures. Then again, that feeling diminished significantly once he finally got the hang of it.

“Okay! How Gallus feel now?”

“Snazzy! Dapper! And ten levels of suave!”

In that moment, Yona’s elated grin could rival even Pinkie Pie’s.

“Seriously, you really outdid yourself, Yona,” Gallus said warmly. “Thank you.”

“Hee-hee! Of course! Yona best at helping friends!” she boasted, putting away the box of ties. She then trotted back toward him, asking, “Okay! So, suit feel good? Tie feel good? Everything good?”

“Pretty sure you already know the answer to that.”

“Yes!” Yona shouted, pumping a hoof into the air. “Ha! Yona best at fashion! … Er, second best, Yona suppose,” she admitted meekly.

“No, no! You had it right the first time!”

“Aw, thanks, Gallus! But sadly, Yona still only second best. Professor Rarity current best, but Yona will catch up! Yona will catch up…” she muttered confidently.

“Well, if you ever need me to model for you again, just ask. I’ve always got more spare time than I know what to do with, and I seriously do owe you one for this thing. And for…you know…putting up with my constant tie fumbling,” he added, flinching awkwardly.

“Yona already said that Gallus not need to repay Yona with anything more than giving Silver good time! And Gallus not fumble tie that much,” Yona assuaged honestly.

“Yeah, well… Sorry anyway.”

Yona raised an eyebrow at his unnecessary apology, but she simply shrugged, thinking nothing more of it as she returned to one last inspection of his attire.

Gallus, meanwhile, returned to appraising himself in the mirror. There, I am! All fancy and formal and… Feathery.

“‘…You’d get kicked out for being a griffon’ kind of terrible!” he remembered Sandbar saying.

Gallus stopped smiling as memories of Griffonstone played in the back of his mind. Most of them were of Gruff. The others were of…other things.

Unable to take it anymore he blurted out, “Hey, Yona!?” to distract himself however slightly.

“Yeah, Gallus?”

“Thanks for teaching me how to tie a tie.”

“Gallus welcome!” she said brightly. “Yona more than happy to help.”

“Yeah, I know. … Sorry it took me half an hour to learn it.”

“Why Gallus apologizing again? Gallus not know how to tie tie, so Yona taught Gallus how. No need to be sorry; after all, Yona not know how to tie tie once too!”

Aw, peck! I’m doing that again, aren’t I…? “Well, regardless of whether or not I need to, I want to apologize anyway. Pretty sure that nocreature else takes half an hour to learn how to do it.”

“Well, Yona took two hours, so…?” she admitted, giving him a questioning look.

“O-Oh. Uh… Sorry?”

“Gallus apologizing a lot today,” Yona acknowledged, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. “Did Gallus do something that Gallus secretly feel guilty for?”

“Uh, no? At least, I don’t think I did anything wrong.” Other than that.

“So, no prank gone awry again?”

“Nope. Been a little too busy as of late with Drama Club, Ocellus, and date plans.”

She giggled and commended, “Well, at least Gallus using time wisely!”

“Heh-heh. Yeah. So, uh, where did you learn how to tie a tie, anyway?”

“Yona once asked Yona’s father if Yona could try tying his one day! Yona’s mother showed Yona after Yona, er, failed miserably.”

Gallus immediately pictured a baby Yona being taught by her parents how to tie a tie, and the shenanigans that entailed. Something stirred inside of his chest at the thought. “How badly did you fail?”

“…Yona not want to answer that…”

He chuckled, trying to fight off whatever feeling was building up in the back of his mind again. Of course, as with most feelings, it didn’t go away. And eventually, Gallus determined its cause.

“Can I say something?” he asked, remembering his lessons about bottling his emotions up.

“Sure! Yona listening,” she said, squinting at a loose stitch in his sleeve.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but… I wish you didn’t have to teach me how to do it.”

“Tie a tie?” Yona guessed, looking up to meet his eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“It’s just… For one thing, I should have already known how to do it!” he lamented grumpily.

“Nocreature knows how to do something until they first learn!” she countered smartly.

“That’s…not really what I mean.” Don’t bottle it up, Gallus. “I just wish Grandpa Gruff had taught me how to do it before. That’s all,” Gallus clarified wistfully.

“Oh,” Yona muttered softly. After a painfully silent minute, she admitted, “Sandbar told Yona that Gallus also wish Gruff had seen play.”

Dang it, Sandbar! “He did, huh?”

“Mhmm.”

“He, uh, probably could have taught me… If he, uh, wanted to, but he didn’t…” he randomly mumbled. “T-Then again, it’s not like he, uh, had an opportunity to do so, considering we never really had, er, this,” Gallus awkwardly explained, gesturing to Yona’s suit.

“Well, Gallus has suit now! Yona think that what’s important!” Yona decided firmly. “And Gallus know that Yona always here to help with suit if Gallus ever ask!”

“Yeah! Thanks, Yona,” he said, trying to smile again. Gallus sort of succeeded, but he ended up just ducking his head again while holding in a sigh.

“Yona sorry Gruff not come to play,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to be sorry, Yona!” he quickly said. “It’s not your fault the crotchety, old windbag doesn’t care about me.”

“Maybe, but Yona can still be sorry on friend’s behalf!” she argued softly. “And… Does Gallus really think Grandpa Gruff not care about him?”

“I… I don’t know,” he admitted, shaking his head. “Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. I just… I really wish he did care.” Or at least care enough to watch me onstage. Guess I’m not really cut out for the actor thing after all, Gallus accepted morosely.

“Maybe Gruff care but really bad at showing it?” Yona suggested, sitting on her haunches and giving Gallus her full attention.

“Heh! Yeah, maybe that’s it. Self-expression isn’t really something griffons are good at unless it involves Bits…” he grumbled, frowning at his reflection again.

“Yona not know much about griffons, but Yona doubt that true! After all, Gallus express himself all the time!” she remarked, giving him a kind smile.

And how will I do that after we graduate!? What am I supposed to do!? Where am I supposed to go!? Who am I— Gallus shook his head and mumbled, “You’re right! I’m just being dumb; sorry…”

Faster than he could blink, Yona pushed herself up to his eye-level and glared at him with an intensity scarily similar to Rarity when on an inspiration binge.

“Gallus! Not! Dumb!” Yona swore, punctuating each word with a gentle tap against his chest. After a moment of mutual silence, she stepped back down and wondered, “Why would Gallus ever think that about himself?”

I did it again!? Gallus realized, recovering from her outburst. Why did I do it again!? “Sorry, Yona. I…” he said. “I don’t think I’m dumb, I just think I’m acting dumb.” That didn’t help, did it?

“Why!?”

“I guess I’m just overreacting or something… It’s not like it matters whether or not Gruff cares about me. It never mattered before, so why would it matter now?” he asked himself more than Yona.

“It not matter why!” Yona quickly claimed. “It not matter if Gallus not care before; Gallus care now, so it matter now!”

“And why do I care now then? Because I don’t know!” Gallus stated, frustrated by that fact. “I mean it, Yona. Why do I care if he is or isn’t there for the Science Fair tomorrow?” he asked tiredly. “I already know he’s not going to show up, so…! Why do I suddenly care if Gramps cares about me?”

“Gallus want Gruff to be proud of him,” she answered easily.

Gallus couldn’t think of a response since he was too busy trying to process the statement.

Yona took his silence as permission to continue. “Gallus want Grandpa Gruff to be proud of his accomplishments! His performance in play, and his work with Ocellus! And as far as Yona concerned, that not something to be ashamed of,” she concluded confidently.

“Yeah, but isn’t that bad? Wanting others to be proud of you?” Gallus realized that was absolutely going to be taken the wrong way, so he clarified, “I mean, without earning that pride first! If I had earned it then yeah, but… I clearly didn’t since Gruff didn’t come to see our play,” he ended, feeling his body sag in exhaustion. I just wish I knew what I did wrong.

“Love not need to be earned, Gallus.”

Such a simple sentiment, Yona’s words were. And yet, they managed to rekindle his energy enough for Gallus to protest, “I know that!”

“Then why Gallus suggesting otherwise?”

“I’m not!”

“Yona pretty sure that what Gallus mean by what Gallus saying.”

“No, I mean…!” Gallus face-clawed in frustration. He then blinked and dreaded, Oh, peck! Why am I having another ‘bad habit’ moment!? Seriously, I’m better now, so why am I still having them!?

“Okay,” she conceded before he could figure out what to say next. “Maybe Yona misinterpret what Gallus really mean. If so, Yona sorry. Yona just think that Gallus not selfish for wanting Gruff to care about him like Yona and friends do.”

After a moment, he muttered, “Sorry, Yona. I really didn’t mean it that way, it’s just…”

“Yona know,” she assured gently. “Yona just not sure she fully understand.”

“You’re not the only one… I’m sorry, Yona,” Gallus soon apologized. Again. “I should know better than to get worked up, I—”

“Gallus! Stop apologizing!” she commanded, silencing him instantly. Yona took a small breath to calm down, continuing, “Gallus not need to apologize, nor does Gallus need to be ashamed of speaking his feelings! Yona more than happy to listen to Gallus if it helps, however little.”

Gallus took the chance to calm down himself. After accomplishing that, he said, “Thanks, Yona. I’m still sorry for bringing this all up completely out of nowhere, but… Thank you.”

“Yona not need thanks; Yona just happy Gallus doing better.”

Now if I could only stay better… Gallus groused, hiding his frustration behind a thankful smile.

She then rose back to her hooves and returned to examining his suit. After yet another twenty minutes of adjustments, Yona deemed her job completed and had Gallus take it off.

“Okay! Yona will keep suit ready for second date! Gallus just remember to let Yona know one week ahead of time, okay?” she requested, placing the bundle away to fix up later.

“On it! Thanks again, Yona.”

“Yona still not need thanks!”

“Well, I’m giving it anyway; you deserve it.”

“Hee-hee. And Gallus deserve this!” she yelled before snatching him into a bone-cracking hug.

After squeezing all the oxygen out of his lungs, Yona released him. Gallus then panted for a moment before asking, “I deserved to have to my spine compacted?”

“Yona not hug Gallus that hard!”

“You underestimate your own strength,” he quipped, smirking.

“Well, Yona best hugger! Okay, Yona second best hugger, but Pinkie Pie hold title for years!”

“Either way, I’m sure Sandbar appreciates them.”

“Oh, Yona not give hugs to Sandbar that often,” she said, smiling deviously. “Yona too busy giving him something else Yona best at.”

“Hot cocoa?”

She let out a bark of laughter and clarified, “No, Gallus! Kisses! Yona best at kissing, and Sandbar… Ohhh!” she sighed, fanning herself with a hoof. “Sandbar great kisser.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Hee-hee-hee! So, what else did Gallus have planned for today?”

“Not much. I needed to meet up with Ocellus later, so we can test the final teleportation model. And so Ocellus can rant about how far we’ll go as scientists. Again…” Gallus snarled.

“Yona not know Gallus want to be scientist.”

“I don’t!” he revealed angrily. After a moment, he looked down and said, “To be honest…? I’m not even sure what I do—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the door to the Boutique slammed open, admitting entrance to a tan earth pony with a bright pink mane.

“YONA! YONA! YONA!” Scoop chanted, zooming up to the yak in a heartbeat. “The newspaper! Canterlot Times! Reviews!” she sang, bouncing energetically.

Of course… Gallus sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Scoop!” Yona called out. “Calm down! Tell Yona and Gallus what happened?”

Scoop stopped her giddy bouncing, cleared her throat and began, “All of us were mentioned in the—” She suddenly froze up, staring at Gallus as if only just now realizing he was there.

“Uh, hi?”

Her whole body spasmed. “He was trying the suit on, wasn’t he?” she muttered darkly.

“Mhmm! And to quote Gallus himself,” Yona began sneakily. “Gallus looked snazzy. Dapper. And ten levels of suave!” she ended, meeting his smirk with one of her own.

“And I missed it!?” she asked, shaking with an eldritch fury.

“Well, if you had seen me try on the suit, you’d have spoiled it for Silver. And you know it.”

“…Darn you, griffon-boy! Darn you and your inflexible attitude on spoilers!”

