Why Can't We Be Friends?
“Why can’t we be friends?” Gallus thought to himself. “Heh… because I’m in love with you, that’s why. Girls always say ‘let’s just be friends’… like it’s easy or something; love isn’t a light switch… you can’t just turn it on and off. No, love is a one way street and once you’re on it there is no turning back. Worst of all, you can have all the feelings in the world for some creature, but if they don’t feel them back… then that’s it; no negotiation or compromise… just the word ‘no’.” He picked up a rock and chucked it off the ledge he was sitting on, overlooking his home of Griffonstone. “Then what? What are you supposed to do with those feelings that are just sitting in your heart, burning a hole in you; just get rid of them… pretend they never existed? Let them sit there, burning even more every time I look at you and realizing that it’s never going to happen?” His head lowered. “Or do I just stop feeling anything for you, even friendship… I don’t want that, but I just don’t feel like I have a choice. Every time I see you, smell you, hear that carefree laugh… I just fall in love all over again and wind up back at square one.” He made an internal sigh. “It hurts… more than you know, which is why it’s so frustrating to hear you say you don’t understand… of course you don’t, it’s easy for you because you’re not the one in love.” His body slumped to the ground.
He watched the sky go from blue to orange as he stared out into the river of clouds that flowed across the mountain top. He was hungry, but didn’t care; he didn’t care enough to move from that spot as his mind continued its heartfelt ramble.
“Probably thinks I’m an idiot by now, they all probably do.” He thought. “Storming off like some stupid kid… even I think I’m an idiot.” His eyes ran over the streets below. “Can’t even talk to any creature, not in this town.” In frustration he pounded the rock beneath him, eyes growing misty. “Stupid! Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut? Why’d you have to go and ruin everything?” His eyes closed tightly, a tear squeezing out. “Of course she’s not into you, you’re a mangy griffon with attitude problems and way too much baggage.” He laid his talons over his face. “And now I can’t even look at her again… such an idiot…”
“Gallus?” Silverstream’s voice came from overhead.
“AH!” Gallus flipped onto his back in shock. “S…Si…Silverstream!? Wh…what are you…” He began scooting back, trying to rub the tears from his eyes.
Silverstream landed, her eyes upset and bearing a concerned frown. “I was worried about you, we all were.” She immediately noticed his reddened eyes.
“Well… I’m fine,” He quickly stood and turned his back to her. “So you can go.”
“Gallus,” She stepped towards him. “We should talk about this.”
Gallus let out a deadpan laugh. “What’s there to talk about? Look, I’m fine… just forget I ever said anything; it was dumb.”
Silverstream went up to this side; he looked away, but she merely sat beside him. “Please look at me.” After a long moment, he slowly adjusted to face her. She looked into his eyes with the sincerest of compassion. “I’m sorry. I know I hurt you, but I don’t want to lose our friendship because of this; out of all of us I think of you as my best friend and that means so much to me.” She smiled that smile that always melted his heart. “And it wasn’t dumb; hearing you say all that… it was really touching.”
“For all the good it did.” He muttered.
“Knowing that you care about me that much is wonderful, it really is; and even though I can’t return all of your feelings, I do love you as my friend.” She gently reached out and laid her talon on top of his. “We’ve been friends for almost six years now and I don’t want that to change.” Her smile lessened. “But, I know this is entirely different for you and… I understand if you hate me for not…”
“Of course not,” He quickly cut her off. “I could never hate you… never.” His head lowered. “I just… don’t know what to do now. It’s not like I want this to be awkward and lousy but… what else is there?”
“Well,” Silverstream shrugged. “We could not make it awkward and lousy.” She suggested simply.
Gallus huffed and looked at her with mild irritation at her simple conclusion. “So you’re telling me you’d act just the same, even though you know how I feel?”
“Um… yes,” She smiled. “Why should I act differently?”
“Be… because… because!” He insistently toned.
“That’s not a very good excuse,” She lightheartedly countered. “I don’t feel weird about it, so you shouldn’t feel you have to either. That’s why we should just talk about it.”
Gallus sighed; as usual, unable to argue with her. “Fine,” He conceded. “I mean… I’m not that surprised anyway; you can do way better than me.”
Silverstream knew his history well and realized how harshly he must have been judging himself. “You’re wrong,” She stepped around and sat in front of him. “This has nothing to do with who or what you are; it has to do with who and what I am.”
“What?” He looked at her in confusion.
“Gallus, I’m not just a Hippogriff, I’m a Seapony. I live in two different worlds and have friends and family in both.” She reached out and took his talon. “I love the time we spend together on land, but the sea is one place you just can’t follow me; and I don’t only want to share half my life with some creature, that wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”
Gallus’ face washed over in understanding. “I… I never thought about it that way.”