“Hey! You try hanging out with Sandbar at the movies, and then you can talk to me about ‘attitudes on spoilers,’” Gallus fired jokingly.

“Try hanging out with Vellum,” she countered.

“Thanks, but I’d rather not need to be locked in an insane asylum, thank you!”

“Ha! As if an asylum could help you recover from spending a whole day with Vellum Codex.”

While Gallus shivered at that thought, Yona asked, “So, wait! What Scoop say about reviews?”

“‘—With all that being said, so long as Vellum Codex refines the talent he displayed, then the young stallion no doubt has a bright future ahead of him!’” concluded Peppermint Goldlylinks. She then put down the paper and gave the stallion a displeased frown. “Okay! Who did you bribe?”

Vellum gasped, reeling back in shock. He then glared at Patty and demanded, “You dare believe that I would ever bribe a pony! Much less one responsible for reviewing our performance!?”

“Yeah?”

He sputtered wordlessly for a moment then took a deep breath, holding a hoof to his chest. Vellum then pushed the hoof away, exhaling as he did so. “Patty? No,” he calmly claimed. “I did not bribe anypony, nor would I ever do so!”

“Suuuuure! Riiiiight!”

Gallus saw Vellum’s eye twitch violently and decided to throw him a bone. “Alright, Patty, leave the guy alone. You know just as well as the rest of us how much Vellum hates nepotism.”

“Okay, okay!” she said, waving her hooves in defeat. “I’ll stop teasing you, Vel. Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine! I don’t think I can blame you for thinking such things, considering how much hogwash this is!” he declared, glaring at the newspaper in pure contempt.

“Yona not understand; why Vellum think that? Yona thought Vellum would be drooling over all the praise he receive,” she asked, smirking knowingly.

“Bah! Praise is acceptable when it’s earned, but this? There is far too much emphasis on my strengths and barely any reference to my shortcomings! A proper review would cast light on both equally; this is clearly a ‘fluff piece’!” he sneered. “After all, how can I work upon my flaws if I am not aware of them, and how can I be aware of them if my performance is treated as perfection?”

“That is assuming your performance wasn’t perfect,” Scoop suggested slyly.

“Perfection is unattainable, Scoop,” Vellum stated nonchalantly. “While that doesn’t mean we can’t seek it, it does mean that we’ll always possess flaws despite our work to overcome them.”

By King Grover’s Treasure, let Vellum be wrong! Gallus quietly prayed.

“Well, okay then, Vel,” she said, looking to the others with a raised eyebrow. “Where’d you get that from? A fortune cookie?”

“Headmare Starlight,” he answered. “She insists that I keep meeting up with her to talk over my ‘issues,’” he wearily groaned, rolling his eyes.

“Well, bad habits are always hard to break,” Gallus felt the need to interject. “Best to know what they are, so you can work on fixing them, right?”

“Yes, exactly! See? Gallus gets it!”

“That being said, maybe should keep seeing Starlight,” he said, grinning innocently. I know I have to…

“U-Uh! Hmm. Well, I suppose I can…”

“Good! Now try saying: Thanks for the advice, Gallus,” Scoop sarcastically suggested.

“…Thanks for the advice, Gallus,” Vellum repeated, much to the Scoop and Patty’s amusement.

“You’re welcome, Captain Codex.”

At that conveniently precise moment, a blue unicorn with a dark indigo mane stepped out of a nearby store and was immediately spotted by Patty.

“Oh! Hey! November!?” she called out, waving. “November, over here!”

“Huh!” yelped the stallion. Once he turned and saw them, he quickly trotted over, greeting, “Hey, guys! How are you?”

“Good,” Patty answered, offering him the chair nearest her which he gladly accepted. “You?”

“I’m good! I just had to return some bottles I didn’t need. What are you guys up to?”

“Oh, nothing… We just got reviewed in the Canterlot Times is all!” Scoop bragged pompously.

“Wait, really!?” Scoop and Yona were quick to nod, so he said, “Wow! Congratulations, guys!”

“Yep! Bet you’re kicking yourself for quitting and missing out on the praise, eh?” Gallus joked.

“Heh-heh,” he laughed uncomfortably. “Not really,” November sighed, glancing at Vellum.

“Yeah, well…” Scoop began, catching November’s tone. “If it helps? Vel’s been throwing a fit over his review,” she said, much to Vellum’s displeasure.

“Really?” November asked, holding back a scowl. “Yeah, guess that figures. So, you get revered to Tartarus and back, and it’s still not enough for you, huh, Vellum?”

“I appreciate the praise; I simply wish that we had received criticism as well,” Vellum explained, staring back at the other stallion neutrally. “Nothing more; nothing less, November.”

November’s expression morphed into one of compete shock. After a moment he worriedly mumbled, “Did… Did you just call me by my name?”

“Well, ‘November Rain’ is your name, correct?”

No way am I letting this opportunity slip by! Gallus resolved, sniding, “Naw, Captain Codex! I could have sworn his name was ‘September Tempest’!”

“How did you know about that!?” November squealed, blushing gloriously. He then remembered Gallus wasn’t the only one present and quickly chuckled, embarrassed. “Uh, moving on! Yes, my name is ‘November Rain’! Not the other one! I, uh, was just asking because you… Well…?”

“Haven’t called him by his proper name since he quit,” Scoop finished explaining on his behalf. “It’s been ‘traitor’ this, or ‘betrayer’ that with you for a while, Vel.”

“Yes, I’m aware. … Headmare Starlight is aware too which is why she said that I shouldn’t hold others accountable for their own personal decisions,” he clarified sourly. “No matter how much I may disagree with them.”

“Seriously! Am I dreaming!? Am I brainwashed again!? Or has the world finally come to an end!?” November wondered, leaning away from Vellum.

“Don’t be so melodramatic, November! If this were a dream, Princess Luna would have popped out of the moon by now,” Vellum pointed out smartly.

“She does tend to do that a lot,” Patty acknowledged, thinking back to her own past dreams.

“Not to mention if other two were true,” Yona began. “Professors likely fix everything in next twenty minutes or so.”

“Unless we really are being brainwashed. If that’s the case, it’ll take the full forty-two minutes,” Gallus reminded her.

“Oh, right. Yona always forget that part.”

“So,” November began warily. “That means this is real? Vellum really is sitting in front of me and not calling me a traitor repeatedly? … What exactly have you guys been doing to him since I quit?”

“Well, Silverstream sort of scared him into not criticizing Gallus on his first day…”

“No, no, Scoop. I couldn’t properly criticize him for the first week,” Vellum corrected, sounding almost disappointed by the fact.

“Whoa!” November exclaimed in awe. “Gallus!? Whatever you do, do not lose Silverstream!”

Gallus took a deep breath, stifling several ignited emotions. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Yes, well… Uh…” November took notice of the stern frown being thrown his way and decided to not comment on that subject further. “Thanks for, uh, addressing me by my name, Vellum.”

“Don’t thank me,” Vellum sighed. “I shouldn’t have held your, ahem! Quitting… Against you so fervently. Realizing my mistake and attempting to make up for it is not something to be proud of when I should never have made the mistake to begin with,” he grumbled, blushing faintly.

Peck, if that’s not relatable! Gallus agreed self-consciously.

“O-Oh. Still, thank you! I think? Anyway! I’m glad you caught me, Patty; I’ve been meaning to come and congratulate you guys on your performance in Canterlot!” November admitted.

“Aww, thanks, November!” Patty said happily. “Sorry that you weren’t able to come with us. I know you quit because of…” She shot Vellum a glare. “Reasons. But it was a lot of fun! I wish you hadn’t missed out,” she ended sadly.

“Eh, it’s fine! Science Club and Yearbook are still tons fun too! Plus, I’ve been busy for the past three weeks figuring out how to make my project work, so… Even if I hadn’t quit, I probably wouldn’t have been able to come anyway,” he acknowledged timidly.

“Oh, yeah! The Science Fair is tomorrow, right!?”

“Yep.”

“Cool! Hey, aren’t you participating in the Fair too, Gallus?”

“Uh-huh!” Gallus affirmed, nodding. And I cannot wait for it all to be over with, so Ocellus will get off my back… he added to himself.

“So is Smolder,” November said, frowning. “Though… None of us are sure what she’s been doing.”

“Huh. So, Gallus, Smolder, and November? All scientists in the making, eh?” Scoop questioned. “Vellum will be so disappointed that neither of you wish to become actors like him.”

“Oh, shut up, Scoop.”

Gallus remained silent while November lamented, “Me? A scientist!? Celestia, I wish! But I doubt it; I have a long way to go and right now? Being one is practically just a dream…”

“Wait,” Vellum interjected. “You actually do wish to become a scientist?”

“Meteorologist,” he clarified shyly. “I may not have wings, but I’ve always been fascinated with weather and how it works. Plus, Atmokinesis Alpha is an awesome spell! Seriously! I should totally show you guys what I can do with it; it’s amazing!” he sang, grinning widely.

Well, he’s not wrong, Gallus conceded, glad that the conversation was back on November.

“It certainly sounds fun! So, is your project something to do with weather spells then?”

November smirked slyly and settled for saying, “You’ll see…”

“On that note, what are you and Ocellus working on again, Gallus?” Scoop asked politely.

Ah! There we go, he quietly grumbled, answering, “Teleportation.” Please don’t focus on me.

“Now that is a glorious oversimplification!” November just had to say. “You guys aren’t just working on teleportation; you’re working on inter-species magic conversion too!”

“I’m going to assume by your tone that’s significantly more impressive than Gallus is letting on?” Vellum guessed, raising an eyebrow.

“Vel, do you have any idea how insanely hard it is to change one type of magic into another?”

He waved a hoof over his mane, highlighting his lack of a certain appendage.

“Oh. Well, uh, for comparison? It’s harder to do that than it is for you to say that acting sucks.”

Vellum gaped at Gallus, asking, “Is what you’re doing truly that impossibly difficult!?”

“Eh-heh-heh,” Gallus awkwardly laughed. “Depends on the types of magic really. But, yeah. Ocellus has put a lot of work into it.”

“So have you from what Ocellus has told the rest of us in Science Club,” November, once again, just had to say.

Oh, geez, Ocellus! What have you been telling everycreature!? “Wait, what?”

“Yeah! She’s gone on and on about how smart you are, and how you’d totally make a great addition to the Club!” he explained kindly. “Lighthoof has even considered asking you to join up, but… Well? Trust me on this. Never be in both Drama and Science Club.”

I! Am not! A scientist! Gallus thought angrily. “Uh… Yeah! But me? A scientist? Nah, that’s not something I’d be good at,” he argued weakly. No matter how much Ocellus says otherwise.

“Maybe. But if you don’t want to be a scientist, you’d always make a good actor!” Scoop complimented, pulling the newspaper to her. “‘For a griffon, Mr. Gallus gives a phenomenal performance of the second lead protagonist! Expressing and selling every last moment of selflessness, heroism, and compassion!’” she read, beaming at him smugly.

For a griffon…

“Whoa! Is that real!?” asked November, grabbing the paper and reading it for himself. “Wow, dude! That’s high praise! Good job, Gallus!” he commended, offering up a hoof.

“Y-yeah!” he said, bumping said hoof. “Thanks.” He then looked down at the table worriedly.

Yona noticed his discomfort and took it upon herself to deflect the conversation.

“Well!” she began loudly enough to acquire everypony’s attention. “Yona just happy that ponies enjoyed Yona and friends’ performance! It hard work, but Yona know our play was very best!” she shouted, raising a hoof into the air in victory and giving her friend a wide smile.

Gallus grinned back at Yona, thinking, I suppose we were pretty good. Even if I could have been better, Gruff could have been there, and I actually wanted to be an actor…

Gallus, you’re doing it again! he rebuked himself spitefully.

“Yona’s not wrong about that at least,” Patty agreed shyly. “We were amazing.”

“Speaking of which, where are the others?” November inquired.

“Well, Zone is with his grandparents in the Ponyville Retirement Village, and… Huh. Actually, I’m not sure where Silver or Shimmy are to be honest,” Scoop answered, shrugging. “But I bet the latter’s probably helping Professor Pie plan this year’s Nightmare Night party,” she supposed.

“Oh, yeah! I forgot that Shimmy got roped into that,” Patty commented. “Celestia help her.”

And come to think of it… I haven’t seen Silver all day either, Gallus realized, turning his gaze to the Friendship School. Eh. Maybe she’s finishing that flower painting or something.

“So, they’re not around? Aw. Oh, well! I’m sure I’ll see the others tomorrow at the Fair, so I’ll congratulate them then,” November decided. “It was nice talking to all of you again!”

“Likewise!” Scoop said, nodding happily. “I’m sure it was nice for you to talk to us without Vellum scowling and calling you ‘traitor’ repeatedly.”

“Yeah, that was a nice change of pace!” he agreed, shooting a sly smile at the stallion.

Vellum just grabbed the newspaper and hid behind it as he pretended to reread the reviews.

“Whelp! I need to get going,” November said, rising from the chair. “I still have some last minute things I need to do with my project. See you all later!”

Everycreature wished him farewell, watching him disappear down the streets of Ponyville.

“Speaking of the Fair,” Gallus soon started. “I need to go and meet up with Ocellus, so we can finish our own project! Did you guys need me for anything before I go?”

“Remember to keep refining your skills, Gallus,” Vellum said, folding down the newspaper and giving him an encouraging grin. “November was right about your review being high praise, but you still have quite a lot of work to do if you do wish to become an actor one day.”

Gallus quietly gulped, muttering, “Thanks, Captain Codex. Anything else?”

“I’ve nothing to add. Scoop?”

“Nope. You go and have fun breaking reality with Ocellus, Gallus!”

“Not technically breaking reality, Scoop. Ocellus isn’t there just yet,” he acknowledged, standing up. “Talk to you later, Yona. See all of you Thursday!”

“Bye, Gallus!”

“See ya, griffon-boy!” Scoop said, failing to notice Gallus flinch.

“Remember to tell Yona when Gallus ready for second date with Silverstream!”

“I will!” he agreed, trotting away and trying to ignore the sounds of Patty and Scoop frantically ambushing Yona about the suit she had made for him.

Me? An actor? Really? he pondered as he spread his wings and lazily glided his way towards the school. No, no, no! I… I’m not good enough for that! I don’t even want that anyway!

At least, I don’t think I do…? I mean… Seriously? I don’t belong on a theater stage!

“—Silver said she was afraid that you’d endure Drama Club on her behalf, even if you didn’t like it. Yes, you did end up enjoying Drama Club, but what if you hadn’t?” repeated in his mind.

I didn’t join Drama Club to be an actor! And I didn’t choose to help Ocellus with her project because I wanted to be a scientist! I… I just wanted to be with my friends.

“—I’ve been thinking about what I want to do after we graduate! And I’ve always liked taking care of plants and animals, so I was wondering if I should take up a career where I can do those things, you know?” Sandbar’s voice echoed back to him.

Gallus shook the thoughts out of his mind, putting off those worries for later. Forget all of that, Gallus! Let’s just find Ocellus and get this dumb project over with!

Afterward, I’ll see what Silver’s been up to today. Probably something fun.

Every instinct in Silverstream’s body and mind screamed at her that this was a bad idea. In spite of this, she continued forward, slowly inching her way toward her friend’s room.

C’mon, Silver! What’s to be so afraid about!? she asked herself. All you’re doing is talking to your friend—one of your very best friends at that!—so there’s no need to be so worried!

But what if she doesn’t want to talk to me!? Silver fretted. What if she only came and watched our play with us because she felt she needed to!? What if she really is still angry at Gallus!?

Why would she still be angry at him!? she wondered, feeling her fear twist into something akin to anger. Why would she ever be angry at him in the first place!? How dare she be angry at—

Silverstream stopped in the middle of the hallway and took a deep breath, letting it out despairingly. “Okay! No more of that, Silver! We are not angry or paranoid; we’re optimistic!” she declared firmly. “Besides! She came and watched our play with us, so… Maybe everything is going back to normal? … And even if it isn’t, we’re not going to bottle anything up this time!”

Silver then pulled out Cadence’s first letter and reread a particular part of it.

Relationships are relationships regardless of whether they’re friendships or romances. They’re all “Bonds of Love” as Twilight told me you were fond of calling them. However, every relationship has its ups and downs. And that applies to romances just as much as it does to friendships.

To put it simply: Relationships can get strained. A little frustration here, a bit of irritation there. Something said in the heat of the moment here, something thought in a moment of vexation there. It doesn’t take much for creatures to be upset with one another.

Why is this such a big deal? Because a lot of creatures will bottle up their anger, fear, or sadness instead of expressing it openly. Why is that such a problem? Because it goes against the one fundamental rule of any healthy relationship.

Communication. That’s my first major piece of advice for you: Communicate with Silverstream.

“Or in this case: Smolder,” Silverstream mumbled, folding the letter up and tucking it back into her bag. “C’mon, Silver! Starlight said she was mad at Gallus for a reason; let’s find out what it is!”

Obeying her own command, Silver nodded and resumed her trot with renewed determination. Mere moments later, she turned the corner and came to a stop when she heard somepony talking.

“—asked for my help, Smolder! But I can’t give you any advice if you won’t tell me everything about what’s going on!”

Is that Shimmy Shake? Silver quietly approached Smolder’s door and leaned against it, trying to listen in to what was going on.

“I told you, Shimmy! Everything is fine now!”

“I’m not convinced,” she deadpanned. “C’mon, Smolder, you’ve missed three cheer-leading practices, and Lighthoof said you haven’t been to Science Club in weeks! And then there’s…this!”

“And I told her the same thing that I told Vice Headstallion Sunburst!” Smolder argued back hotly. “I’ve been busy with my Science Fair presentation!”

“On what? Psychology? How hard is it to write up two thousand words on how the brain works? Ocellus always says it’s unreliable anyway!”

“Yes, and that’s her problem! What’s yours!?”

“You tell me yours first!”

“I don’t have a problem!”

“And now we’re going in circles!”

“Sounds more like your problem than mine…”

Silver frowned at her friend’s remark in the silence that followed it.

“Okay,” Shimmy chirped neutrally. “You’re clearly not in the mood to talk, so I’ll leave. If you do ever change your mind and need some help or something, you know where to find me.”

Silver had only a second to back away before the door opened, permitting Shimmy’s exit. The mare then locked eyes with her and yelped, “Silverstream!?”

Several books crashed to the ground from within Smolder’s room.

“Uh, hi?” Silver greeted awkwardly. “How are you, Shimmy?”

Shimmy glanced into Smolder’s room before turning back to Silver, frowning. “Oh, I’m just dandy! Maybe you can talk some sense into her,” she groaned, stepping around her. “Good luck.”

What was that about? Silver wondered as the pony’s hoofsteps faded down the hall. She then gulped and entered Smolder’s room, gawking at the sight before her.

Almost every surface was covered haphazardly in books that Smolder was in the midst of organizing. However, her attempts seemed so frantic and mindless that Silver was scarily reminded of how Ocellus got during exams.

She then looked down and read some of the titles, questioning, Are these the books from the Psychology section? Wait! So, it was Smolder who—

Her thoughts were interrupted when Smolder apologized, “S-Sorry about the mess. Been meaning to clean it up, but…” she trailed off, too busy tidying her book hoard to face her proper.

“Huh!? Oh! No, no! It’s fine!” Silver defaulted to saying. “Besides, it’s not that bad.”

Smolder didn’t say anything else.

After some time, Silver casually asked, “So, what were you and Shimmy talking about?”

Smolder accidentally knocked over the tower books she had created not one second prior. She then swore under her breath and answered, “Nothing!”

“It didn’t sound like nothing.”

“Well, it was nothing!” she snapped, flinching at the anger in her own voice. She then picked up another cluster of books and muttered, “Just— Just some, uh, personal drama is all.”

“Between you and Shimmy?” she asked, completely unconvinced.

“Between me and—” Smolder paused and shook her head, professing, “Between me and a, er, friend. Back home. In the Dragon Lands. … So, yeah.”

The lie was obvious, and they both knew it.

“Well, er, what’s going on with your fri—”

“Nothing!” After organizing another pile of random tomes, Smolder calmly resumed, “Nothing is wrong. Everything is fine. Everything. Is. Fine.”

Silver shuddered involuntarily and asked, “So, the whole book thing is…?”

“J-Just me, er, overreacting! Yeah! Yeah… Just me overreacting.” She sighed and elaborated, “My friend? I thought that he—I mean, she!—I mean, they…! I thought that they were…upset. But I was wrong. They’re fine now! They’re fine now…”

If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was talking about Gallus, Silver deduced, not knowing why Smolder would pretend otherwise. “That’s great! It’s never okay that a friend is upset,” she said softly.

“No. It’s not,” Smolder agreed, glancing at Silver out of the corner of her eye before turning away again. “I’m glad that he— That they are okay! … For now.”

“Hey!” she snapped, incensed by Smolder’s word choice. “Don’t think like that! If he’s doing okay now, then you shouldn’t be afraid that he’ll stop being okay later!”

Smolder stood up straight and looked at Silver properly; a mixture of confusion and protest etched upon her face. After a moment, she whispered, “You really think so…?”

Silver was taken aback by just how nervous Smolder suddenly sounded. The shock wore off in a heartbeat, and she quickly stated, “Yes.”

Smolder looked down and murmured, “Well, I’m glad you can be so optimistic.”

It’s harder than you think, Silver wanted to joke but felt it was too inappropriate to do so. Instead, she said, “It certainly beats the alternative!”

“…Fair point,” she conceded, grinning faintly. “So, what are you up to?”

“I wanted to stop by and thank you,” she answered, glad to be talking to Smolder normally.

“For what?”

“Hee-hee! Watching our play the other night, silly!”

“O-Oh! Uh, it was no big deal,” Smolder said, shrugging. “I’m just happy I got a chance to actually watch it! You guys were awesome!”

“Aww, thanks, Smolder! That’s so sweet of you!”

“Odd, considering dragons aren’t known for our sweetness,” she jokingly countered.

“Hey, griffons aren’t either, and Gallus is the ‘Lord of All Things Sweet’!” Silver sang merrily.

“Huh?”

“It’s a running joke between us,” she explained. “It’s a little silly, but neither of us really care about that. Especially since it’s not like the title’s wrong…” Silver ended, smiling dreamily.

“Heh. Regular couple of lovebirds, aren’t you?”

“That a problem?”

“Of course not!” Smolder answered, smirking. After a moment, she started fiddling with her tail and admitted, “You know? I was surprised when I found out you and he were together.”

Silver blinked and asked, “Why?”

“I don’t know. I guess I never took Gallus to be the kind of guy that, er, was up for romances. No offense,” she clarified, wincing back slightly.

“No offense taken,” she assured, trying not to be paranoid about Smolder’s uncharacteristically timid stature. “Besides! I’ve heard that you don’t like romances either,” she joked.

“Yeah, well… I’ve seen some really, really terrible ones,” she elaborated, leaving it at that.

“Oh.”

“He’s… You and he are happy, right?”

“Yes,” Silver immediately confirmed. She bit down to keep herself from accidentally adding, You’d know that if you weren’t avoiding him like a plague.

“Good. Good… That’s good…” she muttered, looking away again.

A silence fell between the two that Smolder decided to fill with the sounds of books being sorted. Silver, meanwhile, was trapped in a vicious mental battle.

Okay, maybe I shouldn’t ask about her silent treatment? she considered fretfully. Maybe I should just leave; we had a nice, friendly chat for once, and I shouldn’t try to ruin it by prying into—

She hurt Gallus! the other half of her mind roared. She shut him out, and for what! For what!? What could possibly justify hurting Gallus even more—

Silver took another deep breath and let it out slowly, thinking, Nope! I am not going to think the mean, paranoid thoughts. I don’t like that Smolder has been avoiding Gallus all this time, but she is still my friend! And I don’t like being angry at my friends.

In fact? I think I’m going to leave, Silver decided regretfully. I know I shouldn’t, but I don’t want to start a fight. Everything is fine; I’ll just ask about her “silent treatment” later.