“It’s okay,” She assured with a light laugh.
“Well… I could visit you if I had one of those pearl things, right?” He suggested.
“Gallus, you hate water.” She reminded, having heard him voice the opinion far more than once.
“Yeah,” He timidly rubbed the back of his head with a laugh. “I do.” With a long sigh he managed to smile a bit. “Look, I don’t want to lose our friendship either; I was just… hurt, and scared that I ruined everything we did have by wanting more.”
“I understand, but don’t feel that you can’t talk to me about what you’re feeling,” She added. “We can talk about this as much as you need to, whenever you need to.” She reached up and took his cheek. “Just because I’m not in love with you, doesn’t mean that I don’t just plain love you… you goof.” She nuzzled his opposite cheek with her beak.
Gallus quickly hugged her, holding her tightly as more tears left his eyes. “I love you too, Silverstream.” As her arms went around him in return, they sat in that quiet and important moment while their minds traveled back over all the years they’d known each other; all the way back to the first day they met at Twilight’s School of Friendship. With those happy memories in their heads; both new that they were going to move forward with a stronger bond than ever.
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A fairly nice fic, if a little rushed.
You know this is one of the one-shots that are great! but not great at the same time, but still mostly great.
It has nothing to do with the story or anything else, it's the fact that this story is a one-shot. Meaning, I wasn't really able to empathize with the characters because when I think of them there isn't much beside MLP: FIM. Even then, the show doesn't really explore the student 6's friendship all that close as the other characters in the show.
I feel if this was a proper story and we had time to get to know the characters and what they are thinking on a deeper level, it would be easier to empathize with them. Perhaps I might be holding expectations too high due to one of the stories in my Master Piece's folder, but I still feel like it would be more in-depth if we had gotten to know that characters better.
That's just me, and if you have a different opinion, go ahead and share.
Now I have the song stuck in my head.
10390529
10390366
Thanks
10390502
I understand, the show really didn't get a chance to use the student 6 as much as I too would have liked; but I feel we have a solid enough grasp of the basics of them. This story is more a vignette and the dialogue allows the reader to infer what led us to this moment and where the moment leads to from here; but this single moment, even if the story was longer, would have been the most important part. Still, I can understand if some find it lacking in detail, especially since it is a little more forward in time from where we canonically left off with them.
10390234
I like to think of it as "succinct".
D'awwwwwwwwww! Can I add this to the Positive Ponies group?
10391001
Absolutely.
To be honest I felt the same way as well When I was a kid I like this person but She doesn't feel The same way as me So I was stuck in the friend zone It hurts but you know what after time went by I am actually OK with that I still keep in contact with her This was a pretty nice story kinda open old wounds but I'm ok
10398759
Glad to hear it eventually worked out. I imagine we all have a similar story, I'm no different; I think stories that hit a little deeper can not only be more impactful but also give some reflection for us as well.
Hate to be the one guy who downvotes this story, but at the very least I'm not going to downvote without explaining why:
Every part of this, except Gallus' inner monologue at the beginning, was wrong. Saying something like this to someone who's going through this scenario themselves is like telling a depressed person to be happy: just because you say it doesn't get rid of the psychological reality of what they are going through.
The truth is that no one ever 'gets over' a rejection like that, at least not the way this story seems to imply. It's like a thorn, but in your mind instead of your skin, and every time you see that person again it reopens the wound: you can remove the thorn (by separating yourself from the source of the pain) and heal over time, or you can grow a callous over it (by lying to yourself and repressing your feelings until you actually believe that you are fine) so it stops hurting when it's touched, but you can't just forget about it immediately and go on as if it never happened. If you think you have done that, then that just means that you are really good at the repression and self-deception, or you weren't actually falling in love with them.
It takes a lot of time spent in repression to act like things are the same as they were before, and even then it's not actually real: it's just an act, and a sufficient amount of stress or trauma will bring it all back to the surface. Alternatively, if you choose to separate and heal, then you will never have the same friendship as before. Basically, once something like this happens, things have changed, permanently, and you cannot go back.
Now, whether continuing close contact and an imitation of friendship are worth the repression and self-deception is something every person in this position must choose for themselves. Separating and taking the time to heal might not be feasible in any given situation. However, these are the only real options one has, except for refusing to 'get over' it and instead existing in a state of self-delusion where you think you still have a chance despite being rejected, but that's not really an option as the delusion eventually breaks and you are left with the same two options again.
The way this story ended seems to imply that one could somehow just magically ignore what happened, continuing on as if nothing has changed. That is impossible: every major event in our lives changes who we are, and thus how we act. We cannot prevent change; all we can do is decide how we will proceed after the change occurs.
Is this story based on this song?
11397864
No, that's just some unintended coincidence.