“Whelp! I can see you’re pretty busy, and I don’t want to keep you,” she eventually said, stepping for the door.

“S-Silver, wait!”

Silver paused and turned around, facing her friend again. She then fought off another shudder at Smolder’s worried expression.

“Yeah, Smolder?”

“I… You… H-How is Gallus?” she asked, biting her lip in anticipation. “Is he okay?”

“Uh, I already said he was.”

“No! I mean… H-He’s not doing anything, er, reckless, or…? Or dangerous, or…?” Seeing Silver was just confused, Smolder groaned and spat out, “Is he better!?”

Silver was momentarily quiet, still trying to figure out what Smolder was really asking. She quickly snapped out of it and answered, “Yes. He is.”

“How do you know for certain?” Smolder murmured distantly.

“How do I…? I’m sorry, Smolder; I don’t understand what you mean?”

“How do you trust that he’s doing better?”

“Easy. I trust him,” she elaborated, hoping she didn’t sound too much like a hypocrite. “Plus? I… I have to remain optimistic. Otherwise, I’ll just be paranoid, and I don’t like being paranoid.”

“Paranoid of what?”

Oops. “Um, paranoid that he isn’t doing well?”

“Wait! You— You think he’s still not okay!?” she asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

“N-No! Gallus is doing better!”

“Then why are you paranoid!? You’re you, Silver, you’re always optimistic!”

A dagger to the heart would have hurt less than that comment.

“I-I know… It— It was just hard to believe that he was okay,” Silverstream admitted, praying it wouldn’t make everything worse.

It might have made everything worse.

“He’s still having panic attacks, isn’t he?” Smolder asked shakily as her eyes shrank in terror.

“No!” Silver said, deciding not to mention Discord. “He’s a lot better, Smolder; I promise!”

“Then why would you be paranoid!? Something must have been seriously wrong, if you were!”

“…There wasn’t. I thought that there was something wrong too, but there wasn’t. Gallus was perfectly fine, but I was too busy being worried to realize it,” she mumbled, hanging her head in shame.

Smolder blinked and fell silent. Soon, she asked, “But he is doing better though. Right?”

“Yes,” Silver confirmed happily. “He’s doing a lot better.”

“B-But… But all the books I read said…” she whispered to herself before shaking her head. “But how do you know for certain?” Smolder asked once again.

“Because I trust him, Smolder,” she repeated resolutely. “I want him to be happy and okay again too! … Just like you do,” she acknowledged, shooting another look around the book-laden room.

“A-And you really believe he’s not lying to you again?” she inquired, not meeting Silver’s eye.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because…? Because like I said, I have to be optimistic. I want to be optimistic, not upset and worried! Besides, I can’t just spend our time together always being paranoid that Gallus isn’t okay. If I do then… Then my fear will just overshadow my love,” she concluded calmly.

Smolder snorted ruefully and stated, “Sounds like something Yona would say. I wish I could be optimistic too…” she lamented warily.

Silver felt a shiver run down her spine, wondering, Has… Has she been paranoid too? “Smolder? What do you mean you can’t be optimistic too? W-What’s wrong?”

Upon being asked that, Smolder hastily stepped away from Silver, appearing to fight off her own shiver. “N-Nothing!” she claimed, forcing a wide grin. “Everything is fine!”

No. No, no, no, this can’t be happening again! Why is this happening again!? Silver briefly panicked at the familiar deflections. “Smolder, please tell me what’s wrong?” she fearfully requested.

Smolder inhaled sharply and sternly declared, “Look! Everything is fine, Silver! I’m fine; Gallus is fine; my ‘friend’ is fine…! Nothing’s wrong! Okay? Okay.”

“Smolder,” Silver whispered gently. “Please don’t lie.”

“I’m not!” she snapped. Smolder let herself calm down before adding, “I’m fine. And you said Gallus was fine too, so unless you were lying…?”

“I wasn’t.”

She searched her for any indication of dishonesty. Upon finding none, Smolder sighed and muttered, “Don’t worry about me, Silver. I’m fine. Don’t know why you’re even worried anyway…”

“Because you’re my friend,” Silverstream stated softly.

The corners of Smolder’s maw twitched faintly. “Heh. Thanks, Silver.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Smolder. If the roles were reversed, you’d do the same for me,” she said, confident in that statement’s validity.

“…Assuming I’d know how…”

Okay, now where did that come from? Silver contemplated. She opened her beak to inquire as such, but Smolder quickly interrupted.

“So, this has been fun and all, but? I, uh, really need to get back to studying! And cleaning” she added, indicating the mess around her. “So, um, if it’s not too much trouble, could you…?”

“Leave?”

“Please?”

Not again… Silver gulped and tentatively asked, “Do you really want me to leave you alone?”

Smolder hesitated for a second before nodding. “Y-Yeah. Not to sound insensitive or anything, but… I’ve got a lot of stuff to do. So, if you could…?”

I shouldn’t leave, should I? Something is clearly wrong with Smolder too, but… Oh, sea kelp! What should I do? I want to believe everything is fine, but if it’s not…! How do I help my friend!

“Be there for him,” she remembered Starlight advise. Or in this case: Her…

“Okay,” Silver reluctantly agreed. “I’ll go. But only if you’re really okay, Smolder.”

“I’m. Fine. Silver,” she repeated fervently. “Nothing’s wrong. Sorry for freaking you out…”

“Hey, don’t worry about it! I just don’t like seeing my friends upset… I want everything to back to normal, you know?” she admitted cordially.

“Ha! Yeah. Yeah… You’re not the only one.”

“Well, if you’re sure…?“

“I’m fine!“

“Okay, then.“ I trust her. I trust that everything really is okay, Silver told herself weakly. I… I have to believe everything is okay! “I guess I’ll be leaving now,” Silver lamented, making it halfway out the door before stopping and turning back around. “Hey, Smolder?”

“Huh?” she blurted out, already working on another book tower. “Yeah, Silver?”

“…If something is wrong, and for whatever reason, you… You can’t talk to me about it? Can… Can you promise that you’ll talk to someone about it at least? Please?”

Smolder just gave her a neutral look as she answered, “Yeah. Totally.”

“Thanks. See you later, Smolder.”

“Hey, Silver?”

“Yeah?”

“…Thanks. For— For helping him out.”

“I wouldn’t do anything less.” That might not have been the right thing to say, Silver realized when Smolder seemed to slump a little. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“Ugh! For the last time, yes!” Smolder yelled. “Now go have fun on your dates, or whatever it you’re going to go do. I’ll be fine.”

“Alright then,” she conceded slowly. “See you later!”

“See ya.”

Silverstream then left her room and trotted down the hallway. Once she was certain Smolder couldn’t hear her, she let out a pained whine and leaned against a nearby wall, trying to hold back tears.

“Ev-Everything is fine!” she whimpered, desperately trying to believe it. “I-I just need to s-stay optimistic! Just stay optimistic! Don’t be paranoid, Silverstream!” she commanded herself.

…

“Everything is fine, right!? Right!?” Sniffling, she answered, “Y-Yeah. Everything is fine. I just need to stop being paranoid! I can’t just keep worrying when I don’t need to; that’s not healthy!”

…

“Oh, please! Please let everything be fine!” Silver begged as she wiped her eyes and hugged herself. “Please! Just let everything be okay!”

“Are you ready, Gallus?”

“Yes!”

“Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Yes, again!”

“Are you absolutely, positively—”

“Just do it already, Ocellus!” he snapped tiredly.

“Okay! Okay! Okay!” she conceded shyly, lighting up her horn. “Beginning teleportation in three! Two! One!”

A ring of turquoise fire flared to life around the blue griffon and slowly dragged him into its shapeless, ethereal depths. A moment later, another circlet of magic formed, allowing Gallus to rise up from the void, unfazed and unharmed.

“You know it still boggles my mind how cool it feels to teleport,” he said casually. “Always wondered why Headmare Starlight does it all the time.”

“It certainly is an experience. Now! Could you further elaborate as to what exactly it felt like?”

“Exactly as it always does, Ocellus,” Gallus deadpanned.

“So no drowning sensation, correct?”

“‘Drowning sensation’!?” he echoed disbelievingly. “We fixed that a long time ago; why are you suddenly worried about that again!?”

“We need to make sure it’s still fixed in the final model, Gallus!”

“Of course it’s still fixed in the final model! We made sure it was!”

“And I just want to make absolutely certain that it still is!”

It took quite a lot of effort, but in the end, Gallus successfully kept himself from face-clawing.

“In any case!” Ocellus began again. “Any vertigo, hallucinations, or loss of bodily functions?”

Gallus blinked incredulously.

“Okay, so ‘no’ to that too?”

Gallus continued to blink incredulously.

“Yep, definitely a ‘no.’ Sorry,” she said, scribbling down some more notes.

“No problem,” Gallus sighed neutrally. After a moment, he caved in and asked, “Why do you need to keep asking these questions anyway!? You know full-well that the final model is ready!”

“Well, y-yes, but…”

Please don’t go on a tirade about what I think you’re about to go on a tirade about, he wished, closing his eyes and counting down for its inevitability.

With his eyes shut, Gallus failed to see her horn flicker with a blue light. After the light winked out, Ocellus frowned worriedly and asked, “Gallus, are you okay?”

Oh, come on! What did I do this time!? he shrieked internally. “Yes, Ocellus, I’m good. Just a little irritated is all,” Gallus answered as calmly as he could.

Ocellus thought for a moment and apologized, “Sorry. I… I know it’s probably a little annoying asking all these questions again, but I just want everything to be ready for tomorrow!”

“I don’t hold it against you,” he assuaged truthfully. “You’re not the only one who’s worried.”

“I can tell…”

“Reading my emotions again, eh?” he asked jokingly.

Ocellus was dead silent, but she eventually whispered, “Even if I could, it clearly wouldn’t help…”

“Huh?”

“N-Nothing!” she squealed. “I just k-keep telling you all that’s not how it’s supposed to work!”

“Oh, I know. It’s just fun joking with you that it does.”

“Mhmm…”

…

“So, how was the energy drainage?” he asked, trying to shoo away the awkward silence.

“Oh, far better!” she answered, just as glad as Gallus for the silence to be over. “I think I might be able to perform this spell over forty times an hour now, assuming I’m resting between uses!”

“And no discharge, right?”

“Not a spark outside of my control!”

“Oh, thank Grover!”

“Thank Grover indeed!”

“…Although…?”

“No! No! No! Nooo!” Gallus droned, rubbing his temples in agitation. “Come on, Ocellus!”

“The Science Fair is tomorrow, Gallus! We need to have everything ready!” she repeated.

“And we do!”

“No, we don’t! We still haven’t tested out the maximum teleportation passenger capacity!”

“Yes! Yes, we do know that because we already calculated it!”

“We calculated an estimation of that. But we haven’t run any actual tests to determine the proper number, especially in regards to the final model.”

“Is this even anything worth worrying about?”

“Of course it is!” Ocellus protested stubbornly. “We need to have everything known and accounted for; otherwise, we’ll risk coming across as lazy! And scientists shouldn’t be lazy!”

And I’m not a scientist! Gallus wanted so much to shoot back. He ultimately chose not to say that, instead wondering, “And what have we done to communicate that idea?”

“You mean other than not account for the maximum teleportation passenger capacity?”

“Yes. What exactly have we done that is worth being so paranoid about?” he asked impatiently.

Ocellus opened her mouth to answer honestly but then slowly closed it, sensing that he wasn’t in the mood to argue. “Nothing,” she soon begrudgingly admitted, rubbing at her horn.

“Exactly,” he said curtly. “If the judges want to throw a temper tantrum over us not knowing one single, stupid number that they can figure out themselves…? Well, that’s their problem.”

“And it could be our problem should we ever try to get into the field!” she just couldn’t stop herself from retorting. “Think about it, Gallus! Not accounting for this one, single fact could make it seem like we research the spell properly! And if it seems like we didn’t do the research properly, then we’ll never be able to get into the profession!” she fretted, biting her hoof nervously.

Gallus fought off a twitch and argued, “Yeah, but you’re you, Ocellus! If the ponies judging the Fair don’t take one look at your work and immediately praise and hire you, then they’re either a special kind of stupid, or too egotistical to accept that you’re smarter than them.”

“I— You— I—” Ocellus stuttered in surprise. Eventually, she blushed and said, “Thank you, Gallus. That’s… That’s really sweet of you to say.”

Well, I am the ‘Lord of All Things Sweet’! Gallus thought, smiling slightly. “You deserve recognition for your work. What? Am I supposed to deny that or something?”

“Heh-heh. I appreciate that, Gallus. … But don’t try to make it seem like it was all my work because it’s not,” she reminded him. “If you hadn’t helped me, I’d still be struggling to figure out the first tier’s arrangement at this point, nevermind solving the discharge problem!”

“Oh, please, Ocellus! You would have done just fine without me.”

“No,” she stated resolutely. “I wouldn’t. So, thank you, Gallus. Thank you for all of your help.”

Gallus blinked. “You’re, uh, you’re welcome…” he said shyly.

But… I didn’t do half of the work she did! I haven't earned that kind of praise! I don’t even want it because I don’t want to be a scientist, but— Gallus stopped that train of thought, shifting gears to reprimand, Stop thinking those things! You stupid brain, why are you still devaluing yourself!?

“…Are you sure you’re okay, Gallus?” Ocellus whispered, trotting forward and placing a hoof on his shoulder. “You seem a little… A-Anxious,” she decided to go with.

Gallus stepped away from her hoof and answered, “Yeah! I’m—” Doing it again! “Actually? You know what, Ocellus? I am a little anxious,” he forced himself to admit.

“About the Science Fair? Or… Was there something else going on?”

I’m still screwing up with all these dumb ‘bad habits’! Just like I’m doing now!

I want Gruff to be there, but I know he won’t be!

I don’t want to be a scientist like you, but I don’t want to tell you that and hurt your feelings!

And speaking of that! Grover forbid I actually become an actor! I don’t want to be that, and I’m clearly not good enough to be that if I did! I don’t even know what I do want to be!

“A lot of little things,” he deflected, waving a talon dismissively. “But yeah. Mostly stuff pertaining to the Fair,” he ended, feeling his heart shrivel in guilt at the half-lie.

“Sorry,” she murmured, putting her hoof back down.

“No! No, it’s not you, Ocellus,” Gallus said, happy to finally say something honestly. “You aren’t the only who doesn’t want all of our hard work thrown out the window because of one dumb oversight.” Or because I made a mistake or something. … Dang it! I did it again!

Ocellus took a deep breath and let it out heavily. “Yeah, we’ve worked a lot on this project. I just want everything to be, well? Perfect. I know I shouldn’t strive for perfectionism, but… This could be one of the most significant chances we’ll ever get! The Fair is being judged by actual representatives from the E.E.A. And if they see our project and think we did well…”

Ocellus let the rest of her statement go unsaid. Ironic, considering the rest of it had already been said enough times the past week alone that Gallus could quote it verbatim.

“Yeah, no. I get it,” he promised, hoping she didn’t continue any further.

Soon, she sighed. “Well? As much as I would really, really like to keep testing the final model? It’s getting pretty late,” Ocellus acknowledged, nodding to the setting sun beyond the windows. “And you’re right too, Gallus! We’ve gone over every… Almost everything that we could for the final model,” she corrected, much to his bemusement. “It’s ready, and we’re going to have to accept that.”

“It’s not that hard,” Gallus said, giving her an encouraging smile. “You worked hard on this thing. And so did I,” he quickly added for both of their benefits. “I know it’ll work.”

“Well, I’m glad that you’re optimistic at least,” she said, returning the smile.

After a minute, he placed a comforting talon on her shoulder and said, “Everything will be fine, Ocellus. Come on, and say it with me! Everything will be fine.”

“Everything will be fine,” she repeated, taking a deep breath. “Everything will be fine…”

“See! That’s the spirit! You and I are going to do spectacularly!”

“I know; I know…! Kindness Lesson Forty-eight: Have confidence in all that you do. Whether in the face of judgment and persecution, or acceptance and encouragement… Have confidence. Both in yourself and for yourself.”

“A simple lesson, but an important one,” Gallus agreed wisely. Now if only I could learn that lesson and actually internalize it, he sighed rebukingly.

“That it is,” Ocellus agreed, nodding. “Anyway, we’ve got everything sorted out for now; all that’s left to do is set it all up tomorrow. Why don’t you start heading back while I clean this up,” she suggested, pointing at the veritable ocean of books surrounding them.

“And let you have all the fun of putting a bunch of heavy books back?”

“…Yes. Yes, please.”

“Understood. Just make sure I don’t catch you sleeping in here again, alright?”

“You won’t!”

“I better not! Goodnight, Ocellus.”

“Goodnight, Gallus! Sweet dreams!”

“You too!”

Gallus then grabbed his bags and left the library, allowing Ocellus to lose herself in the calming rhythm of sorting books. Once he had trotted out of earshot of the library, he paused in the empty hallway, taking a moment to simply breathe and relax.

Calm yourself, Gallus, he ordered. You’re okay. You’re okay. You’re okay.

He let out a long sigh.

“Love not need to be earned, Gallus,” his memories replayed.

“But why can’t I stay okay?” he whispered, remembering his talk with Yona. Why do I keep demeaning myself!? I don’t even realize I’m doing it, but I shouldn’t even be coming close to doing it!

It was just a stupid tie! he rebuked himself. I got upset! Over! A tie! How pathetic can I be to—

“And there I go again! Why can’t I stop doing that!?” he shouted in frustration. I’m better! I know I’m better! he maintained, resuming his trot back to the dormitories. But why do I keep making the same, stupid mistakes!? I shouldn’t be making mistakes! I can’t afford to make mistakes!

What is wrong with me? Gallus wondered for the first time in nearly a month.

As if in response to that thought, a voice immediately called out, “Gallus!?”

“Huh! Silver?” he yelped, turning around and nearly bumping headfirst into his girlfriend.

“Hey! How are you doing!?” she inquired, giving him a quick hug.

“I’m good!” he reflexively answered, hugging her back. “You?”

“I’m…good too!” Silver said hesitantly. “What about you!? What are you up to?”

Why does she look like she’s been crying!? Gallus asked, feeling a mixture of horror and rage bubble up in his stomach. What! Happened!?

“Silver? Are you okay?” he asked carefully.

“I-I… Yeah, I will be; don’t worry!” she requested. “I just need to talk to Yona about something is all. But enough about that! What did you say you were up to?”

Gallus thought about pressing the issue; however, he ultimately chose to trust Silverstream rather than make yet another situation worse.

“I’m going to bed,” he slowly answered. “The Fair is tomorrow, and I just spent the past three hours trapped in the library with the perfectionist that is Ocellus.”

“Oooh,” she cringed sympathetically. “How bad?”

“Exam week bad.”

“Oh, no…”

“Yeah. But what about you?”

“I’m going to bed too!” Silver sang softly. “I may not have a science project due tomorrow like you and Ocellus, but I plan to get up a little early anyway! I want to check out all of the cool things everycreature did!” she proclaimed, hopping excitedly.

“Honestly, so do I,” he said as the two traveled down the hallway together. “With the play and the Fair going on, I haven’t had time to check out the competition.”

“Same. Oh! That reminds me…! I heard that the judges will be from the E.E.A. Is that true!?” she asked, giving him an encouraging smile.

“That’s what Ocellus has told me.” About forty-nine times. Or was it fifty-nine?

“Huh! That might explain her, um, ‘exam week’ behavior. She really wants to impress them!”

“You don’t know the half of it!” Gallus vented, trying to keep his tone neutral. “‘Ohhh! Gallus! We must test our spell no less than two hundred million times!’” he sarcastically whined, earning a giggle. “‘Otherwise, neither of us will become professors! I’m not sure why we won’t be able to become professors, but we just won’t!’” he concluded, grimacing in disgust.

“Hee-hee! So? ‘Professor Gallus,’ huh!? I like it!” she teased playfully.

“Aghhh! Please don’t…!” he groaned. No, seriously! Please, don’t let this go there!

“Oh, c’mon! I can see you now—wearing a snazzy lab coat and goggles and messing with a bunch of beakers filled with cool science stuff…! Hee-hee-hee!”

“…”

“You’re not laughing,” Silverstream realized, turning around to see Gallus staring at the floor quietly. She gulped nervously and asked, “Gallus? What’s wrong?”

For the love of Grover! When am I going to stop making her ask me that!? Gallus wanted to scream as he snapped his attention back to her. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just…”

“Did— Did I say something that upset you?” she inquired, looking horrified by the prospect.

“No!” he immediately answered. “No, Silver; it’s not you! It’s… Ugh, it’s something stupid.”

“Well, then tell me! Please… I won’t care if it’s stupid or not,” Silver promised.

She is way too good for me. “I… I don’t want to be a professor.”

“Oh! Well, that’s okay,” she said, noticeably relieved. “You don’t have to be a professor just because Ocellus wants to be one. Besides! Thanks to Professor Rarity, you now have an opportunity to be a world-class actor!” Silverstream suggested.

“What if I don’t want to be that either?” he asked timidly.

“That’s fine too! Neither do I!”

“You… Wait, you don’t? Even after what the reviews said about you?”

“Huh? What reviews?”

“Oh, right! Uh, ask Vellum and Scoop about it. Sorry for interrupting; what were you going to say?” he asked, feeling his tail swish nervously.

“Oh! Well, I was saying that I didn’t want to be an actress either,” she repeated calmly. “Don’t get me wrong—acting is a lot of fun! But I like painting and flying way more! Besides, can you really see me on a theater stage, let alone a movie set? Ha! No.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Silver; you’re amazing in Drama Club!” he exclaimed. “How did Vellum put it…? You’ve got the grace of an angel, and the voice of one too?”

“Vellum did not say that! He would never say that!” she yelped, blushing.

“Really? Huh. Well, I guess that means I’m the one saying it.”

“Wha— Oh, Gallus! C’mon! Stop it…!”

“Only when you stop deserving it, sooo? Never!” he declared happily.

“Agh, fine! But only if you must!” Silver bemoaned dramatically.

“Which is always.”

“Okay, okay! You made your point. … Now come on! Tell me what’s really the matter.”

His smile faded once the conversation was directed back onto him, but Gallus simply began, “It’s just… You know how I said Ocellus was ‘exam week’ bad, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I’ve been dealing with that for a while now. And…”

“Uh-oh! Do we need to go to our professors about it again?”

“Ocellus could definitely do with a sit-down with Professor Fluttershy, but to be honest? That’s not the part that’s been bugging me.”

“Then what is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s… I know it sounds stupid, but every time she got worked up earlier these past few days, she went on a rant about how much of an ‘opportunity’ this Science Fair is,” he explained, scowling. “About how if our project gets noticed by the judges that we could improve our chances of becoming scientists, and mages, and whatnot. But…? I don’t want to be those things,” he finished honestly.

“And that’s okay. It’s like I said! You don’t have to be a scientist if you don't want to be.” Silver then frowned and asked, “Ocellus hasn’t been trying to push you to become one in spite of what you want, has she?”

“What? No! No. I haven’t told Ocellus about this, so I doubt she even knows.”

“Uh, she’s a changeling, Gallus. Pretty sure she should have some inkling about your feelings.”

“She also keeps telling us that’s not how her whole ‘thing’ works,” Gallus reminded her.

“True. But she also never explains how it does work,” she countered.

“Okay, fair point. But still? No. Ocellus hasn’t been doing anything like that. Silver? I don’t want to be a scientist, and I don’t want to be an actor either!” Gallus admitted bitterly. “I don’t even think I’d be allowed to be those things considering…” he trailed off, staring pointedly at his talons.

“What!? Of course, you could be those if you wanted to, Gallus!” Silver swore, draping a comforting wing over his back. “It’s knowledge and skill that get somecreature a profession, not appearance! And certainly not species,” she concluded adamantly.

“You forgot connections,” he deadpanned. “Connections get you jobs too, and you can’t exactly make ‘em if everycreature just thinks you’re…” He didn’t finish that thought.

“What are you— Oh! Gallus, don’t listen to Vellum,” Silver said gently. “You know he doesn’t know what he’s talking about half of the time!”

“Maybe. But he’s not exactly wrong. We only got to perform The Epoch of Majesty Serendipity Daydream because of Rarity. Not to mention stay in the Royal Palace,” he added dejectedly.

“I reiterate! Don’t listen to Vellum Codex. We both know he’s in the School of Friendship for a reason, and it’s not because he couldn’t go anywhere else.”

“Kinda makes you wonder what’ll happen the day he graduates from the school?” he asked, trying to segue into his real concern.

“Ooh, that’s a scary thought,” Silver half-joked. After a moment, she optimistically claimed, “But I’m sure he’ll be fine! Trust me, he’s a lot better now than he was when I first joined the Club.”

“I guess Scoop is good at more than just ruining pseudo-dates,” Gallus snided.

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

“Depends. Are you?”

“…No comment,” she murmured, pretending to look ashamed of herself.

“Heh. But what about you? What do you think is going to happen when we graduate?”

“You mean other than the awesome ‘Graduation’ party that Professor Pie will probably throw for us?” she inquired knowingly.

He snorted. “Yeah. Other than that.”

“Hmm… Honestly?” Silver shrugged. “I’m not sure. I definitely want to take a few more art courses; maybe then I’ll become a proper artist?”

“I bet all your paintings will get in Silver Frames’ Art Gallery if you do,” he praised coyly.

“Oh, good heavens, I wish!” she admitted breathlessly. “But then again? Maybe I’ll try out for the Wonderbolts? I like flying, and Professor Dash always talks about how awesome they are!”

“Well, that’s because Professor Dash can’t go two sentences without saying the word awesome itself, but I digress.”

The two shared a small chuckle.

“And what about you?” she finally asked. “You said you don’t want to be a scientist or an actor, so what do you want to be?”

Be honest, Gallus. “I don’t know,” he whispered.

Silver tilted her head in confusion, asking, “You don’t?”

Gallus turned away; a haunted grimace marring his visage.

Silverstream caught on to his discomfort and quickly added, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean anything by that! I’m just surprised. Out of all of us, I figured you’d have the most ideas of what to do.”

“What— What makes you say that?” he asked, barely keeping his voice steady.

“Because you’re smart, talented, crafty, and amazing!” Silver answered genuinely. “If any of us had any ideas for what to do after graduation, I always assumed it would be you.”

“Yeah, well… I got nothing,” he sighed, sounding exhausted.

“Why don’t you want to be a scientist?” she asked slowly. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I don’t know,” Gallus moaned weakly. “I mean… You’re not wrong about the snazzy lab coat; I could rock that thing all day long!”

“You would look rather cute in it, yes.”

Gallus immediately froze, reddening much to Silver’s amusement.

“Hee-hee-hee,” she tittered. “Gotcha that time, Gallus!”

“Yeah, yeah! You got me,” he conceded, chuckling as his blush faded slightly. “But as awesome as it would be to wear a lab coat and solve multi-dimensional time-space equations for years, and years, and…years…and… Years…” He stopped for a second before resuming, “But it’s not what I want to do! It’s probably not even something I can do,” he said, combing his headcrest where a horn wasn’t.

“Now don’t you start that again!” Silver protested. “I already told you that it’s your skills that could get you the job! And you’re super smart, Gallus! Who else could have kept up with Ocellus when you two were figuring out the spell? I know I sure couldn’t, and I was just watching you guys!”

“And you also know that she would have figured everything out on her own, with or without my help,” he said bluntly. “She can keep saying otherwise, but we all know she didn’t need me.”

Silver let that statement sit for a moment before pleading, “Gallus? Please don’t do that.”

OH! COME! ON! What did I do this time, and why do I keep doing it!? “Don’t do what?”

“You helped her, Gallus,” she stated. “I don’t care if she ‘maybe’ could have figured it out on her own; you! Helped! Her! … I know you did; I’ve seen you help her!”

It took a second for her meaning to click, but once it did, he face-clawed. “Dang it,” he groaned. “Sorry, Silver. I promise I didn’t mean it like that; I was just trying to emphasize my point.”

“I understand, Gallus. But I really don’t like it when you wave away your accomplishments just to ‘emphasize your point,’” she said, giving him a pained look.

“Well, then I guess I’m going to promise not to do that from now on!” he declared confidently.

“Please don’t promise that for my sake. If anything, you should be doing that for your own,” she murmured forlornly.

He gently cupped her cheek in his talon, compromising, “How about I promise that for both of our sakes?”

She smiled and pulled him into a soft hug, saying, “Fine. For both our sakes then.”

“Will do, milady,” Gallus agreed, wrapping his wings around her.

They soon broke away; each smiling warily at the other.

“Whelp,” he soon began. “Sorry about doing it again. I really do promise not to devalue myself again. Accidentally or otherwise.”

“It’s okay, Gallus. I believe you,” Silver said honestly. “But! Back to the matter at-talon: Why didn’t you want to be a scientist?” she asked as the two finally reached their bedrooms.

“I… I don’t know. Maybe it’s just because I don’t really ‘see’ myself as one? I’ve never really thought about being one before. … I haven’t really thought of being anything before. I’m not even sure where I should start, or what I should be,” he ended, trying to ignore some of his worse memories.

“Well, we have both the rest of this year and next year before we graduate, so you still have plenty of time to eventually figure that out!” she said optimistically. “Plus! I’m always here to help too! And so is everycreature else!” Silver stopped and shot a worried glance toward Smolder’s door. “So, yeah! Don’t worry too much about the future, Gallus. We’ll figure it out together.”

“Heh. Yeah,” he said half-heartedly. “Yeah, we will.”

Gallus opened his eyes.

Surrounding him on all sides was a dark, impenetrable fog. Flickering wisps of smoke rushed by him; their strange whispers echoing in the silent, empty land. He slowly looked around him, searching for something—anything!—to guide him.

His heart began to race upon finding nothing.

“Hello!” Gallus cried out into the shadowy abyss.

…

“HELLO!”

…

“HELLO! Is anycreature there!? Can you hear me!? I… I’m lost! I’M LOST!”

…

“Aw, peck,” he quietly cursed. “Now what’s going on!?”

…

Gallus raised his talon and cautiously placed it back down. Much to both his surprise and relief, it connected with something. He couldn’t see what it was as there was nothing to see, but at least he now knew for certain that he could move forward.

He then took another step. Another. Yet another. And finally, he threw caution to the wind and trotted forth briskly.

…

…

…

“Okay! This is just getting ridiculous,” he growled. “Where the bloody peck, am I!?”

Anywhere.

“Huh! What the—” Gallus yelped, rapidly turning around, only to find more darkness staring back at him. “Who’s there!?”

Anyone.

“Of course,” he sighed, shaking his head. He then looked down and gulped. He turned around again and again until he was even more lost. “Oh, peck! Which way was the way forward!?”

You’ll figure it out.

“For the love of— SHOW YOURSELF!” he demanded, flaring his wings instinctively.

Impossible.

“Oh, really!? So you can flit around in the darkness like some alleyway psycho and whisper in my ear, but you can’t take one step into the light? How convenient…” he droned angrily.

Isn’t it?

“Shut up!” he screamed into the void.

…

…

…

“Brilliant, Gallus. The only thing that’s interacted with you so far in this place, and you tell it to shut up. Brilliant,” he grumbled at himself.

From somewhere in the distance, a small splash echoed.

Gallus quickly swiveled to face the direction the noise had come from. Another drip sounded off, and after a moment of indecision, he decided to move toward the sound.

The shadowy fog seemed to grow thicker as he advanced, and soon, flakes of…snow? Dust? Ash? … Whatever it was began falling from the dark sky above, yet none seemed to land upon him.

Eventually, he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes and turned to stare at it. It wasn’t until yet another splash sounded off that he saw it.

A ripple.

He took a step closer and tentatively placed his talon down, causing another series of ripples in what appeared to be a vast ocean of…something. It didn’t feel like water, but…

A quiet sniffle caused Gallus to tense up and turn around.

She sat upon a bench, facing the ocean; her head ducked low, hiding her eyes under her mane. And considering her slumped posture, she might have fallen asleep while sitting up.

“Silverstream?” he asked, feeling his body tremble in terror.

…

She slowly turned her neck to face him.

Gallus nearly vomited.

“Silverstream!? What… What’s… Y-Your eyes…” he uselessly stuttered.

“Why must you always demean yourself?” whimpered the eyeless ghost. A large blob of dark ink exploded out of the empty sockets, filling the ocean with even more blackened tears. “Can’t you see you hurt more than just yourself?”

“…Dream!” Gallus screamed, swiftly backing away. “Dream! Dream! Dream!” he repeated, desperately trying to accept that fact. “This has to be a dream!”

“Silly, Gallus! This isn’t a dream! After all, how could it be when you have no dreams?”

Gallus froze. He then forced himself to look behind him.

Before, there had been nothing. Nothing but an empty world hidden in the veil of a dark fog. But now, standing there a few paces behind him and smiling innocently was…

“Howdy! Golly, it’s been a while, huh!?”

…

“Yeah, peck no. Bye!” he yelled, turning around and running away. Two seconds later, he stepped right back up to the sea of tears and the brat standing before it.

“Really? First thing you do is run away?” Cozy Glow asked in frustrated disbelief.

“You sound almost disappointed,” he growled through a clenched beak.

“Of course I’m disappointed! Running away from your problems was your go-to response last time, and it’s been how long since we last chatted!? Golly, you must hate listening to Headmare Starlight more than I do if you deliberately ignore her counseling to this extent!” she gleefully drawled.

“Says the psychopath that nearly murdered the world with a magic bell.”

“Oh-ho! You’ve finally gotten your spine back, I see! Good! More fun for me when I rip it out!”

Gallus cocked an eyebrow.

“What? What’s with the stare?”

“First of all: This is a dream. You can’t do anything to me other than flap your stupid lips. And second: Even if this weren’t a dream, I can kick your flank in less than five seconds!”

“How do you figure that!?”

“You’re tiny.”

“Like your self-esteem?”

“I’m working on it!”

“If that were true, neither I nor she would be here,” Cozy Glow sneered, pointing to the disfigured, hollowed-out abomination that was Silverstream.

Gallus refused to flinch, but that unfortunately didn’t stop her from continuing.

“Typical Gallus. Just as pathetic as ever but always finding a new reason to be so. Doesn’t have to be big; doesn’t have to be small. You always find a way to be a horrible griffon.”

“Well, at least I’m not evil like you!” he snarled back.

“You think that’s an accomplishment!?” she laughed wickedly.

“Hey, I’ll take what I can get.”

“Even if you don’t deserve it?”

“I deserve love.”

“Not hers.”

“Care to explain why? Oh! No! Wait! Let me guess? I’m an orphan?”

“Nice try, but no. Although that certainly doesn’t help! No, no, no…” she hummed, stepping closer. “You don’t deserve her because… You. Hurt. Her,” Cozy whispered joyfully.

She barely came up to his chest, but Gallus still found himself scrambling away fearfully.

“Oh, wow! You actually are listening for once! Guess you only ever listen to somepony when they’re telling you just how screwed-up you are. Figures. I mean… What else could you be but a screw-up anyway?” she asked, smiling predatorially.

“I’m not a screw-up!” Gallus argued, leering at the nightmare before him. “And… Maybe I did hurt Silverstream, but I’m moving on! I’m getting better, so I don’t—”

“‘Hurt her again’?” she guessed. “Oh, silly Gallus! Don’t you know you’re going to keep hurting her no matter what you do?”

“Shut up!”

“Come now, you know I’m right. You’ll keep hurting her, so long as you don’t move on. And you don’t seem to be doing that. Almost as if you don’t want to… Almost as if you don’t know how…”

“I do want to! And I have gotten better!” Gallus protested in spite of his shivering body.

“Really? You’re still demeaning yourself; you’re still afraid of being honest around her and the others in case you hurt their feelings; and you’re still terrified of talking to Smolder…” Cozy recounted joyously.

“Well, then I guess I’ll have just to promise myself to do those things going forward then!”

“Ha! Like you promised Ocellus the first time? Like you promised Silver the second time? Like you promised Silver again. And again. … And again…”

“I get your point! You got anything new to add this time, or are you just going to sit there doing your best impression of a broken record?”

Cozy Glow’s devilish giggle rang throughout the darkened world, and it continued to reverberate as she took another step toward him.

“Why, Gallus? Why do keep demeaning yourself?”

Gallus trotted back further, feeling an unnatural cold descending upon the world around him.

“Why are you still so afraid of your own feelings?”

The ash began to billow forth as harsh winds began to roar all around him.

“And why are you still not better?”

Silverstream’s corpse released a tortured scream as dark, crimson ooze burst out from every inch of her flesh, leaving her to slip and fall into the ocean of blood and tears.

“I’ll tell you why, Gallus,” Cozy Glow declared, growing in size until she dwarfed even the School of Friendship. Blood-tainted armor formed around her body as large, demonic wings replaced her feathery ones, and a long, twisted horn emerged from her skull in a shower of blood.

Gallus tripped over something, only to realize that it was a body. Silver’s body.

His heart began to beat wildly against his chest as he scrambled to get up. However, the moment he tried, several melted appendages burst out of the ground and latched onto his thrashing body.

“GET OFF OF ME!” he screamed, momentarily forgetting that none of this was real.

“IT IS BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHO IT IS YOU WISH TO BE, PATHETIC LITTLE ORPHAN BOY!” bellowed the gargantuan, demonic alicorn.

Cozy leaned her head down and gazed into his very soul through fiery red-and-yellow eyes.

“YOU CANNOT BE ANYCREATURE ELSE—ANYTHING ELSE!—BECAUSE YOU! DON’T KNOW! WHO! YOU! ARE!”

The abomination opened her fanged jaw and clamped down around his body, swallowing him.

Gallus tumbled down a tunnel of darkness until he eventually slammed into the cold hard floor of Starlight Glimmer’s office.

Groaning in pain, he placed his talons beneath him and pushed himself upward. However, once he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting down in her lime green couch as opposed to lying on the floor. Starlight’s chair then swiveled around.

“Hello, Gallus,” greeted the shriveled, eyeless mare. “What ‘stupid subconscious psychological mumbo-jumbo’ shall you ignore my advice on today?”

Gallus didn’t even try to respond, immediately leaping off the couch and throwing open her door. Unfortunately, he was only met with a mirror of the room behind him.

“Running away is all you ever do, isn’t, Gallus?”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” he screamed, darting through the window and landing back in yet another clone of the guidance counselor office.

“I suppose that it is all you know how to do, isn’t it!?” growled the mare as a storm of crimson smoke spewed out of her every orifice.

“Get away from me!” Gallus fearfully shouted, backing away into the corner.

“How can you face your problems?” asked the approaching Starlight. “You haven’t done anything; you never will do anything! … LOOK AT YOURSELF!” she screeched hatefully.

Gallus fell through the wall and quickly crashed head-first into another one. He groaned in agony as he gingerly held his throbbing head and peeked open an eye.

He stared back at himself.

“Do you know what I see?” his reflection asked. The mirror then cracked, shattering the reflection of himself and revealing a scrawny, sickly fledgling, barely able to hold itself up.

“An orphan…!” the haunting imaged whimpered.

Gallus wordlessly scampered away from the mirror, only to back up into another one. He looked at it and found that reflected back was the mangled, fleshless corpse of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Do you know what I see when I look at you? I see a failure!” she snarled.

Gallus quickly staggered away from the mirrors, but he almost immediately rammed his beak into yet another one.

“P-Please! Stop!“ he pleaded, keeping his eyes shut. Unfortunately, a gnarled claw reached out of the mirror and grabbed his face, forcing his eyes back open.

“Ah see a griffon!” gargled out the flea-ridden image of Grandpa Gruff.

Gallus yelped, tearing himself free of Gruff's grasp and running away. However, yet another spawned to bar his path, and the creature trapped within it caused him to skid to a halt.

Smolder slowly turned to face him, wearing a scowl of pure loathing and malice.

“I see… A LIAR!” she roared, taking a deep breath and blowing a stream of fire at him.

Gallus screamed as the flames wrapped around him and burned away the floor, dropping him further into the nightmare’s depths.

In less than a second Gallus hit solid ground, but he couldn’t find the strength to get up this time. He gasped for breath and opened his eyes to meet the gaze of Ocellus.

“You can be anything…” she muttered plainly. “Yet you choose to be these things? Pathetic! But then again? You’re not like me. You’re not like everycreature else… You don’t know what you want to be, do you? You filthy griffon!” she shrieked, snapping her fangs at him.

He quickly flinched back and pathetically argued, “N-No! I… I do know! I do know what I want to be!”

“Pray tell, what!?” demanded the newly arrived Twilight Sparkle.

“I want to be better!”

“Then why aren’t you better yet!?” Starlight Glimmer screeched, suddenly behind him.

“I-I-I am b-better! I-I am!”

“You can never be better! You’re just a liar!” growled Smolder from within the darkened din.

The world then ignited into a storm of turquoise flames and ethereal winds, and from the storm emerged the monstrous forms of a giant orange-and-orchid dragon.

“Friends never lie!” she declared, gazing at him with a hungered ferocity. “But you’re not my friend, are you!? What are you then!? WHAT ARE YOU!?” she bellowed, opening her glowing maw.

“I DON’T KNOW!” Gallus admitted, slumping against the floor as blackened tears began to leak from his eyes. “I don’t know! I don’t know!”

…

…

…

He opened his eyes to find another mirror erected before him, displaying himself and two other faceless griffons.

“How can you know who you are?” it slowly asked. “How can you know what you want to be? How can you know what you want to do? When the ones who were supposed to tell you never did,” it sneered as the two figures behind it vanished.

Gallus tried to back away; unfortunately, he bumped against something small, soft, and tiny. He then looked behind him, and shirked back in unbridled terror.

“And that’s the question, isn’t it, Gallus?” Princess Cozy Glow asked, bathed in the silvery light of the moon above. “Who can you be if you’re no longer the broken, pathetic, little orphan boy that you’ve always been?” she said, igniting her horn with a demonic roar.

Gallus didn’t know whether to scream, cry, or flee. But two things were certain: He wasn’t going to beg. And he was definitely not going to let her have the last word.

“I don’t know, but I’d probably still be me!”

“And just who is that?” she laughed, lowering her horn toward his skull.

“…Gallus.”

He closed his eyes.

…

…

…

When nothing happened, Gallus slowly opened his eyes only to find that the blackened void had been replaced by the lush emerald grass of Ponyville Park. He then stared at his would-be murderer only to find the filly had been turned to stone.

Gallus then looked up and watched as a midnight blue alicorn descended from the moon, quietly alighting upon the grass.

“Accursed child…” she whispered upon approaching the petrified psychopath. “Even now that pest finds a way to be a greater nuisance than she has any right to be.”

She then blew onto the statue, causing the item to crumble away into dust and disappear completely. Princess Luna then smiled, warmly greeting, “Hello, Gallus.”

“Princess Luna!?” Instantly, everything clicked back into place. “Oh! Right! It was all a dream!” Gallus remembered, chuckling weakly. “It was a bad dream, but it was still just a dream! … Oh, thank Grover,” he wheezed, falling onto his haunches.

“Indeed, it was,” she confirmed, sitting beside him on the picnic blanket that was suddenly there now. “But now the nightmare is over.”

“Yeah, thanks,” he quietly mumbled, taking the chance to regain his breath. “Sorry, Princess.”

“For what?” she asked plainly.

“For… For dragging you out of retirement,” he answered, confused by her question. “Because you retired, right? So, you stopped doing your dream thing, didn’t you?”

Luna let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, my sweet, little Hero of Equestria…” she said, patting his shoulder gently. “If my dear sister thinks that she can drag me off to Silver Shoals before I can make up for a thousand years’ lost time, she’s got another thing coming!”

“So, wait… You didn’t retire?”

“From ruling Equestria? Yes, I did. I have a millennia of sisterly bonding to catch up on. From watching over the dreams of my fellow Equestrians? Well, you’re a clever griffon.”

“Huh. I guess I just thought that Princess Twilight would take over that too.”

“Twilight Sparkle can shoulder many responsibilities, but she cannot bear them all. Yet another reason that she has so many friends to help her. On that note? Please don’t tell her that I’m still doing this!” she pleaded fretfully. “If Twilight knows, she’ll tell Celestia. And if Tia knows… Well, let’s just say that I’m trying to postpone that conversation until after my new earplugs come in the mail.”

Gallus couldn’t help but laugh, and soon, Luna chuckled along with him. Eventually, he stopped laughing and lamented, “I’m still sorry that you needed to stop my nightmare…”

“And I’m sorry that you had to endure it for as long as you did,” Luna apologized. “It was quite the challenge breaking through it in order to reach you.”

“It’s fine, Princess,” he half-lied. “I’m just sorry for having it in the first place.”

“A nightmare is your worst fears made manifest in an assault upon your psyche,” she explained, sipping at her tea. “You need not feel ashamed for falling victim to forces beyond your control.”

“Yeah, but… I shouldn’t have had a nightmare at all!”

“You expect too much of yourself.”

“But why would I have a nightmare like that to begin with? I’m not— What do I have to be so afraid of? I’m nervous about the Fair, but I’m not that nervous,” he claimed, angry at himself.

“Hmm. ‘What do I have to be so afraid of?’” she quoted quietly. “Why don’t you tell me.”

“But— But I’m not afraid of anything!” Gallus boasted as confidently as he could. “I’m… I’m not! Or at least I shouldn’t be,” he added dejectedly.

“Come now, Gallus. You know I shall not judge you, nor shall I think you cowardly,” Luna promised soothingly. “Do not be afraid to speak of your fears.”

After some time, he confessed, “I’m not better.”

“Oh, is that so? Odd. You seem far better than you once were,” she congratulated bluntly.

Gallus shook his head and protested, “No, I’m not! If I were really better, I wouldn’t— I wouldn’t be having stupid nightmares, and I wouldn’t need help getting rid of them! I shouldn’t need help because I should be better already!” he bemoaned, hiding his face in his talons. “But I’m not!”

Princess Luna remained silent, affording him a moment to regain his composure.

“Princess, do… Do you know about what happened to me?” Gallus asked as calmly as possible.

“I do,” she answered casually.

“Then you also know that I’m trying to move on and heal?”

“Indeed. And I applaud your progress thus far,” Luna added, giving him a proud smile.

“Yeah, but…! It’s not enough! I’m still screwing up; I’m still demeaning myself; I’m still—” His voice caught in his throat before he mumbled, “I’m still worrying Silver…!”

“Flawlessness is far too lofty an expectation to hold, Gallus,” she stated wisely. “And more importantly? Help is not something you should be ashamed of needing.”

“But if I were better then I wouldn’t need help!” he argued. “I wouldn’t be dumping my problems on Sandbar! I wouldn’t be getting upset over a stupid tie! I… I’d have made up with Smolder already!” Gallus rambled off regretfully.

“I reiterate: You expect too much of yourself.”

“What!?” he snapped hotly. “What do you mean!? Are you saying that I shouldn’t be better!?”

“No. I am saying that you shouldn't hold yourself to such an unreasonable expectation,” Luna clarified calmly. “You are better, Gallus, but that doesn’t mean you’re no longer subject to mistakes.”

“But I shouldn’t be!” he protested, rising to his talons unconsciously. “Princess, I hate this! I’m supposed to be healing, but ever since that stupid holiday, I keep making these mistakes!”

“Mistakes are an aspect of life,” she began neutrally. “Everycreature will make them as nocreature is perfect. You would be wise to not expect yourself to be an exception to this.”

“Tch! I wish I were perfect,” Gallus grumbled venomously. “Maybe if I were, I’d stop worrying my friends and accidentally demeaning myself…!”

“It is good that you wish to do neither of these things,” she agreed. “However, it not right to expect yourself to be flawless; especially, when you subsequently judge yourself for not being so.”

“I don’t need to be ‘flawless,’ I just need to be better!” he argued fervently.

“And yet you are.”

“If I were better I wouldn’t be worrying my friends! I… I wouldn’t still be screwing up! I’d know what I want to do after we graduate!” Gallus added, perking up in rage.

“I wouldn’t dump my problems on Sandbar and Yona out of nowhere like an idiot! I wouldn’t have nightmares that I need to be saved from! Who knows!” he squawked wildly. “Maybe Gruff would have showed up to our play! Maybe he’d show up tomorrow, but fat chance will that ever happen!” Gallus concluded as his shout echoed throughout the dreamscape.

Gallus fell back to his haunches, taking deliberately deep breaths in a vain attempt to calm himself down as Princess Luna stoically watched on.

“I don’t want to worry my friends, Princess,” he continued despairingly. “I don’t want to hurt them! I just want to be normal, but I— But I keep screwing up! And if I keep screwing up then—” Gallus fell silent, unable to finish his thought.

For several long, agonizing minutes, Princess Luna sat there, observing the haggard griffon hang his head in guilt; a mixture of pity and hesitance marring her otherwise tranquil expression.

Eventually, Gallus rubbed his eyes dry and looked at her. “Please, Princess,” he pleaded in a cracked voice. “Please, tell me what I’m supposed to do…”

“Gallus?” she slowly began, meeting his puffy eyes with her own somber ones. “I shall not disservice you by pretending that there are easy answers to these struggles. Nor shall I torment you by suggesting that I hold the solution to even one of them.”

Gallus couldn’t help but let out a pained laugh. “Heh, I’m so screwed up that even an alicorn, let alone the Princess of the Night, can’t help me?” he whimpered hopelessly.

“You are correct in that I am an alicorn, but do not take that as grounds that I am omniscient. But even still? I need not be all-knowing to know the message that you need to hear most of all.”

“Let me guess: That there’s nothing wrong with me?” he guessed, irked by that possibility. “Go talk it out with the others? Be with my friends, and they’ll be there for me, right?”

“From your tone, I suspect you’ve heard these lessons countless times,” she deduced impassively. “I suppose ‘tis only natural; they are rather wise courses of action. However, I trust that you know and understand the value of these messages; hence, I shall not repeat them.”

Gallus couldn’t help but be thankful for that, asking, “Okay? So, what should I do then?”

“You need to love yourself also.”

Gallus stammered incoherently for a moment before managing to ask, “Wh-What?”

“You need to love yourself also,” Luna repeated.

“I… I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“I mean that you expect perfection of yourself, and when you cannot attain it, you think even less of yourself than you had previously,” she elaborated simply.

“I-I-I’m sorry,” he stuttered, beginning to frown. “A-Are you saying that I shouldn’t feel guilty for when I make mistakes? That… That I shouldn’t be angry that I keep worrying my friends!?”

“Gallus, you know full-well that is not what I am saying.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“I am saying that you are not immutable,” Luna stated resolutely. “And you should not feel guilty that you are not so.”

“I don’t need to be ‘immutable’ or ‘flawless’ or whatever else! I just need to be better, but—”

“You are better.”

“No, I am not! If I were better than I wouldn’t be—”

“Making mistakes?”

“Worrying my friends! Worrying her!”

“Through your mistakes?”

“…Yes.”

Silence.

“Princess Luna, please… Please just tell me what I need to do!” he begged. “I don’t care what I have to do, just please tell me!”

“Love. And accept. Yourself. Faults and all.”

“No! I will not love myself!” he yelled. Gallus then grimaced and shied away, muttering, “That— That didn’t come out quite right! Erm, I… I mean… I mean…”

“Yes?” she asked softly.

“…I lied to them,” he finally managed to say. “I hurt them. I worried them, Princess. I keep worrying them! I… I can’t love that! Why would I ever love that about myself.”

“I never said you had to.”

“But… But you said—”

“If I may provide context? Do you think I love Nightmare Moon?”

Silence again.

“No.”

“Indeed. I do not love that part of myself. I do not love that buried pit of resentment and jealousy that… Well? You know the story. But do you think that one, singular aspect is enough to prevent me from caring about myself? From loving myself for who I am?”

“N-No.”

“Indeed.”

“But what I did was—”

“Do not say what you did was worse,” she chided sternly. “And do not for even a single second believe that your mistakes are unforgivable.”

“S-Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way…” he elaborated, flinching back.

“Fear not, I understand,” Luna assuaged kindly. “And… Forgive me. I do not mean to compare or quantify our sins, merely contrast them. And I do so to emphasize that it is not our mistakes that should define us, but rather how we learn from them.”

“Clearly, I haven’t,” Gallus couldn’t stop himself from saying.

“Once more, you think too little of yourself for failing to be immutable.”

“Immutable or not, I still hurt my friends! And I… I’m still hurting them! What kind of creature does that make me?” he asked, gazing at the spot where Cozy Glow had last stood.

“A living one,” she answered gently. “A young, living, breathing soul in a world teeming with life, and deserving to love and to be loved.”

“Maybe that’s what I am, but is it really who I am?” he wondered dejectedly. “Or… Or was that brat right all along? And I really am nothing more than… A pathetic, lying griffon…?”

“I have heard a peculiar sentiment in the time since my return: We are not always who we think we are. Oftentimes, we are who others think we are,” she quoted sagely.

Gallus blinked, contemplating the notion. After a minute, he collected himself and murmured, “A-And?”

“And…? Would you like to know who I think you are, Gallus?”

After a moment of deliberation, he gulped and silently nodded.

“I think you are a brave, caring, clever griffon. A hero to Equestria. An inspiration to Griffonstone. And a loved one to your family,” she ended proudly.

Nothing is wrong with you.

Two tiny rivers broke free from his eyes and streaked down his cheeks before Gallus could even try to stop them.

In less than a heartbeat, he found himself being pulled into Luna’s tender embrace; her wings wrapping around him protectively, almost motherly.

After what could have very well been hours, Gallus shuddered, wiping away the lingering dampness and pulling away. Meanwhile, Luna retracted her wings, but never once tore her gaze away from the griffon.

…

…

…

“So, do I, uh, do I talk first or do you talk first?” he asked; a smirk tugging at his beak.

Luna fell into a series of giggles before answering, “If you wish to speak, you may; I shall not impede you.”

“Y-Yeah,” he said, smiling back. After yet another minute, he said, “Sor… Thank you, Princess Luna. I’m… I wish I hadn’t— I mean! I think I really needed to hear all of that,” he course-corrected.

“‘Tis my pleasure to aid you,” Luna said, nodding dutifully.

“…Does it get easier?”

She hummed in thought for a moment before sighing and admitting, “I do not believe I can say. For many, healing is a certainty. For others? It is a long-dead hope. But if I am to speak from personal experience? Yes. Yes, it does,” Luna confirmed, smiling serenely.

“It just takes a really long time, right?”

“Indeed. Time heals all wounds, but it cannot always do so alone,” she supposed sagely, rising to her hooves.

“Heh. I guess I’m lucky that I’m not alone,” he said, grinning weakly.

“Yes. You are not alone.” She let that statement sit for a while before asking, “Gallus? You deserve to be loved. You deserve a family, friends; a home… You know all of this. Don’t you?”

He nodded without hesitation.

“I am glad,” Luna sighed, relieved. “But? Always remember that you deserve to love yourself as well. You have made mistakes, Gallus; this is true,“ she acknowledged simply. “But everycreature makes mistakes. ’Tis a part of life, as regrettable as it may be.“

“’Regrettable’ is putting it mildly,“ he muttered sarcastically.

“Perhaps. But the most despicable truth about mistakes is this: You will always make them,“ Luna promised. “My sister and I are over a millennia old, and we've both failed Equestria and our little ponies more times than I can count,“ she admitted, looking away regretfully.

“Well, I think you both did fine enough.“

“Thank you, Gallus,“ she said, smiling. “No one is above making mistakes,“ Luna resumed. “And one should never think otherwise. All we can hope to do, is learn from our failures, big or small. Learn. And grow,“ she concluded, nodding reassuringly. “And you have grown quite a lot in recent months.“

After wiping his eyes again, Gallus quietly muttered, “Thank you, Princess. I don't want to make mistakes, but you're right. I… I can't hate myself for making them.“

“No. You can't,“ she mumbled, slowly shaking her head. “So, please, Gallus. Promise me you'll remember that. That no matter how many mistakes you make, you will always deserve the love of both your friends and especially yourself,“ Luna requested gently.

“I will,” he promised. “I… I will.”

Luna merely smiled gratefully. She then trotted toward a wooden door that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the field.

“Are you leaving?” Gallus asked softly.

“Indeed. I have yet more dreams to visit, and yet more creatures to aid. … I can stay for longer if you wish, however,” she proposed, turning back to him.

“N-No! No. I don’t want to keep you.”

“If you’re certain?”

“Yeah. Besides, I…” He hesitated but ultimately said, “I need some time to… I, uh, I don’t know, er, think? … Wait, is that even possible in a dream?”

Luna smirked coyly and deflected, “Then I shall visit your dreams later tonight. But for now? I believe I shall leave you with this one,” she declared, stamping her hoof down.

Immediately, the ethereal void of Ponyville solidified. The grass flared to life as the blazing sun beat down upon the happy world, and the images of several ponies appeared, simply walking about.

“Remember, Gallus,” Luna began, opening the door and stepping halfway through it. “Remember that you are worthy of both the love of your peers, and the love of yourself.”

The door closed.

Gallus blinked at the sudden departure before he quickly found himself trapped in Silverstream’s laughing embrace.

“There you are, silly!” she squealed, completely normal and smiling brightly. “I was wondering where you went!”

“What— But— Silver!?”

“Yep, that’s my name; don’t wear it out. Now, c’mon!” she demanded, pulling him along as she precariously balanced a familiar basket on her back. “Ms. Doo should be getting home soon, and we want to surprise her with the muffins!”

“But… Didn’t we… Didn’t we already do that?” he asked, scratching his head in confusion.

“No! We wanted to, but we got interrupted! Luckily, no more interruptions this time!” she sang cheerfully. “Now, let’s go! Ms. Doo is going to just love these muffins! And you want to know why!?” Silver asked conspiratorially.

“Uh… Uh, h-how?” Gallus asked, blinking as he slowly lost himself to the rules of the dream.

“Hee-hee! Because you helped me make ‘em!” she answered, sneaking in a playful boop to his beak. “Now c’mon! We gotta catch her before she heads out for her afternoon route!”

Silverstream then bounded forward, waving her talon for him to come along. Gallus snorted in exasperation before happily replying, “Coming, milady!”

“You better, milord!”

In the waking world, Gallus rolled over in his sleep; a serene smile tugging at the corners of his beak.

Author's Notes:

Hello again, my friends! I hope you enjoyed Chapter 6, or as I like to call it: Reprieve 2: Electric Boogaloo. Yeah, I'm not even going to try to pretend like part of this chapter didn't retread old ground in some regard.
Hopefully, I handled it well enough to not feel like too much like a redo of Chapter 2. I'll explain my process, regarding this chapter more thoroughly when I do the "Writing of..." for this story, but yeah.

On the other hand, plenty of other stuff happened this chapter! Gallus got a suit for his date with Silverstream, Vellum somewhat made up with November; Best Princess made a cameo...
Wonder what's up with Smolder though? Hmm? What say all of you? Any guesses?

So! Good news! I have two more chapters and an epilogue to complete, and then I'll be able to finally post all the remaining chapters! Woo-hoo!
Bad news! I have to - once again - schedule the next chapter for the 25th - 27th of October.

I know it's frustrating, and I'm really sorry that I keep making you guys wait so long for updates. But I want to make absolutely certain that every chapter is as great as it can be. I don't want to just speed-write a 20k+ word mess and leave it riddled with hundreds of mistakes, contrivances, and plotholes. Especially considering what happens in these last few chapters.
Nonetheless, I hope to quicken my pace and get them done as fast as I reasonably can. I'm sorry again about the wait, but I really think that you'll find it worth it.

NEXT TIME: The Science Fair is finally upon us! Patience will be tested! Tables will be scratched! Awards will be given! And a certain changeling's secret will be revealed.